John C Reilly: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

1. Happy Jack - Gangs Of New York (2002)

Gangs Of New York is a film that lives and dies on performances. Daniel Day Lewis is remarkable in it, and Brendan Gleeson is equally watchable: but it feels very much like they used up the good acting quota and everyone else was forced to be horrible. Leonardo DiCaprio is curiously sloppy, Cameron Diaz is awful, Jim Broadbent is woeful and John C Reilly is over-the-top and detestable.

He's not a good fit, and the result is that it feels like he's playing at being the bad guy, rather than simply performing the character. It's a hard distinction to measure, but it's unavoidable in this case and the performance simply does not ring true. He's hampered not only by having to compete with Day Lewis as a villain (a thankless task) but also with a lack of real depth and a horrific accent.

Quite how the film gets a pass remains a personal mystery (when its entertainment is solely down to DDL's performance), and it's a shame for Reilly that he was ever involved.

What are your favourite John C Reilly performances? Which movies rank as his worst? Share your own rankings below in the comments thread.