Have Whoopi’s more dramatic talents been underused in her career?
I only remember her for her comedies, a few of which I actually enjoyed, such as Burglar and Jumpin' Jack Flash. Looking through her IMDB, her career is all over the place.
Looks like she made a lot of half-hearted, ho-hum films that spans the genre list, most of which seem to be action comedies that may have been better suited for her male contemporaries at the time (or were rip-offs of their films, such as Fatal Beauty seemingly being a mix of Fletch and Beverly Hills Cop). I still liked Fatal Beauty, from what little I remember of it, but that seemed to be about the extent of many of her projects.
Clara's Heart was a departure from her action-comedy routine, and was thoroughly forgettable (then again the film bored me when it was on TV and I remember ducking in and out of the room while it was on).
The only thing I remember of Eddie were the critics panning it.
Didn't know she made Homer and Eddie, but it looks like a forgettable flick with John Belushi.
And it appears she got her chops back with The Long Walk Home (admittedly, a film of hers I've never seen, but it seems to have been fairly received critically). Upon further reading it looks like Miramax may have been responsible for making her one rare return to drama an underachiever due to it being pulled from its initial release and getting a scattered release thereafter.
Soap Dish was an ensemble rom-com, and she had a bit part in one of my favorite films, The Player. Never saw Sarafina, which is a more serious film, and based on the IMDB ratings, neither have a lot of other people.
And that was followed up with a string of middling films, such as Made in America, Corrina, Corrina, Boys on the Side, and Moonlight and Valentino.
I would say that either Whoopi did a poor job capitalizing on her own worth (especially following Ghost), or she just preferred playing "herself" in rom-coms and dramedies.
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cyguration (3951)
3 years ago
And to follow that up....
It looks like the few times she did return to serious films, they either under-performed or weren't very well received, so it makes sense why she may have stuck to the bread and butter that worked for her throughout her career.
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