Leonardo DiCaprio: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked

3. The Beach - Richard

SNF14DAN08-682_707817a DiCaprio stars as Richard, an American student on vacation in Thialand in this comatose and dreary thriller about a quasi utopian (yup you guessed it) beach. Upon discovering this island, that is inhabited by an equally comatose and dreary group of hippies, Richard comes to realize this is his destiny, and this is where he is meant to be. Director Danny Boyle tries to be stylish in telling this tale, even including a sub plot involving a clan of weed growing pirates, but it just falls flat, save for some beautiful cinematography. DiCaprio is giving a by the numbers performance here, and he brings absolutely nothing remarkable or original at all to the table. This film became more famous for the $20 million payday DiCaprio raked in than the film itself, which is always a bad sign.
Contributor
Contributor

Kyle Hytonen is a film school grad, an independent film-maker, photographer and sleeper-inner.