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Jack Black is a unique presence in movies. He's got wild energy and the kind of intense charisma that guarantees you can't look at anything else whenever he's onscreen. He doesn't fall into the category of conventional leading men, like Tom Cruise, nor is he a chameleon like Daniel Day-Lewis, who becomes unrecognizable by diving into whatever character he's portraying. What he does instead is take his singular persona and adapt it for each film. When he needs to go crazy, he goes all out. When he needs to pull back, he shows restraint.
Dewey Finn in School of Rock is arguably his signature role, the one that makes the most of all his particular skills. A closer look at his filmography, though, reveals how diverse his career has truly been. Black has made all kinds of films, continually revealing different sides of his talent in the process. These performances deserve particular praise.
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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a $400 million-grossing hit domestically, so it might seem a little odd to consider Jack Black's performance underrated. In reality, it's underrated in the sense that it didn't particularly seem to pull in his fanbase. The movie was aimed at family audiences, not the people who would go to see him in one of his edgier comedies. And because he starred alongside Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, his work got much less attention than it deserved.
The story finds four teenagers being sucked into an old video game. Their avatars are largely at odds with their actual personas. In his case, he plays the game version of Bethany, an adolescent “hot girl.” The idea of a superficial teen girl represented by a middle-aged man is one of Jumanji's central jokes. Black pulls it off, capturing the mannerisms and lingo of a 16-year-old girl. If you can look past the Johnson/Hart antics, you'll see that the actor drops golden one-liners left and right, without ever stooping to ridiculing Bethany.
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Tropic Thunder was a big hit in 2008, but Robert Downey Jr. got the lion's share of the attention for his controversial role as a white method actor who plays an African-American man by darkening his skin. That made it easy to overlook how good Jack Black is. The story concerns a group of actors shooting a war movie in an actual jungle. After crossing paths with a local gang that manufactures and distributes narcotics, they find themselves fighting for their lives for real.
The actor plays Jeff Portnoy, a drug-addicted comedian known for making lowbrow comedies. Taking a role in this war drama is supposed to prove he's capable of more than putting on a fat suit and making flatulence jokes. Black does a stellar job conveying the desperation of his character, as well as the way Jeff ultimately uses his experience with substances to help save the day. His role isn't as showy as Downey's, but he adds significantly to Tropic Thunder's overall impact.
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Jack Black broke into entertainment as part of the comic rock band Tenacious D, together with colleague Kyle Gass. They were a heavy metal group that often played headbanging music acoustically. In 2006, the guys brought their act to the big screen with Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, in which they go on a quest to find a mythic, magical guitar pick that is alleged to contain supernatural powers. This is a movie where Dave Grohl plays Satan, which gives you a pretty good idea of its tone.
Despite Black's fame, Tenacious D was never a mainstream hit. They had more of a cult following. The film, therefore, was largely ignored by audiences. It is, however, a pretty pure distillation of Jack Black. His manic energy and full-throttle humor is, to paraphrase Spinal Tap, turned up to 11 here. He's a rock-and-roll madman, and his performance oozes love for heavy metal. You could not find a more Jack Black-y Jack Black movie.
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Saving Silverman is one of those movies that's kind of intentionally dumb. J.D. (Jack Black) and Wayne (Steve Zahn) are longtime friends. Their pal Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs) is about to marry Judith (Amanda Peet), a controlling woman they don't like at all. Determined to prevent him from making what they perceive as a big mistake, the guys scheme to reunite him with Sandy Perkus (Amanda Detmer), his former love and the proverbial “one who got away.”
With such a premise, the movie is obviously a goofy comedy. Black, of course, excels at stuff like that. He works up amusing comedic chemistry with Zahn and humorously conveys the frantic attitude J.D. has in wanting to make sure his friend is set up for a lifetime of happiness, not misery. Saving Silverman is not a great movie. In fact, it's only got a 18% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, Jack Black can always squeeze out a few decent laughs when he's in crazy mode, which he definitely is in this case.
Jack Black's breakthrough role came in 2000's High Fidelity, the screen adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel. John Cusack stars as Rob Gordon, a Chicago record store owner and all-around music buff. When his girlfriend leaves him, he goes through a personal and emotional crisis. Through the power of the vinyl he loves, Rob tries to figure out where he's going in life. He does this by looking up five exes to ask them what went wrong and how he can change.
Black has a supporting role as Barry, Rob's employee whose knowledge of music is just as encyclopedic. The only difference is that he's a snob and a gatekeeper, prone to antagonizing customers whose taste he finds appalling. A character like that could be obnoxious, except that Black hilariously makes it clear that Barry's behavior comes from genuine passion. He earns the movie's biggest laughs. High Fidelity was a tough sell with its low-concept premise, but it's a poignant, funny, truthful take on the source material.
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The Holiday has become a favorite among rom-com fans, yet was never fully embraced by the public at large, despite a dream-team cast. American Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Brit Iris (Kate Winslet) have broken up with their boyfriends. They take part in a “home swap," living in each other's places over the Christmas holiday in order to clear their minds. Both find the start of new love in the process. For Iris, that comes in the form of a Hollywood film composer named Miles Dumont (played by Jack Black).
Writer/director Nancy Meyers gave the actor an opportunity to do something he really hadn't done before - play a romantic leading man. The fact that he doesn't fit that conventional mold is part of the appeal. Black gets to show a softer charm here, along with a tender side that his most famous roles have not allowed for. The Holiday got fairly negative reviews from critics. Nevertheless, he does a terrific job of playing a down-to-earth guy who happens to meet a woman he develops genuine feelings for. It's a surprise to see him in a role like this, but he pulls it off.
