History Main / DullSurprise

Contrast ChewingTheScenery (and all its {{Sub Trope}}s) and {{Wangst}}. See also ColdHam, where emotionless tries to be HotBlooded; and ShrugTake, where a character ''starts'' to have a normal reaction, but then simply chooses not to.

* ''Series/{{MADtv}}'': This style of acting is parodied in another sketch, "One True Impact." It is a spoof trailer uniting Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme and Creator/StevenSeagal in a dramatic film about two brothers reuniting to cope with the impending death of their terminally ill father. Considering these two action stars' limited dramatic range, you can probably guess how this turns out. The trailer's narrator describes it as "a sensitive story about feelings and emotions never before captured on film". And he was ''right'':

* Done rather strangely in the opening scene of ''Film/Halloween''. A young Michael Myers walks outside in a trancelike state after brutally murdering his older sister. Despite finding their son in his costume standing outside holding a bloodstained knife, Michael's parents treat Michael's presence as more like a minor act of child misbehaviour rather than the horrific experience it is.

* Creator/ChristianBale seems to have a variety of facial expressions comparable to a marble statue. This is largely due to his method of playing sociopathic and/or emotionally disaffected characters. Several of his films feature bipolar performances swinging between Vulcan-like emotional coldness and sudden, manic frenzy. Which makes [[Film/TheDarkKnight Rachel's comment]] about Bruce Wayne's RichIdiotWithNoDayJob act being the mask and Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}'s permanent scowl and emotionless deadpan voice his real face intriguingly meta, really.

%%* Alicia Silverstone in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. Though in the case of one scene in ''Film/ConAir'', it's justified and lampshaded as the events of the plot inured Poe to the point that seeing the rope he'd tied to keep the plane grounded had managed to snag Malloy's car and is towing it in the air only elicits a SeenItAll response about the day's events.

%% * Edward Burns in the film version of ''Film/ASoundOfThunder''.

** Creator/MalinAkerman's reaction to being teleported to Mars is remarkably sedate. She, in fact, took this to the meta level by requesting that the filmmakers cut anything that might add characterization to Laurie outside of acting, such as her smoking, profanity, stammering, etc. Dull Surprise applied to thematics as well as delivery is a terrible thing to behold.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fans have [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Dull_surprise used this term]] to describe the emotions portrayed by the characters in any Dreamwave comics drawn by Pat Lee or anyone aping his style. And yes, it's just as prevalent with the human characters as it is with the robots (who at least have the excuse of ''being'' robots with non-expressive faces).

Compare ThatMakesMeFeelAngry, FrozenFace (if the character's face literally ''cannot'' emote), EmotionlessGirl, TheStoic (he and the previous one [[PerpetualExpression can walk with him at all times]]), KuleshovEffect, DissonantSerenity, FlatJoy, and TranquilFury.

* ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace UK'': Discussed in a stand-up comedy challenge when a queen said, "You say my acting is flat? This morning I had to pretend I knew who [guest judge] was!" This confirmed what many fans had suspected throughout the entire franchise: when Ru announces the guest judge of the episode, sometimes the queens have never heard of that person and are merely feigning excitement for the camera, leading to a relatively-tepid reaction compared to when it's a megastar like Creator/WhoopiGoldberg and they all lose their shit.

* ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'': When Ru announces the guest judge for the episode, you can always tell when the queens have no idea who that is and are just feigning excitement for the camera, as opposed to when it's someone huge like Creator/WhoopiGoldberg and they completely lose their shit.

Compare ThatMakesMeFeelAngry, FrozenFace (if the character's face literally ''cannot'' emote), EmotionlessGirl, KuleshovEffect, DissonantSerenity, FlatJoy, and TranquilFury.

Trope is named for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVGvszaIr-w a skit]] in an episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' where Mike Nelson attempts to guess the emotions portrayed by Creator/KathyIreland in ''Film/AlienFromLA''; the correct answer for each was "Dull surprise!" It is also a {{meme|ticMutation}} in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fandom, in reference to [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Dull_surprise the art of Pat Lee.]]

And from a different perspective, the lack of expression is vastly preferable to [[LargeHam hamming up the performance to the point of absurdity]] and MilkingTheGiantCow if the works is intended towards a quiet, passive experience. For actors like Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger or Creator/NicolasCage, the times they actually show emotion tends to make for hilarious Website/YouTube compilations.

* Lack of punctuation causes this in the works of Creator/UltamiteNineball: "Ahh he yelled as he slashed him his blood hit the floor."

* In the ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Empath's Wedding", when Empath's bride-to-be Smurfette has been spirited away by Chlorhydris right before the wedding starts, and Empath meets up with her again at Chlorhydris' observatory, Smurfette greets him with this kind of response, which makes Empath think that something isn't right with her.

* The fic ''Fanfic/GenderswappedNations'' ends with a huge battle between the gender bends and the BigBad's army wherein [[spoiler:one gender bend is murdered and another is in critical condition after having been tortured]]. A piercing shriek sounds near the end of the battle, and Italy's gender swap worriedly questions if someone's been hurt. Canada's gender swap simply replies with a deadpan "Probably."

* Benrey of ''Machinima/HalfLifeButTheAIIsSelfAware'' reacts to almost everything with bored apathy, even when he's in the middle of a firefight or murdering random civilians. It's actually deconstructed, since it's one of the many signs there's something ''deeply'' wrong with him.

