10 Ridiculous Performances That Actually Improved Movies

2. Jack Nicholson - The Shining

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TVooUHN7j4 As evidenced earlier in this list, Jack Nicholson is one of the masters of ridiculous acting, and easily his most memorably batty turn is as Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's chilling horror, The Shining. Throughout the film, Nicholson slowly ebbs from one pole to another, as a seemingly well-adjusted family man, to a murderous psychopath who, under the whim of an unknown, malevolent entity, wants to put that very same family in the ground. Nicholson plays it subtle to begin with, before around the half-way point letting loose with the louder flourishes of his character, a menacing grin, scruffy appearance, and increasing exasperation with everyone around him, namely wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall). It's in the climax, though, that Nicholson really cements the performance as classically crazy, shouting The Three Little Pigs while using an axe to break into the bathroom where his family is hiding. The iconic moment comes when Nicholson breaks a hole in the door, peers through and shouts "Here's Johnny!", an even more awesome moment once you know that it was actually improvised. While Kubrick's film would likely have been a classic regardless, Nicholson brings so much silly invention to the table; it goes from being great to astounding as a result.