He has had some good roles. He has probably been in films you have enjoyed. He is definitely a “movie star”.
But – can he act?
Can you think of anytime he really inhabited a character, made you believe for a couple of hours, brought something special in his performance? Where you thought “Wow, that was great casting” He is always just the same, no matter the role, it is always just Ruffalo being Ruffalo.
A couple of examples:
In 13 Going on 30, he was fine. The role was sort of a blah dude, so it worked. So many actors could/would have been better. You could likely have gone to any acting class in town and found an actor who would have been as good – or likely much better. Contrast that with Jennifer Garner who brought so much sparkle to her performance. She was perfectly cast as Jenna Rink and it is hard to imagine anyone else who would have come close.
The Avengers series. He was just one of the actors to play Bruce Banner/Hulk in the last few decades and he fell into the role at the right time to ride that franchise all the way. He never embodied the character, he never made you care about Banner or Hulk or his ‘relationship’ to any of the other characters. So many other actors would have been better. Contrast that with Robert Downey Jr who absolutely was Iron Man.
Looking through the list of his credits, is there one that he played anything other than Mark Ruffalo?
If there is a time his performance moved you, let me know
