Now before you raise your eyebrows at this one, let me explain. In the early nineties, Hoffman was beginning to build a reputation for himself as an intriguing and quirky supporting actor for films guaranteed to gain a big audience, whether immediately in the cinemas or with home release. Whilst he did have appearances in The Big Lebowski and Boogie Nights (both infinitely better movies), it was his appearance in the summer blockbuster Twister which really introduced him to the world. Hoffman played Dustin 'Dusty' Davis, and was probably the only character in the whole movie who was in any way actually interesting. Twister was a big special effects movie, built more to show off advances in movie technology and to capitalise on the hot topic of disaster movies gripping the nineties than to actually create a work of art. Hoffman added a presence to the otherwise beige cast (I mean, it did have Bill Paxton as the lead), and was not only genuinely funny, but was the only actual comic relief provided by the whole movie. For that alone, we thank him.
