chews the scenery
Acts wildly theatrical
To chew the scenery is to act with exaggerated emotion and theatrical excess, as if so consumed by the performance that you're gnawing on the set itself.
The phrase usually describes hammy, over-the-top acting: He really chews the scenery in that courtroom scene.
It can be criticism or affectionate acknowledgment of a showy performance.
- overactingExcessive theatrical performance
- ham it upPerform with exaggerated theatrics
- grandstandingPerforming to impress onlookers
- hammyExcessively theatrical in style
- over the topExcessively theatrical or extreme
playing to the gallery · distracting · mugging · histrionic · melodrama · drama queen · overdone · exaggeration · bombast · overwrought · emoting · Oscar bait · caricature · theatricality · larger than life · gesticulating · ostentatious · flamboyance
chews the sceneryunderacts
Performs with insufficient intensity
method acting · deadpan delivery · phoning it in · mails it in · pulls back
chews the sceneryunderplays
Deliberately de-emphasizes something
understates · deadpan delivery · low-key · method acting · holds back
chew, chews, chewed, chewing, chewer, chewable, scene, scenes, scenic