Eli Roth and Inglorious Basterds

I watched Inglorious Basterds again last night. It was probably my third time seeing the film, while it was my friend’s first, and their first time seeing a Tarantino film. I figured I would get them started with the film that is still my favourite Tarantino epic.

Like the first viewing, Brad Pitt’s accent is almost campy but I am still able to tolerate it.

What I couldn’t tolerate was Eli Roth’s performance as Donny Donowitz a.k.a. “The Bear Jew”. Roth’s performance is just a object lesson on overacting. He doesn’t have that many lines but manages to make you cringe with most of them. There are literally two lines out of twelve that are actually delivered well. Roth doesn’t have the excuse of being hampered by an accent or any other affectation that makes his job harder.

Roth’s performance is even more of a conundrum since Tarantino has a reputation for getting good performances out of actors. Some of the few Samuel L. Jackson performances I have generally loved in a long time, came from Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. The Hateful Eight even made Channing Tatum a good actor for a minutes at a time. Why didn’t Tarantino rein in Roth? I have to think it has something to do with their creative partnership.

Tarantino was the executive producer of Roth’s Hostel (2005) and called Roth “the future of horror.” It seems like nepotism not only played a part in Roth’s casting, but also the direction he received from one of the greatest directors in Hollywood.

Leave a Reply