Comedians Being Serious – Jim Carrey

At this point, Jim Carrey has starred in a number of genuinely brilliant films where he gave amazing performances that stretched his range, whether that be comedic, dramatic or a mix of both. The two that particularly stand out to me are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (for which everyone involved should have gotten an Oscar from the director to the fake dead bird) and The Truman Show. This was made in 1998 and followed a string of commercial successes in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. The Jim Carrey from these films was an almost uncontrollable ball of energy, twisting his face into weird permutations, being incredibly loud and behaving ridiculously. Jim Carrey’s career trajectory would have been to star in more wacky comedies until people got bored. Instead, Carrey did something very different – he starred in The Truman Show. Truman is a quiet, sensitive and kind man, put upon by various pressures in his life, yearning after a lost love he cannot understand. The only moments of manic Carrey come in what are played as distressing and upsetting moments, not comedy. It is a revelatory performance.

Franchises

For this, we have the child stars of Daniel Radcliffe, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Pattinson and Stewart as Edward and Bella in the Twilight series. They spent years at the beginning of their careers playing one character, often in films that were not well-received outside the fanbase. Stewart and Pattinson in particular have been on a mission to break the stereotype of franchise star to serious actor. One of Stewart’s first films after this franchise was Camp X-Ray, where she played a soldier based at Guantanamo Bay. The same year the final Twilight film was released Pattinson was in Cosmopolis, a David Cronenberg film, which is enough of a description to know that it would be a very different film to Twilight. Radcliffe seems to have gone down the route of not doing as much but just whatever interests him; popping up in odd roles like Swiss Army Man or Guns Akimbo, starring in the not-as-well-known-as-it-should-be Weird: the Al Yankovic Story.

Romantic Comedies

Few people are having a better third act of their career than Hugh Grant. Grant rose to fame in Four Weddings and a Funeral and then spent years starring in romantic comedies about befuddled Englishmen. At some point though something seems to have snapped in Grant leading him to take very different roles. In Paddington 2 (which let’s not forget is a contender for the greatest film ever made) he plays a thieving cad, in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves he also plays a thieving cad, in the recently released Heretic he is neither a rom-com lead or thieving cad but is quietly terrifying in the trailer of this horror movie.

Sandra Bullock was one of the most well-known actors in the world and this was for mainly appearing in rom-coms. She starred in, amongst others, While You Were Sleeping, Hope Floats, Two Weeks Notice, and The Lake House. In fairness some of these rom-coms have a surprising amount going on in terms in plot – so The Lake House features time travel letter writing and While You Were Sleeping through a convoluted turn of events Bullock pretends to be the fiancé of a man in a coma. IMDb lists her nicknames as America’s Sweetheart and The Girl Next Door. And then she won an Oscar for The Blind Side. Sandra Bullock was always a very good actor but after The Proposal it didn’t seem likely she would soon win an Oscar. Bullock went on to make Gravity essentially being without any other actors, let alone romantic interests for the whole film.

Nice British People

It is hard to think of a more complete transformation than Hugh Laurie playing Prince George in Blackadder to Hugh Laurie in House. Along with Stephen Fry, Laurie had cultivated an impeccably English idiot comedy persona, a meticulous work of cultural understanding of being English. And then he played Gregory House a doctor so mean and unpleasant they really shouldn’t have let him be a doctor anymore. Matthew Macfadyen was another nice British actor – he played Mr. Darcy for God’s sake – who then went over to Hollywood and played Tom Wambsgans in Succession a cruel bullying obnoxious caricature of a person who’s saving grace is only that he never personally murdered someone. Then Olivia Colman who for twenty or so years was an excellent sitcom actor, Peep Show, 2012, Rev and so on, and it’s not to say her acting isn’t brilliant in Peep Show but she is now working on a different scale.

Also Read: 1994: The Year of Jim Carrey

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Finding light in times of darkness

That life won’t be easy for David Copperfield becomes obvious from the beginning. The young David (Jairaj Varsani) and his family are coming from a poor background and the loss of his father was a hard blow to handle. He might not have much but together with his single mother (Morfydd Clark) and housekeeper Peggotty (Daisy May Cooper), he’s trying to enjoy life as much as possible. However, dark clouds are hanging above their little cottage in Blunderstone. The authoritarian Mr. Murdstone (Darren Boyd) and his equally evil sister Jane Murdstone (Gwendoline Christie) are joining the family as David’s stepfather and step-aunt. David has to undergo both mental and physical abuse by Murdstone and he’s being deprived of time with his mother and housekeeper. It even gets worse when he has to leave his family to go to work at the bottling factory, owned by Murdstone.

Many years later, David (Dev Patel) is still working at the factory and living with the nutty, clever but also very charming Mr. and Mrs. Micawber (Peter Capaldi and Bronagh Gallagher). They’ve welcomed David with open arms and are treating him like their child. However, an unexpected loss is turning David’s life completely upside down. He can’t return home due to Mr. Murdstone who’s still ruling there so he decides to go to his amusing and kooky aunt (Tilda Swinton) and his even silly cousin (Hugh Laurie). This might be the beginning of a more joyful time for David. He meets the lovely Dora (Morfydd Clark), makes new friends and lives a more luxurious life. Love, family and some money. It seems that finally, David has it all. Will he be able to escape the uncertainty and poverty once and for all or will his past catches upon him?

Love, passion and a stunning assemble cast

We all have our reasons why we cherish a particular book, novel or film so much. For director Iannucci, it was the cinematic, funny, and modern vibe of the original Dicken’s novel that made him wanted to make an adaption of it. To bring his beautiful vision to life, he worked with writer Simon Blackwell (Trying Again) with whom he already made The Thick of It and Veep. The two men certainly know how to make a wonderful and gorgeous movie.

The main reason is without a doubt the stunning performance of the overall cast. Leading the A-stars is the amazing Dev Patel (Lion). Iannucci knew from the start that he wanted Patel to portray the main character and it’s understandable why. Watching Copperfield coming to life is such a joy because of Patel’s extremely heart-warming, charming and emotional performance. He puts a smile on our faces during the joyful moments but at the same time, we can also feel the pain and uncertainty. Also, the young Varsani (Hetty Feather) portrays David in the most vividly, wonderful and contagious way.

The supporting cast? Well, what can we see about them apart from the fact that they were all on-point! This movie can certainly count on strong women. Clark (Crawl) puts on the most emotional and captivating performance while Cooper (This Country) brings immense joy and wittiness. Swinton (Suspiria) is at her best again as the unusual, peculiar but loving Betsey and Gallagher (A Bump Along the Way) is just delightful to watch as the carrying Mrs. Micawber. Christie (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi) brings darkness to this movie in a gorgeous way.

The male cast is as equally as powerful. Capaldi (Paddington) features as the conniving and funny Mr. Micawber while Laurie (Tomorrowland) delivers a wonderful performance as the loving man who’s sadly showing the first signs of schizophrenia. Whishaw’s (Little Joe) performance as the seedy Uriah Heep brings an even more funny, mad and witty element to this movie. A massive congratulations to the casting tea for putting such a great assemble cast together!

Elegant, heart-warming and delightfully made

While making this film, Iannucci wanted to use as little special effects as possible and that proved only to work in favour of this film. The heartwarming and joyful The Personal History of David Copperfield is a delight to watch thanks to the stunning A-cast, real-life vibe and extreme openness.

Rating: (3.5 / 5)

Also Read: Why James Cameron’s Avatar Sequel Has Come At The Right Time

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