# Actors whose acting skills don't keep them from being big box-office successes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272 "2006-05-18T16:22:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/21 "2006-05-19T03:50:44Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] Re-open the thread: Adam Sandler Pauly Shore _Now_ close it. [/QUOTE] Before you do, watch _Punch-Drunk Love_. Adam Sandler–like Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, IMHO–is best known for being goofy and wacky and juvenile, but can also do quiet and restrained when called upon. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/22 "2006-05-19T03:56:15Z")
Gwyneth Paltrow. She’s not a big box office draw, but she keeps getting top roles and an impressive salary. She’s bland, snotty, and she can’t act. But she’s got Cate Blanchette’s Oscar sitting on her shelf. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/23 "2006-05-19T04:00:25Z")
Harrison Ford. Now close the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/24 "2006-05-19T08:07:08Z")
Going back a few years but **Errol Flynn** \* I love his movies and never miss one on TMC, but let’s face it he never played anyone but Errol Flynn. You young whipper snappers can just look it up. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/25 "2006-05-19T09:49:34Z")
So, what is Brad Pitt, chopped liver? hh ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/26 "2006-05-19T12:02:27Z")
I have you all beat. Arnold Schwarzenegger ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/27 "2006-05-19T12:05:50Z")
Nicole Kidman. Oh my God, I cannot figure out for the life of me how that woman gets work. Has she no shame? At her worst she is embarrassingly bad. And while we are at it, please stop calling her Australian. She devalues the currency… mm ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/28 "2006-05-19T12:27:00Z")
Forbidden Hollywood’s “We Shouldn’t Be in Pictures” featured Juliette Lewis, Melanie Griffin and Keanu Reeves. My own vote will go to Eddie Murphy. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/29 "2006-05-19T12:29:34Z")
I’ll see your Eddie Murphy and raise you one Steven Segall. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/30 "2006-05-19T12:39:04Z")
I’ve never been able to understand why Freddie Prinze Jnr has been able to have any kind of career outside of modelling, because he has zero acting talent. Likewise Ashton Kutcher. (And I honestly don’t see what’s so special about Tom Hanks. He acts, yes, but … so _annoyingly_. And the only movies he doesn’t annoy me in, it’s because he’s not actually _acting_, he’s just going through the motions. It’s weird that he annoys me more when he tries.) ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/31 "2006-05-19T12:40:19Z")
I definitely have to second Steven Segall, too. The man is laughably bad. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/32 "2006-05-19T12:47:41Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Before you do, watch _Punch-Drunk Love_. Adam Sandler–like Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, IMHO–is best known for being goofy and wacky and juvenile, but can also do quiet and restrained when called upon. [/QUOTE] He did OK in **Spanglish** as well, actually being the eye in a nutty storm going on around him. > [@postcards](#): > > Harrison Ford. > > Now close the thread. Normally I would say Keanu Reeves because of the blot he put on the otherwise wonderful **Much Ado About Nothing**. But **Bill and Ted** redeems him a little. So I would have to throw in with this Mr. Ford vote. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/33 "2006-05-19T14:07:37Z")
[QUOTE=DeadlyAccurate] Re: Keanu Reeves Watch _The Gift_. He’s a _lot_ better than he often gets credit for. He was genuinely creepy in that movie. [/QUOTE] As I have often said, Reeves has quite a few first-class performances – in movies no one has seen. Things like **I Love You to Death, Tune In Tomorrow. . ., Feeling Minnesota,** and **A Walk in The Clouds** were not big hits, but showed some fine performances by Reeves. Quite a few of the older movie stars were only so-so actors, since they were expected to project a personality, not act. Some that come to mind: **Ruby Keeler**. Her acting ability was denegrated both by her main director – Busby Berkeley – and her husband – Al Jolson (though that may have been sour grapes). **Luise Rainer**. I haven’t seen her films, but when someone (possibly Alfred Hitchcock) was complaining about never winning an Oscar, his wife said, “It’s not big deal. Luise Rainer won two of them.” **Esther Williams**. “Wet, she’s a star. Dry, she ain’t.” **Elvis Presley**. As a singer, he was a star, but no one ever parised his acting chops. Many comedians/comic actors never “acted” other than playing themselves. This list includes W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, The Ritz Brothers, Eddie Cantor, Joe E. Brown, Mae West, Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, and Woody Allen. (Chaplin and Keaton are specifically excluded, even though they played similar characters – they both showed a great deal of depth of characterization in them. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/34 "2006-05-19T14:12:49Z")
[QUOTE=handsomeharry] So, what is Brad Pitt, chopped liver? hh [/QUOTE] Dude! I have to jump in and defend Brad Pitt. I think he got started with some generic pretty-boy roles (Thelma and Louise, Legends of the Fall), but is actually a terrific and talented character actor who got typecast as a leading man because of his looks. Check out the following Brad Pitt roles and tell me he isn’t a good actor in these: True Romance 12 Monkeys Seven Fight Club Spy Game Snatch OK, anyone could have filled in in Ocean’s 11 and 12, but in all the above, those roles were very unique and took some really nuanced acting. He’s not exactly up to Johnny Depp or Edward Norton’s caliber, but I think he has much more range than he often gets credit for. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/35 "2006-05-19T14:13:47Z")
Let me also add Marilyn Monroe, who really wasn’t all that good, despite her renoun. It’s partly because her sort of character was dated, and partly because she was very much a one-note actress and her innocent and sexy act was inferior to many others. She really wasn’t a very good dumb blonde at all (compare her to Gracie Allen, Judy Holliday, or even Maureen Arthur\*), probably because she was too smart in real life. She was also very one-note and – though she tried to change in her later films – her chirpy readings were all the same no matter who she was playing. \*Notably in **How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying** ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/36 "2006-05-19T14:19:44Z")
I will take issue with the Harrison Ford vote. See “Regarding Henry” or “Witness” or really any work he’s done. He isn’t the best verbally, but like McQueen, his unspoken work is incredible. He can say more with his eyes in 5 seconds than other actors in an entire career. Of those discussed here, He and McQueen don’t belong on this list. I’ll defend Hanks, but think his box office is way better than he himself is – but I love his work. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/37 "2006-05-19T14:33:21Z")
I’d say\*\* Brendan Frasier\*\*, but his movies match his skills, so it’s all right. Better him than somebody I care about. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/38 "2006-05-19T15:15:02Z")
How is it possible that I am the first to say Ben Affleck? ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/39 "2006-05-19T15:22:47Z")
Ben Affleck has contributed very little to cinema besides Good Will Hunting, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272/40 "2006-05-19T15:24:05Z")
Son of a bitch, I just missed it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-acting-skills-dont-keep-them-from-being-big-box-office-successes/357272.md?page=3)