oliver9184

He WAS excellent. Now you mention him I have to get this off of my chest,

Dustin Hoffman once played a character called Mumbles (in Dick Tracy). Now all he does is mumble and call it acting. It pisses me off because I liked him loads in the first half of his career: by my reckoning he was a brilliant and compelling actor between The Graduate and Death of a Salesman. Soon after came Rain Man, which was the crucial turning point, and then Hook which worked but in which he was a fucking joke.

Like Harrison Ford, Hoffman has lost it and become downright embarassing with age; unlike Ford he really did have something special to lose in the first place so it's much more sad. He just stopped trying. He stopped trying and started mumbling. He was coasting from the turn of the 90s but it's really irritating to see him in a role post, say, Sleepers because he's not wise and distinguished and kindly like an old guy should be; every character he plays seems to be some combination of Mumbles and Rain Man with a token bit of whatever his character's supposed to be thrown in. He mumbles and grumbles - even somehow managing at times to overact as he does so (Confidence) - and if we're lucky he gesticulates too and looks kinda funny with slightly wild hair and we're supposed to lap it up and still respect him and say it's fucking brilliant like the great acting he did thirty years ago. At least Sean Connery had the good grace to retire.


Hoffman's best role since becoming an old fucker