5 Movies That Proves Bradley Cooper’s Versatility As An Actor

Bradley Cooper has quickly been able to prove his acting versatility over the years, playing everything from a racoon in Guardians of the Galaxy, to a best man who helps get his friends into all kinds of trouble in Todd Phillips Hangover series.

This list will go through the 5 movies that show just how versatile his acting skill is, as well as showing how many different characters he can play, and play very well.

Guardians of the Galaxy

One of Cooper’s most famous roles is easily one where you don’t even see his face. He plays Rocket Racoon. Rocket almost features in the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie, as well as Avengers Infinity War and Endgame.

What makes Cooper’s role so memorable is his ability to be funny, charismatic, and show proper emotion, good and bad, throughout all the movies. Animations also require a far more expressive tone, and to really do all the acting with your words, annunciation and the like. Cooper does a brilliant job, and you don’t even have to see the movies to know all about Rocket Racoon.

Hangover Series
The Hangover series has become a cult classic, from the main stars, all the way to Mike Tyson and Mr Chow. The movies follow the exploits of a group of friends waking up from an insane night of partying, only to find themselves in serious trouble.

Cooper plays Phil, a more level-headed member of the friend group, and this movie shows his more comedic, sarcastic side as an actor. He plays a very likeable character, and is definitely the one you look to if you want a witty comment or the one to take charge. Considering The Hangover definitely has aspects of Jackass in it, and Cooper seems to balance the world of comedy and chaos very well.

Limitless
Limitless is a very unique type of movie, with Cooper playing Eddie Morra, a struggling author in New York, who ends up taking some tablets that make him smarter, more efficient, and have the ability to pick up skills in no time at all.

He uses the tablets regularly, gaining massive financial success and becoming the next big thing in New York. Cooper plays a more serious role in this film, but is still able to add the wit and clever comments to his character throughout the film.

Even in the more dramatic and action packed scenes, he is able to keep the Bradley Cooper wit and charm we have seen in other movies. Limitless is a brilliant film, and should be added to your list if you haven’t seen it already.

A Star is Born

One of his most recent films and also one of his most successful ones, Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a songwriter and struggling alcoholic and drug addict. Cooper takes on the role brilliantly, and the transition from someone with substance abuse problems, to someone who mentors Ally Maine (Lady Gaga).

The entire film is filled with emotion, drama and feel good moments throughout. Add in the songs sang by both Cooper and Gaga throughout, you will see that this isn’t the same type of film for Cooper, and he proves he can play a more calm, dramatic character.

American Hustle

His performance as FBI agent Richie DiMasso in the film American Hustle earned Cooper a Screen Actors Guild award in 2013. His character was tenacious, intense, driven, and Cooper even went as far as to curl his hair every day for the role.

After the fact, he was praised for how seriously he played the role. That may be expected considering he is a professional actor, but think of Heath Ledger as the Joker, he took it seriously, but then took it to a whole new level, Cooper did the same in American Hustle.

These are just 5 of some of his best films that he has been in, this list doesn’t even include Silver Linings Playbook, American Sniper, Joy, 10 Cloverfield Lane, and he was even a producer on Joker.

Cooper may be an actor that actually goes fairly under the radar, but he is able to adapt and change to characters quite well, even doing really well with an animated character. He has had some duds though, but by all accounts, that was due to the film being a dud and not his acting.

He should really get more attention and praise than he does, as he is an incredibly versatile actor that can lend his hand to most genres of film.

With upcoming roles in the next Thor movie, Love and Thunder, as well as taking up his role as Rocket Racoon in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, and let’s not ignore two films, Nightmare Alley and Soggy Bottom in post-production. Cooper is still on the radar, and you should be paying more attention.