Steve Buscemi’s reedy voice and comic timing make awkward outsiders worth listening to. We value him most when the writing gives those people a life beyond their peculiarities, as Ghost World does.
Fi1m perspective
Steve Buscemi turns up as Starscream in Transformers One (2024) and shrieks. We were amused by how readily that reedy voice makes an animated robot sound troublesome; Josh Cooley has cast him well. It is a small pleasure in a film built around the friendship between the future Optimus Prime and Megatron, and we would not pretend he is the reason to watch. But it catches something useful about Buscemi: he can make an awkward character register quickly, without needing the film to stop and explain him.
The early independent films, including Parting Glances (1986) and Mystery Train (1989), led to the breakthrough of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992). Mr. Pink, his pragmatic criminal who will not tip, is a useful example of how stubbornness can become funny without making a character likeable. The Coen brothers also understood the comic value of his delivery, writing Carl Showalter in Fargo (1996) for him. His timing makes him useful in an ensemble, though a film still needs to give him more to do than sound peculiar.
We value Ghost World (2001) for giving him Seymour, a lonely record collector whose oddness does not cancel his humanity. He can make such a man worth spending time with without pretending he would be easy company. Television brought a larger change: Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), a sustained dramatic lead. His success there makes the doubts about his suitability as a leading man seem a narrow way of looking at an actor.
We would not choose a film simply because his name is on it. He plays Barry Dort in Wednesday (2022), but our recommendation there rests chiefly on Jenna Ortega’s comic severity. Nor does the pleasure of hearing him in Transformers One make its noisy last act any less tiring. For a fuller sense of what he can do, start with Ghost World.
Biography
Steve Buscemi is an American actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he began appearing in independent films in the 1980s and gained attention for his role as Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992).
He has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, appearing in Miller's Crossing (1990), Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998). Buscemi has also taken voice roles in animated features including Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Transformers One (2024), and played Barry Dort in the series Wednesday (2022).
On television he starred as Nucky Thompson in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014). He has directed several films, among them Trees Lounge (1996).
