There aren't many films where Jack Nicholson plays the restrained, well-read one. His most famous performances are anything but introverted, whether it was as a faux mental patient in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest or as an axe-wielding psychopath in The Shining, Nicholson is famous for his OTT character portrayals. It's rather refreshing to see him dial it down a little in The King of Marvin Gardens, where he plays a depressive late-night radio show presenter who is coerced by his con man brother (the excellent Bruce Dern) to invest in Atlantic City real estate. The performances are on-point (including Ellen Burstyn as a bitter, ageing former beauty queen) and the film is compelling right up until the tragic ending. One of the more underrated films from the New Hollywood golden age.
