Twenty years ago, as I was just beginning to develop my love of film that has only grown through time, I was given a book about the films of Robert De Niro. It wasn’t just about his most famous pictures. It devoted extensive chapters to each and every one of the films Mr. De Niro had made up until that point which (at the time) was his first quarter century on the silver screen. It’s called The Films of De Niro by Douglas Brode.
For most of my life, when people ask me who I believe is the greatest actor of all time – my answer is De Niro. Unfortunately, this answer has little to do with – oh, let’s say the last 15 years or so of his career. At least.
At a certain point (especially with the dawn of the 21st century) Mr. De Niro simply seemed to stop caring about what movies he chose to do. Whereas a film lover used to anticipate each De Niro performance to see what this brilliant actor would do with each successive role, this ceased to be the case in relatively recent history.
I will not extensively go over the first 20-30 years of his career where we saw one amazing performance after another. We know the pictures are many. Mean Streets. The Godfather Part II. Taxi Driver. The Deer Hunter. Raging Bull. The King of Comedy. Midnight Run. GoodFellas. Cape Fear. Heat. Casino.
The slide may have started in the late 90s/early 2000s with two wildly successful comedies that were both good. Analyze This in 1999 and then Meet the Parents in 2000. They both turned De Niro into a briefly bankable comedic actor. His attempts to capitalize sometimes worked (Meet the Fockers was an enormous hit, even though I felt it didn’t hold a candle to the original). However, most of his follow-up comedies were mediocre at best: the lame Analyze This sequel Analyze That, the wasted opportunity buddy cop flick Showtime with Eddie Murphy, and the dreadful third entry into his franchise Little Fockers.
There were way too many instances during the last few years where my reaction was: “Why is De Niro doing that?” Some examples: two substandard horror/suspense flicks – 2004’s Godsend and 2005’s Hide and Seek. A poorly received re-teaming with Al Pacino in 2008’s Righteous Kill. Being part of the critically reviled ensemble piece New Year’s Eve in 2011. Playing second fiddle to both Jason Statham in 2011’s Killer Elite and 50 Cent in 2012’s direct-to-DVD Freelancers. Worst of all, in most of these titles, De Niro doesn’t even seem to be trying.
The big ensemble rom com The Big Wedding, opening this weekend, seems destined to join the growing list of forgettable De Niro films and performances. You never know. Maybe it will be the greatest wedding themed comedy of all time. Maybe it will be an influential De Niro performance that is studied and revered. Maybe it will be the best thing Katherine Heigl has done since Seth Rogen accidentally got her pregnant. Maybe it will be Diane Keaton’s best performance in a romantic comedy since the brilliant Annie Hall 36 years ago. Maybe I’ll get offered millions of dollars to take this blog public this weekend. You never know.
Luckily, us Bob fans have seen a silver lining just in the past year and it was, of course, called Silver Linings Playbook. His supporting role opposite Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence earned De Niro his first Oscar nomination in 21 years (since Cape Fear). It was a breath of fresh air to see Bob playing a well-written role opposite first-rate actors in a picture of supremely high quality. That had become a rarity in recent years.
It’s discouraging to think of that conversation when the latest generation of moviegoers discuss the greatest living actors today. They mention legitimate names like Day-Lewis and Crowe and Washington and Depp and Downey, Jr. and Penn and Gosling and DiCaprio. And if I were to chime in with De Niro, they might say, “What about him??” What About Bob? Thank goodness a certain Oscar-nominated film came out last year to remind them. And, frankly, remind myself.
All My Life... I Wanted To Be A Blogster 
Ya never know!. I bet he still has something left for us!