Dan Aykroyd

In Behind the Candelabra (2013), Dan Aykroyd’s Seymour Heller treats the complications around Liberace as a scheduling problem. What makes the performance funny is his refusal to be distracted from the practicalities. Steven Soderbergh uses him sparingly, and the dryness suits a film that refuses to smirk at its characters. We rate Aykroyd highly in this sort of part, where his brisk certainty gives a scene its humour without requiring him to dominate it.

The early films gave that certainty larger jobs. He co-wrote The Blues Brothers (1980), performing alongside John Belushi, and Ghostbusters (1984), written with Harold Ramis. Blues music and the paranormal were his own interests, and his fast, solemn delivery made their elaborate comic possibilities sound entirely reasonable. He is particularly good at delivering pseudo-scientific jargon without pausing to acknowledge its absurdity. Driving Miss Daisy (1989), in which he played Boolie Werthan, also established how effectively he could work in a dramatic supporting part.

His film choices have sometimes let him down. In Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), he plays Grocer, but our reservations about the film concern its growing satisfaction with its own cleverness. John Cusack and Minnie Driver make the romance worth following; the comedy still fails to find enough uses for its premise. We would not recommend it simply because Aykroyd is in the cast.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) gives him a proper part as Ray Stantz, still unwilling to stop, rather than just a few lines for old times’ sake. That is welcome, but the film keeps interrupting the Spenglers to accommodate the old team. We were bored when the demon’s history was explained for a second time, because the library scene had already done the job before the laboratory repeated it. Aykroyd’s continued enthusiasm cannot settle six competing storylines or return attention to the family. For a better use of his ability to fit into an ensemble, choose Behind the Candelabra.