# Al Pacino **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811 "2009-06-15T06:39:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/1 "2009-06-15T06:39:48Z")
I watched _88 Minutes_ last night and got to thinking has Pacino ever made a bad film? From Scarface , Dog Day Afternoon, The Devils Advocate etc etc this actor is brilliant and FWIW nobody plays the devil like Al. Incidentally _88 Minutes_ is brilliant ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/2 "2009-06-15T06:52:46Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > I watched _88 Minutes_ last night and got to thinking has Pacino ever made a bad film? Yes: _The Devil’s Advocate_. But you can also blame Keanu for that fiasco. _Simone_ was also pretty forgettable. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/3 "2009-06-15T06:55:25Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > has Pacino ever made a bad film? [Yes, here’s one.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258153/) > [@](#): > > Incidentally _88 Minutes_ is brilliant I haven’t seen it, but 88 Minutes opened to very poor reviews. It has a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s really, really low. But he has been in a lot of good stuff, too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/4 "2009-06-15T07:02:35Z")
I thought _Angels in America_ was really trash. Pacino’s acting in it was good, I guess, but overall the film was painfully cheesy. I also didn’t think _Insomnia_ was very good…the only good thing in it was Al Pacino and that alone is not enough to make a movie a good movie. This is just my opinion but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/5 "2009-06-15T07:52:51Z")
Lots of people dug [The Merchant of Venice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice_(2004_film)) with him, but I wasn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/6 "2009-06-15T08:02:55Z")
I did however like him quite well in Tropic Thunder. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/7 "2009-06-15T08:06:09Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Yes: _The Devil’s Advocate_. But you can also blame Keanu for that fiasco. > > _Simone_ was also pretty forgettable. You thought Devils was bad?..I thought it was great plus you got to see Charlize Therons punani 🙂 Not seen _Simone_ but as a Pacino fan I’ll probably like it. I forgot about _The Merchant of Venice_, yes that was bad(ish) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/8 "2009-06-15T10:46:43Z")
Well there’s Dick Tracy. When the reviews go out of their way to praise the color scheme of a movie, you know the movie itself blows. Pacino was over the top even for Pacino in this mess. I didn’t care for Scent of a Woman either. That he won the Oscar for that one over all his wonderful performances is really pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/9 "2009-06-15T10:55:49Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Incidentally _88 Minutes_ is brilliant Wow. I couldn’t disagree more. I thought that thing was _horrible_. Of course, a lot of the horrible was the misrepresentation of Seattle, where a) All the cab drivers are white. b) There are about 3 black people and one Asian in any classroom. c) At the first suggestion of a light sprinkle, 96% of the population pops open an umbrella. d) There are no fat people. Add this to some of the worst acting I’ve seen Pacino do (with one of the lousiest scripts to work from), and you have 88 minutes of meh. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/10 "2009-06-15T13:11:15Z")
Does nobody remember [Revolution](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089913/)? Such a stinker and so universally panned that Al didn’t make another movie for 4 years. Although if we’re looking for bad movies De Niro is the man to turn to. He’s made some terrible films in the last 20 years. (_Hide and Seek, Rocky and Bullwinkle_, the list stretches on.) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/11 "2009-06-15T13:28:07Z")
According to IMDB, he had a role in _Gigli_, which is in the running for the worst movie of the millennium to date. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/12 "2009-06-15T13:51:03Z")
_Any Given Sunday_ was a pretty bad film too, especially since many people had high hopes for it. I think the assertion that Al Pacino hasn’t made a bad film has been disproved - and pretty easily at that. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/13 "2009-06-15T13:59:40Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > According to IMDB, he had a role in _Gigli_, which is in the running for the worst movie of the millennium to date. I came in to mention _Gigli_, but the only people who think it’s the worst movie of the millennium either haven’t seen it or bought into its initial backlash and ensuing reputation. It’s not a good film by any means, but there are dozens of absolutely painful movies made every year that are magnitudes worse. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/14 "2009-06-15T14:58:46Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Well there’s Dick Tracy. When the reviews go out of their way to praise the color scheme of a movie, you know the movie itself blows. Pacino was over the top even for Pacino in this mess. > > I didn’t care for Scent of a Woman either. That he won the Oscar for that one over all his wonderful performances is really pathetic. That movie required an over the top performance. He is very capable of delivering that. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/15 "2009-06-15T15:12:23Z")
[Cruising](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080569/) and [Bobby Deerfield](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075774/) were both quite awful, although Pacino wasn’t the problem with either of them. And what, no mention of The Godfather Part 3? ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/16 "2009-06-15T15:14:36Z")
Pacino films (and I mean they’re largely his movies not just that he appeared on them) that I consider bad and not simply mediocre: _88 Minutes_ _Two for the Money_ _Simone_ _Bobby Deerfield_ ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/17 "2009-06-15T15:15:46Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Although if we’re looking for bad movies De Niro is the man to turn to. He’s made some terrible films in the last 20 years. (_Hide and Seek, Rocky and Bullwinkle_, the list stretches on.) Yes, but he’s never been in a Steven Seagal film and a _Jaws_ sequel, so Michael Caine wins the prize. However, he knows what he is and embraces it. “I have never seen [_Jaws: The Revenge_], but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.” As for DeNiro, I suspect, after a couple of decades of doing great roles in films that many people talk about but few people have seen he decided to start cashing all the checks Hollywood directors were sending him to do craptastic roles. Pacino, on the other hand, is just a scenery-chewer, and has been so post-_Godfather_ (although his work in there is phenomenal). He can be entertaining, but it rapidly becomes a comedic schtick, akin to Jim Carrey or Jack Black. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/18 "2009-06-15T15:18:05Z")
So, apart from The Devil’s Advocate, 88 Minutes, Scent of a Woman, Revolution, Gigli, Any Given Sunday, Dick Tracy, Cruising, Bobby Deerfield and The Godfather Part III, has Mr. Pacino been in a bad film? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/19 "2009-06-15T15:32:16Z")
Yup. _City Hall_. Absolutely terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/20 "2009-06-15T15:35:59Z")
He’s just ok for me. Mr. K hates him with every fiber of his being. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811.md?page=2)