Some actors prove that starring roles are overrated. If you're talented enough, you need no more than 30 minutes of screen time (or even less) to steal the show. These roles are proof of that.
1. The Departed (2006): Jack Nicholson as Costello
The cast in The Departed was so loaded (DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin) that it was tough to tell who the main characters were. However, Jack Nicholson stole the show with a Southie accent, flair for the eccentric, and stone-cold disregard for human life.
2. GoodFellas (1990): Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito
Joe Pesci has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor multiple times but took home the Oscar for his turn as the demented Tommy DeVito in GoodFellas. No scene stands out more chillingly than the “Funny how?” scene, which serves as a masterclass in taking inane comments personally.
3. Gone Baby Gone (2007): Amy Ryan as Helene McCready
One of the more underrated crime dramas of the 2000s, Gone Baby Gone, is a manual for what not to do as a parent. Amy Adams' Helen McCready is as selfish, reckless, and despicable as characters get, and her performance makes the parental negligence feel a bit too real.
4. The Fighter (2010): Christian Bale as Dickie Eklund
Based on the life of real-life boxer Micky Ward, The Fighter ultimately became yet another showcase for Christian Bale's virtuosic acting chops. Add “addicted former boxer living in his younger brother's shadow” to Bale's iconic roles list.
5. The Revenant (2015): Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald
Serial scene stealer Tom Hardy played Machiavellian fur trapper John Fitzgerald more convincingly than the real-life Fitzgerald could have played himself. A no-nonsense man who is all about his money, Fitzgerald won't think twice about leaving a wounded colleague behind (dead weight is dead weight).
The dynamic between Hardy's Fitzgerald and Leo DiCaprio's Hugh Freeze becomes all the more compelling once you realize it is based on a true story.
6. The Truman Show (1998): Ed Harris as Christof
What kind of person could willfully entrap a baby in a facade of a world, surveilling them around the clock in the name of television ratings? The kind of person that Ed Harris was born to play in The Truman Show, as it turns out.
7. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004): Ben Stiller as White Goodman
Though the plot of Dodgeball revolved around Vince Vaughn's Peter La Fleur and his band of misfits, Stiller's White Goodman proved the most over-the-top, quotable character from the movie.
8. Road to Perdition (2002): Paul Newman as John Rooney
Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition is a 1930s crime flick that is easy to love. With a loaded cast (Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig), deft direction, and the ever-compelling backdrop of the Great Depression, how does Paul Newman leave such an outsize impression as a ruthless crime boss?
9. Boogie Nights (1997): Julianne Moore as Amber Waves
It's not a stretch when wealthy, good-looking actors play the role of wealthy, good-looking characters on the screen. When an actor with a sweet life off the screen can convince us that they're a deeply broken human being at the end of their rope, they deserve recognition.
10. L.A. Confidential (1997): Kim Basinger as Lynn Bracken
There are several reasons why Kim Basinger is can't-miss material in L.A. Confidential, and her acting tops the list. Basinger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1997 for her role in this beloved noir film.
11. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff
Jonah Hill's Donnie Azoff is the most debauched in a movie centered around jet-setting and yacht-rocking debauchery. Considering the motley crew that powers Martin Scorsese's Wall Street fever dream, that's quite a feat.
12. Mystic River (2003): Tim Robbins as Dave Boyle
Tim Robbins' portrayal of an adult weighed down by the scars of childhood abuse is haunting. In a movie that is the sum of its parts, Robbins' Dave Boyle may be the character that boosts the film's total score.
13. Animal Kingdom (2010): Jacki Weaver as Janine “Smurf” Cody
The Australian film Animal Kingdom was such a critical success that TNT adapted it into a multi-season series without changing the characters' names.
The female crime boss Janine “Smurf” Cody required an actress who could convincingly portray maternal love and a sociopath's calculating ruthlessness. Jacki Weaver fit the bill to a T, earning an Oscar nomination for her efforts.
14. American Hustle (2013): Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld
David O. Russell's American Hustle is one of the most watchable movies of the 2010s, and Jennifer Lawrence's Rosalyn Rosenfeld stands out among a stellar cast. While all the characters have some serious character flaws, Rosalyn has some serious character flaws.
Lawrence does a masterful job toeing the line between seductive and psychotic, and she earned an Oscar nomination for the role.
15. The Town (2010): Jeremy Renner as James “Jem” Coughlin
The Town is one of the tensest heist movies of the 2010s, and Jeremy Renner's hair-raising role as “Jem” is a crucial reason for the film's uneasy tone. A man whose rage is bubbling just beneath the surface at all times, Jem was born to be a bank robber and to steal scene after scene in The Town.
Source: (Reddit).
