When you think of Philip Seymour Hoffman, what’s the first movie of his to come to mind? For me, it’s Happiness, and yes, I know that’s messed up. Hoffman was brilliant in nearly all of his films — Boogie Nights, 25th Hour, Capote, The Master, etc. — but there’s something about his performance in Todd Haynes’s 1998 dark-comedy that sticks. I can’t think of another actor who could find something sympathetic in a total pervert, the kind of guy who responds to another human’s death by flipping through pornos, getting drunk, and making obscene phone calls. He’s so delusional and barely seems of this world, but Hoffman gives Allen just the right amount of humanity to keep us caring, even if he thinks he’s too boring.
Which is a long way of saying, here’s a supercut of PSH’s “creepy pervy jerk” scenes.