The Irishman: Every Major Performance, Ranked

Martin Scorsese’s latest crime epic, The Irishman, has been lauded as one of the decade’s greatest movies. Based on the life story of mob hitman Frank Sheeran, who claimed to have taken part in the assassination of Jimmy Hoffa, The Irishman features some of the finest actors of all time, including Robert De Niro, Al Pacino (in his first collaboration with Scorsese), Joe Pesci, and Harvey Keitel.

As a result of casting screen legends in key roles and filling out the ensemble with hot young talent, The Irishman has plenty of powerhouse performances. So, here are all the major performances in The Irishman, ranked.

13 Sebastian Maniscalco As “Crazy” Joe Gallo

“Crazy” Joe Gallo’s longest appearance in The Irishman involves a discussion with Frank about whether or not he and Russell are “brothers.” The dialogue feels really forced, and Sebastian Maniscalco’s on-the-nose performance doesn’t help. That might be the point as the character is an arrogant mafioso whose big mouth gets him killed, but it’s a little distracting.

12 Stephanie Kurtzuba As Irene Sheeran

It’s no secret that female characters get the short end of the stick in Scorsese’s movies. Frank Sheeran’s wife Irene is hardly characterized in the film. Still, Stephanie Kurtzuba does a great job of portraying her as a loving mother who has no idea what her husband gets up to in his professional life.

11 Kathrine Narducci As Carrie Bufalino

Russell Bufalino’s wife Carrie is introduced early on in The Irishman as she wants to smoke in her husband’s car in the way to Bill’s daughter’s wedding and he won’t let her. There are a lot of laughs in the scene, establishing the film’s more mature take on the pitch-black comic tone of Goodfellas.

10 Bobby Cannavale As Skinny Razor

Although it takes you out of a scene whenever 49-year-old Bobby Cannavale calls 76-year-old Robert De Niro “kid,” Cannavale is charming as ever in The Irishman. He also has great comic timing, like when he complains about a guy who owes him money continually using his mother’s death as an excuse.

9 Jesse Plemons As Chuckie O’Brien

Since his breakout performance in Breaking Bad, Jesse Plemons has emerged as one of the current generation’s finest actors. In The Irishman, he continued to prove that with in the role of Jimmy Hoffa’s self-proclaimed foster son, Chuckie O’Brien.

8 Welker White As Josephine “Jo” Hoffa

The scene in which Welker White really gets to shine as Jimmy Hoffa’s wife Jo is when Frank calls her. She’s in tears, fearing the worst, and Frank tells her everything will be okay. But we’ve just seen a half-hour sequence in which he flew across the country to shoot Jimmy in the head, so we know everything’s not okay.

7 Ray Romano As Bill Bufalino

In interviews for The Irishman, whenever Ray Romano’s background in stand-up has come up, Martin Scorsese has said that he doesn’t think of Romano as a comedian but rather as an actor. Scorsese previously cast Romano in his short-lived HBO drama series, Vinyl.

In the role of Frank Sheeran’s mob-connected lawyer, Romano impressively held his own in scenes with greats like De Niro and Pesci, but it was still tough not to see bumbling sports writer Ray Barone.

6 Harvey Keitel As Angelo Bruno

Harvey Keitel is given a lot less to do in The Irishman than he was in Mean Streets and The Last Temptation of Christ. But as they say, there are no small parts, only small actors.

And Keitel, as the furthest thing from a “small actor,” knocks his portrayal of Angelo Bruno out of the park. In his brief appearances, he disappears into the role and sweeps you up in the scene.

5 Anna Paquin As Peggy Sheeran

The Irishman has been accused of silencing Anna Paquin’s character, Peggy Sheeran, as she only has a couple of lines in the movie. But this was a conscious effort on Scorsese’s part as he’d seen Paquin’s ability to communicate emotions non-verbally and he wanted to utilize it.

Plus, it makes sense for the character that, after figuring out how her father made his money, Peggy didn’t want to speak to him.

4 Stephen Graham As Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano

It can’t be easy to stand out in a movie when you share all your scenes with Al Pacino, and some of them with Robert De Niro as well, but Stephen Graham managed just that in The Irishman.

Particularly in the prison brawl with the ice cream and the meeting with Hoffa in which he bickers about how late you have to be before you’re properly late, Graham shines.

3 Joe Pesci As Russell Bufalino

In all his previous collaborations with Scorsese — Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino — Joe Pesci played a hothead who was likely to fly off the handle in a fit of violent rage. So it was fascinating to see him in a much more subdued and nuanced role in The Irishman.

Russell Bufalino is much more softly spoken than Pesci’s other characters. Pesci plays his aging in prison, with shaking hands, sucking wine off the bread he can no longer eat, with heartbreaking poignancy.

2 Robert De Niro As Frank Sheeran

It seemed awfully strange that Robert De Niro wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for his lead performance as Frank Sheeran in The Irishman. On top of the fact that De Niro has favor with the Academy, the subtleties of his performance as a sociopathic hitman struggling to feel anything as he blindly follows orders to kill people — including one of his best friends — was incredibly powerful.

The only downside to De Niro’s performance is that the de-aging effects are occasionally distracting, particularly in the wide shot of Frank beating up the grocer outside his store.

1 Al Pacino As Jimmy Hoffa

Jimmy Hoffa was the ideal role for a late-career Al Pacino. In his twilight years (post-Scent of a Woman), Pacino’s acting has gotten a lot more eccentric and theatrical, and that was perfectly suited to the role of Hoffa. Pacino’s decades-long friendship with Robert De Niro made the on-screen friendship of Frank and Jimmy feel believable.

Whether he’s yelling at a room full of his associates or holding back his delight when the Kennedy assassination is reported or telling a courtroom full of people how to deal with attackers depending on their weapon, Pacino’s portrayal of Hoffa is fantastic.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3465 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

More From Ben Sherlock