Michael Keaton is an Oscar-nominated actor with decades of success in Hollywood, but some of his best movies still don’t get the audience they deserve. Since breaking through as a comedic actor in the 1980s, Keaton has thrived in a variety of roles. His fame reached a new peak a few years later when he starred inBeetlejuiceandBatmanin back-to-back years. Although he has been a bankable star for many years, he has a lot of underrated movies.
Michael Keaton’s best moviesshowcase his talents as both a comedic actor and a performer with serious dramatic chops. He can pop up in surprising roles from time to time, since he isn’t afraid to throw himself into a supporting role. Although they may not be as famous as some of his biggest hits, these are the movies in which Keaton shows a different side to himself and provides something surprising.
Beetlejuice Review: Being Weird Has Never Felt As Good As Burton’s Creepy Cult Classic
In 1988, Michael Keaton needed only 17 minutes to create one of the best and weirdest characters in Hollywood history.
Keaton’s innate likability is part of what makesThe Founderso interesting.Even while Ray Kroc is muscling out the McDonald brothers from their own family business, he never seems to be a bad guy in the typical sense, or at least he never believes himself to be one. Like any hard-working American, Kroc is the hero in his own story.The Founderleaves the broader impact of his attitude open to interpretation.
Pacific Heightsis like manypsychological thrillers of the 1990sin some ways, but its premise means that it has fallen out of fashion. Michael Keaton gets a chance to play the villain, as Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith are two landlords who find that their downstairs tenant is slowly ruining their lives. This set-up means that the villain is frighteningly close to home, even if it does hinge on the audience caring about property values for a while.Pacific Heightsbecomes more violent, more urgent and more compelling as it progresses.
Pacific Heightsbecomes more violent, more urgent and more compelling as it progresses.
Throughout the movie, Keaton’s performance provides the beating heart that keeps things interesting.Even when his character’s true motives and true identity remain unknown, he is a reptilian presence capable of sending a shiver down the spine. There is always the underlying threat of escalation, and this is enough to cause the homeowners to become their own tormentors.
The Other Guysis a great buddy cop comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as two detectives used to sitting on the sidelines and filing paperwork who throw themselves into the thick of the action. Adam McKay, director of other Ferrell classics such asAnchormanandStep Brothers, is at the helm once more. Michael Keaton has a hilarious supporting role as the police captain who also works at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
The Other Guysis a great buddy cop comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.
The Other Guysis filled with funny quotes, as well as some physical humor that highlights the mismatch between Ferrell and Wahlberg. Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson steal the show early on as two hero cops with plenty of pithy one-liners, but Keaton is another great supporting cast member.He gets the movie’s funniest running gag, since he’s always quoting TLC lyrics while claiming that he has never heard of the band.
7Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
Dogberry
Generally, William Shakespeare’s tragedies get adapted into movies far more often than his comedies, because modern audiences don’t connect with Elizabethan English enough to find it funny. While somemovies have mapped Shakespeare’s plots onto modern settingsto bridge this gap, likeAnyone But YouandShe’s the Man,Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 version ofMuch Ado About Nothingis funny without changing too much.
Michael Keaton plays Dogberry, one of Shakespeare’s funniest characters, and his portrayal as inept and inebriated works well.
Some of the casting choices are a little unusual inMuch Ado About Nothing,but they work very well. The key is that each actor understands the role they’re playing within Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, so Robert Sean Leonard and Keanu Reeves seem perfectly at home. Michael Keaton plays Dogberry, one of Shakespeare’s funniest characters, and his portrayal as inept and inebriated works well.
Michael Keaton has had a few high-profile voice-acting roles over the years, most notably as Ken inToy Story 3and Chick Hicks in theCarsfranchise. Away from Pixar, his most memorable voice-acting role has been that of Porco Rosso, the eponymous porcine pilot of one ofStudio Ghibli’s best movies.Keaton was part of the 2005 English dub, which came out 13 years after the Japanese original.
Stylistically, it borrows from old adventure movies from Hollywood’s golden era, but its animated action scenes are remarkably inventive.
