Comedic Actors in Dramas

I recently watched a film titled "Its Kind of a Funny Story". Its about a teenage boy named Craig who thinks he is about to kill himself. Craig goes to the closest hospital and begs the doctor to do something. And just like that, he moves into the pysch ward of the hospital. The audience watches as Craig learns about the people who are stayinig there, and more importantly, about himself. The story was very interesting and had very good acting. The actor that really impressed me in this film was Zach Galifianakis. He plays Bobby, a man in the ward that befriends Craig. Most people recognize this actor by his performance in The Hangover as Alan. In the hangover we watch as Alan entertains us with his strange and akward behaviour. In Its Kind of a Funny Story, Zach is seen in a very different role. He is still strange but with a seriousness to him; he also has many lines in this film unlike the hangover in which he stands around and looks stupid. For the switch in acting that was required, I thought Galifianakis did a great job.

After I watched the film it lead me to thinking about other comedic actors who have tried to take on more serious roles. Alot of times they can pull it off well, but in other cases, the film is terrible. An example of a "funny man" in dramas is Robin Williams. We have seen him as silly characters like Popeye and Ms. Doubtfire but we have also seen him in films like What Dreams May Come and Bicentennial Man. I watched both of these dramas this summer, I had not heard of What Dreams May Come and I had not seen Bicentennial Man in quite a while. I really liked both of these films for many reasons; Robin Williams' performance is one of the reasons the two films have in common. Another actor who sometimes takes more serious roles is Jim Carrey. Although he can be very loopy, he can also successfully take roles like Joel Barish in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Truman Burbank in The Truman Show. On the flip side, The Number 23 was terrible, so it would be false to say all of his dramatic roles are good ones.

What really makes me laugh sometimes are the directors who pick actors like Galifianakis, Williams, and Carrey. Before any actor like one of these three had been in a more serious role, someone involved in casting had to think "Oh, [Insert Comedic Actor Here] would do a great performance as this character in our film!" What gave anyone that notion?!?! I laugh but when I think further, I realize that any director who has made this decision is willing to take chances and is actually very creative. I think an actor who is willing to step out of their acting comfort zone to be involved in different kinds of projects is also creative and brave.