The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award
Clark, the ponytail guy in the Harvard bar
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:06Read transcript
- A new category suggested by a reader, whose name the host cannot remember: the Mark Ruffalo They Knew overacting moment of the movie; watching for the first recipient, there is no overacting in this movie, and the only case, which the host does not agree with, is Chucky going in to do the job interview for Will, a comic relief scene everyone likes.
- Devil's advocate: does Damon broadcast the cracking in it's not your fault, or is it just familiarity after 25 years; it is one of the only times Robin Williams blows Damon off the screen, and if you look closely the crinkled-up face when he starts to cry is kind of bad until the hug hides him, which is why people have picked on the scene over the years; the rebuttal asks how else he should play a man melting down and trying not to.
- Given the final say, the answer is that Damon does a good job in that scene; also, Mark Ruffalo's they knew line is the best part of Spotlight. — Shea Serrano
- The others love the Spotlight moment too, having waited Ruffalo's whole career for him to raise his voice in a movie of people reading phone books for two hours; the category is tweaked to the overacting scene they also love to death, achievement in overacting, and given to Clark with the ponytail, exactly over the top perfect, even his ponytail a little frazzled.
- Agreement that Clark is the pick, given his look. — Chris Ryan
- Shout-out: the Clark actor became more famous in Oz as Ryan O'Reilly's brain-damaged brother, and is Dean Winters's real-life brother; Ryan O'Reilly is a forgotten all-time great TV character, and Winters is now the beeper guy from 30 Rock and the insurance ads.