Mark Wahlberg has been terrible in every single thing he’s ever done…except Boogie Nights.
I’ve hated every Hugh Grant movie…except Extreme Measures.
I’m not a Ben Kingsley fan really…except for his performance in Sexy Beast.
Alec Baldwin is not my favorite…but he nailed his scene in Glengarry Glenross.
A bit off-topic b/c I enjoy most of Rodney Dangerfield’s movies…but he was absolutely fantastic in Natural Born Killers.
Barbra Streisand in absolutely everything…
…except What’s Up Doc. She was perfect – no one else could have played that part better.
You’ve nailed it here, I think. His big break came after a character part, the studly young bank robber in Thelma and Louise, in which he was fantastic, but he’s always seemed uncomfortable in lead roles.
Michael Douglas in One Night at McCool’s
Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight
True Romance.
Have you seen The Cooler? He’s fantastic in that in the same kind of character role.
This was the first one I thought of when I saw the thread title.
You simply have to see him in Kalifonia. An amazing performance.
But he’s been good in a lot of things. He was amazing as Jim Morrison in The Doors, and was an excellent comedic actor in his early years (Top Secret! and Real Genius).
My_Dog_Klaus - For me, it’s Sandra Bullock and Crash. She’s actually pretty good (although not as good as some of the other actors). She has brutal taste in movies and can’t really act well enough to save them.
Kate Hudson was decent in Almost famous but brutal in everything else. Thank goodness for nepotism.
Regarding Ben Affleck, O’Bannion was a pretty decent character in Dazed and Confused. I like other movies in which he’s appeared but not necessarily his performance.
I can’t stand Liv Tyler but she didn’t ruin Lord of the Rings and was actually prettty decent. I’ve always considered that one movie.
Reaves in Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure…thats it, the only roll hes capable of playing is a stoned moron.
Nicholas Cage in raising arrizona, the only time I have ever found him even remotly believable
not to many others come to mind, of course I hate both of those guys enough to not watch anything they are in if it involves me paying, and it usually involves me not watching the whole thing. Reaves single handedly ruined the matrix series for me. can you say “Whoa, I know Kung-Fu” like a stoned moron while trying to say it like the savior of the human race? I knew you could.
Jim Carrey in The Truman Show
Lucille Ball in Yours, Mine and Ours
Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (the original)
Alec Baldwin was decent in The Hunt for Red October, but I can’t stand him in anything else really.
Oh, and Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Carribean
Same actor, different movie: Gods and Monsters. I don’t hate Brendan Fraser, actually, he just never seems to be that good and I didn’t think he was capable of a performance like that. Wish he’d try it again. Ben Affleck (who I liked in Shakespeare In Love, and also Chasing Amy) is similar. I’m inclined to like Affleck, but that’s because his other movies are the kind of crap I’d never see in the first place.
Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine is actually a better example for me. I hate him in everything else.
His character in that movie is barely different from his stock character; they’re all angry man-children. The difference is that he’s not trying to be funny. Since I don’t think he’s funny anyway, I hardly noticed. But then, I admit I didn’t like the movie.
I hate Kate Bekinsale, that smarmy little twat…
But even though I thought underworld was a heap or crap as a movie, she was just cool enough to be a vampire.
Cathy Zeta-Jones in Chicago. She can’t act her way out of a paper bag, but curiously enough she does a good line in Smarmy Bitch who Happens to be Able to Dance Quite Well.
I usually hate, hate, hate Marlon Wayons, but I liked him in Requiem for a Dream.
Well, mostly the actors have already been covered, but the roles are different:
Melanie Griffith - “Nobody’s Fool”
Tom Cruise - “Eyes Wide Shut”
Richard Gere - “Waiting for Mr. Goodbar”
My only original one:
Robin Williams - “The Fisher King”
He was good in The Translator as well.
(Nitpic----hell, this isn’t a ‘nitpick!’ It’s the damn TITLE!)
“The Interpreter” 