Actors who were only good in one movie

I’d like to nominate Jack Black. The first substantial role I saw him in (Bob Roberts was too small a part to judge) was High Fidelity, and man he rocked in that film. So I’ve been keeping my eye on him, and I’ve seen School of Rock, Orange County, and Saving Silverman, and he failed to impress me in any of those movies, which were turkeys in their own right.

Any other nominations?

Stephen Baldwin in The Usual Suspects.

In the same vein, although he did achieve mediocrity in The Hunt for Red October, Alec Baldwin was fantastic in Glengarry Glenn Ross.

Nicolas Cage in Bringing Out the Dead.

I’m sure people will hate me for saying this, but there is one movie I thought Keanu Reeves was good in, and it wasn’t one of the Bill and Ted movies. I thought he was good in The Devil’s Advocate.

I thought Keanu was good in ** A Walk in the Clouds **, mostly because his bland emotionless style was perfect for the character.

Keanu was also good in Little Buddha, Tune in Tomorrow and Leaving Minnesota.

I thought Alec Baldwin was good in The Shadow, but he’s always surprisingly great as the host of Saturday Night Live.

I have to say that I thought Nicolas Cage was fantastic in Raising Arizona.

And I nominate Ray Liotta for Goodfellas.

[Sideshow Bob]
Cheerfully withdrawn.
[/Sideshow Bob]

I’d forgotten all about Raising Arizona.

Oh, and RealityChuck? Not to nitpick, but it’s Feeling Minnesota.

The man was born for Bill and Ted. He’s been in a lot of other good movies, but most of them were good for reasons not related to his acting.

Pulp Fiction is the only thing I’ve liked John Trovolta in. Now, when I see he’s in a film, I take it as a reliable indicator that not only will his acting be annoying, but that the film itself will suck.

Travolta was good in Get Shorty.

Anthony Perkins in Psycho. Granted, I haven’t seen every one of his roles, but I’ve seen him in a couple of films where he was perfectly underwhelming. In fact, he always ticked me off in a Wesley Crusher kind of way.

However, he was perfect as Norman Bates. Maybe his talent for making the viewer uncomfortable came to his aid in his portrayal of Norman.

Kevin Costner in Silverado.

He was almost good in A Perfect World, but not quite.

Vince Vaughn in Swingers.

Tim Matheson in Animal House.

Cindy Morgan in Caddyshack.

In the “Keany Reeves was only good in ‘X’ and sucked in everything else” catagory, I nominate River’s Edge

Ray Liotta was also good in Something Wild and was the only good thing in Blow

Going back further, Lon Chaney, Jr. was good in Of Mice and Men and silly in everything else. Tony Curtis likewise in The Outsider

Assuming this is a thread about limited actors who turn in one good role. Not to be confused with actors like Robert Ryan or Scott Wilson who are always good in anything but only stand out once or twice.

Haven’t seen a lot of Tony Curtis’ movies, but I thought he was excellent in The Sweet Smell of Success.

**Casper Van Dien ** was decently good in Starship Troopers.

Everything he has done since – and I mean every movie, and every acting project – has bar-none been suck-assidy awful.

I dunno; the dude rocked in The Big Chill.

How about Sting in Dune?

I second Kevin Costner in The Bill Chill. His finest performance indeed.