Vince Vaughn’s most underrated role is unlike any of his best comedic characters

Vince Vaughn has always been widely praised for his iconic comedic performances, but one of his more nuanced dramatic turns in True Detective Season 2 remains criminally underrated. Since breaking out in the 90s, Vaughn has been primarily known for his comedic roles in movies like Anchorman, Game Wedding CrashersAnd Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Along with frequent co-stars Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell, Vaughn became famous as a member of the “Frat Pack”, a group of actors who dominated the comedy genre with movies like Old school And Solender Over the 2000s.

But Vaughn has always mixed more complex dramatic roles in his filmography alongside the iconic comedic performances. He played Norman Bates in the 1998 remake of PsychoThe hard-nosed Sergeant Howell in the World War II epic Hawk’s Ridgeand the vengeful inmate Bradley Thomas in the brutal action thriller Brawl in Cell Block 99. The dramatic turns were very hit-and-miss – while he was praised for his work in Hawk’s Ridge And Brawl in Cell Block 99His portrayal of Bates has nothing on Anthony Perkins – but one of Vaughn’s best performances is still vastly underappreciated.

Frank Semyon from True Detective is one of Vince Vaughn’s best performances

True Detective Season 2 proved that Vaughn could play dark dramatic roles as well as lighthearted comedic roles

Vaughn gave one of the best performances of his career in True Detective Season 2. He played Frank Semyon, an entrepreneur in the criminal underworld who was struggling to keep his illicit business afloat after the death of his partner. Semyon begins to spiral when a wrongful wrong trade costs him most of his money. Vaughn was cast drastically against type in the role, and There was initially some skepticism that the star of Dodgeball would be able to pull off the role of a murderous mob boss, but he ends up nabbing the role of Park.

There’s a bit of pitch-black humor baked into Semyon’s arc True Detective Season 2, but for the most part, the role doesn’t utilize Vaughn’s comedic talents. The character’s primary purpose is to be tough and intimidating—when he beats people to death, the audience needs to be scared—and Vaughn said that; He discarded his usual comical amiability and adopted a much more sinister persona. The fact that Vaughn typically appeared in goofy comedies made this menacing transformation even more impressive.

Vince Vaughn’s casting in True Detective mirrors that of Matthew McConaughey

Both Vaughn and McConaughey were known for comedy before their gritty True Detective performances

Vaughn’s inclusion in the True Detective Season 2 cast mirrors the casting of Matthew McConaughey in season 1. As Vaughn, McConaughey was previously known for starring in mostly comedy movies. Because Vaughn mostly appeared in bromantic comedies like Game Wedding Crashers And The watchMcConaughey was one of the biggest names in the romcom genre. He’d starred in romcom hits like The wedding planner, Failure to launch, Ghosts of girlfriends pastAnd How to lose a guy in 10 daysWhich were loved by the audience but not so much by critics.

And Like Vaughn, when he signed up to appear in True DetectiveMcConaughey was coming off a string of movies that didn’t work and really needed a win. The change of pace brought on by a dramatic role in a gritty HBO crime drama was just what each respective actor needed to get their careers back on track. McConaughey’s True Detective Role led to “The McConnell,” while Vaughn’s True Detective role led to more gritty, violent roles in the likes of Brawl in Cell Block 99 And Drags across concrete.

True Detective Season 2 failed to live up to its great casting choices

True Detective season 2 has A-list with C-list material

Vaughn isn’t the only major movie star that HBO is casting True Detective Season 2. Along with Vaughn, Colin Farrell plays the crooked detective Ray Velcoro, Rachel McAdams plays the unconventional detective sergeant Annie Bezerides, and Taylor Kitsch plays the conflicted officer Paul Wodrugh.. After the monstrous success of season 1, no actor in Hollywood would turn down the opportunity to appear in season 2. But unfortunately, season 2 was a huge step down in quality from the first season.

Nic Pizzolatto has been writing season 1 for years – Initially in the form of a novel (by The Hollywood Reporter) – so he had a lot of time to develop the stories and characters, and the result was a deeply complex narrative web with rich themes and three-dimensional characterizations. But after it was a massive hit, HBO wanted him to shoot a second season in just over a year, so he had to rush the writing process. This means True Detective Season 2 was nowhere near as thoroughly developed as its predecessor (and unworthy of the A-list acting talent involved).

Source: The Hollywood Reporter