If you’d like to know my thoughts on acting in movies, I’d point you to the scene from Moneyball in which Billy Beane tries to convince Scott Hatteberg to play first base. It is incredibly hard, though the compensation and fame and all of the other accoutrements go a long way to convince the average schlub that it’s easy as hell. Just imagine trying to do a monologue in which you have to run the gamut of emotions while not looking at a camera, get distracted by bright lights, and have thirty or forty crew members with varying degrees of interest and involvement in the scene staring at you. That’s before you add something like stunt work or visual effects to the mixture. It’s why, unless an actor is also a writer, director, producer, or other person of significant influence, I tend to place the blame for bad work on directors. Ultimately, they’re (in a very simplified way) responsible for the final product. One never knows what takes wound up on the cutting room floor.
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So, it’s with that prologue that I give you some of my favorite performances from the films of 2025, which was a very good year for comedy, among other genres. I’ve tried to spotlight a few actors who I don’t think will get nominated for year-end awards, either because their movies don’t slot nicely into Oscar categories or there’s a bigger co-star out there who’ll get all the laurels. Likewise, some of the bigger-name dramatic actors are missing from this list, because you don’t need me to tell you that Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal (Hamnet), Stellan Skarsgard and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value), or Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) deliver outstanding performances in their respective films. Other sites will do that, and I concur with them: they are great. Meanwhile, I’m going to heap praise on a dog, T-Mac, and The Naked Gun.
So, crack open a few small beers and enjoy…
Marisa Abela, Black Bag
This honor could go to the entire ensemble, but Marisa Abela holds her own well with enough stars in it to make its own constellation. She also has the film’s best punchline, and provides handy advice for anyone looking to beat a polygraph test. Not saying any of you would ever need that, but still — that’s a public service.
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Move over, Bagel Boss guy — this is what true Short King Energy looks like. All kidding aside, this is probably the best dramatic performance of the year, with Ethan Hawke’s sweaty charm transforming Robert Kaplow’s dialogue into its own kind of free-form music. Richard Linklater knew what he was working with here, which is why he saved all of his cinematic flourishes for Nouvelle Vague. No gilded lilies here: just perfection.
Indy the Dog, Good Boy
It’s an old adage that “children and animals” are the worst to work with on a film set, but as this dog’s starring turn shows, all you really need is patience. Maybe two to three years of it, given that’s how long it took to shoot, but it’s hard to argue with the results. It’s hard to make some Oscar winners sit still — imagine trying to do that with your dog, not a trained show animal, for the length of a workprint. I know I would have given up after ten minutes of trying.
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
I’ve seen frustrated comments hating on Rose Byrne’s character being a “shitty mom” or whatever, and I’d just like to say: Congratulations! You got the other side of this complex, emotional performance, in which Byrne and Mary Bronstein critique this kind of attitude while also empathizing with it. We have a problem with caretakers owning up to their own variation of Christ’s Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane — in short, we have a problem with supposed archetypes of noble self-sacrifice struggling with doubt and fear. Watch it again and pay attention to how this isn’t typical for her. Then, maybe, you’ll get the richness of her work here.
The Whole Goddamn Ensemble, Marty Supreme
If anyone from the Marty Supreme cast is going to take home some hardware, it’ll probably be Timmy Chalamet, who exudes white boy rizz behind his glasses and under his zits. Yet his work wouldn’t be as good if it weren’t for the legion of supporting performers surrounding him. I don’t have the space to explain how each one of these actors fits into the feature, but know that you won’t forget them once you see it: Odessa A’zion, Tyler Okonma, Kevin O’Leary, Gwenyth Paltrow, Phillippe Petit (yes, that one), Abel Ferrera, Fran Drescher, George Gervin, Pico Iyer, Penn Jillette, Ted Williams, Emory Cohen, Fred Hechingher, Larry “Ratso” Sloman, Kemba Walker, and, T-Mac himself, Tracey McGrady. Jesus Christ, what a cast.
Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, The Naked Gun
Gossip column headlines aside, this pairing made Jorma Taccone’s reboot of the classic Zucker-Abrams-Zucker series into perhaps the best studio comedy released so far this decade. They’re perfectly matched in intensity and commitment to the bit, and are just absurdly funny when put together. The night-vision scene, the snowman-fantasy, the credits gag… Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson were just on fire.
Lee Byung-hun, No Other Choice
This is just a fantastic turn from Lee Byung-hun, who embodies the perfect protagonist for Park Chan-wook in the director’s recent Hitchcock-esque era. He’s the curdled remains of an average everyman protagonist, twisted by despair and envy, and he’s empathetic, buffoonish, and terrifying all in equal measure. It’s such a brilliantly self-effacing turn, as well — his stone-faced blankness providing every punchline with extra heft.
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another / The Phoenician Scheme
Could it be? Really? Am I really writing something positive about One Battle After Another, a movie I actually thought was pretty good? Yeah, it’s true, and Benicio Del Toro had a lot to do with that evaluation. To give you an idea of how far his work in that film penetrated mainstream culture: “a few small beers” regularly gets soundbite play on Boston sports radio. He’s the reason that people will look back at this as fondly as they do, a pitch-perfect straight man to DiCaprio’s Rick-Dalton-but-without-the-accent. Shout out also to his work in Wes Anderson’s latest — a brilliantly understated performance in Anderson’s best dark comedy in years.
Miles Caton, Sinners
I love a thankless role, and there might be no better one this year than Miles Caton’s point-of-view character in Ryan Coogler’s horror masterpiece. It’s easy to forget that this is Caton’s debut performance on-screen, and he more than holds his own against an absolutely stacked roster, featuring no less than two Michael B. Jordans. Without his presence, Sinners’ best scene — the barn-burning dance number — wouldn’t be nearly as effective, nor would its story have as much pathos.