Otherwise good/great movies stolen by a terrible performance?

[Sampiro]

Devil's Advocate also needed some trimming- it was about 30 minutes too long- but with said trimming and without Keanu Reaves it could have been a classic.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thievescould perhaps have been enjoyable as an 'ignore the plotholes and previous versions' popcorn movie had it not been for Kevin Costner; I'd also have taken out Christian Slater, but his role wasn't large enough to wreck it.

Butterfly Effect might have worked without Ashton Kutcher.

[judikium]

This is probably an unpopular opinion (considering her Oscar) but I thought Kim Basinger was lifeless and dull in the otherwise pretty good L.A. Confidential.

And I vehemently disagree with the Shelly Duvall bashing. It's a weird performance, but I don't think anyone in that film fares particularly well (especially the mug-tastic Nicholson).

[Zebra]

Originally Posted by judikium

This is probably an unpopular opinion (considering her Oscar) but I thought Kim Basinger was lifeless and dull in the otherwise pretty good L.A. Confidential.

And I vehemently disagree with the Shelly Duvall bashing. It's a weird performance, but I don't think anyone in that film fares particularly well (especially the mug-tastic Nicholson).

I agree with you on both of these points. Kubrick could have fired her but didn't. Why? Because she was doing what he wanted.


And of all those people in L.A. Confidential Kim Basinger wins the Oscar?!?!!?!?!

[Scupper]

Originally Posted by RikWriter

He didn't seem to be doing the same character in Tombstone or Frailty.

Also:

Near Dark - Sociopath vampire.

Big Love - Troubled polygamist patriarch. (Four Golden Globe nominations.)

Apollo 13 - Astronaut, Hero

Weird Science - Completely over the top and hilarious bully/older brother

A Simple Plan - The voice of reason, trying in vain to keep greed from destroying his friends and family.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

Originally Posted by RikWriter

He didn't seem to be doing the same character in Tombstone or Frailty.

Frailty is a creepy movie not enough people have seen! He directed it as well.

I do think he's a good actor but I always see him as Chet from Weird Science just because I thought he did a good job as an awful character in that silly movie. So for me he's Chet goes to Space (Aliens), Chet in the old West (Tombstone), Chet goes to the bottom of the ocean (Titanic), Chet has three wives (Big Love), and on and on.

[LaurenIpsum]

I have to mention the original Psycho (1960). All the actors were great, except for John Gavin as Marion's boyfriend. He is the very definition of wooden, and I don't really see how someone like Marion would risk everything to run away with him. I read somewhere a while back (can't remember where) that Hitchcock was forced by the studio to cast him, and that he was not happy at all with Gavin's performance.

The only thing I liked about Gus Van Sant's remake in 1998 was Viggo Mortensen in the boyfriend role. Although he had a bit of a weird take on it, playing him with a laid-back southern drawl, at least he gave the character some personality and life.

[Clothahump]

Originally Posted by Slithy Tove

Peggy Sue Got Married was a nostalgia picture that the writers tried to keep from becoming a typical 80's teen tits & zits comedy. Nicholas Cage behaved like a cartoon character to drag it back to that level.

Dude, it's Nicholas Cage. He does that to every movie he appears in.

[Maiira]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

Robin Hood: Prince of Thievescould perhaps have been enjoyable as an 'ignore the plotholes and previous versions' popcorn movie had it not been for Kevin Costner; I'd also have taken out Christian Slater, but his role wasn't large enough to wreck it.

Yup. Kevin Costner has always bugged the hell out of me for some reason. He's the reason I disliked Dances With Wolves. I was okay with Christian Slater, though. (Also, that movie is the reason I know what the Bayeux Tapestry is.)

Originally Posted by Clothahump

Dude, it's Nicholas Cage. He does that to every movie he appears in.

Which, oddly, worked very well in Kickass.

[hogarth]

I thought Mariel Hemingway was easily the worst part of "Manhattan".

[gallows fodder]

Originally Posted by KneadToKnow

Oh, hells yes. I think it's safe to say that if you're the current Mrs. David Mamet and you're in a David Mamet film, you're the worst thing about it.

