Whoopi Goldberg makes comic exasperation feel practical: somebody has to deal with the nonsense. We rate her most when a film gives that impatience a purpose. Her quieter dramatic work reminds us that the fuss is a choice.
Fi1m perspective
In Ghost (1990), Whoopi Goldberg's Oda Mae Brown regards a real dead man as an intolerable imposition on a fraudulent medium. Goldberg keeps her reluctance clear even when she makes a considerable fuss. We laughed at her irritation because she treats the supernatural as something that has made her day needlessly difficult. Her comedy gives an improbable romance the ordinary human response it needs.
Steven Spielberg's The Colour Purple (1985) had already given her something much quieter to do as Celie. With little dialogue, she makes the character's dignity and inner life apparent. That performance is worth remembering when the louder comic roles threaten to become the whole account of her work. Sister Act (1992) then gave her a lead built around her comic and musical abilities.
Jerry Zucker is the collaborator who gets the comic balance right in Ghost. He lets Goldberg make a fuss without making the lovers' feelings ridiculous, and she gives Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore room to carry the loss. Her impatience keeps their romance from becoming too solemn. All three take the improbable situation seriously enough to hold it together, even when the explanations of the afterlife grow tiresome. The unnecessary delays remain a fault; a useful supporting performance cannot be expected to repair the plot.
As Shenzi in The Lion King (1994), Goldberg puts her recognisable raspy voice to work within an ensemble. We recommend the film for its expressive animation and the weight its voice cast gives the family drama, with a reservation about its overbearing lessons. But a recognisable voice and an assertive manner can also make casting too easy. The repeated outsider parts can ask too little of her, and forceful delivery alone will not keep formulaic material interesting. Start with Ghost, but leave room for the quieter performance in The Colour Purple.
Biography
Whoopi Goldberg, born Caryn Elaine Johnson, is an American actor, comedian and producer. She adopted her stage name in the early 1980s and made her film debut in The Color Purple (1985).
Goldberg received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for The Color Purple. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost (1990). Other film credits include Detective Avery in The Player (1992) and the voice of Shenzi in The Lion King (1994). She has also appeared in Sister Act (1992) and voiced roles in Toy Story 3 (2010) and other animated features.
Goldberg has hosted the daytime talk show The View since 2007 and is one of the few performers to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award.
