Bill Paxton: 5 Awesome Performances (And Five That Sucked)

5 Awesome Performances

5. Chet - Weird Science (1985)

Weird Science Chet Bill Paxton
Universal Pictures

Though he's ludicrously funny in a handful of films, you never really hear people talk about Paxton as a comedic talent.

That's probably due to the fact that his two most famous roles, or the roles the general public will know him for - Twister and Titanic - are light on laughs, but dig a little deeper into his catalogue of films and you'll find that humour is one of his more underappreciated traits.

Possibly his funniest role came in John Hughes' Weird Science. As Chet Donnelly - protagonist Wyatt's older brother - he slipped into the role of 'douchebag elder sibling' perfectly, delivering quotable insult after quotable insult, managing to transform into a complete jerk while still remaining likable.

Perhaps out of fear of being typecast, Paxton stepped away from roles like this in the future, but it was Weird Science that helped him refine those comedic chops that he'd put to good use as his career progressed.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!