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Hugh Laurie's Acting in "Chance": Fantastic

posted 8 years ago by hilaryjrp
14 replies | jump to latest

Since the season isn't over yet, it's impossible to know whether all the suspense in "Chance"--and there is tons--will be worth it. However, for Hugh Laurie's acting in the last two episodes alone, I'm glad I didn't end my Hulu subscription.

The show's premise is way too melodramatic, and Laurie's character remains, despite the life he gives his anti-hero, just an aging guy suffering from manic erotic behavior. We know nothing at all about him aside from the constricted, claustrophobic world his unreliable-narrator perspective offers, and that world has so many tight camera shots that the December 7 episode was worth it just for some long shots. But maybe that's the point, and this series in the end is about the fear of getting old. I don't know.

The Gretchen Mol character has worn thin, fast. Ethan Suplee is great and rivets you to the screen, but only because, as Chance's daughter says, he's "scary." So the series thus far has depended on Laurie; and Laurie's unexpected decision at the end of the December 7 episode was a pretty human, realistic one. His reversal of that decision, leading to the cliffhanger, is similarly human and realistic.

If not for his portrayal of a really scared, financially unstable, aging upper-class professional, I'd have given this series at most three episodes. His acting has made the difference.

[–] skockoa 8 years ago

The ending of that episode was really great and funny :D. When he said to D on the phone "He's got a gun and a badge and all I've got a 3 inch knife..what am I gonna do, stab a cop?? This is beyond crazy"

[–] saskia520 8 years ago

I agree.

Can I ask why you're considering dropping Hulu?

I noticed that Criterion has removed all of their movies. They took up 75% of my watchlist so I'm thinking about dropping Hulu too. They didn't even add anything in its replacement.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

Can I ask why you're considering dropping Hulu?

I wish I could say I'm thinking of dropping it because of the Criterion collection disappearing. I watch a great deal of foreign films, but none of the era or mannered intellectual style that (I at least) consider the Criterion collection comprised of.

I'm a philistine who followed two series Hulu-proprietary that have gone downhill like crazy. "Chance" so far is decent; and I was sincerely and pleasantly surprised, after having made the above post, to find a great deal of interesting foreign and domestic releases. So I'll be keeping Hulu for the film choices and also for "Chance."

I recently tried a free Netflix renewal. I had used Netflix exclusively until that streaming service launched its "own brand" of television shows and took money away from theatrical films. (By "theatrical," I mean thinking person's films, foreign or domestic.) I spent two hours the other night trying to find something to rewatch on it and came up with an ancient film noir I'd seen ten times. No Alfred Hitchcock. No significant film noir. No recent "grown-up" films. Last night, I watched "Mary Poppins" for free over-the-air.

Hulu still is in my opinion worth the money. It better realize that adults are the people who pay bills, or else I'll just wait for Turner Classic Movies to launch its own streaming service. BTW, if you're snowbound today or tomorrow, I recommend the French film "Seraphine," if you're into true stories about artists. It expires in three days.

[–] saskia520 8 years ago

Thank you for the recommendation of Seraphena. I'm going to watch it right now.

Netflix is awful and I keep it only because of the other households with children using my account. I'll keep Hulu and Amazon for the same reason. I just got Amazons Filmbox Luve with at least 600 foreign films , many that I wasn't aware of. I think I'm paying 5$ a month for that.

Turner and Criterion have their own streaming service called FilmStruck. That's why Criterion pulled their movies, to start their own service. Even though I have smart tvs I need to have Amazon Fire which I do own but they're packed away. I didn't need them once I switched to smart TVs. Now I n Ed them. I've been waiting for this service for years so I'm I'm pretty much excited.

Thank you for your reply.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

Ha, I mixed up my replies to your two posts. Isn't Seraphine great? I know SOO many older unsuccessful artists. This film is tragic for many reasons, and I just wish it addressed the heroine's "writer's block." That would have been a film in itself.

EDIT: I have no trouble whatsoever admitting that if Hugh Laurie had reprised the "House" persona, I'd have given "Chance" two minutes, max. I want stories about subjects other than people falling in love and living 1%er lives on working-people's salaries; and all the CGI crap; and frikkin' sci fi. But similarly, I do not want HBO-style torture porn or gross-out excess, the kind of which can be found on, say, Orange is the New Black. I was going to give "Shut Eye" a try, but I'm not sure if it's a splatter-fest. If it is? Not interested. "Chance" at least has been thoughtful, adult, and restrained (restrained, thus far).

