In his forty-plus year career there’s not a lot that Robert De Niro hasn’t done. He’s tackled comedy, drama, action, fantasy, period pieces, psychological thrillers and everything in-between and beyond, won two Academy Awards and had success on both sides of the camera. Unfortunately, however, not every film he’s made has lived up to the high standards we generally associate him with.
De Niro has been in some huge duds throughout the years; films that make you wonder whether or not he was taking drugs (not like the one at the center of his new film, Limitless) when he took the respective part. Some of them make money, some of them don’t, but it’s safe to say that the quality of his work is very inconsistent, especially in the last decade or so. And this is coming from me, a longtime fan who considers him one of the – if not the – greatest living actor on the planet. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the infographic below, which charts some of the highs and lows in De Niro’s filmography. You’ll find both prestigious and preposterous projects in the graph, but you won’t find every movie he’s ever made – there’s just too much to cover. I’ve included most of the standout pictures, both good and bad, but I’m sure that some heckler will bring up the fact that Awakenings or This Boy’s Life was excluded. Keep in mind, this isn’t a recap of his entire career; it’s simply a way to compare his personal bests with the worsts.
Roll over the bullet points within the graph to see the films I’m talking about.