I don't think I've ever seen Rebecca Pidgeon in anything else, so I can't speak to her acting ability, but I've read David Mamet's manifesto on acting (True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor), and that style seems to be his ideal. His belief is that actors are simply vehicles for translating the written word onto the screen or stage. To him, the written word is paramount and acting is basically a matter of mechanics.

So when I saw The Spanish Prisoner, my reaction to Pidgeon's wooden (at best!) acting was, "Oh, so that's what he was talking about!"

[KneadToKnow]

Pidgeon is in Red, and she's only mildly deplorable in it. Fortunately, her character arc comes to a satisfying conclusion, which helps make everything else easier to bear.

[Annie-Xmas]

Juliette Lewis in What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

[well he's back]

If I hadn't already hated "Avatar", Sigourney Weaver's surprisingly wooden performance would have hurt it a lot.

[RikWriter]

Originally Posted by Sleeps With Butterflies

Frailty is a creepy movie not enough people have seen! He directed it as well.

I love the ending. It was a real mind-fuck.

[Battle Pope]

Sondra Locke in pretty much any of her films with Clint Eastwood but I'll nominate her performance in The Outlaw Josey Wales as the worst part of great western.

[Spoke]

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines had the makings of a pretty good sequel, but then some idiot cast Nick Stahl as John Connor. Really? This sniveling lump is humanity's last, best hope? Can anyone imagine following such a whiny, vacillating wimp into battle against the machines?

Honestly, I thought Terminator 2 had the same problem. Weaselly little Edward Furlong as John Connor? He at least seemed like he had more backbone than Nick Stahl, but not somebody you'd trust near your valuables, much less follow into battle.

What these sequels needed was somebody more like Lucas Black in Sling Blade. Someone who, even though he was small and threatened by larger forces, you could clearly see had the will and inner strength to fight back. Someone you could imagine one day becoming a leader.

[panache45]

Originally Posted by KneadToKnow

And while it does not affect my interest in owning Breakfast at Tiffany's, it's worth mentioning Mickey Rooney's offensive turn there.

This was the first example I thought of. It's embarrassing to watch.

[Carmady]

Originally Posted by Miss Woodhouse

Most memorable for me was Dumbledore's reaction to Harry's name being in the cup.

This. At first I was mildly surprised by Dumbledore's angry expression, then my eyebrows rose when he slapped Harry in the face. But when he started choking Harry and had to be pulled away by Hagrid I knew something was wrong.

[Namkcalb]

Originally Posted by Sister Vigilante

For me it was Four Weddings and a Funeral. Excellent movie with Andie MacDowell horribly miscast. It's like she read the script and thought to herself, "now how could I possibly say this the worst way?"

This/\ The second time I watched it, I just fastforwarded when her mouth was moving. However, the character was so dislikeable, I'm not sure if we can blame the actress.

Originally Posted by gatorslap

I think The World is Not Enough was a fine Bond film, except for Denise Richards.

I'm a nuclear scientist!

Originally Posted by Critical1

Keanu Reeves in the Matrix? in every thing? wait, other than Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure he has pretty much made the movie unwatchable for me.
"I know kung fu"
yeah and I know your mom dropped you on your head, repeatedly as an adult.

someone who seems permastoned is perfect for the Neo.

[Teacake]

Originally Posted by laina_f

When I saw the thread title, I immediately thought "Andie MacDowell" without thinking of a specific movie. That's because her acting has crapped on every movie I've ever seen her in. That includes Groundhog Day, a movie I otherwise enjoy.

I see I'm not alone in my aversion to Ms. MacDowell. She's the well-paid poster child for the concept of succeeding on looks alone.

Which would make a lot more sense if she wasn't so HIDEOUS. The only thing uglier than her face is her delivery: "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed" gets quoted a lot among my group of friends to denote that someone is being so blindingly stupid that they deserve a smack.

I came in to mention Keanu Reeves in Much Ado, but I see I'm not alone.

[Ashley Pomeroy]

I'm surprised Marlon Brando hasn't popped up yet. But generally he was bad in bad films. His performance in Apocalypse Now is certainly distinctive, and I can imagine him as a kind of Charles Manson-esque cult leader, but (trails off)... what?

