“Mr Mom” (1983)
So yes, we did wonder how much our affection for this sitcom-premised, John Hughes-scripted, early Keaton movie could withstand a viewing by 2014 eyes, and how much its gender politics would stick in our craw. But happily, it’s surprisingly breezy even now, and the conclusion, which see’s Keaton onscreen wife Teri Garr suggest a part-time week to the employer begging her to come back, may not be exactly progressive, but certainly doesn’t hint that she should be ditching her career altogether. In fact, Keaton’s considerable off-kilter charm gives what’s a pretty bland premise (husband gets fired, wife goes back to work, hubby must learn how to do housework and look after the kids) some memorable moments, like his reaction when dragged to a male stripper show by his newfound circle of housewife friends (they play poker for coupons), or the slobbish phase he goes through where he uses the iron to toast his kid’s sandwich and gets addicted to daytime soaps. A prime example of Keaton’s charisma (and Garr’s too) carrying a notionally bland comedy across the threshold that elevates it from inoffensive to actively likable.
“Beetlejuice” (1988)
There’s a terrific story that Keaton told on Letterman about having met, during the filming of the Times Square scene in “Birdman,” a guy with an amazingly detailed tattoo of the character Beetlejuice on his arm. The kicker is that while Keaton spent a while admiring the body art, the guy had no idea who he was… he didn’t recognise him from his own arm. But it’s telling too, because Keaton’s most iconic role (and also, until recently anyway, reportedly his favorite) is also the one in which he’s least recognizable, buried under thick pancake makeup and half the time played by stop-motion creatures straight from Tim Burton’s brain back when Tim Burton’s brain contained charmingly ghoulish stop-motion creatures and not dead-eyed CG thingummies for Johnny Depp to gurn at. It also may be his most definingly physical role, with Keaton playing the titular bio-exorcist as though he’s an animated puppet, even when he’s not. As disgusting and way OTT as the character is, Keaton gets to invest him with all manner of light and dark, from morally ambivalent trickster to downright malevolent demon, and occasionally even forlorn and pitiful outsider. It’s a terrific role in a film that, while creaky to look at now, still has more wit and invention in its cronky practical effects than about 85% of the slick fantasies we’d been served up afterwards.
So many Keaton movies, so little time. The first and most egregious of our exclusions is probably Kenneth Branagh‘s “Much Ado About Nothing,” in which Keaton’s Dogberry is kind of unforgettable. But it’s also kind of incomprehensible, and to our minds Keaton’s performance is so jittery and over the top that we actually can’t hear the Shakespearean gags all that well (sacrilegiously, perhaps, we’ll take Nathan Fillion‘s Dogberry in Joss Whedon‘s version any day). “Gung Ho” has some very vocal support in the Playlist ranks, as you may have noted from frequent references to it mae above, while “Clean and Sober,” an early dramatic role for Keaton, also deserves a mention. The schmaltzy “My Life” is a little too treacly for our liking, but again, Keaton’s presence makes it almost bearable, while “Multiplicity” also had some votes, mainly from the “if you love Keaton, you gotta love 4 Keatons” school of thought. We should also shout out TV movie “Live from Baghdad” which is, until next February at least (fingers crossed) the only performance for which Keaton was ever nominated for a major award—he got a Golden Globe nod for his serious role as a CNN reporter caught up in the ethics of reporting on the Gulf War. We’re sure you have your favorites that we’ve missed out on too, feel free to shout them out in the comments.
And because we’ve had such a good time revisiting many of these films, here a few bonus fun facts that you used to know about Michael Keaton but had forgotten:
- He was originally cast as Jack in “Lost” but bowed out when the character was expanded to being a series regular. The role went to Matthew Fox instead.
- He dated Courtney Cox from 1989 to 1995.
- His real name is Michael Douglas. (He reportedly chose Keaton as a tip of the hat to Buster). Which makes him one of the only famous actors we can think of whose real name is also that of a famous actor other than Stewart Granger whose birth name was James Stewart.
Thanks for reading. Now go see “Birdman.”
