Black Cat Bone

John Cusack is an interesting dude. He is the kind of leading man that women can unabashedly enjoy and even crush on without their significant others feeling threatened or annoyed -- he's liked by men and women fairly evenly. He seems modest in some ways, egotistical in others, but he isn't a publicity whore, he's private and quiet. His family seem nice. He maintains long term friendships and creative partnerships with his high school pals Steve Pink, D.V. DeVincentis and Jer Piven, although he sort of had an interesting downward spiral with Piven when Piven's head exploded from Entourage fame. His rude boy taste in music in interesting. He reads. He's a smart guy, a liberal guy, likeable and masculine but a non-douchebag sort of person. Maybe a feminist even. I like reading his twitter feed especially during election years. I like him I think. I certainly like watching him act. But his film career is a mess. He clearly wanted to make GOOD choices, smart choices, intelligent and engaging choices rather than just commercial choices -- he loves the underdog, he enjoys quirky cameos. He had the geeky teen phase, the teen leading man phase, the arthouse and quirky indie phase, his pet projects, and occasionally romantic lead roles or ensemble bits in boring commercial pictures, What are your five favorites?

I agree a lot with what you say Martha. He's kind of an everyman in some respects, the guy-next-door type who can have many male and female fans. My fave films of his kind of touch almost all the genres he's played in.

The Sure Thing
High Fidelity
Being John Malkovich
Serendipity
Bullets Over Broadway

1. The Grifters
2. High Fidelity
3. The Ice Harvest
4. Eight men out
5. Grosse Point Blank

A few extra:
Bullets over Broadway
Better off Dead
1408

Yeah mine are probably

1. Better Off Dead
2. The Sure Thing
3. Grosse Point Blank
4. The Journey of Natty Gann
5. The Grifters

But close runners up are Tapeheads, Bullets over Broadway, High Fidelity, Say Anything...,

Say Anything
The Sure Thing
High Fidelity
Con Air
Fat Man and Little Boy (Shadowmakers)

He virtually plays the same character in all of them, or plays the character to his limited acting ability.

High Fidelity
Grosse Point Blank
Being John Malkovich
Runaway Jury
Identity

The Thin Red Line
Being John Malkovich
Say Anything
Better Off Dead
Identity

The Great Defector wrote:He virtually plays the same character in all of them, or plays the character to his limited acting ability.

Yeah I've never really liked him, or more accurately I've generally liked him but found that the movies he's been in have typically been very weak, even if he, like people like Ethan Hawke and perhaps Johnny Depp, are marketed as vaguely credible outsiders whom I "should" like. With Ethan Hawke, it's the reverse - I like alot of the movies he's in, even if I don't like his acting very much. Perhaps predictably, I think High Fidelity is his best showing ultimately. It reminds me a bit of Tom Cruise's role in Jerre Maguire - it seems to fit who he is as a person - for better or worse, accurately or not - very well.

Eight Men Out
Tapeheads
Max
Being John Malkovich
Say Anything...

The most recent I watched was Adult World - much better than I expected.

I haven't seen too many of his films, but I really loved him in



Great movie.


And altho there are many things that bug me about High Fidelity, I quite liked him in it.

Yeah, me too.

I watched it again for the first time in ages last year, and still thought it was great, one of the best of its genre from the 80s.
I had a big crush on Daphne Zuniga at the time.

Say Anything
The Grifters
The Thin Red Line
Max
Eight Men Out

Always liked John. Maybe because he is close to my age. He isn't very versatile but what he does he does well.
favorite 5
Say Anything
High Fidelity
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Serendipity
Grosse Pointe Blank

also fan of
One Crazy Summer
Eight Men Out
The Grifters
Being John Malkovich
plus the little parts in those other movies

The Grifters
Eight men out
Grosse Point Blank