***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

I notice that threads about movies often, if the cast contains Ben Stiller, devolve/evolve into a discussion of him.

Feel free to hate or praise Ben Stiller here.

According to tl;dr policy please don't hate on the poster, just his/her opinion.



I'll take Counterpoint to what I expect will happen. I like Stiller.

I thought he was funny in 'Happy Gilmore' as the evil nursing home aide. His mugging for the secret camera at the end credits of 'Meet the Parents' never fails to make me laugh - "Can you deal with that!" He perfected the slimy idiot from 'Gilmore' as White Goodman in 'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'.

He has a terrific comedy pedigree: Mother Ann Meara, father Ben Stiller of Seinfeld fame where he played Frank Costanza. Stiller and Meara played the comedy circuit for years, becoming regulars on the Ed Sullivan Show, which is where I first remember them.

Ben is married to Christine Taylor, the female lead in 'Dodgeball'. They have a son and daughter.

OK. Let the Ben Stiller hate commence!

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

it doesn't get any better than starsky & hutch in german.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

Meet the Parents - As Greg Focker he was great. No one could have been as hilarious in this role. Something about his facial expressions and his "everyman" look. This guy is a hilarious straight man reacting to the nonsense around him.

http://www.the-reel-mccoy.com/movies...heparents1.jpg

http://www.haro-online.com/stuff/meetthe2.jpg


Some of my favorite scenes:
-When he goes over to the ex-fiance's house (Owen Wilson),
-when he's trying to get the cat off the roof,
-when he smacks his sister-in-law in the face,
-when he's at the airport and later in the plane yelling at the flight attendant. Come on, this is good stuff.




Something About Mary


http://img.slate.com/media/61000/617...ethingMary.JPG

As a teen he made the best nerd out there and later he makes a really likable less-than-cool adult. I think he was well cast myself.

Favorite scenes:
-playing the teen with braces (omg!),
-his scene with the hitchhiker and later being interrogated by the cops.
-when he first approaches Mary after all those years,
-the ending where he is walking away wailing like a child.


How people can hate either of these two movies is beyond me.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

I think he's good overall. Most of the comedies are worth seeing. Permanent Midnight was a good movie as well and shows he's capable of more than just comedy.

I remember The Ben Stiller Show being pretty funny, but I haven't seen it in years so my memory could be off.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

No big hater, sometimes he fits the role (Something About Mary, first Focker movie).

Sometimes he tries too hard, uses too many of his funny faces and it shows in every joke (Dodgeball, Zoolander, etc.)

He's at his best when he has a "normal" role or cameo and doesn't use his neanderthaler face all the time. That just isn't funny at all.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

i think hes one of the most underrated comedy actors out there

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

Ben Stiller is the only actor whose mere presence in a film will keep me from watching it.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

He is lucky to be in the right era.

Go back a generation and he would be lucky to be Potsy Webber or Gilligan instead of a movie star.

It is not his fault, but he could be the poster boy for the current crop of really bad movies.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

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Ben Stiller is the only actor whose mere presence in a film will keep me from watching it.

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Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

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It is not his fault, but he could be the poster boy for the current crop of really bad movies.

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What? Surely you liked Meet The Parents.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

He is harmless. Amusing.
Can't love him, can't hate him.
Can't believe anyone cares.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

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It is not his fault, but he could be the poster boy for the current crop of really bad movies.

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What? Surely you liked Meet The Parents.

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I don't recall - If it was anything like Meet the Fockers then I probably couldn't stand it.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

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It is not his fault, but he could be the poster boy for the current crop of really bad movies.

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What? Surely you liked Meet The Parents.

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Extremely disappointed in it.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

It was better than Meet the Fockers. Not much, but better.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

Pretty good summary. He's just not that funny a comic actor, but he's not terrible either. Liked him a lot in Flirting with Disaster. And I'm probably the only human being who liked Cable Guy. Certainly his parents (and I don't mean the old Fockers) were funnier than he.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

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It was better than Meet the Fockers. Not much, but better.

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I thought it was much better than the Fockers.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Pretty good summary. He's just not that funny a comic actor, but he's not terrible either. Liked him a lot in Flirting with Disaster. And I'm probably the only human being who liked Cable Guy. Certainly his parents (and I don't mean the old Fockers) were funnier than he.

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I liked Cable Guy. There are at least two of us!


For me it's all about Stiller's facial expressions - happy, clueless, getting annoyed. I love them. Remember that scene in Meet the Parents when he has the altercation on the plane? Omg, so funny.


Flight Attendant: Well, I can assure you that your bag will be placed safely below deck with the other luggage...

Greg Focker: Oh, yeah? How do you know my bag will be safe below with the other luggage? Huh? Are you physically going to take my bag and put it beneath the plane? Are you going to go right now outside, with the guys with the earmuffs, and go put it in there?

Flight Attendant: No...

Greg Focker: No? Okay, then shut your piehole and listen to me when I say that I am FINISHED with the checking-of-the-bags CONVERSATION.


(come on Blarg, surely you laughed at this)

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

He was also awesome in Heavyweights, where he played Tony Perkis and Tony Perkis' dad. Thats really where the "slimy idiot" character from "Happy Gilmore" and "Dodgeball" came from.

Tony Perkis (a bit long): http://youtube.com/watch?v=H4-1UU4MYnE

Also: Ben Stiller Show was hilarious (see: http://youtube.com/watch?v=gBkHoxAta0I) and he was also really funny on Extras, if anyone watched that (see: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8I3v0S8lcrg)

Obviously I find Ben Stiller funny.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

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It was better than Meet the Fockers. Not much, but better.

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I thought it was much better than the Fockers.

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Seconded. I still laugh at 'Parents'. 'Fockers', not so much.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

Yeah, now that I think back, it was a good deal better. I stand corrected.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

Meet the Parents was better, but I still enjoyed Meet the Fockers for what it was. I actually thought Dustin Hoffman was really funny.

I like Ben Stiller. I don't go run to see his movies or anything just because he's in them, but if they look like they'd be funny, I'll give them a shot.

Re: ***Official Ben Stiller Thread***
 

I liked Zoolander in a Ace Ventura over the top kinda way.