* In the same manner as MoeStare, fanart and promotional art for anime/manga often uses this as a generic cute expression. [[http://www.zerochan.net/1730506 Here's]] [[http://www.zerochan.net/1779290 some]] [[http://www.zerochan.net/1800106 examples.]]

* ''Manga/MonsterMusume'': In chapter 20, Zombina stumbles onto a fight between [[spoiler: Kii, a dryad mutated by illegal toxic waste, and Suu, a slime grown to giant size by the same waste. The two lose their balance and topple directly toward Zombina, who reacts with a blank expression and a [[OhCrap deadpan "Uh..."]] before she's smashed flat]]. A ''[[Funny/MonsterMusume glorious]]'' example of this trope used intentionally.

* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] mocks an issue of ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' (#423) for having [[Characters/MarvelComicsNightcrawler Nightcrawler]] reveal a surprising bit of info and having all the characters react in shock… "or rather with [[http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s102/Linkara/Uncanny%20X-Men-423/X-Men-423-5.jpg apathy, shock, confusion, boredom and surprise]]". He also mocked the Quasi-{{Trope Namer|s}} seen above.

** Tony Cardoza has exactly one scene in ''Film/TheSkydivers'' where he emotes, and it's ''not'' the one where he realizes his wife is cheating on him ''or'' the one where he realizes his parachute has been sabotaged and he's about to die. Website/TheAgonyBooth, in its recap, features [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/The_Skydivers.aspx?Page=7 The Many Moods of Tony Cardoza]], showing his identical expression of mild indigestion for situations ranging from guilt to sorrow to rage.

** In fact, Screen Junkies, creator of ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'', made a supercut video of '''all''' the times people in the ''Twilight'' films are staring at each other without talking. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpU5O_Uur_c The video is]] just under ''half an hour!''

--->'''Podcast/RiffTrax''': ...[[RunningGag Line?]]

* Edward Burns in the film version of ''Film/ASoundOfThunder''. [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/A_Sound_of_Thunder_2005.aspx?Page=2 Just check the pictures of this recap]] (who describes him as "only slightly less stiff than the fossilized bones of the dinosaurs they hunt").

* Creator/ChanningTatum and Creator/SiennaMiller in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra''. Their roles could have been played with cardboard cutouts and tape recorders and nobody would have noticed the difference ([[http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1747 at least one reviewer]] said the special effects are more animated than Tatum).

* ''Film/{{Fireproof}}'' manages to make this look natural with Creator/KirkCameron's character. As a volunteer firefighter, Caleb tends to automatically swallow his emotions in a crisis, leading to vacillating between Dull Surprise and completely exploding. Fred Clark, at [[http://slacktivist.typepad.com Slacktivist]], has credited Cameron's acting style to his having learned to act as a child actor in a family sitcom: child actors in such shows learn, primarily, a) to mug and b) to wait until someone else has delivered a line. "[[http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2009/02/lbtm-the-worst-mankind-has-ever-seen.html Watch CamCam's reaction]] and see if ''you'' can spot one. [=CamCam=] isn't talking, so [=CamCam=] isn't acting."

** [[Webvideo/CinematicExcrement Smeghead]] parodied it by [[https://youtu.be/_Rr-J48goTU?t=130 imitating Costner's monotone narration]] until he felt the need to "kick my own ass".

** This is an oft-quoted criticism of the Prequel films. With few exceptions, the denizens of the Galaxy seem to treat the Clone Wars and some shady Sith as if they were business as usual. The creators of ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' even noted how often the SerkisFolk are more expressive than the actors.

* Liu Yifei, who would later be cast as Mulan in [[Film/Mulan2020 the 2020 remake]], [[http://www.sixthtone.com/ht_news/1001998/upcoming-mulan-star-scores-chinas-razzie-award has gathered a reputation as this in China]]. [[https://qz.com/quartzy/1142658/imdb-rating-disneys-pick-for-mulan-liu-yifei-is-one-of-chinas-worst-actresses/ The author of the source material of one of her movies has declared that]] “Ms. Liu looks pretty, but she is afraid of being ugly, and she doesn’t dare to make facial expressions.”

* The book ''Planet Series/{{Baywatch}}'' underlines the point with a page called "The Many Moods Of Matt," illustrated with four pictures of David Charvet (as Matt Brody) captioned "Angry," "Sad," "Sexy" and "Introspective" - all accompanying the same blank-faced stare.

** It was a point of some parody (including a ''Series/MadTv1995'' sketch) during the popularity of this show that both Creator/DavidDuchovny and, to a lesser extent, Creator/GillianAnderson would frequently react to mysterious or horrific events with deadpan near-monotone exclamations (since their acting was [[TrueCompanions just]] [[UndyingLoyalty fine]] when the other's character was in danger, though, one could assume that they've [[SeenItAll become a bit jaded]]).

* Creator/OrlandoBloom. Although he'll probably strike a heroic pose at the same time, just to mix things up. The one time Bloom showed genuine emotion is his grin when Jack Sparrow commented "NiceHat" to him in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''.

* A lot of people with UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome end up like this, or on the complete opposite they overcompensate and ham it up a lot.

** Natalie Burke in ''Film/{{Werewolf}}''. All together now: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCDXwOzG7fE "Tis is ebsolutly fescinatung."]]