# Actors that you just can't stand to watch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2020, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024 "2020-01-06T09:28:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/141 "2020-01-12T05:11:32Z")
I’m really happy with how many of us agree Leonardo DiCaprio is garbage-time. He doesn’t act, he’s just kind of there and is cut-out-cardboard in every movie, which sucks for me because I like a lot of movies he’s in all while wishing his character was anyone but him. Inception is a great movie, as is Gangs of New York (him up against Daniel Day Lewis really shines a light on how little he’s bringing to the table). He’s basically the same person in every film but in a different costume. No one’s said it yet but tied with him is Johnny Depp. At least for the last 15 years or so. He’s flat and gross and tries to compensate by putting on more necklaces and bracelets. He’s kind of like Leo as he’s been just whatever he is in every movie for a long time without much variation. I might have liked him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but not since. Also why is he always kind of gross and shiny and looks like he just needs to be wiped off? Edit: Depp peaked at Dead Man. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/142 "2020-01-12T18:37:39Z")
All these people mentioning DiCaprio, but no lo[del]ve[/del]athe for the guy he upstaged on _Growing Pains_? (Kirk Cameron, not Alan Thicke) Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/143 "2020-01-12T18:43:53Z")
A couple of Donalds: Pleasance and Sutherland. Pleasance, in everything I’ve seen, looks like he’s just there to get a paycheck. Sutherland, I’ve read, changes his lines a lot from the script. Joss Whedon commented that it drove him crazy when making the Buffy movie. It makes whatever movie he’s in that much more off-kilter and incoherent. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/144 "2020-01-12T19:16:30Z")
I generally avoid movies starring Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, and Cher, not because I have anything against them but because they generally appear in types of movies that aren’t to my taste. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/145 "2020-01-12T19:48:07Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Jason Schwartzman just creeps me out. And Jason Schwartzman is cousins with…Nicolas Cage. I guess they both inherited the same punchable face and the same one-note acting. I love both of them, but they really do just play themselves in everything. I love Wes Anderson’s movies but Jason Schwartzman is really just always playing Jason Schwartzman. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/146 "2020-01-12T20:02:33Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > A couple of Donalds: Pleasance and Sutherland. Pleasance, in everything I’ve seen, looks like he’s just there to get a paycheck. > > Sutherland, I’ve read, changes his lines a lot from the script. Joss Whedon commented that it drove him crazy when making the Buffy movie. It makes whatever movie he’s in that much more off-kilter and incoherent. My exception films for those two would be _Eye of the Needle_ (Sutherland) and _Cul de Sac_ (Pleasance - a bonkers tour de force, he was, there) > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Jason Schwartzman just creeps me out. His annoying jittery dude thing for _Spun_ I thought was just right. (heh - the first half of that movie, with the crazy editing - fun!) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/147 "2020-01-12T21:20:19Z")
I dislike Leonardo DiCaprio for shallow reasons: he was feline pretty in Titanic, but over the years he has bloated up and now has a pig face. With all the features crammed into the center. (This here colors my thoughts, too…IRL he may or may not be gay in the closet, but his endless series of model-bimbo-‘girlfriends’ who are traded in for new models every 2-3 years… .ok. whatever. He can afford it… But it smacks to me of some awful hidden issues, classic case of propelling around a pair of big tits as camouflage around for a couple of years . ( lookit what I got, I am tha man!!!) , dumping her, finding another swimsuit model.) Nothing so boring or irritating to me as a ‘laydeeeze man’. So unseemly, fooling no one. (Jake Gyllenhall, same, though I LIKE him a whole lot more than LdC.) ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/148 "2020-01-13T03:14:17Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I love both of them, but they really do just play themselves in everything. I love Wes Anderson’s movies but Jason Schwartzman is really just always playing Jason Schwartzman. I loved Jason Schwartzman in **Rushmore** , but I’ll agree that most of his roles are fairly similar. He’s at his best in **Bored to Death** , where he plays a nebbish pretending to be a detective. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/149 "2020-01-13T20:26:55Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > …No one’s said it yet but tied with him is Johnny Depp. At least for the last 15 years or so. He’s flat and gross and tries to compensate by putting on more necklaces and bracelets. He’s kind of like Leo as he’s been just whatever he is in every movie for a long time without much variation. I might have liked him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but not since. Also why is he always kind of gross and shiny and looks like he just needs to be wiped off? > > Edit: Depp peaked at Dead Man. I think Depp is talented, but he also has only so many tricks in his bag of quirky character traits. Just about every movie I’ve seen him in in the past few years, he reminds me - a lot or a little - of some other character he’s played. ---
**Author:** ![justmeetee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@justmeetee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justmeetee)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/150 "2020-01-14T19:47:43Z")
David Caruso can’t act worth a damn IMHO. Always delivers his lines in a flat monotone. And have to agree that almost any former SNL cast member is an obstacle any movie must work hard to compensate for. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/151 "2020-01-14T20:04:48Z")
