Synthesising the sauce: the five greatest examples of drunk acting in movie history
Most people know what it feels like to be drunk, but despite being such a shared commodity of the human experience, it’s often obvious to the point of distraction when the stars of stage and screen start acting like it.
There are the wobbly steps, the slurred speech, the eyes unable to focus, and the falling over. Sure, all of those things happen to pissed people all the time everywhere in the world, but playing a convincing drunk onscreen is a lot more difficult than hammering ten pints and trying to walk home.
Relatively speaking, at least, because otherwise, folks wouldn’t wake up in the bushes so often. Hard-drinking characters tend to be exactly that: characters, fictional creations who aren’t reflective of how alcohol affects the brain, loosens inhibitions, and have a recurring habit of ruining lives.
Still, plenty of performers have pulled it off majestically over the years. The following five all went about it in very different ways, but the unifying theme is that each of them gave a masterclass in drunk acting that few have ever managed to better.
The five best examples of drunk acting:
5. Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper, 2009)
Jeff Bridges deservedly won an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ after playing Otis ‘Bad’ Blake in Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart, where he deftly showcased the complexities that often come with a fondness for a bevvy or ten.
Blake is fully aware that he’s been the architect of his own destruction, but he also knows that he simply doesn’t have the willpower required to abandon the bottle and try and mend the many fences he’s torn down during a descent that’s left him booze-soaked, washed up, and completely alone.
Of course, redemption is always lurking around the corner for those willing to head out and find it, with Bridges utterly captivating as the wayward country veteran evolves from a man embracing his downtrodden fate to somebody actively wants to be a better man.
4. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
Nobody said the best examples of drunk acting needed to be the most convincing, and for its sheer comedic timelessness, nothing comes close to James Stewart getting sozzled in the classic screwball rom-com The Philadelphia Story.
Improvising on the fly, James Stewart didn’t tell scene partner Cary Grant that he was planning to add some hiccupping flourishes to his performance, which caught his fellow ‘Golden Age’ icon so off-guard that he can be seen staring at the floor to try and stop himself from laughing.
Ironically, the worst drunk acting often occurs when it’s clear the performer in question is embracing stereotype a little too much, but Stewart’s Mike Connor slurring and hiccupping with a twinkle in his eye is pitched perfectly between comedy and accuracy.
3. Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis, 1995)
In typical Nicolas Cage fashion, the actor hired a ‘drunk coach’ who assisted him in getting into the right mindset for Leaving Las Vegas, which naturally involved the pair of them regularly ending up absolutely shitfaced in the name of performance.
Another Oscar-winning drunkard, Cage’s Ben Sanderson is an undeniably tragic figure, but at no point does his attempts at alcohol-induced martyrdom lose any of the empathy or humanity that are key to making the character somebody the audience can root for regardless of their flaws.
Relocating to the titular city with the express purpose of drinking himself to death makes Sanderson a haunting figure, but even at that, Cage never loses sight of illuminating how important something as simple as a human connection can be in at least trying to haul somebody back from the brink.
2. Arthur (Steve Gordon, 1981)
One of the highest-grossing films of 1981, Dudley Moore might have been leaning into comedy for his turn as the troubled title character, but it was the pathos he brought to the role that helped him secure an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Actor’.
A wealthy playboy lacking in direction and completely enthralled by the lure of a stiff drink, all it takes is Liza Minnelli’s waitress to arrive on the scene for Arthur to realise that maybe it’s not the best use of anyone’s life to get as hammered as possible and go with the flow.
Realising that even hedonism has a limit on its pleasures, Arthur’s growth from pissed-up manchild into a fully-functioning adult determined to better himself toes the line between the light and dark, making him an easy person to root for despite the fact he’s clearly brought much of this misery upon himself.
1. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
Once Steven Spielberg wisely decided that method acting was the wrong approach, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss settled into their groove to deliver a masterclass in drunk acting that required them to do little other than shoot the shit.
Shaw thought getting rubbered out of his cupboard was the smartest move the first time out, but when Spielberg sat behind the monitor, shocked that his star was so drunk, the footage was useless; it became more of an inspiration than a rigid rule.
The Indianapolis speech in itself is one of Spielberg’s greatest-ever scenes, and while the freewheeling barbs exchanged between Quint and Hooper were undoubtedly added extra heft by Shaw and Dreyfuss’ active disdain for each other, the pair of drunken sailors are about as engaging as drunken cinema gets.
