In Bruges (2008)

The Six Pack

Six Rare Comic Performances From Thespians Known for Their Dead Seriousness

by Matt Prigge

Greta Garbo, Ninotchka (1939): The whole notion of taking serious actors and forcing them to goof off originated with this Ernst Lubitsch comedy, which even works the gimmick into the plot: Taking a break from sudsters, Garbo plays a stone-faced commie being charmed against her will by bourgeois Parisian Melvyn Douglas. The ads even read “Garbo Laughs!” though the cackle itself is dubbed with the line: “Garbo just couldn’t do it.”

Gary Cooper, Ball of Fire (1941): The same year he nabbed an Oscar for what is the stereotypical Gary Cooper performance in Howard Hawks’ unusually stiff Sergeant York, Mr. Red-Blooded American (albeit educated in England) also gave a rare hilarious performance in Hawks’ primo screwball—possibly as atonement. Playing his stoic features for deadpan yuks, he even holds his own against Barbara Stanwyck—worth an Oscar in and of itself.

Laurence Olivier, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957): Featuring not only Olivier going Eastern European-accented goofy, but also a very confused (but still brilliant) Marilyn Monroe, of all people. I propose a remake with Daniel Day-Lewis and Lindsay Lohan.

Ingrid Bergman, Indiscreet (1958): Having abandoned Hollywood for Roberto Rossellini, Bergman returned and almost immediately revealed her knack for light comedy that had either never been tapped or that she’d somehow gleaned from years starring in stark Italian neorealist dramas.

Sean Penn, Sweet and Lowdown (1999): Sure, Sean “maybe I have a compromised sense of humor” Penn cut his teeth on Jeff Spicoli, but it took Woody Allen to coax a second, even more finely chiseled comic turn from him, casting him as a wincingly egomaniacal ’30s jazz guitarist prone to postcoital chatter like, “Did you like that? I knew you would.”

Ralph Fiennes, In Bruges (2008): A slightly less intense version of Ben Kingsley’s Don Logan, sure, but welcome nonetheless. More, please.