Still surprised not had:
Andy McDowell in Groundhog Day. And nothing else.
You didn’t like Barfly? Or didn’t like Faye in it? :dubious:
I can’t remember now what it was about Barfly that I didn’t like. I think it was the story that focused heavily on alcoholic characters? I didn’t like Leaving las Vegas for the same reason. The characters are so depressing.
Hard for me to remember Faye’s performance that well and separate it from my reaction to the story.
However, badly miscast. We spend the movie wondering why Clyde doesnt want Bonnie, since she is Faye Dunaway hot. However, the real Bonnie was quite homely.
Jim Carrey
His only good role was in Dead Pool. And I liked his story arc, too.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Terminator was a perfect temporal loop movie without Arnold. The villain role seemed to have been written for him, though. Let’s face it, he’s a weightlifter-turned-movie-character; nobody really expected him to be more than a pile of muscles to watch as a distraction. Just give him something resembling a script…
Ted Danson
Cheers was good. I also liked him in Becker – but it was fun to laugh at the kind of curmudgeonly old man that I hope to become…
Tom Cruise
Rain Man was good, though Hoffman stole the show; Risky Business was the first I’d seen him in, but was worth watching more because Rebecca De Mornay looked hot and less because Cruise is any good. I saw Mission Impossible I and II and decided he just wasn’t carrying it. Then he started shitting on women with post-partum depression and the pharmaceutical industry and I’ve avoided anything else that has him in the cast.
Robin Williams
You talkin’ Hook? Hoffman, again, stole the show.
Well…there was much more to Dead Poets’ Society than Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard)
Try him out in What Dreams May Come – which I also nominated in the thread for THE most romantic movie ever. I also liked him in Good Morning Vietnam! but, let’s face it, he was playing himself and I liked the message more than the script.
Al Pacino
I liked him as The Merchant of Venice and Devil’s Advocate; Scent of a Woman got him an oscar, though I didn’t think he was that incredible there.
–G!
I think that most of the actors named here are reasonably good ones who have occasionally gotten a role that fits them so well that they are distinctly better than in roles which they didn’t really quite fit into. That’s not surprising to me. What’s really interesting is when a mediocre actor is so precisely cast in a role in a movie with a good script that it becomes a great movie. That’s why I like Timothy Bottoms in The Last Picture Show and Roddy Piper in They Live. Another example of this is Chuck Norris in Code of Silence.
Although Cage’s Oscar should have went to Sean Penn for Dead Man Walking.
That film could depress a hyena. 
Bonus points for the 1776 reference.
I don’t dislike Charlize Theron exactly. She’s just never really provoked much of a reaction in me one way or another. Except for Monster. God damn! That was an incredible performance I’ll never watch again. Her portrayal of Aileen Wournos is brilliant and deeply unsettling.
Aside: I like some of Adam Sandler’s goofy comedies as well as his more serious roles. Those of you who liked him in Punch Drunk Love might also like Spanglish and Funny People. I thought he was good in both of those.
I loved David Spade in Tommy Boy. I wanted to love him in other things, but I just haven’t found something I’ve like him in yet, other than Tommy Boy. I’ll have to check out The Emperor’s New Groove.
I was going to bring this up as the only Tom Cruise movie that I liked. And, a good science fiction movie to boot.
This movie was outstanding, and while I liked her in other stuff before it, this was the movie where Emily Blunt became officially fucking awesome.
The real Bonnie Parker was also only 4 feet 11 inches tall and the real Clyde Barrow was only 5 feet 4 inches compared to 5 feet 7 inches for Faye Dunaway and 6 feet 2 inches for Warren Beatty.
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/17/debunking-a-few-myths-about-bonnie-and-clyde/
Sure. David Niven.
If I feel an urge to watch Al Pacino, I’ll go check out “Author! Author!” from the library and watch that.
You could make an entire thread – heck, We’ve probably already done several – on the differences between the appearance of historical characters in movies and the way they’re portrayed. even Mad, in its parody, pointed out the huge difference between short, ugly Lawrence of Arabia and tall handsome Peter O’Toole.
I’d swap out Sex, Lies and Videotape for Groundhog Day. Her GD character could have been played better by a bunch of people.
(That film was also a career best for James Spader, Peter Gallagher, and Laura San Giacomo, IMHO.)
TE was actually kinda handsome. But yeah, only 5’5".
Ryan O’Neal: brilliant in Paper Moon, cardboard cutout in everything else.
Tatum O’Neal: Paper Moon, cardboard cutout although brilliantly manipulated by director Bogdanovich into what looked like a good performance (he should have been given her Oscar for best actress); cardboard cutout in her other films.