Ben Stiller: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked

By Stuart W. Bedford /

1. Royal Tenenbaums

Perhaps one of Stiller€™s greatest performances to date has been in Wes Anderson€™s part satirical, part fantastical, part farcical masterpiece, the Royal Tenenbaums; a movie in which he wasn€™t even in a central role. Perhaps Stiller€™s greatness in his role should be attributed to Anderson himself, for the superb script and clearly adept direction, but still, one of the film€™s centrepieces for me was Stiller€™s performance, as his neurotic, resentful Chas Tenenbaum finally let€™s go of his issues, and keeps his father in company during his final moments. It€™s the tender moments like this (and there are plenty more throughout) that place Stiller€™s turn in Royal Tenenbaums at the top of this list. If only every Stiller performance were this great, maybe that €˜cash-cow€™ stigma wouldn€™t be so unfortunately attached to his name.