10. Glengarry Glen Ross- Spacey has a supporting in this amazing ensemble piece, but he holds his end with some seriously heavy hitters. He is the office manager and is pretty much bullied during the film, but he does play a pivotal role in the climax of the film and again, as an unknown actor he holds up with Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin. The film is full of David Mamet jewels, but Spacey's delivery on one line is perfect. It is the final line in this clip. The way he hits it, you expect it to be yelled, but he is so perfect.
9. A Time to Kill- This comes from my favorite John Grisham novel and my favorite movie from his novels. It is another stellar cast, and Spacey's job is kind of thankless, as the district attorney. He milks the drawl and he is the flashy star lawyer. I really think the movie is solid, but what makes Spacey great is his willingness to let Matthew and Sam Jackson take over the movie. Spacey is there only to ask questions and let Jackson tear his lines apart.
8. The Ref- This is my favorite Christmas movie, hands down. Do not judge me, it rules. Kevin Spacey is a frazzled and very annoyed husband at Christmas as his family is taken hostage. Wackiness ensues and Spacey is totally game for it. Almost every line out of his mouth is full of hilarious contempt for someone in his family and Spacey gets the most out of each dig, but the thing that takes the cake is a nice monologue-y rant that is sadly not on the Youtube. So I will just post the monologue, instead.
You know, you and my wife have a lot in common. You both think you have some right to life working out the way you want it to, and when it doesn't, you get to act the way you want. The only trouble with that is someone has to be responsible. I'd love to run around and take classes and play with my inner-self! I'd love the freedom to be some pissed-off criminal with no responsibilities, except I don't have the time! But you don't see me with a gun. And you don't see me sleeping with someone else. You think my life turned out the way I wanted because I live in this house? You think every morning I wake up, look in the mirror and say "Gee I'm glad I'm me and not some 19-year-old billionaire rockstar with the body of an athelete and a 24-hour erection!" No I don't! So just excuse the shit out of me!
7. Superman Returns- It pains me to hate this movie, but I LOATHE it! However, Spacey's Lex Luthor is everything I hoped it would be. From the moment I heard he was playing the bald baddie, I was totally hooked. In a movie that disappointed me at every turn, it was nice to have Spacey in near orgasmic glee with the thought of beating the crap out of Superman. It is the one true great moment in an otherwise worthless piece of garbage.
6. Swimming with Sharks- If ever there was a movie to just watch because of a performance, this is it. I do not care much for the movie, but Spacey's over the top, egotistical hot shot producer is a doozy! He rips his way through every moment of screen time he gets and because of it we never question why we are supposed to have a kidnapper as our protaganist. We would want to kidnap our boss too, if he were Kevin Spacey's character. Any scene would do, but the equal vs. Sweet-n-low rant is tops.
5. Se7en- I cannot say anything or show anything from this movie without giving it all away, so I won't and instead just tell you to rent the movie, watch the movie and revel in Spacey's magnificence in the end.
4. American Beauty- This performance is probably 1 or 2 on most lists, but it falls to 4 for me, not because it isn't amazing, but because I really enjoy the other ones more. However, I do love one scene in particular. The whole movie plays like Spacey has been asleep and finally woken up and it is wonderful. His performance all the way through is energetic, nuanced, subtle, and not at all subtle and he nails every smug look and every fawning look with just the right hint of desperation. The scene I mentioned is him quitting his job. (Extremely bad lanugage)
3. The Negotiator- If I were to make a list of "personal classics" this movie would be high on the list. It is not considered a classic by any means, but to me, it is. I love everything about it and I love how Sam Jackson and Kevin Spacey play off each other even though they do most of their communicating via phone. Spacey is always under control in this movie, but matches Jackson's crazy intensity every step of the way. Jackson is more noticed in this movie because of his great line delivery in the trailer, but the chess match is only good if both players are awesome. I cannot find just the moment I am looking for, so I will just put my favorite quote as it is a nice introduction to the character. "I once talked a guy out of blowing up the Sears Tower but I can't talk my wife out of the bedroom or my kid off the phone"
2. L.A Confidential- Spacey is the coolest cat in a whole film of cool cats. Even the character name, Jack Vincennes, is cool. As a cop who is more worried about publicity than catching bad guys, Spacey exudes the kind of charisma he has been living off of these days. The suits and hats are sharp, the dialog crisp and Spacey is eating it all up in this truly wonderful film. I cannot find myself the clip/s I want, which is a bummer, but do yourself a favor and rent this one. It is often overlooked as the movie that lost to Titanic, plus, Spacey really knocks it out of the park through the whole thing and he makes everyone else look really good.
1. The Usual Suspects- So is it a little bit obvious, or a lot obvious for this to be my favorite performance? Well, probably but it is large in part to his performance that makes this my favorite movie of all time. The way he manuevers through actors, through sets, through an intricate and amazing script, how the performance forces him to be a story teller and a character and how the script calls for him to do a myriad of things and he does them all flawlessly. It is a truly mesmerizing performance and every actor in an interrogation scene is trying to live up to him, in my eyes. That is how good it is. There are many different clips and I cannot find exactly what I am looking for, but this almost has it. I wanted Spacey's entire reaction to be asked about Keyser Soze and then the story, but this will have to do.
And then just for fun:
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