Is Ryan Gosling the Best Actor He Can Be?

Is he a “good” actor?

This is an article that’s not entirely important or necessary, but, at the same time, it is extremely important and necessary. It’s important because Gosling is a fairly well known actor and one that often stars in big movies. It’s necessary because if he stars in said big movies, then its necessary to look at if he is good enough to deserve said big movies.

He’s easily in my top ten Canadians of all time — which is a list I haven’t really given much thought of, but he certainly has to be in the top ten — and over the years I’ve come to appreciate him quite a lot. Some people hold a quiet love for Shia LaBeouf. Some people like Nicholas Cage. I like Gosling.

Despite this, I’ll try and remain completely neutral and unbiased when evaluating Gosling. Most people when they examine to see how good an actor or actress is talk about their “chemistry with their counterparts” or their “range”. I’ll do something similar, but not exactly the same. There are certain factors that are more important than someone’s range when thinking about if they are a good actor. Also, things like critical or box office success aren’t always what matters because I believe there is a hidden talent to excelling at the type of movies that may not get one or the other or either. He’s never really talked about when we talk about big name actors or the best actors out there, but I want to see if he’s being over-looked.

Is he good in sports movies?

My first personal experience with Ryan Gosling is when he starred in the 2000 film Remember the Titans about the T.C. Williams High School football team who breaks down racial barriers to win the State Championship. In the movie, Gosling plays linebacker Alan Bosley, who turns out to be an absolute liability on the defensive side of the ball. Like the biggest liability in history of high school sports. Such a liability that running back (the. running back) Petey Jones takes over his position when he gets benched by Coach Boone.

Just because he is absolutely awful at reading pro-style offenses and playing in the 3–4 doesn’t mean that Gosling is bad in the movie, however. In fact, he’s rather good as the awkward, country music loving teenager. Furthermore, he’s even better as the awkward, country music loving teenager who excels at yelling, “FIIIIIGGGGHHHTT” when a dispute ensues between teammates at the beginning of the preseason camp.

Thus, Ryan Gosling is very good in sports movies.

Is he good in romantic comedies?

Romantic comedies are interesting. They’re movies that never really get a lot of critical recognition, but they seem to always do fairly well in the box office. In essence, they are the Ryan Gosling of movies: You’re never really sure what you’re going to get out of it, but if you’re — at the very least — intrigued and in the right mood, there’s the capability to get quite a bit out of the experience.

Given that Nick Cassavetes’ 2004 romantic-not-a-whole-lot-of-comedy The Notebook was pretty much the only movie girls talked about between the ages of 12–16 of my childhood, I’d say that Gosling is very good at romantic comedies. While I’ve not watched the movie in the 6–7 years, I remember Gosling being fairly good in this movie. What’s more, if you are an actor and you can make every female person in the United States’ territories swoon over you, you’re certainly very good at these sorts of movies.

This isn’t even taking into consideration his later movie, the 2011 film Crazy, Stupid, Love where he stars next to other big stars like Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, and Emma Stone, and where there is less romance than The Notebook — which was like 90% romance — and more comedy — CS,L is like 40/60 comedy/romance, which is a great balance. Here, Gosling starts to hit his peak with comedy as he plays a sort of douche-bag — more on this later — smoother talker and this is how I imagine Gosling to be in real life.

If you’re good enough to convince me this is how you probably are in real life, you’re very good in romantic comedies.

Is he good on Saturday Night Live?

Yes. Gosling is very good on SNL.

Is he good in movies where he talks very little and drives a lot?

Before I got to see Gosling’s 2011 Drive, all I heard about it from my friends was that the movie was the most ridiculous thing that they’d ever seen. They bashed the movie for including ridiculous car sequences and random slow motion, while excluding almost all dialogue what-so-ever. I went into my viewing of the film with extremely low expectations.

Coming out of the theater, afterwards: “FUCK I JUST WANNA GO FUCK SOME SHIT UP AND BE COMPLETELY SILENT WHILE I PULL AWESOME J-TURNS AND HELP PEOPLE I DON’T KNOW GET AWAY FROM AWFUL SITUATIONS AND WHO TAKES BULLETS WHILE TAKING ON THE EAST COAST MAFIA.”

Drive got me so fucking hyped despite driving around my mom’s minivan.

Gosling’s character doesn’t even have a name and is just known as “The Driver”. His character is right up there with Edward Norton’s “The Narrator” in Fight Club, Viggo Mortenson’s “Man” in The Road, Uma Thurman’s “The Bride” in Kill Bill Vol. I, any of the characters in Reservoir Dogs, and Clint Eastwood’s character in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, who is literally, “The Man With No Name”.

Gosling doesn’t need a name or a bunch of lines though, and this could be one of the biggest contributing factors to what may make him a good actor. He can take a movie with almost all action and no talk, throw in some intense stares, quick manipulation of the car wheel, serious facial gestures and, his stalking-esque walking and boom, it’s delightful. He did something similar the following year in The Place Beyond The Pines, but instead, he’s on a motorcycle,so at times the only thing we get to do is stare into his soul through his eyes, which is fantastic and terrifying at the same time.

Gosling is very good at movies where he talks very little and drives a lot.

Is he good at being a douche bag?

This is peak Gosling for me. There is no better character Gosling plays than when he plays some form of douche bag. His seminal work in The Big Short was the perfect execution of a douche bag I’ve ever seen. And it’s not douche bag in a bad way. I don’t hate him for it. In fact, I love him for it and want him to always play a douche bag because he’s so good at playing a douche bag. Just watch:

HE LITERALLY DETERMINES WHETHER GROWN ASS MEN CAN USE THE BATHROOM OR NOT AND IS, QUOTE, “JACKED TO THE TITS”.

This is one of my favorite scenes not just involving Gosling, but of all time. There is no bigger power move than kicking adult males out of the bathroom that they are definitely allowed to be in and use so that you can make a semi-private phone call, despite the fact that you most certainly have an office that is extremely private. Also, there’s no bigger douche bag thing for an investment banker to say than, “jacked to the tits”.

There are other movies where he sprinkles in scenes of his ability to play a douche bag — he openly does hand stand push ups in front of Steve Carell’s character, thus, basically shoving his crotch in his face while physically domineering over him — but there is no better movie where he plays a douche bag than in The Big Short.

Gosling is good at playing a douche bag.