Wednesday 2 June 2010

Best Actor 1985: James Garner in Murphy's Romance

James Garner received his only Oscar nomination for playing Murphy Jones in Murphy's Romance.

Murphy's Romance is a very standard romantic comedy of sorts, with its characters with their quirks. It was okay I suppose but there was really nothing all that original about it, nor was there anything all that great about it.

Garner's performance is just like the film really. There is nothing wrong with his performance but there is nothing that makes it really stand out in any sort of way. He plays the romantic lead of the film, who is an older pharmacist. Garner gives a typical performance expected to him really. He handles his character well enough but never in a unique way.

Garner does nothing surprising and does nothing out of his normal performance reach in this film. Doing this is fine for him but it is not at all amazing. He has his quirks and his strange ways, which are never made that interesting by Garner. He is okay at all times though but never great in anyway. He never does anything that is special in any way.

His chemistry with Sally Field is fine but again nothing amazing. I never really felt that he or Field ever created that interesting of a relationship, an okay but not one that was anything special. I really do not have that much to say about his performance overall because it is standard and never ever special. Garner is never bad during this performance but he never did a single thing that seemed like he should have been nominated.

2 comments:

joe burns said...

From your review, I guess you think it was a filler nomination. I guess he'll get fourth.

Louis Morgan said...

Yes he was a filler nomination.