Porco Rossohas plenty of Hayao Miyazaki’s signature magic sprinkled throughout, but it’s also grounded in a time and place of immense historical significance. While some other Studio Ghibli movies can be seen as allegories,Porco Rossois more up-front with its intentions. Stylistically, it borrows from old adventure movies from Hollywood’s golden era, but its animated action scenes are remarkably inventive.
Three years before directingOcean’s Eleven,Steven Soderbergh created another stylish heist thriller starring George Clooney.Out of Sightis based on an Elmore Leonard novel, so it has a lot of humor mixed in with its captivating crime plot. Clooney plays a dashing thief who starts a flirtatious relationship with the detective tasked with tracking him down, played by Jennifer Lopez.
Out of Sightis based on an Elmore Leonard novel, so it has a lot of humor mixed in with its captivating crime plot.
Michael Keaton doesn’t play a huge role, but his appearance is noteworthy since he reprises his role as Ray Nicolette from Quentin Tarantino’sJackie Browna year earlier. Both movies are based on Leonard novels. Some parts ofOut of Sightseem like Soderbergh warming up fortheOcean’sfranchise, but it stands on its own two feet as a twisty crime drama worth watching.
Michael Keaton’s first appearance as ATF agent Ray Nicolette gives him much more to do thanOut of Sight. Nicolette is one of the agents trying to trace some stolen money and a variety of seedy thugs. Keaton makes him a likable character, in way over his head and struggling to understand the various machinations of the criminal world around him. He’s a good man in a world of selfish thuggery.
Jackie Brownis arguably Quentin Tarantino’s most underrated movie.
Jackie Brownis arguablyQuentin Tarantino’s most underrated movie, released between the explosive success ofPulp Fictionand the epicKill Billduology. It’s a crime drama that plays things relatively low-key. Tarantino’s flair for dialogue still shines through, and he has some action scenes which erupt with violence, butmany of the best parts ofJackie Brownare in its quieter moments, aided by a sumptuous soundtrack.
Worthtakes place in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, but it tells a relatively unknown story about real-life history. Michael Keaton plays Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who heads the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, the group who have to figure out how to financially compensate the families of the victims. Feinberg tries to do what’s best for the victims, but he finds his attempts marred by strict regulations and red tape.
As its title suggests,Worthexamines what value can be placed on a human life, and it raises some interesting ethical questions.
As its title suggests,Worthexamines what value can be placed on a human life, and it raises some interesting ethical questions. There are different cases among the roughly 7000 victims taken from real life which highlight the problems with the Victim Compensation Fund’s methods, although these come tinged with the understanding that offering no restitution would be even more damaging.Worthdoesn’t offer simple answers, but there are moments of hope amid the tragedy.
Knox Goes Awayis just the second movie Michael Keaton has directed, and it’s a step-up in quality from 2009’sThe Merry Gentlemen.Keaton plays the role of an aging assassin with a rare form of dementia who must help his estranged son out of a tight spot. Keaton’s performance and direction combine to create an interesting visual representation of mental decline, and this gives the action scenes more jeopardy.
Knox Goes Awayis just the second movie Michael Keaton has directed.
Keaton’s supporting cast includes James Marsden and Al Pacino, but he remains in the spotlight throughoutKnox Goes Away.It’s an interesting twist on an action thriller, with elements ofJohn WickandThe Fatherbalancing each other out, but its languid pace makes it a different proposition than the usual actioners. First and foremost,Knox Goes Awayis a personal drama about aging and loss, but the fight scenes make for some punchy interludes.
After making his film debut with a non-speaking role in the critically-panned comedyRabbit Test,Michael Keaton got his first starring role inNight Shift.He and Henry Winkler play two morgue workers who start running a prostitution ring. A morgue isn’t a normal setting for a sex romp comedy, and this adds an extra layer of dark humor when the two friends find themselves being pursued by cops and rival pimps.
With Ron Howard’s snappy direction,Night Shiftkeeps the pace up and the gags rolling.
Night Shifthelped turn Keaton into a star. Younger audiences may only know him from movies such asBeetlejuice, BatmanandBirdman,but his early comedies are worth watching. With Ron Howard’s snappy direction,Night Shiftkeeps the pace up and the gags rolling. Keaton plays the eccentric wildcard in his dynamic with Winkler, and it’s the kind of role that has come naturally to him many times.
