# Actors or actresses you only like in one role only and dislike everything else they've done. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832 "2019-04-20T23:50:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/21 "2019-04-21T13:24:46Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Which role? 😉 Well it wasn’t Terminator or Star Wars! ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/22 "2019-04-21T13:27:20Z")
Ben Stiller. Hilarious in Zoolander, dumb and plays literally the same character in every other movie. Actually add Tropic Thunder to the mix, he was good in that too. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/23 "2019-04-21T15:52:01Z")
I liked Melissa McCarthy in _Mike & Molly_ but I can’t bear her in films. When she’s on network TV, she has to restrain herself somewhat but unleashed in an R rated film, she just becomes so much of a caricature that she’s unwatchable. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/24 "2019-04-21T16:02:00Z")
> [@Garak](#): > > I usually don’t like Stallone but I like the first Rocky and Rambo movies > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I don’t like Stallone either, but I thought he was a hoot in Demolition Man. Thirded but for me it’s [_Oscar_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102603/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_50). ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/25 "2019-04-21T16:22:19Z")
Matthew McConaughey as ‘Wooderson’ in ‘Dazed and Confused’. Hell, Ben Affleck in the same film as well. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/26 "2019-04-21T17:34:25Z")
Nic Cage in Adaptation. Annoying as hell in any other movie he’s been in. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/27 "2019-04-21T17:53:02Z")
Al Pacino in **Sea Of Love**. Have never enjoyed or admired him in anything else. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/28 "2019-04-21T17:59:24Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Nick Cage is only good in Raising Arizona. Ok, and Leaving Las Vegas. Hate his guts in everything else. Saved it with the second choice. _Leaving Las Vegas_ was the only thing Cage ever did that was even moderately acceptable. _Dave_ was his best, but Kevin Kline was pretty good in _A Fish Called Wanda_, too. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/29 "2019-04-21T18:24:47Z")
Lucille Ball, while undeniably talented, nearly always played characters I didn’t want to be in the room with. I did like her in _Yours, Mine & Ours_. Jim Carrey makes my ears flatten but I can’t imagine anyone else doing _The Mask_. He was born to do that role. I don’t tolerate Adam Sandler easily either, but he was quite good in _Fifty First Dates_. I tend to find Arnold Schwarzenegger wooden and unexpressive and mechanical, and don’t much care for the macho action flicks he tends to go in for, but _The Terminator_ made an asset of his primary liabilities, and it was a complex thoughtful movie while still being a good action flick. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/30 "2019-04-21T18:27:12Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > …But I loved him in the Truman Show Forgot about that one. Yeah he was good in that too. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/31 "2019-04-21T19:37:18Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I thought Seth Rogan was brilliant in **Knocked Up** ; don’t much care for him in anything else. I generally like his voice work, but haaate his live action work - the one exception being This Is the End. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/32 "2019-04-21T19:43:22Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Title is pretty much self explanatory. > > Ted Danson. I liked him as Sam Malone on Cheers and watched him for years. Anything else he’s done over the years I dislike. I don’t care for him acting at all. > > John Travolta. I was never into his Vinnie Barbarino character or his Saturday Night Fever phase. The only thing I liked him in was Pulp Fiction. Everything after that was abysmal. Dandson is terrific in\* The Good Place.\* Travolta was great in _Grease_ but bad in everything since then, including Pulp Fiction. Allison Janney was great in the _West Wing_ but sucks in _Mom_, and in fact it makes me sad and mad seeing her wasted in a second rate cheap sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/33 "2019-04-21T21:40:09Z")