[–] saskia520 8 years ago

I'm now watching Seriphene for the second time. It's gorgeous and I wonder why I didn't notice it until your recommendation.

Again, thank you. I'm glad I got to see it before Hulu drops it. I'll probably buy it.

Have you seen A Brush with Genius about Van Gogh? This one I do own. The Art of The Steal about the Barnes collection in Philadelphia? I should own that one too. Another film with art at the center is The Best Offer with Geoffrey Rush and it is on NF.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

Thanks for the titles! I had no idea Turner has its own streaming service, so thanks for that, too. What streaming services either have decreasing respect for or are sincerely clueless about is the HUGE community of over-40 intellectuals responsible for their initial success as start-up companies in the early 00's (during my support of Bernie Sanders' campaign, I ceased using the abhorrent classist term "college-educated"). I recall subscribing to Netflix in order to brush up on classic English novels and theater, in preparation for retaking the GRE's. At that time, you literally could find the canon of English literature, whether film versions of Shakespeare or the vulgar slew of Jane Austen redo's.

I suspect that had I searched Netflix this weekend for those titles, probably 3/4 of them, if not all, would have vanished.

[–] saskia520 8 years ago

I'm 66. I have no idea what happened to a lot of my peers that voted Trump, not that I know any personally. I still support Bernie.

Yeah, the Turner/Criterion service is exactly what I've been waiting for.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

Hi, Saskia. I just turned 60, something neither good nor bad in itself, but a thing that gave me a renewed respect (warning: politically incorrect statement follows) for ALL the soap opera cast in our elections on the edge of 70 (or over). I *adore* Bernie Sanders. Poor soul brought me to tears the other night when a late-night host said there was no reason he shouldn't run in 2020. His hair was combed, and he looked very dapper, and there was a wistfulness in his eyes that broke my heart. Which is all to say: SANDERS in 2020!

To bring this thread back to "Chance": I realize that Hugh Laurie is still a whippersnapper as far as senior-citizenhood is concerned, but darn if he doesn't "play" the frailties of age smashingly in this series. I do hope the remaining episodes lead to an ending where "Chance" (like Bernie) dusts himself off and shoulders on.

[–] jonnyss 8 years ago

ah, but we know chance's back story, and we now know d's back story. maybe gretchen mol's acting will make more sense when jackie's back story is revealed.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

ah, but we know chance's back story, and we now know d's back story. maybe gretchen mol's acting will make more sense when jackie's back story is revealed.

The problem with Is-(S)He-or-Isn't-(S)He a Psychokiller characters is that, with only one exception, the "bitter truth" is never enough to make you overlook all their drama. For me the exception is in "Chinatown." When you learn the reasons for Mrs. Mulwray's double-life, it stuns you. Or maybe the way John Huston reveals it is stunning. I can't think of a single "two-personalities" trope that hasn't been exhausted in the 40+ years intervening. Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct?" Nah.

The potential psychokiller seems always female. At this point in "Chance," I can't care less which personality is the "real" one with Gretchen Mol. The character is exhausting; in fact, Chance asked in the last episode if she isn't very tired being two people.

[–] sarizonana 8 years ago

I will sound like your typical fna girl but Hugh is always fantastic he can't do wrong in my book, he only had a few flaws with his American accent in House since his regular accent slipped a few times but its really hard to notice.

I juts did so because i watched some House episodes like 3 times and watched many compilations on YouTube of the best moments but outside of it Hugh is someone just can't go wrong with his performances.

[–] soulsk8ter225 8 years ago

Despite the American accent and the similar-ish profession, he is completely transformed and unrecognizable as Eldon Chance, compared to that of his Gregory House portrayal. I know I'm watching the same man on screen, but I can't sit there at all and say, "That's House." I want to, but I just can't. It doesn't work.

That's a sign of a good actor right there.

** Rest in peace, Timothy Volkert (1988 - 2003) **

[–] sarizonana 8 years ago

A great actor.
The best tv actor right now, he is the equivalent to Daniel Day Lewis of the small screen.