10 Greatest Over-Acted Performances In Movie History
8. Michelle Pfeiffer - Batman Returns (1992)
I knew I wanted a Batman villain in here. Such a rogues gallery would be sure to produce some great hammy acting.
Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies, despite having the hammiest acting, are also terrible, so don’t make the cut. Bane? Ra’s al Ghul? Nah.
Either Joker performance? Potentially. But they are playing psychotic clowns, so how could you not go big?
The answer lied in Tim Burton’s Christmas caper Batman Returns. Traditionally Selina Kyle/Catwoman is one of Batman’s view foes that isn’t totally nuts. Not here!
Michelle Pfeiffer goes all out in the role. Her Selina Kyle is at first neurotic and Bridget Jonesy, but after her fall she changes. She returns home in a zombified stupor, glugs a whole carton of milk and trashes her apartment. Once catsuit'd up as Catwoman she purs her lines, slinks around Gotham, and at one point even swallows a budgie during some mock-seduction with The Penguin (Danny DeVito).
Her best line “I am Catwoman, here me roar” is wonderfully comic book in a way that doesn’t feel like one of those lame ‘Comedy Quips’ you get in modern action films. Pfeiffer goes full feline and it’s great.