10 Great Jack Black Performances Barry High Fidelity
This is it: the role that made Black a star, as the sardonic, wise-ass know-it-all Barry, an employee at John Cusack's Chicago record store who never minces words and never cares whose feelings he tramples upon. His ying/yang double-act with Todd Louiso's sensitive Dick is one of the highlights of Stephen Frears' hugely enjoyable rom-com. Best moment: When he eviscerates a well-meaning dad who's blundered into the (very serious, very hardcore) record store looking for a copy of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You for his daughter. "Is she in a coma?" asks Barry, triggering a chain of events that, perhaps not unreasonably, ends with him being throttled by Cusack. Does he sing? Hells, yeah. As the lead singer of Sonic Death Monkey - no, Kathleen Turner Overdrive, no, Barry Jive & The Uptown Five, Black brings the house down with a cracking, soulful rendition of Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On. This was the first movie in which Black - an accomplished rock singer who's been in Tenacious D since 1994 (you might have heard of them) - showed off his mighty pipes. None more Black? This is the template on which pretty much every major Black comedy performance since has been based: sneering, sarcastic, dialogue rife with unusual pronunciations and emphases. This is Black's first blustering blowhard, and it's awesome to watch.
Have Your Say
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Your Comments
1
RE: wait..
Posted on Wednesday January 13, 2010, 18:12 by TheSpleen
L: shmoobaka
how is there not mention of BioDome?
IODOME! They sure caused some trouble inside that bubble!
Read More
2
RE: 10 Great Jack Black Performances
Posted on Wednesday September 23, 2009, 10:13 by Hymers2k9
i am going to be the 1st to try and actually name 10 Jack Black films...
10.Anchorman
9.Nacho Libre
8.Be Kind Rewind
7.King Kong
6.Tenacious D The Pick Of Destiny
5.Shark Tale
4.Shallow Hal
3.Kung Fu Panda
2.Tropic Thunder
1.School Of Rock
before anyone spots flaws i realise that he is only in anchorman for like 3 minutes and shark tale and kung fu panda are animations but they are still JB performances all over! Read More
3
wait..
Posted on Tuesday September 1, 2009, 19:15 by shmoobaka
Posted on Wednesday June 24, 2009, 20:06 by Blue Ryan
Remember this is the guy who did school of rock. One of the finest comedy films of the decade. I enjoy his performances other than tropic thunder where he was pretty rubbish Read More
5
RE: Nacho Libre... one of my favourites
Posted on Tuesday June 23, 2009, 12:47 by BishopQuaker
I can't even think of 10 Jack Black films I've seen!
I'll probably get shotdown for this but I thought School of Rock was a good film Read More
6
RE: Jared Hess
Posted on Tuesday June 23, 2009, 08:30 by dancjtodd
L: kurum
"Although Nacho Libre isn't an entirely successful attempt to blend the innocent appeal of School Of Rock (Mike White wrote both movies) with the off-beat dynamics of Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess directed both)..."
I thought Richard Linklater directed School of Rock?
sp;
Empire are saying Jared Hess directed both Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, not School of Rock & Napoleon Dynamite. Read More
