Robert De Niro, 64
The Ride: From Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to The King of Comedy and Goodfellas De Niro’s uncanny command, commitment and chameleon-like mutability rarely wobbled through the 1990s. And he proved he could operate comfortably outside his tough-guy wheelhouse in comedies both dark and light.
The Slide: The Analyze This and Meet the Parents franchises have not worn well. Upcoming projects include a cop drama with Al Pacino and a Michael Mann hit-man thriller. Ummm.
The U-turn: No more hit men, no more gangsters, no more cops and serial killers. No more Fockers, big or little. Astonish us. Drop the self-parody. Get a dye job and the right glasses; option Angler, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post series about Dick Cheney (or opt to play him in Oliver Stone’s upcoming W).
Dustin Hoffman, 70
The Ride: After The Graduate in 1967, Hoffman came to embody a new leading-man ideal, combining nebbishy anti-romanticism, diffidence, laser-like focus and sly, ferrety wit. Epochal performances in Midnight Cowboy, Tootsie. The 1997 political satire Wag the Dog was a thing of hilarious genius.
The Slide: His upcoming slate voicing animated features earns Hoffman two Robin Williams Career-in-Crisis Flares.
The U-turn: The actor needs to re-team with Barry Levinson. Levinson has signed on to direct A Walk in the Woods, based on Bill Bryson’s best-seller about his comically ill-fated Appalachian trek with old friend Steve Katz. All the President’s Men co-star Robert Redford is reportedly headlining as Bryson; Katz is so far un-cast. Do it.
John Travolta, 54
The Ride: In his 1977 breakout performance in Saturday Night Fever, Travolta strutted down a Brooklyn street to Stayin’ Alive, and he’s been proving the song right ever since. After big hits with Grease, Urban Cowboy and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, he earned himself a reservoir of goodwill in roles that exploited his humility and physical verve.
The Slide: That reservoir? It’s been lowered by such scientology propaganda as Battlefield Earth and cash-ins like Wild Hogs. Next, Travolta costars with Robin Williams as friends who unexpectedly find themselves caring for 7-year-old twins. Ummm.
The U-turn: He still has the moves. Put him in a smart, small-canvas physical comedy where his body can communicate as much as his face and voice. Give him a great biopic, preferably of a song-and-dance man.
Michelle Pfeiffer Age, 49
The Ride: Pfeiffer rocked the sensuous bee-stung pout back when Angelina Jolie was still tearing the heads off Barbies. She has proved she can also be funny (Married to the Mob), vulnerable (The Age of Innocence) and tough as a red-lacquered fingernail (Scarface). Her The Fabulous Baker Boys was a slinky triumph, and still her best work.
The Slide: Pfeiffer’s latest films Hairspray and Stardust. Her most recent film, the direct-to-video I Could Never Be Your Woman, finds her delivering a tart and cathartic critique of Hollywood’s hypocritical cruelty toward ageing women.
The U-turn: Pfeiffer deserves to play with others her own age. How luscious it would be to see her work with such new Hollywood classicists as Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, Breach) or Michael Clayton’s Tony Gilroy.
-Ann Hornaday(LAT-WP)
