My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances

3.

Riggan Thompsn, Birdman (Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)



After 30 years of making movies, Keaton received his first and only Oscar nomination to date playing a former Hollywood actor who made a career playing a superhero in a bird costume who is now attempting a comeback by producing his first appearance in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, Riggan finds himself dealing with backstage troubles, personal demons, and trying to repair his relationship with his drug addict daughter (Emma Stone).

Member berry time - 'member when they announced Michael as Batman and the uproar it caused? It was the height of Ahnold and Sly, big, beefy action guy era and they cast this guy as Batman? Really? Gotta be honest, I didn't think it would work either but...he's my Batman.

His introduction in Beetlejuice is one of my fav intro's ever. He's obnoxious, offensive, hilarious. I saw it in the theater on first run and when he rips off his qualifications - "...I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT..." the audience was rolling in the aisles. As we were walking out of the theater almost everybody was wishing he had more screen time.

Jackie Brown is my favorite Tarantino film and he's really good in it, everybody is, but Jackie Brown, Pam steals that one.

Birdman, yeah, that's the best performance I've ever seen from him.

I guess that means Mr. Mom is top 2? "220, 221, whatever it takes."

I'm not a big fan of Keaton's Batman movies, but I loved him as Bruce Wayne.

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2.

Daryl Pointer, Clean and Sober



Keaton was robbed of an Oscar nomination for this brilliant performance as a drug addict on the run from the police after a girl overdoses in his bed. He makes the fatalistic decision of hiding out in a rehab facility because of their policies regarding anonymity. It's not long before he realizes he is exactly where he needs to be. Keaton has rarely commanded the screen the way he does here.

Well, that's # 2, I was originally going to include a couple of honorable mentions, but I have re-thought that and am just going to wrap this up...and now, my favorite Michael Keaton performance:

Outstanding performance. 100% should have been nominated for best actor but the Academy still had a thing against comedic actors in serious roles back then, or so it seemed to me. That's a solid choice. Mr. Mom No. 1. Whodathunkit....

1.

Jack Butler, Mr. Mom




Make fun of me if you want, but this was the performance where I officially fell in love with Michael Keaton. Keaton lights up the screen as an automotive engineer who gets laid off his job and has trouble landing another job. His wife, Caroline (Teri Garr), goes out and gets a job in 20 minutes and it is up to Jack to step up at home with the house and the kids. I love this performance. It's the perfect combination of warm, funny, and sexy.








Hope someone enjoyed the list.

****ing A


Go out on a high note. Loved the list!

Birdman is a masterpiece of technical filmmaking and a tour de force performance at the center of it that should have won Keaton his Oscar. He should have been nominated decades before for Clean & Sober, a still somewhat underrated movie that also features a fantastic early performance by Morgan Freeman. Beetlejuice simply would not be what it is without Keaton's interpretation of that character. The Founder is another strong dramatic performance, playing both the charmingly optimistic and ruthlessly driven sides of Ray Croc in expanding and then controlling McDonalds. I had known Keaton from his two early, short-lived sitcoms ("Working Stiffs" and "Report to Murphy") but from the second he walks through the door in Night Shift it is clear there is a comedic genius and movie star being born to the masses. Game 6 is a little indie nobody saw but Keaton knocks it out of the park as a troubled NYC playwright and Red Sox fan emotionally embroiled in the historic collapse versus the Mets in the 1986 World Series. Spotlight is an ensemble for sure, but Keaton's role especially his scenes with Jamey Sheridan, are some of Oscar's Best Picture's most compelling moments. The persona Keaton created in Mr. Mom was replicated in subsequent films (Gung Ho, Multiplicity), but the template he established the first time out is still perfection. One Good Cop is fairly predictable but elevated by Keaton's strong performance as he makes a desperate play to secure the future for his dead partner's children. The Dream Team is the kind of comedy Keaton could have made two dozen of if he wasn't more interested in mixing up the types of material he accepted, but he is effortlessly funny and humorously dangerous. The Merry Gentleman is another underseen indie, and while the plot is a little convoluted Keaton's work in it is wonderful and matched by Kelly Macdonald. Speechless shows the kind of RomCom career he might have had, a predictable film in genre terms but elevated by Keaton's gifts and his chemistry with Geena Davis. Plus a fun supporting role for Christopher Reeve, the only pairing of that generation's Batman and Superman (or at least Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent).

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Thanks Frederick

I haven't heard of The Merry Gentleman and Speechless, but I added them to my watchlist because Michael Keaton is always worth watching.

I'm glad to see that Mr. Mom made it to your #1 spot. I love him in this movie.


I always enjoy your lists, but this was one of my favorites.

Desperate Measures is an underrated Keaton performance. He's having a lot of fun with that one.

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If I had done it after all, Desperate Measures would have been an honorable mention.