Michelle Pfeiffer has Kevin Kline Syndrome<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"And now for a long and rambling note about something relatively unimportant and open to debate... Reading this review of Cheri, an upcoming Stephen Frears\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/michelle-pfeiffer-has-kevin-kline-syndrome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michelle Pfeiffer has Kevin Kline Syndrome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And now for a long and rambling note about something relatively unimportant and open to debate... 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{"id":64672,"date":"2009-02-10T19:07:29","date_gmt":"2009-02-11T03:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookingcloser.org\/?p=64672"},"modified":"2013-03-29T22:14:40","modified_gmt":"2013-03-30T04:14:40","slug":"michelle-pfeiffer-has-kevin-kline-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/michelle-pfeiffer-has-kevin-kline-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Pfeiffer has Kevin Kline Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

And now for a long and rambling note about something relatively unimportant and open to debate\u2026<\/p>\n

Reading this review of Cheri<\/em><\/a>, an upcoming Stephen Frears film that stars Michelle Pfeiffer, I felt a momentary surge of hope. But I\u2019ve learned not to keep that hope in check\u2026
\n<\/p>\n

It started in 1986, when I saw Pfeiffer in Richard Donner\u2019s Ladyhawke<\/em> (which is, in spite of its soundtrack, still<\/em> my favorite Donner film) and I fell in love. It wasn\u2019t just that she was beautiful\u2026 it was that this was a perfect match<\/em> of actress and character, an opportunity that made us all sit up straight and realize that this was why God made Michelle Pfeiffer\u2026 for roles and performances like this. Whereas most actresses would have just turned the character into \u201cthe pretty girl,\u201d Pfeiffer actually made me care about Isabeau.<\/p>\n

Ever since, I\u2019ve been rooting for Pfeiffer to find that Next Great Performance\u2026 the role that people would talk about with reverence and nostalgia. I\u2019ve been waiting for that thrill of seeing someone capture her particular strengths in an unforgettable way.<\/p>\n

Alas, it hasn\u2019t come. There have been some memorable turns: Scorsese\u2019s The Age of Innocence<\/em> was as close as she\u2019s come, and I may come to decide that it really as a Great Performance. And then there are her striking supporting roles in Stardust<\/em> and Hairspray<\/em>. But where is The Great Michelle Pfeiffer Role? It seems inevitable. The day will come. The movie will be made. But by whom? And when? [UPDATE: Victor Morton had reminded me of Pfeiffer\u2019s performance in The Fabulous Baker Boys<\/em>. Sure, she was sexy and she proved that she could sing.But I\u2019m not sure if that was The Performance I\u2019ve hoped for.]<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been experiencing the same sense of prolonged frustration with Kevin Kline. In A Fish Called Wanda<\/em>, he was just too good to be true. And on many occasions since, he\u2019s been impressive, including Dave<\/em>, A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> and his small but endearing appearance in The Anniversary Party<\/em>. The previews for The Emperor\u2019s Club<\/em> made me eager to see it, but then the film fell flat (at least for me). When will we see The Great Kevin Kline Performance?<\/p>\n

Do these two actors need better agents?<\/p>\n

Which actors give you a perpetual sense of unfulfilled potential, of greatness that just hasn\u2019t found the right opportunity yet?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not talking about Steve Martin, Harrison Ford, and Robert DeNiro\u2013great actors who have already given us several iconic performances and then somehow lost their grip on greatness (or even goodness). I\u2019m talking about actors who teased us with greatness\u2026 once\u2026 and then never came close to that again.<\/p>\n

Like Charles Grodin in Midnight Run<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"