All you buffoons who prefer Brian Cox to Anthony Hopkins are buffoons, you buffoons!

[Orrex]

What's wrong with you buffoons? How can you choose Cox's tepid, sleeply Lecter in preference to Hopkins' sinister, creepy mastery? Hopkins performance has become iconic, and Silence of the Lambs itself inspired over a decade worth of films and tv programs!

Buffoons!

[cemaphonic]

1. Some people really hate scenery chewing?

I myself like entertainingly over-the-top performances, so I like Hopkins' Lecter just fine. But I like both, and can see why people would prefer the Cox version.

[Orrex]

3. FWIW

I've never heard a good definition of "over the top" that didn't default to a sort of ad hoc statement a la "I don't like that actor/performance, so I declare it to be over the top." Over-acting? Maybe, but I would argue that Lecter is himself a cartoon caricature, and Hopkins' performance had a subtlety and restraint that wasn't even in the Harris novel.

As I said, Cox is a fine character actor, but his performance in Manhunter, and in fact the whole film, feels like a phoned-in 80's made-for-tv-crime-drama-of-the-week. And I saw it before I saw Silence, so it's not as though my opinion of it was prejudiced by Hopkins.

[jobycom]

2. Anthony Hopkins played football?