> [@justmeetee](#): > > David Caruso can’t act worth a damn IMHO. Always delivers his lines in a flat monotone… You’ll appreciate this, then: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo) ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/152 "2020-01-18T23:29:24Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Instantly I thought of why I cannot watch _Some Like It Hot_: **Tony Curtis**. Cringeworthy performance, utterly unfunny. But it occurred to me that I ought to build a stronger case by going through his [filmography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis#Filmography) and listing some of the other movies he has blighted. > > Blank. It’s like a who’s who of films you’ve never heard of. > > So: Tony Curtis on the basis of one movie. But I don’t get the impression that many benefitted from his presence. > > j you never heard of Spartacus (where he had noticeable jersey accent)? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/153 "2020-01-19T01:50:26Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Instantly I thought of why I cannot watch _Some Like It Hot_: **Tony Curtis**. Cringeworthy performance, utterly unfunny. But it occurred to me that I ought to build a stronger case by going through his [filmography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis#Filmography) and listing some of the other movies he has blighted. > > Blank. It’s like a who’s who of films you’ve never heard of. > > So: Tony Curtis on the basis of one movie. But I don’t get the impression that many benefitted from his presence. > > j (😃 . Are you, perhaps, 12? Wondering who that ‘Humphrey Bogart’ is they’re always talking about? :D:D:D .) ‘Some Like It Hot’. ‘Houdini’ with his wife, Janet Leigh . (parents of Jamie Lee Curtis.). ‘Sweet Smell of Success’. ‘Spartacus’. ‘The Defiant Ones.’… Great movies, and he made a whole lot more, including some really hilarious stinkers just for the money, as they all end up doing. ‘The Black Shield of Falconworth’, an early effort, wearing baby blue tights and elucidating, ‘Yondah lies da castle of my faddah, the Caliph’… . One Tony Curtis IMO is worth a dozen of the nameless faceless generic nothings that pass for actors today. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/154 "2020-01-19T02:41:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Are any of you familiar with the German word “_backpfeifengesicht_”? It means “Eddie Redmayne”. > I’d like to say that it’s his affected acting style and generally annoying demeanor, or maybe because I hated his characters in \*Jupiter Ascending, Les Mis \*and _Fantastic Beasts_ so, so much, but really, it’s his face. It just needs to be punched. I agree that he has a punchable face, and I fully expected him to ruin Fantastic Beasts, but I actually enjoyed both movies, which makes 2 I don’t think he’s ruined. I also find Benedict Cumberbatch and Damian Lewis punchable also. ---
**Author:** ![wombattver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@wombattver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wombattver)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/155 "2020-01-21T21:17:48Z")
> [@Greathouse](#): > > Andie Macdowell - I have never seen her deliver a believable line in anything I have seen her in. She sounds like she is constantly just reciting lines and there is no actual acting taking place. > > I have the same complaint for Kevin Costner, but unfortunately I like most movies he is in; I just hate his “acting” since it seems so flat and unbelievable. Oh my god, those are my top (bottom) two as well! I won’t even see a movie with them in it any more. Both terrible. ---
**Author:** ![wombattver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@wombattver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wombattver)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/156 "2020-01-21T22:01:13Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > And Jason Schwartzman is cousins with…Nicolas Cage. > > I guess they both inherited the same punchable face and the same one-note acting. > > I love both of them, but they really do just play themselves in everything. I love Wes Anderson’s movies but Jason Schwartzman is really just always playing Jason Schwartzman. Being related to the Coppolas has some perks! ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/157 "2020-01-22T05:15:51Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > (😃 . Are you, perhaps, 12? Wondering who that ‘Humphrey Bogart’ is they’re always talking about? :D:D:D .) ‘Some Like It Hot’. ‘Houdini’ with his wife, Janet Leigh . (parents of Jamie Lee Curtis.). ‘Sweet Smell of Success’. ‘Spartacus’. ‘The Defiant Ones.’… Great movies, and he made a whole lot more, including some really hilarious stinkers just for the money, as they all end up doing. ‘The Black Shield of Falconworth’, an early effort, wearing baby blue tights and elucidating, ‘Yondah lies da castle of my faddah, the Caliph’… . One Tony Curtis IMO is worth a dozen of the nameless faceless generic nothings that pass for actors today. I respect Curtis for his dead-on Cary Grant impression in **Some Like It Hot**. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024/158 "2020-01-22T14:14:39Z")
Regarding Danny McBride: > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I reluctantly watched Eastbound and Down a few years back and it’s pretty good. They used his standard obnoxious ‘i’m the best one here’ schtick to their advantage and it really worked. “They” is him. He created, wrote, and ran the show. Other shows he created, wrote and starred in include Vice Principals (with Walton Goggins) and The Righteous Gemstones (with John Goodman.) I don’t love his shows, but I do respect his talent in creating them. Credit where it’s due, it’s pretty much all him and Jody Hill, his writing partner. Hill directs the episodes, but as I understand it McBride is the showrunner. EDIT: Think of the classic Danny McBride character as Stephen Colbert’s character on The Colbert Report. It’s a deliberately obnoxious, over-the-top caricature. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-you-just-cant-stand-to-watch/846024.md?page=7)