This subreddit is a place to enjoy and discuss the HBO miniseries 'The Night Of'
Small criticism of a great show
It's not a criticism of the show per se, but a criticism of Jeannie Berlin.
She delivers her lines so stiffly, so robotically, so monotonous. It's sounds like she's reading her lines at a table read, devoid of any contextual meaning, as if she's reading her lines for the first time. I don't know if this is part of her acting style or something, but I cringe every time she's on screen and delivers a line that's lacking in inflection or emotion. Her incredulous sounds like her angry sounds like her happy.
In a show with such great actors, her whole thing really stands out and it brings me out of the show everytime one of her scenes comes up.
I see this thread and your comments are downvoted, but for what it's worth I just found this thread because I was searching around for some discussion on what a bad actress Jeannie Berlin was. Didn't find any articles or any threads on IMDB, so I dropped her name into reddit.
I can't believe how much she takes me out of the show any time she's in a scene. Whatever garbage that guy below is spewing about naturalism is dead off for me. She sounds the exact opposite of natural. She sounds like a stiff board in every situation. And like you mentioned below, Box is the exact idea of a natural, hardened, desensitized, but still human character. Helen's character sounds like an android. Actually, that's giving her too much credit. Brent Spiner plays a better android.
I don't know if it's a perception thing, because my girlfriend doesn't agree with me and we usually always agree when someone is a bad actor.
Thank you! Honestly, I was kind of surprised that there was not more of this sentiment and I found this thread the same way you did. After getting into this fantastic show with great acting from most of the cast, and tons of surrounding media and critic rhetoric, analysis and explanation of the show, I thought why the hell is no one mentioning how cringey this actress is? Her face expressions, vocal cadence, it's all so awkwardly smug and self righteous but also emotionless and boring. I can't help but think it's her acting style and this is purposeful - she is trying to use these quirks and mannerisms to turn people off of her character and not like her. Otherwise she's a really shitty actress.
Actually I thought maybe she had some kind of slight stroke or something? Being completely sincere - it seems that maybe something has affected her speech and face?
I've never seen the night of but shes in the show succession as well and her acting is so bad that I actually googled her name and stroke which brought me here. The way she talks and how low her face droops I thought maybe she had one. I thought maybe it's just for this character but after reading this thread I think that's just the way she is.
Oh my god, I just did the exact same thing and this thread popped up! I was convinces she must have had a stroke - she's literally barely opening her mouth when she talks.
Her dead mouth makes my skin crawl. I was watching episode 8 moments before this and had to stop and find an outlet to vent my disgust of her "character". Other than Berlin, Great show!!!
I think it's funny that I've gotten so many people agreeing with me but only 25% upvoted
Yes. I completely agree. Every scene she is in disconnects me from the world of the show. Sometimes it's even cringe inducing. I hate criticizing others for shit I couldn't do myself but she stands out amongst an otherwise perfect cast.
It's called naturalism. Acting the way people are in real life. It's incredibly difficult and you're completely wrong.
So her bad acting is actually just her acting like she's not acting? She doesn't seem natural at all who the fuck are you watching that I'm not
Good actors don't appear as if they are acting. That's what good acting is. So I'm not sure you know what you are saying.
Or you're misunderstanding what I'm saying, fuckstick. She's a bad actor because I don't believe her character. I'm not saying she seems "too real."
You can go suck a fuck
Agreed. She just sounds like a bad actress. Like shes on a SNL episode and trying to act and read her lines from a cue card at the same time.
she is spastic
And here I'm glad to be using my inherent gift of being incapable of distinguish "good" from "bad" quality in lots and lots of areas!
I didn't notice the "her angry sounds like her happy" thing and her voice is particular but I think she is fitting the role quiet well, like Box she is not showing too much emotions (less than him even).Both are experienced and have seen multiples cases like this one and she hasn't yet be put in a position where she needs to show emotions (like she has no reasons to get mad or anything she is doing her job and it might cost her but so far nothing was supposed to upset her)
Maybe I didn't explain myself too well, but Box is emotionless in a way that works. I can tell he's world weary by his line delivery. I can tell he's a grizzled vet by the quality and volume of his voice. Berlin is supposed to be expressing much the same thing I gather, but her line delivery is wooden. I'm not getting any vibe from her at all. I'm so very aware that she's an actor playing a character.
Does Box care about this case and have a lot invested in it, and is he genuinely interested in what happened? Is the prosecutor seemingly careless about the truth and doesn't actually connect to it on a personal level, more of a means to an end in this business transaction. Box is getting ready to retire, still puts in the extra effort for the case. The prosecutor's only attempt to help is to manipulate a medical professional into lying. Does she really care about the case when she talks about it, or is this an annoyance on her after he turned down the plea at this point, making her do an entire trial.
What do you mean?
You were saying that Berlin is supposed to be expressing the similar weary, overworking emotionless delivery, but I was listing reasons that her character has a different involvement with the case where she would have a more detached and passionless delivery.
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What happened to her? It's like she may have elephantitist of the lower face......it should be credits saying Jeannie Berlin's chin and jaws as Helen Weiss
She's awful in succession too.She looks like a ghoul. Seriously is there no other actress who can play any of her roles without looking like a frightening witch? Who hires her and why?
So true! I don't know what has happened to her face, old cheek implants?? It's terrifying to see!
The way she talks sounds like she has alcoholism problem