Kevin Kline’s Best Movies, Ranked | Pretty Reel

Kevin Kline is a classically trained Shakespearean actor who also has strong comedic skills. He studied at Julliard and starred in several productions of Shakespeare’s plays, including Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V and Hamlet. However, he is best known as the Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner for his role in the 1988 wacky British comedy A Fish Called Wanda.

Kline is a real talent with a diverse range. He spent the 1970s and 1980s performing on Broadway, winning two Tony Awards before making the transition to acting as a tormented Nathan opposite Meryl Streep’s Sophie in Sophie’s Choice in 1982. Kline was nominated for the Golden Globe 1983 for New Star of the Year and the BAFTA for Best Film Newcomer. Kline made her way by appearing in several films by director Lawrence Kasdan in the 1980s and early 1990s, including The Big Chill, Grand Canyon and French Kiss. More recently, Kline has returned to his roots, appearing in Shakespearean adaptations including King Lear and As You Like It. He also starred in a Broadway production of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac and is one of Bob’s Burgers’ most memorable voice actors.

In addition to his Oscar and three Tony Awards, Kline has received four Drama Desk Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Gotham Award, and a Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man of the Year Award. He has been nominated for two BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. On a personal level, Kline has been married to Phoebe Cates of Fast Times At Ridgemont High since 1989. They have two children, Owen and Greta. These are the best Kevin Kline movies.

6 Grand Canyon

20th century fox

Grand Canyon is a 1991 film in which Kevin Kline plays Mack, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles. While driving home from a Lakers game, his car breaks down and he is targeted by muggers in a bad neighborhood late at night. A tow truck driver named Simon (Danny Glover) dissuades the muggers from their plans when he arrives to tow Mack’s car. Even though Mack and Simon have nothing in common, Mack feels compelled to befriend him. The underrated Grand Canyon features a strong ensemble cast (including a wonderful Steve Martin) who experience random events that highlight the race and class differences that separate people in the same town.

5 The Great Cold

Pictures of Colombia

The Big Chill is a 1983 film about a group of baby boomers who are alumni of the University of Michigan. They reunite 15 years after graduation after the death by suicide of their friend Alex (Kevin Costner). Kevin Kline has starred alongside Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly and JoBeth Williams. Kline plays Harold Cooper. The group remains in his domain and that of his wife (Glenn Close) Sarah Cooper in South Carolina. The film explores how life has changed for this group of 30-somethings since their college heyday in the 1960s, and is considered a classic of the baby boomer generation.

4 inputs and outputs

Paramount Pictures

In & Out is a 1997 film that was actually inspired by Tom Hanks’ Oscar acceptance speech for his role in Philadelphia in which he paid tribute to his high school acting coach and a former classmate of class, claiming that they were “two of America’s finest gay men”. , two wonderful men with whom I had the good fortune to be associated. Kevin Kline plays Howard Brackett, a high school English literature teacher in Indiana. He’s engaged to a fellow teacher named Emily (the phenomenal Joan Cusack, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role).

Howard’s former student Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) is nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for playing a gay soldier in a film called To Serve and Protect. During his acceptance speech, he thanks Howard and says, “…and he’s gay.” Howard’s fiancee, family, friends, students and colleagues are shocked. Their reactions have nothing on how Howard reacts. He vehemently reassures everyone that he is heterosexual. This is of course not the case, and Howard embarks on a journey of self-discovery after admitting he is gay while at the altar to marry Emily. In and Out is notable for featuring a 12-second kiss between Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck, which Hollywood had refrained from.

3 Sophie’s Choice

Universal images

Sophie’s Choice was released in 1982 and is Kevin Kline’s first feature film. The plot centers on Sophie Zawistowski, a Polish immigrant with a dark secret. She lives in a boarding house in Brooklyn with her moody and tempestuous lover, Nathan Landau (Kline), whom she met shortly after immigrating to the United States. Nathan is jealous and has violent mood swings as she struggles with memories of the concentration camps. in Poland and the loss of her children. Kline and Meryl Streep are phenomenal in this tragic and haunting film.

2 David

Warner Bros.

In Dave in 1993, Kevin Kline plays Dave Kovic. He runs a temp agency in Georgetown and impersonates President Bill Mitchell as a side job. He is approached by a Secret Service agent to impersonate Mitchell after a speech, telling him it’s a security measure. In reality, it’s to cover up the fact that Mitchell snuck off with a staff member he was having an affair with. Mitchell has a stroke while having sex, and Dave is forced to maintain the ruse as president. Government shenanigans are underway and Dave is unwittingly part of their plan. However, Dave charms everyone he comes in contact with, including Mitchell’s ex-wife, Ellen (Sigourney Weaver). This is a delicious and fun little gem.

1 A fish called Wanda

MGM

A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 comedy starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin as a gang of diamond thieves who cross paths in an attempt to track down the stolen diamonds that the gang leader has hidden. Kline plays Otto West, a petty and ignorant Anglophobe. He is dating con man Wanda Gershwitz (Curtis), but they hide this fact from the gang leader so Wanda can attempt to seduce him for information. A Fish Called Wanda was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $188 million ($471 million inflation-adjusted) worldwide. The film was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and Kline won Best Supporting Actor as the morally reprehensible and hilarious scumbag Otto.