The Royal Tenenbaums : Best work Ben Stiller has ever done.

Best work Ben Stiller has ever done.

The guy is so much better in this kind of role than being one of those vapid morons he so often plays. He was brilliant in this.

Re: Best work Ben Stiller has ever done.

Stiller actually has a lot of great roles beyond the kind of films you mention (though you give no examples).

By 'vapid moron', I assume you mean the roles where he plays an over exaggerated character heavily saturated with stereotypes. Those roles are purposely so unreal that the over the top characters are the draw, the kind of film that generates a lot of popular memes that fans use over and over to mock real life.

His role in this film isn't really that far off of that mark, though not nearly as exaggerated, but he does stick to his monotone guns in this one until the very end, where he gets slightly convincing in his sudden awareness that he needs help getting over his wife's death. But it's not an award winning performance.

I thought that his 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' film was very well done. He plays a character with a lot more depth and the story is more interesting than the parts you're thinking of. It's certainly not a Wes Anderson film, but relative to this thread, he's not playing 'that' kind of character there.

The Focker series, love it or hate it, are more examples of him playing a more normal, reasonably intelligent character. So there's another handful of examples to the contrary.

He has other, smaller roles that are also like this; one of my favorite is Zero Effect.

By the way, I like some of his 'vapid moron' roles: Tropic Thunder is a great film, another one that he not only played the lead in, but directed.

Be sure to proof your posts to see if you any words out

Re: Best work Ben Stiller has ever done.

He was fantastic in Greenberg, might be my favorite roll of his

Re: Best work Ben Stiller has ever done.

Have you seen "Permanent Midnight'? If you like him in more serious roles, you'll love that.

Re: Best work Ben Stiller has ever done.

His delivery of "I've had a rough year, dad" is heartbreaking. It's amazing how much emotion he was able to elicit from just one line.

So many stories, so little time.
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