Let me get my hard hat out before I share this: I really did not like the way Linda Cardellini as Cassie delivers the line...Ennis, girls don't fall in love with fun!...just a little to OTT for me, I felt a quieter more intense deliver would have been more effective. JMO
Yeah, I can see where that's a little over the top. Never thought of it that way, but it's true. I actually thought she did a very good job in the scene with Kate Mara - you know, the "you don't say much, but you do get your point across" one. The way she said, "Not ready to settle down, or I'm just not the right one for him?" or something to that effect is very believable - like she knows she may not like the answer she's going to hear. And then when Alma, Jr., says "You're good enough, I guess" (and by the way, that's when I KNEW that Jr. knows all about her Dad and Jack), she completely misunderstands her meaning, of course, and takes it as a compliment - you can see the relief when she delivers the next line. Very well-done. The more I think of it, it wasn't that Linda/Cassie wasn't capable of subtlety - I think she was always OTT with Ennis - it seemed as if she practically barked at him all the time - because she felt that was the only way to get through to him. You know, like, "If he won't talk to me, at least I'll MAKE him listen."
And I have to say I kind of liked the way Randy Quaid delivered that line. To me, he was being OTT as part of the character, if that makes any sense. It was as if Aguirre was thinking, "Here *I* am (and I've seen everything)" - you know, being melodramatic on purpose.
The only line reading that rings false to me in the whole thing, really, is Bobby's. It's not horrible, but he's no Haley Joel Osment. Ya nodamean, Vern?