chew the scenery
Act wildly overdone
To chew the scenery is to act with exaggerated emotion and theatrical excess, overplaying a role to the point of absurdity.
The phrase evokes an actor so wildly dramatic they seem ready to gnaw on the stage set itself.
It's usually critical: The villain chewed the scenery in every scene.
Sometimes the hamminess is deliberate and entertaining.
- overactPerform with excess
- melodramatizeMake excessively emotional
- emoteExpress with theatricality
- hammyExcessively theatrical in style
- ham it upPerform with exaggerated theatrics
ham actor · bombastic · exaggerate · laying it on thick · caricature · grandiose · overwrought · histrionics · drama queen · steal the show · distracting · theatrical · self-indulgent · excessive · make a spectacle of oneself · flamboyant · go overboard · effusive
- theater jargonbackstage, center stage, curtain call, downstage, dress rehearsal
chew the sceneryunderplay
Minimize emphasis or expression
underact · tone it down · hold back · less is more · throw it away
chew, chews, chewed, chewing, chewable, chewy, scene, scenes, scenic