Kevin Kline: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. The Pirate King - The Pirates Of Penzance (1983)

Again, Kline proved himself an admirable stage thespian long before he ventured into Hollywood, and won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in a celebrated production of The Pirates of Penzance in 1981. That production would head to the screen two years later with almost all of the original casting intact. The film version would receive generally positive reviews despite a limited theatrical release, and Kline likewise received praise playing the same role for which he'd already won a Tony. And yet the new-to-film actor, in his portrayal of the tenderhearted Pirate King, is very clearly still stuck on the stage in spite of the rolling cameras. While it might not be considered "overacting" on a stage, and while that still may be a bit of harsh criticism here, one gets the sense that Kline doesn't really know when to just turn it down a notch. When not speaking, he looks frantically from one character to the next as if watching Murray vs. Nadal. When he does have a line, there seems to be little discrimination as to what the line is, as if he's still shouting what he's memorized at a theatre full of the deaf - at one point, in offering transport to young Frederic, he exclaims with as much gusto as he can possibly muster, "Don't swim€TAKE THE DINGHY!" There is definitely some impressive physical acting on display here, as is usually the case with Kline, effortlessly zipping back and forth and up and down the masts of the pirate ship. The problem is that he never has the opportunity for a quieter scene, something to counterbalance these more theatrical moments as he had in his previous film, Sophie's Choice. I'm certainly not comparing that film to The Pirates of Penzance, and the lack of material is perhaps not Kline's fault, but it doesn't do away with the disappointing realization that any stage thespian could have played the Pirate King with as much success, provided they have copious chest hair and the ability to stand for an hour and a half with feet shoulder-width apart.