It's hard not to compare the contemporary careers of Jack and Bob DeNiro. Both are actors of extraordinary talent. DeNiro seems to have resigned himself to doing unchallenging roles in uninspired movies, which gets him a steady paycheck but I can't imagine he takes much pride in his work of the past 10 or so years. Nicholson, too, has made his share of average, even mediocre, movies. Just when you start thinking he's going to reprise his patented Nicholson shtick yet again, he astonishes you with the power and intensity of his performance. I can never forget his role in Hoffa. Not a great movie, but Nicholson was astonishing. In 10 or less minutes, I forgot I was watching Nicholson. I was watching Hoffa. To me, the hardest thing for an actor to do is play someone famous from our own lifetimes. Anthony Hopkins did it in Nixon, Bruno Ganz did it in the recent Downfall, and Nicholson did it in Hoffa. A truly extraordinary actor. Yes, he'll do something trite like Anger Management but he'll also be in something like About Schmidt. If he's not the best, he's one of America's best actors.
