Are we having fun yet, Kevin Spacey?

‘Now, I’m no good at being noble’
Bogart’s classic line from “Casablanca” should actually be Spacey’s career motto as he continues to move forward in his career. Perhaps it was playing a series of heavies that made him so want to play the would-be saints he portrays in “K-Pax” and “Life of David Gale.” But he just isn’t good at it. And the films themselves are dreadful. In an interview on “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” Spacey says the story is what first-and-foremost draws him to a film — but it’s sure hard to tell from some of the post-2000 roles. 

You would think that someone who likes theater as much as Spacey (he currently is the artistic director at London’s Old Vic Theater) would realize that the nefarious Iago is a much better role than the rather simplistic “can he really be fooled this easily?” Othello. And that Polonius is the one who gets all the good lines in “Hamlet.”

These good-guy characters just aren’t complicated enough for an actor like Spacey. While Tom Hanks and Robin Williams are constantly trying to find darker characters, Spacey spent the first few years of the millennium trying to portray the good guy. The grass truly is always greener. He may have been scared of being typecast, but the wonderful thing about his best films is that all the characters are unique individuals.

There’s nothing more fun than watching Spacey in a film that works. It’s hard to imagine what a mess “American Beauty” would have been if Spacey and Annette Bening weren’t cast. The best scenes are when Spacey lets loose, such as when he decides to quit and blackmail his boss for a nice severance package. When the boss tells him he’s some kind of “twisted f—k,” Spacey’s Lester Burnham simply replies, “No Brad; I'm just an ordinary guy who has nothing left to lose.” Now that's fun to watch.

What about Lex?
On the surface, Lex Luthor seems like the perfect role for Spacey’s return to form. And he’s not bad in the role. But Spacey is he’s so superb in some films he carries with him a high level of expectation. And he doesn’t quite meet that in “Superman Returns.” Particularly if you’ve ever seen his “Wiseguy” Mel Profitt. Profitt, like Lex, is a maniacal genius with dreams of conquering the world — he’s just a much more interesting one.

Or course, part of it is that the shadow of Gene Hackman hangs heavy over Spacey’s Lex. Hackman was almost gleeful in the role — and the man chewed scenery like he was having his last meal. But there is no such reckless abandon with Spacey’s performance. You keep waiting for his Lex to really break loose and show a bit more of his true insanity, but it never quite happens.

Perhaps we’re all just expecting too much? In an interview with the London Guardian, Spacey compared his career ups-and-downs to Bobby Darin’s, saying, “Bobby Darin was accused of being arrogant, which he was. He didn't want to get stuck in one thing. People wanted him the way they discovered him. Well, you know, you could say I've experienced a tiny bit of all that myself. And you have to ask yourself: am I living my life for myself or to satisfy all these people who don't really know me?”

Still it’s hard not to hope that the glee that swam across his face when he played Lester Burnham, Mel Profitt, Verbal Kint, Buddy Ackerman, Jack Vincennes and all his other truly great roles makes a return visit. He doesn’t have to “satisfy all these people” who don’t know him, but it would be nice to see Spacey have fun again.

Movies editor Paige Newman still holds out hope for Kevin Spacey's next film and wonders whatever became of “Wiseguy” star Ken Wahl.

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