SNL on the Big Screen: Who Did It Best?
by Leslie Coffin
Wednesday an SNL alumni received a National Board of Review Award for the first time. Since premiering in 1975, only six cast members have been nominated for acting honors at the Oscars. But this year, we have a host of SNL cast members who made the jump into critically praised films– Julia Louise Dreyfus in Enough Said, Taran Killam in 12 Years a Slave, and Will Forte in Nebraska. And while former cast members have done very well transitioning into television, and even at the box-office, their track record of giving crafted performances in with well-received films happen far less often than people think. So, excluding some actors who had big careers before going into SNL (Billy Crystal, Anthony Michael Hall, Randy Quaid, the Christopher Guest Ensemble) and the most recent cast offs, who are the best film actors of the bunch?
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1. Bill Murray-Scrooged
Darling of Wes Anderson films, Oscar Nominee, played the President (anyone see that Roosevelt movie?), Murray is a pretty great actor who sometimes gets a bit too focused on proving he is a serious actor. But when you look at his impressive resume of purely comic films (Stripes, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day), supporting roles in dramadies (Tootsie, Mad Dog and Glory) and his critical darlings (all those Anderson films, Lost in Translation, Broken Flowers), there is a great actor within one of the all-time great personality comics. So what makes Scrooged perhaps his best performance? The amount of anger, fear, and pathos he evokes without overplaying anything, and still managing to get huge laughs. Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvmAa1cYZK4
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2. Will Ferrell-Elf
Just because he can do drama doesn’t mean those are his best performances. Ferrell is a great actor (comic and otherwise) because of the level of commitment he brings to roles. It’s certainly the reason even his dumbest characters (Anchorman, Old School) are always the best thing to watch-and why audiences become emotionally invested. It could certainly be argued that Ron Burgundy is his best role (undeniably his most quoted), but watch the childlike wonder he brings to his performance in Elf as the man with his heart on his sleeve. It’s hard to play that amount of shear joy without tipping into the world of annoying, but somehow, his face and body sells the performance from start to finish. Watch this clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRGbzyvOBMw
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3. Maya Rudolph-Away We Go
Rudolph plays earthy sweetness better than any actress of her generation. She was by far the most underrated part of Bridesmaids, and her many supporting roles in films (The Way Way Back, Friends with Kids, Idiocracy, Prairie Home Companion) leave you wishing she had more to do. But in Away We Go, the romantic drama about soon to be parents deciding where to live, she showed a different side of herself…one more vulnerable and uncertain, even while getting laughs from her deadpan delivery. Recently she went back to TV with the series Up All Night, but her best work seems to be when she can create characters from the inside out in indie films that love her unique style and delivery. Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlZLICwe3P0
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4. Adam Sandler-Punch Drunk Love
Apparently, Paul Thomas Anderson likes funny people. Aside from being Rudolph’s long time partner, he arguably gave Adam Sandler his first opportunity to stretch as a leading man and his best performance to date. All that rage you saw in Billy Madison mixed with his romantic nature from Wedding Singer, and his own childlike qualities created the perfect Anderson anti-hero as a man with serious anger problems. Sandler has attempted to give similar quality performances in a few other films (Spanglish, Funny People) but none have come close to the depth he showed in his performance in Punch Drunk Love…and now he seems to devoting all his time to the films of his “Happy Madison Productions.” Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE2FCCZ50VU
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5. John Belushi-Continental Divide
For such a funny guy, Belushi always wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. Unfortunately, he was just so good at making us laugh with those funny faces in films like Animal House and Blues Brothers. He did however stretch a few times in films such as Neighbors (as the straight man to Dan Aykroyd) and as a romantic lead in an homage to Tracy-Hepburn fllms opposite Blair Brown in Continental Divide. It isn’t a great movie, but it is an incredibly enjoyable film which shows how good Belushi could have been if given a few more chances before his untimely death. And like fellow funny man gone too soon John Candy, his romantic streak was surprising but completely real (and similar to the performance James Gandolfini gave this year in Enough Said). Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1pJJOaKdiQ
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6. Molly Shannon-Year of the Dog
Shannon was great on SNL as her crazy, lovable characters. But she can also be incredibly sad, as those who watched Enlightened on HBO saw this year. Not surprisingly, the same man who wrote that miss lonelyheart character for Shannon is the same auteur who behind Year of the Dog. Another lonely single woman with a heart too big to control, she has a breakdown when her dog mysteriously dies and she gets a new aggressive dog from the pound. A weird and maybe even unsatisfying film, Shannon is nonetheless giving a daring performances as the certain type of woman few actresses can capture. Watch this clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RupELElQj6E
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7. Sarah Silverman-Take This Waltz
She didn’t last long on the show, but it’s to the benefit of the comedy world. After never finding her place on SNL, Silverman made the transition to standup and a recurring role on The Larry Sanders Show. And then movies came calling, with her appearances in School of Rock, Way of the Gun, and St. John of Las Vegas. But one of her most recent film roles, as a recovering alcoholic, hipster, sister-in-law to Michelle Williams in Take This Waltz, is probably her best. Especially as she gives the definitive statement of why we keep making such stupid mistakes in our lives, during one big, pathetic speech towards the film’s end. Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xVWRaMAR9w
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8. Robert Downey Jr.-Home For the Holidays
We all forget about that year of the show don’t we? Before he was Iron man, before he was Sherlock, before he was even written off in Hollywood for his drug problems, Robert Downey Jr. joined SNL for a forgettable season. But by the time he was dismissed, he had found his place in movies, playing a punk in Back to School and then as an addict in Less than Zero. But among a host of great performances, Downey is especially good when playing the screw-up, and never better than in Jodie Foster’s Home For The Holidays, as the addict brother of Holly Hunter. Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrX5HxiRbc0
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9. Joan Cusack-My Blue Heaven
That same season of SNL, the very funny Joan Cusack (watch her teenage characters in Sixteen Candles and My Bodyguard) had a memorable but brief season as well. A year later however she stole the show as the nervous assistant in Broadcast News and immediately scored an Oscar nomination for Working Girl. She and Robert Downey Jr. have both been nominated for two Oscars (her other for In and Out). But she has a special niche as slightly neurotic but likable women who will argue with the guys. Few people could do verbal battle with Steve Martin and be seduced by nerdy Rick Moranis, but Cusack sells it in the Goodfellas parody, My Blue Heaven. Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzDy3byWrQY
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10. Dan Aykroyd-Trading Places
Arguably, Trading Places was an Eddie Murphy vehicle. But while Murphy does a lot of his stand-up material (and kind of plays himself), Aykroyd is selling the hell out of his ridiculous character who’s life is destroyed in a comic version of The Game. Jamie Lee Curtis (who is the love interest of Aykroyd) claimed they had such good chemistry, he gave the best on screen kiss she’d ever had. And playing Winthrop like a cross between William Powell and Ralph Bellamy (who also happened to costar in the film), he perfectly captures the screwball hero of depression-era films. Akyroyd has had problems picking good film roles for himself, but when given a good role, he proves why he was considered the cast member with the acting chops when still a “Not Ready For Primetime Players.” Watch a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4705kE44Jc
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What are your favorite SNL performer performances?
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