# Actors you hate whom you loved in just ONE role? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632 "2005-05-06T01:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/1 "2005-05-06T01:46:38Z")
I saw this discussed on a blog, and I apologize if I missed an earlier, similar thread, but here’s the question: can you name any actors whom you generally despise, but who changed your mind (or entranced/captivated you, anyway) for just one role? For the blog owner, it was Brendan Fraser in Bedazzled. For me, it might be Courtney Love in The People vs. Larry Flynt. The woman just embarasses me, and I’m not even related to her in any way, shape, or form. But she WAS very good in that movie. You? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/2 "2005-05-06T01:51:02Z")
Richard Gere in _An Officer and a Gentleman_, otherwise I wouldn’t go to his movies if they were free. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/3 "2005-05-06T01:57:43Z")
George W. Bailey played the earthy and ever-dependable Sgt. Rizzo on _M_A_S_H,\* then spent the rest of his career in one insufferable stick-up-the-ass martinet role after another. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/4 "2005-05-06T02:20:01Z")
Adam Sandler in _Punch Drunk Love_. His role was a wonderfully nuanced performance of a very repressed man with anger issues slowly coming apart at the seams and ultimately saved by the love of a good woman. I’m certain that this will be the best performance of his career, due in no small part to the casting genius of PT Anderson. In contrast, the rest of his filmography appears to consist of one screaming idiot after another. Oh, and stupid voices. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/5 "2005-05-06T02:23:39Z")
Gotta give Jerry Lewis credit for “The King of Comedy”…although I suspect he wasn’t really ‘acting’ I’m trying to think if Ben Affleck has ever been good in anything? Hmmmm…nope! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/6 "2005-05-06T02:48:09Z")
I dislike Brad Pitt with a passion, but I thought he was quite good as the obnoxious psycho in _Twelve Monkeys_. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/7 "2005-05-06T02:53:35Z")
Dustin Hoffman in [Wag the Dog](http://imdb.com/title/tt0120885/). “This is nothing!” Though I liked Denis Leary better as the Fad King. Then again I mostly just like Denis Leary. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/8 "2005-05-06T03:07:16Z")
I hate Keanu Reeves more than any other actor in film history, but I actually enjoyed him in _Parenthood_. He seemed almost…human. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/9 "2005-05-06T03:08:14Z")
Jim Carrey in _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_ ( that and maybe the first season of _In Living Color_ ). Even in more semi-dramatic roles his mugging usually ends up annoying the crap out of me. Not saying he’s completely untalented - there are sometimes individual moments in various films I can appreciate. But the whole of him is always worse than the parts for me and he ends up grating on my nerves. But the subdued, rather depressive persona in the above film worked for me. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/10 "2005-05-06T03:42:11Z")
Nicole Kidman in _The Others_. I normally am distracted by her presense in any movie (she’s so pointy!), but _The Others_ was so good for its genre that I couldn’t help but love it . . . and her. I wanted to like her in _The Hours_, but something stopped me. I haven’t figure out what yet. _Bewitched_ has me faintly interested. I think she might win me again in that one, but I may be asking too much. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/11 "2005-05-06T03:47:12Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > I hate Keanu Reeves more than any other actor in film history, but I actually enjoyed him in _Parenthood_. He seemed almost…human. Absolutely agreed. I really liked him in _River’s Edge_, too, but alongside Dennis Hopper and Crispin Glover, it would be hard NOT to appear subtle and nuanced. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/12 "2005-05-06T03:55:55Z")
Normally I get pissed off just looking at Colin Farrell, but he made a good Danny Witwer in _Minority Report_. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/13 "2005-05-06T04:09:56Z")
Nick Cage in _Leaving Las Vegas_. I hate his work with a passion, but he nailed this role perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/14 "2005-05-06T07:45:34Z")
While hate is kind of a strong word for how i feel about Brenden Frasier he certainly isn’t my favorite actor. But he was great in ‘With Honors’ with Joe Pesci. Great movie. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/15 "2005-05-06T07:54:44Z")
> [@Hodge](#): > > Adam Sandler in _Punch Drunk Love_. His role was a wonderfully nuanced performance of a very repressed man with anger issues slowly coming apart at the seams and ultimately saved by the love of a good woman. I’m certain that this will be the best performance of his career, due in no small part to the casting genius of PT Anderson. > > In contrast, the rest of his filmography appears to consist of one screaming idiot after another. Oh, and stupid voices. Seconded. > [@Tamerlane](#): > > Jim Carrey in _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_ ( that and maybe the first season of _In Living Color_ ). Even in more semi-dramatic roles his mugging usually ends up annoying the crap out of me. Not saying he’s completely untalented - there are sometimes individual moments in various films I can appreciate. But the whole of him is always worse than the parts for me and he ends up grating on my nerves. > > But the subdued, rather depressive persona in the above film worked for me. > > - Tamerlane Seconded. Aside from those two, the other movie that sprung immediately to mind was Nicholas Cage in _Adaptation_. He bugs me for no reason I can explain, and he usually does shitty movies. But _Adaptation_ was just wonderful, and he really was excellent in it. Being cast with Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper doesn’t hurt, though. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/16 "2005-05-06T10:28:59Z")
Val Kilmer. Normally he’s just annoying, but he made a great Doc Holliday in _Tombstone_. The bar-room “duel” in which he faces off against a showoff gun-twirling Michael Biehn, and languidly shows him up by mockingly twiddling his cup is a brilliant scene. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/17 "2005-05-06T10:57:57Z")
Tim Allen, although he actually had two watchable roles for me, not just one. _Galaxy Quest_ and _Big Trouble_. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/18 "2005-05-06T11:51:42Z")
> [@Daniel](#): > > Tim Allen, although he actually had two watchable roles for me, not just one. _Galaxy Quest_ and _Big Trouble_. Yeah, but _Galaxy Quest_ wasn’t a stretch, given that he was playing an obnoxious actor from a lame TV show. ---
**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 6, 2005, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/19 "2005-05-06T11:57:43Z")
I usually don’t like Richard Gere, but I think he’s great as cocky, smarmy defense attorneys. That’s why I liked him in two movies, Primal Fear and Chicago (in which he was excellent). ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632/20 "2005-05-06T11:59:26Z")
Melanie Griffith in _Working Girl_. Perhaps it’s the bad actress/bad movie combo that I just love! Oh, and Andie McDowell (sp?) in _Four Weddings and a Funeral_. I think maybe that was a case of a bad (BAAAAAAAAD!!!) actress being saved by a good movie. And hella good looks. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-hate-whom-you-loved-in-just-one-role/302632.md?page=2)