Rosie O'Donnell makes the funny friend feel worth listening to, with a blunt delivery and loyalty beneath the wisecracks. We rate her as an ensemble actor, though the early parts too often settle for another joke.
Fi1m perspective
The gum-chewing delivery is the first thing to notice: O'Donnell can make a wisecrack sound like an ordinary contribution to the conversation. Her Long Island accent helps, but the useful quality is the sense that this person has something else to be getting on with. In A League of Their Own (1992), her film debut, Doris Murphy is tough and loyal enough to belong to a team rather than merely supply its jokes. We warmed to Doris because O'Donnell makes that loyalty as noticeable as the tough talk. Penny Marshall gives her an ensemble in which that combination has a purpose.
Marshall's comedy is warm and funny, though its pushed sisterly conflict and occasional excess of sentiment need indulgence. O'Donnell is part of the reason the team remains good company. In Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle (1993), she plays Becky, the grounded, loyal confidante in a romance determined to believe in destiny. Her matter-of-fact comic manner helps keep the sentiment tolerable. Becky also shows the limit of the early casting: O'Donnell is there to be funny and dependable, with less room for anything else.
The Flintstones (1994) gave her Betty Rubble, and Tarzan (1999) used her voice for the energetic Terk. The move into animation makes sense for an actor whose voice already does so much of the comic work. These parts also sit within an early film career repeatedly organised around the comic companion. The danger in such recognisable delivery is that a film can ask for the familiar sound and neglect to write much of a person.
Her later dramatic television work includes I Know This Much Is True (2020), and she has spoken of wanting more than the quick quip. We would welcome more parts that give her characters something difficult to contend with, rather than simply another opportunity to be funny. There is no need to stop laughing to make that possible. Start with A League of Their Own, where Marshall gives her a team worth belonging to.
Biography
Rosie O'Donnell is an American actress and comedian, also credited as Roseann O'Donnell. She made her feature film debut as Doris Murphy in A League of Their Own (1992) and played Becky in Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
O'Donnell began performing stand-up comedy as a teenager and gained early television exposure on Star Search. She is also known for voice roles including Terk in Tarzan (1999) and Betty Rubble in The Flintstones (1994), as well as appearances in series such as The Nanny (1993) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000).
