Kevin Spacey: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

And 5 That Sucked...

5. Quoyle - The Shipping News

With one notable exception, these 5 awful performances squalor in blessed ignominy, hidden away from the common zeitgeist of the world - and that is a very, very good thing... Beginning with The Shipping News from 2001. The film is as average as they come, and although Spacey applies his usual skill and dedication, his ability can only take him so far when weighed down by the hefty and leaden anchor that is the script. The conceit is a strange one, and the setting even odder. Spacey plays an inksetter from New York, who returns to his hometown of a fishing village in Newfoundland. He brings his daughter, after taking her away from her abusive mother, Petal, who sold their daughter to an 'adoption agency'. Along the way, he manages to find time to pen a shipping news column in the local newspaper which inexplicably becomes popular. It is an exercise in character acting for Spacey and little else. Frankly, it seems as if the whole film is a charade to allow Spacey to follow his method acting routes a little further.