<![CDATA[Gabriel Byrne's over-acting]]>Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Usual Suspects

Joes_Mom — 9 years ago(September 27, 2016 05:21 PM)

I'm not sure if it was poor direction, or just Byrne's interpretation of how Dean Keaton was supposed to act, but the performance was straight out of a paint-by-numbers 'how to act like a tough guy' manual. Just a lot of overkill in how to approached that role

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I know right? It was distracting.

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I'm not sure if it was poor direction, or just Byrne's interpretation of how Dean Keaton was supposed to act, but the performance was straight out of a paint-by-numbers 'how to act like a tough guy' manual. Just a lot of overkill in how to approached that role
I don't see that at all.

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848622https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848622Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:47 GMT]]>StarWarsMoviesSuck — 9 years ago(December 03, 2016 02:40 PM)

STFU
Byrne was great

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848621https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848621Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:46 GMT]]>gottaluvafriend — 9 years ago(October 30, 2016 09:49 PM)

I disagree.

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848620https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848620Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:45 GMT]]>terrybabe — 9 years ago(January 02, 2017 04:26 PM)

I tend to agree with you; he always seems like such a sad sack. I feel like saying to any of the characters he plays, "For goodness sake, buck up."

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848619https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848619Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:44 GMT]]>jameswoodspd — 9 years ago(November 04, 2016 12:39 PM)

Agree OP was totally wrong Byrne didn't overact he simply couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, what people see in this guy I don't know, dead tree stump springs to mind!.

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848618https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848618Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:43 GMT]]>movie_nazi — 9 years ago(October 18, 2016 07:57 AM)

lol I don't get this criticism at all. "Overacted" doesn't come to mind at all when I think of Gabriel's performance.
I agree. A ridiculous notion.
My Vote history:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1914996/ratings

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848617https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848617Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:42 GMT]]>Klockard23 — 9 years ago(September 29, 2016 12:13 AM)

lol I don't get this criticism at all. "Overacted" doesn't come to mind at all when I think of Gabriel's performance.

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848616https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848616Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:41 GMT]]>Stratego — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 02:45 PM)

You don't think it was the (not necessarily poor) direction? I mean, the audience is supposed to believe this guy could be Keyser Soze. As it turns out, it's just a distorted image Verbal painted of him. The whole story kind of gets "over-the-top" once Soze is introduced, hinting at its deceitfulness.
EDIT: I suspect the OP means the word "clich" rather than "over-acting".

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848615https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848615Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:40 GMT]]>Joes_Mom — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 06:46 PM)

I'm still not thrilled with Byrne's performance but, the theory that this is all part of the narrative crafted by Verbal is an interesting and valid one.

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848614https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1848614Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Gabriel Byrne's over-acting on Sat, 02 May 2026 09:06:39 GMT]]>jbaddock — 9 years ago(September 28, 2016 11:46 AM)

Bear in mind that we're only getting Verbal's description of how Keaton behaved - and he obviously wanted Kujan to believe that Keaton was the boss of the gang, so portraying him as a stereotypical gangster tough guy would help in that respect. Whether Keaton really behaved like that (or even whether Fenster had a speech defect), we'll never really know. Bear in mind that, all through the story that Verbal was telling, Verbal himself walked with a limp - we know that wasn't true - so there might have been no more truth to Keaton's tough guy act than there was to Verbal being a 'cripple'.

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