Sean Penn: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
3. Cheyenne - This Must Be The Place
There may well be a fair few people that when arriving at this entry on the list will do a double take, checking whether this is the 'awesome' part of the feature. But make no mistake, behind all the make up this one aint pretty to watch. Cheyenne is and probably always will be Penn's most divisive performance, the one that some think is genius and other just plain annoying. Working with the latter, it's hard to engage in any way with this character, partly due to various contrivances - a rich Robert Smith-esque gothstar aims to spiritually reconnect with his late father... by pursuing his Aushwitz SS tormentor. Okay, the last bit was somewhat original - and the fact that Penn seems bent on playing the part in a deadpan, monosyllabic way. As the movie meanders and rattles past some familiar indie pit stops even the most ardent Penn fan will find themselves to be bored, agitated and seeking solace in the decent David Byrne score.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.