And - how can I forget? - Dennis Hopper's performance in the very same stretch of film is also memorable but, watching it whilst sipping a cup of tea, without my brain filled with drugs, not in the middle of the jungle, he's awful. With the stress on awe. Awefulsomely neither good nor bad. A harbinger of Nicolas Cage's mega-acting. Pabst Blue Ribbon.

"Did you know that if is the middle word in life?"

Originally Posted by Namkcalb

(On Denise Richards) I'm a nuclear scientist!

The thing I remember most about Denise Richard's performance is her introduction, which goes something like this, according to the IMDB:

(James Bond asks her name)
Dr. Christmas Jones: Doctor Jones. Christmas Jones, and don't tell me any jokes, I've heard them all.
James Bond: I don't know any doctor jokes.

At which point the film falls silent for several minutes, and all you can hear is the wind, and the faint dying cries of a distant animal. Some tumbleweed forlornly drifts past the camera. I can't actually remember anything else about her performance; by which I mean that I'd forgotten she was in the film, I can't recall what function she had in the film, or what she did... there was Robert Carlyle, Sophie Marceau, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench, Maria Conchita Grazia Alonso... thing, and Goldie.

Goldie. The drum'n'bass personality. I remember him. Can't remember Denise Richards. She was dressed up like Lara Croft, and she was a nuclear scientist.

I'll go all out for controversy. Taking the thread title literally (and ignoring the "otherwise" bit), Andre the Giant's performance in The Princess Bride is objectively very bad, especially compared to the actors around him, but he steals the scenes he's in and it works.

[Namkcalb]

Originally Posted by Namkcalb

someone who seems permastoned is perfect for the Neo.

Sorry to nitpick but your grammar is terrible

[MsWhatsit]

I just saw the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk and thought it was actually a pretty good movie. Except for Liv Tyler. Who is wretched, and should never be cast in anything ever again. She was so unbelievably awful in that role.

[Spoke]

Ah, the internet bandwagon of celebrity hatred. Keanu Reeves, Gwyneth Paltrow, Andie MacDowell, the gang's all here. (Wait, has no one mentioned Ben Affleck, or Julia Roberts?)

But now it's just getting silly. Andie MacDowell is "hideous" now? I mean, I know tastes are subjective and all, but Jesus, the woman had a career as a cover model.

[MsWhatsit]

Well, she's a hideous actress. I think that counts.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Spoke

Ah, the internet bandwagon of celebrity hatred. Keanu Reeves, Gwyneth Paltrow, Andie MacDowell, the gang's all here. (Wait, has no one mentioned Ben Affleck, or Julia Roberts?)

Oh come on, just because someone's a celeb doesn't mean they can't rightly be called on an occasional dog of a performance. (Previous posters have rightly pointed out that occasionally the director is getting exactly the performance they want - George Lucas, I'm looking at you - and so we can give some credit there when that's known.) Frankly, I think Keanu Reeves' best work (out of the films of his I've seen) has been in My Own Private Idaho and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Maybe The Devil's Advocate - I'd have to see that again. His more serious roles usually suffer from a woodenness that he seems to fall into. Again, this may be what the director wants, but eventually it all becomes so very much the same across roles.

[Spoke]

Hey, nothing wrong with critiquing an acting performance.

It's the internet groupthink I find tiresome.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Ashley Pomeroy

I can't recall what function she had in the film

They're called boobs, Ed.

[Gray Ghost]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Malin Akerman in Watchmen yet. Great to look at, but ugh, that was one of the more vapid performances I've ever seen. And it's not like I was expecting Antigone when I walked in the theater; I just wanted a neat graphic novel big-screen interpretation.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Gray Ghost

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Malin Akerman in Watchmen yet. Great to look at, but ugh, that was one of the more vapid performances I've ever seen. And it's not like I was expecting Antigone when I walked in the theater; I just wanted a neat graphic novel big-screen interpretation.

