Kyle MacLachlan makes intelligence funny and nice men worth watching closely. We value his deadpan, but a familiar face cannot make an underwritten part interesting.
Fi1m perspective
Kyle MacLachlan can make a nice man's curiosity feel faintly worrying without abandoning the niceness. David Lynch found a lasting use for that quality after casting him in Dune (1984): Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet (1986), then Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks (1990–91). For Cooper, MacLachlan borrowed mannerisms from Lynch, giving the character an eccentricity that still allowed us to take him seriously. This remains the collaboration we value most, because MacLachlan's deadpan gives us someone to follow through the strangeness.
The leading-man years brought mixed results, including The Doors (1991) and Showgirls (1995), before the move towards character parts and television. He returned to Lynch for Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), but the later work also finds uses for his reassuring manner. In Fallout (2024), he plays Overseer Hank MacLean, a paternal figure in a grotesque wasteland. It is the kind of casting his earlier work has prepared us to watch closely. We recommend the series for its people, particularly Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins, while finding that its wandering plot sometimes asks too much of them.
High Flying Bird (2019) gives him a more sharply defined job as David Seton, representing the basketball owners during a lockout. Tarell Alvin McCraney's script makes each conversation a negotiation with another underneath it, and MacLachlan is useful within that busy ensemble. We enjoyed trying to keep up, because the characters are continually bargaining over who gets to decide what happens next. Steven Soderbergh shoots on a phone, but the reason to watch is the quick, dense talk. The film is a little cold; its business dealings are considerably more involving than that sounds.
Blink Twice (2024) is the caution. Zoë Kravitz casts him as Rich, a therapist who is on screen for minutes and says almost nothing, leaving little for his particular deadpan to do. The film is well cast and funny about wealthy men who talk like their therapists, but that does not make this part substantial. We would rather see him given a conversation to complicate than merely recognise him in a brief appearance. For a part that lets him do more, start with Cooper.
Biography
Kyle MacLachlan is an American actor. He made his screen debut as Paul Atreides in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and went on to appear in Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) as Jeffrey Beaumont and in the Twin Peaks series and film as Dale Cooper.
MacLachlan has voiced characters in animated films including Inside Out (2015) and Inside Out 2 (2024). His television work includes roles in Sex and the City, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the series Fallout (2024) as Overseer Hank MacLean. Film credits include High Flying Bird (2019) as David Seton and Blink Twice (2024) as Rich.
