# Actors you can't believe still get work **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700 "2003-11-28T08:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/41 "2003-11-29T01:30:26Z")
Andie McDowell has no noticeable talent, and she’s not good-looking enough to make up for it, so that’s a true mystery right there. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/42 "2003-11-29T01:41:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*_Chicago_ was awesome! The best work Tom Hanks has done in years! \*\* This is a whoosh, right? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/43 "2003-11-29T01:45:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Julius Henry \* > \*\*I will never understand why Tom Arnold isn’t an assistant manager at a Dairy Queen. \*\* All in all, IMO, Tom Arnold hasn’t been all that bad in the roles I’ve seen him in as the sidekick in “True Lies”, and as the daddy in “The Stupids”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/44 "2003-11-29T01:51:33Z")
Chevy Chase Goldie Hawn Martin Lawrence Tom Cruise I agree with you, Algorithm. Changing U.S. Robot to U.S. Robotic is utterly stupid. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Harlan Ellison will take on some of the idiots involved with this. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/45 "2003-11-29T01:52:10Z")
Holy cow, that IMDB link is a bummer. RE: Tom Arnold—He actually gave quite a good performance a few years back in the most recent incarnation of **The Outer Limits** , playing a father who is displaced by an android who winds up running things in the household. I was amazed by how good he was in it. ---
**Author:** ![jmizzou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jmizzou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmizzou)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/46 "2003-11-29T01:53:36Z")
All behold the twin suckiness of Rob Schneider (in no less than [_three_ movies](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0001705/) coming out in 2004) and Chris Kattan ([two movies](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0441592/) in 2004)! Why, God, why? ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/47 "2003-11-29T02:00:06Z")
Tom Arnold was pretty good as the froot-loop leader of a right-wing fundie organization in _Touch_ as well. Granted, he was playing a hyperactive loudmouth, but still, he was good. And I gotta admit I just have a soft spot for the guy. He gives me the impression that most of his over-the-topness(?) is an act and he’s trying to see how far he can push it. I think he’s hilarious on Letterman. And I love the fact that he wrote a book called “How I Lost Six Pounds in Five Years.” For Rob Schneider, though, I have no soft spot. ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/48 "2003-11-29T05:06:13Z")
Yeah, pretty much anyone who’s been a cast member of SNL in the past decade or so sucks hard in movies. Martin Lawrence is crap too. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/49 "2003-11-29T05:12:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeVena \* > \*\*Jennifer Love Hewitt > > Her voice makes my ears bleed and her face is like a poorly drawn caricature of a psychotic elf. \*\* Who’s looking at her face? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/50 "2003-11-29T06:22:29Z")
I think that Nicolas Cage is pretentious and arrrogant, and he’s an awful actor! he was perfect in _Raising Arizona_ and I have friends who thought he was good in _Moonstruck_, and maybe _Valley Girl_, but everything else I can think of at this moment he’s starred in is crap. And he won an Oscar, and he still working. He’s probably working right this minute! And he married Michael Jackson’s ex-wife, that takes the cake right there. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/51 "2003-11-29T06:37:35Z")
I watched _Pluto Nash_ this morning and I can’t see Eddie Murphy ever being in a film again. ---
**Author:** ![myles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/52 "2003-11-29T08:31:54Z")
Mike Myers. After reading all the reviews from The Cat in the Hat, I am quite sure he will never work in California again. Oh, and Alec Baldwin will be assassinated. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/53 "2003-11-29T13:22:02Z")
If I have to watch Holly Hunter talking out of the corner of her mouth one more time, I’m gonna do something ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/54 "2003-11-29T13:59:27Z")
The problem as I see it is this: 1. Certain actors are in fashion at a particular time, regardless of their actual overall acting ability, and thus get lots of work for a year (or maybe a few) and then never work again. The most obvious examples of this are Steve Gutenberg (Stonecutters notwithstanding :)) and anyone from SNL. How long will it take Hollywood to get sick of Will Ferrell? 2. Certain actors demonstrated a great deal of talent early in their careers, but the talent was forced out of their heads by their rapidly expanding egos. See: Kevin Costner, Leo di Caprio, Alec Baldwin, and (yes) Barbra Streisand. 3. Certain actors work well in character parts or in very specific roles, and are mistakenly given greater prominence and other roles because they were good at one type of role. See: Keanu Reeves, Ashton Kutcher, Tobey Maguire, and (above all) Madonna. 4. Certain actors are quite talented but desperately need either a director who can keep a tight leash on them to prevent overacting or a more balanced ensemble cast to keep them from grandstanding. See: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Jim Carrey, and Robin Williams. 5. Certain actors just change over time, losing the qualities that made them popular to begin with, and haven’t adjusted. See: Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, and Eddie Murphy. Have I missed any categories? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/55 "2003-11-29T14:08:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*Um, excuse me? You seem to be implying that _Chicago_ was a bad movie. \*\* Well, I wouldn’t want to do _that_ - not while I still have breath to scream it out loud. Chicago is a fucking _awful_ movie, probably the worst ever to win the Oscar for Best Picture - including Titanic, which at least had some nice FX and a dead DiCaprio. I would rather tread barefoot in dogshit than watch that miscegenated tripe again. Back on topic for this thread, Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger are both grotesquely overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Magnolia\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Magnolia\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magnolia_B)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/56 "2003-11-29T14:17:56Z")
Drew Barrymore. That poor girl can’t act. And she does that weird talk out of the side of her mouth thing, too. For some reason, that’s really irritating to watch. ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/57 "2003-11-29T14:58:56Z")
Kevin Kline, Uma Thurman, Heather Graham, Glenn Close ---
**Author:** ![Cholo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cholo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cholo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/58 "2003-11-29T15:03:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrandyFine \* > \*\*Kevin Kline, Uma Thurman, Heather Graham, Glenn Close \*\* Glenn Close? You’re saying Glenn Close can’t act? You serious? Welcome to the boards. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/59 "2003-11-29T17:13:56Z")
For the one person I can’t figure out how he ever got so much as a walk-on part, let alone a lead… Joe O’Connell This man makes Keanu Reeves and Kevin Costner look good in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700/60 "2003-11-29T18:16:57Z")
Thanks, Cholo. It’s hard to separate with Close. It may be in part that I hate her so much, but because I do I never enjoy her acting or see her as bringing anything positive to a film. On the other hand I loathe Sarandon just as much but I do find her to be talented and I enjoy her movies quite a bit, so - yeah I guess I’m serious about Close. (If it matters, there are quite a few people named so far that I like a lot as well.) I would have said Kevin Spacey too, except he was hysterical in The Ref. Other than that he seems to have only one “serious” look and expression, and that one is beyond tiresome after you’ve seen it a couple times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-cant-believe-still-get-work/215700.md?page=4)