I thought she captured the rather thinly-drawn character from the comic quite accurately. Really, her only function in the thing is to evidence things about three other characters we'd have a hard time getting to otherwise.

[hogarth]

Originally Posted by Battle Pope

Sondra Locke in pretty much any of her films with Clint Eastwood but I'll nominate her performance in The Outlaw Josey Wales as the worst part of great western.

An excellent example!

[MovieMogul]

To be honest, most of the movies listed so far are pretty good at best but nowhere near "great" with most rarely having any great performances, so the weakest link doesn't seem that bad by comparison.

But I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Matthew Broderick in Glory, which has some genuinely great performances and could've been a great movie if it wasn't for the utter hopelessness of the miscasting of the main role. Everyone else is period-pitch-perfect, but he is terrible--not in a hammy, over-the-top way or wooden way, but by simply being unable to embody even an ounce of the charisma and gravitas of what Robert Gould Shaw needed. He reminds me of that bird toy that bobs its head into a glass or water if it had just started taking elocution lessons. Horrible.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Originally Posted by Spoke

Hey, nothing wrong with critiquing an acting performance.

It's the internet groupthink I find tiresome.

Its "groupthink" that a bunch of people agree certain actors/actresses are generally terrible? C'mon...Keanu Reeves isn't a wooden actor?

[Lemur866]

Originally Posted by FoieGrasIsEvil

Its "groupthink" that a bunch of people agree certain actors/actresses are generally terrible? C'mon...Keanu Reeves isn't a wooden actor?

But it's nonsense to claim that Keanu ruined "The Matrix" with his wooden acting. Yes, Keanu runs the emotional gamut from A to B. But he didn't ruin that particular movie with his crap acting. He's perfect for the role.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

I thought most of the cast of "Love Story" was pretty good. Ali, not so much.

[Superdude]

Quentin Tarantino as Jimmy in Pulp Fiction. The second half of this scene just pulls me out of an otherwise excellent film.

The scene above is NSFW.

[Larry Mudd]

Originally Posted by Robot Arm

I've always thought Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow needed a stronger, sharper tongued Polly. I don't know if it was Gwyneth Paltrow's choice to play it the way she did, or if the director wanted it that way. Oddly, Blythe Danner (in her prime) would have been perfect.

Came in to mention this movie. For me, I found Gwynteth Paltrow's performance infuriating distracting, only because she seemed to be the only one in the cast that didn't understand that they were meant to be making a '30s adventure movie.

I was left with the impression that she thought she was too good to telegraph her role in the proper style, so she ended up just coming across ordinary and out-of-place. She sucked all the fun out of every scene. Bleah.

[Spoke]

Originally Posted by FoieGrasIsEvil

Its "groupthink" that a bunch of people agree certain actors/actresses are generally terrible? C'mon...Keanu Reeves isn't a wooden actor?

It's groupthink when in every single thread in this vein there is a rush of posters racing to bash the same half-dozen actors with the same tired insults. Like I said, tiresome.

[Spoke]

Originally Posted by MovieMogul

To be honest, most of the movies listed so far are pretty good at best but nowhere near "great" with most rarely having any great performances, so the weakest link doesn't seem that bad by comparison.

::Shrug:: The thread title says "good/great movies," not "great movies," so "pretty good movies" are fair game for discussion.

But I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Matthew Broderick in Glory...

That is a really good example. Broderick had nowhere near the gravitas needed for that role.

[Gangster Octopus]

Originally Posted by Spoke

::Shrug:: The thread title says "good/great movies," not "great movies," so "pretty good movies" are fair game for discussion.



That is a really good example. Broderick had nowhere near the gravitas needed for that role.

I am not sure the character was supposed to have particular gravitas. Many of the officers in the Civil War were simply men of education and/or status. The fact that he was given a "colored" division should've been an indication that he was not considered much of an officer by his superiors. I actually liked Borderick acting a little out of his depth, I kind of though he was perfect for the role. Although I will concede it may be hard to see past "Ferris Bueller".

[Lemur866]

Agreed about "Glory". Broderick is made an officer, not because he's a leader or warrior or is anything special, but because he's white. He's brave enough to march into certain death with his unit, but he's only their leader because he's a white man from a rich family.