Not much of a fan of Sharon Stone, but she knocked it out of the park in _Casino_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/34 "2019-04-21T21:47:28Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Lucille Ball, while undeniably talented, nearly always played characters I didn’t want to be in the room with. I did like her in _Yours, Mine & Ours_. > > Jim Carrey makes my ears flatten but I can’t imagine anyone else doing _The Mask_. He was born to do that role. As a Child I met her briefly at Disneyland, my Mom knew a Showbiz friend of hers so chatted her up. She was without entourage or even a plaid. She didnt seem at all like her character. She even bummed a cig from Mom. And called my Dad “handsome”. Yes, \*absolutely. \* ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/35 "2019-04-21T21:52:30Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Marky Mark in Boogie Nights. Exactly. He seems to be the personification of Dirk Diggler. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/36 "2019-04-21T21:57:42Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Ted Danson. I liked him as Sam Malone on Cheers and watched him for years. Anything else he’s done over the years I dislike. I don’t care for him acting at all. I’m ok with the fucked-up shit he did with Tim and Eric. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Jim Carrey is pretty good when he does drama. One of the most unwatchable roles I’ve ever seen was his in “Cable Guy”, which I thought was more of a melodrama with uneven tones than a black comedy. De Niro succeeded as an obsessive in “Taxi Driver” and “King of Comedy”; Carrey, here, sure didn’t. > [@74westy](#): > > Marky Mark in Boogie Nights. Also in “Departed”, but other than that - yeah, disposbale. > [@BrickBat](#): > > Matthew McConaughey as ‘Wooderson’ in ‘Dazed and Confused’. I though too much slime constantly oozed off him, there. Skeevy-town. > [@Sefton](#): > > Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds. Everything else has left me cold. Brad Pitt was tolerable in “Tree of Life”, and “Seven”. That’s it. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Will Ferrel in _Elf_. It’s possible I could be the only “Anchorman” fan here. Heh, I can deal with that. (saw only the first - no intention of seeing the others, though.) > [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Nic Cage in Adaptation. Annoying as hell in any other movie he’s been in. Agreed. Can’t believe I’m saying I thought he was great in that. > [@snfaulkner](#): > > Nick Cage is only good in Raising Arizona. Ok, and Leaving Las Vegas. Hate his guts in everything else. Fine, then, I’ll allow those two as well, _but that’s it_. > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Al Pacino in **Sea Of Love**. Have never enjoyed or admired him in anything else. Really? The Panic in Needle Park? The Godfathers I and II? No? A [slightly shorter version of him](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXneIjC01D0) shows the value of his master classes. Peter Sellars might get a six out of ten in the Pink Panthers and “The Party”, but in “Being There” - 11 out of 10. Sean Connery in “Zardoz” was the only cool thing he did. 😛 Christain Bale - “American Psycho”. Greg Kinnear - “Auto Focus” Malcolm McDowell - “Clockwork 'Orange” “Johnny Guitar” is the only tolerable Joan Crawford thing. ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/37 "2019-04-21T22:40:31Z")
Shawshank Redemption is the only movie I can stand to watch with Tim Robbins in it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/38 "2019-04-22T02:06:33Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Peter Sellars might get a six out of ten in the Pink Panthers and “The Party”, but in “Being There” - 11 out of 10. > > Sean Connery in “Zardoz” was the only cool thing he did. 😛 Agree on “Being There”, wondering if we’re being whooshed on Zardoz… you do know there was a James Bond better than George Lazenby, right? Hint: he dressed better than that Zardoz loincloth. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/39 "2019-04-22T02:47:02Z")
Jennifer Tilly didn’t suck in “Bullets Over Broadway”, but otherwise has no business being in the acting game. Melanie Griffith in “Nobody’s Fool”. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832/40 "2019-04-22T03:34:33Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Agree on “Being There”, wondering if we’re being whooshed on Zardoz… > > you do know there was a James Bond better than George Lazenby, right? > Hint: he dressed better than that Zardoz loincloth. A lot of what I say is silly-goosery, especially when augmented with a :p, and I stand corrected on Sellars - he was also top drawer in his three roles in Dr. Stangelove. The Bonds seem to meld and morph in my mind as one big suaveness. > [@Chefguy](#): > > Jennifer Tilly didn’t suck in “Bullets Over Broadway”, but otherwise has no business being in the acting game. > > Melanie Griffith in “Nobody’s Fool”. I liked Tilly in “Second Best” and I thought Griffiths totally rocked in “Something Wild”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-or-actresses-you-only-like-in-one-role-only-and-dislike-everything-else-theyve-done/832832.md?page=3)