Jeff Goldblum: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

4. David Levinson - Independence Day (1996)

In Roland Emmerich's first Independence Day, Goldblum effectively plays another variation of the figure he's now probably most famous for: the slightly hunky, just off-kilter cool nerd with supreme intellect and a burning passion within. He basically takes the model presented by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones, tones down the swash-buckling and dials up the geekiness and the result is pure gold.

Levinson is a picture of restrained neuroses: the kind of person you suspect was always haunted by the possibility that the world might end catastrophically and dedicating his life to a type of readiness for when it inevitably happened. He's way too adjusted and way too accessible to feel authentically like the brain he's presented as (and his open shirt and hippy beads reiterate that), but he struck a hell of a blow to the geek/jock divide when he ascended to equal footing with Will Smith.

Goldblum's performance here is charming and delightful without any of the showiness of Smith: yes he's on fine Goldblum form, delivering lines pregnant with loaded pauses and punctuated by his own brand gesticulations, but he's restrained by proxy. And the chemistry works brilliantly.