Same thing for Ed Furlong in "Terminator 2". He makes a great young John Connor, because a guy who grows up to be a resistance leader isn't going to be a square jawed hero, but a guy who has grown up breaking the rules and getting himself in and out of trouble.

The kid in Terminator 3 was all wrong though.

[Carmady]

Originally Posted by Spoke

Ah, the internet bandwagon of celebrity hatred. Keanu Reeves, Gwyneth Paltrow, Andie MacDowell, the gang's all here.

I notice you left Liv Tyler and Denise Richards off of your "the gang's all here" list.

Could that be because you happen to agree they can't act? So, if YOU agree, then it is perfectly fine to call them out on their lack of acting talent. But if YOU disagree, then it is internet groupthink.

Incidentally, I think "Ted" Theodore Logan made a great Neo. But that's besides the point.

[Spoke]

Maybe it was Broderick's weirdly affected diction in Glory, but something about him in that role was just wrong.

[Larry Mudd]

Originally Posted by Spoke

Ah, the internet bandwagon of celebrity hatred. Keanu Reeves, Gwyneth Paltrow, Andie MacDowell, the gang's all here. (Wait, has no one mentioned Ben Affleck, or Julia Roberts?)

I don't recall saying "Gwyneth Paltrow stinks up every picture she's in" - she was just miscast as Polly Perkins in Sky Captain. She's a perfectly competent dramatic actress.

Come to think of it, I don't recall objecting to her in any other role, apart from her role as Pepper Potts in the Iron Man movies. I think it's possible she should just avoid roles in sci-fi fantasy adventure flicks where she plays a spunky-but-demure heroine with an alliterative "P" name, who usually stands in the shadow of her Action Hero love interest, but miraculously manages to muster enough moxie to emancipate him in a menacing moment. She tends to suck at that at a bit.

[Becky2844]

Claire Danes ruined Little Women for me with all that sobbin' and snottin'.

[DummyGladHands]

Keaton in the Godfathers. I know people say that's how that part was supposed to be, but my teeth hurt watching here in that.

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by Larry Mudd

I don't recall saying "Gwyneth Paltrow stinks up every picture she's in" - she was just miscast as Polly Perkins in Sky Captain. She's a perfectly competent dramatic actress.

Come to think of it, I don't recall objecting to her in any other role, apart from her role as Pepper Potts in the Iron Man movies. I think it's possible she should just avoid roles in sci-fi fantasy adventure flicks where she plays a spunky-but-demure heroine with an alliterative "P" name, who usually stands in the shadow of her Action Hero love interest, but miraculously manages to muster enough moxie to emancipate him in a menacing moment. She tends to suck at that at a bit.

I don't dislike her, either. She's been good in some movies, and she's smokin' hot in Iron Man and Sky Captain, but in those roles she needed to dial the spunky up to eleven. There's a scene in the trailer for Iron Man 2 where Tony asks for a kiss for good luck, and she kisses his helmet. I think it was edited out of the movie, which is kind of a shame, but she still needed to sell it a little more. Put some passion into it. I mean, you're teasing the guy, make it look like you're enjoying it.

I'm not familiar with how Pepper is in the original comic books; maybe she wasn't supposed to be quite as spirited as I would have liked. Sky Captain is such a throwback that it just screams for that fast-talking 30's type of female lead. There was Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey, Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies (noticing a pattern), and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday. For a more modern take, watch Blythe Danner in Futureworld.

Come to think of it, I can't think of a current actress who has really done that kind of performance well.

[Rick]

Let's go old school.
Tony Curtis in The Black Shield of Falworth
"Yonder lies the castle of my faddah."
Pure Brooklyn accent.

[Sr Siete]

I realize it's probably just me, but I can't buy DiCaprio in most of his roles. He was never Howard Hughes for me, just a kid playing in his dad's clothes.

[lawoot]

Runaway Train - I think the acting budget was blown on the three folks on the runaway (Jon Voight, Rebecca De Mornay and Eric Roberts) - the folks in the railroad dispatchers office sucked (especially the main dispatcher).