Ever gone from hating to loving an entertainer (and vice versa)?

[Leaper]

@Pochacco

Come to think of it, The Aristocats made me completely reassess my opinion of Bob Saget as well. Apparently he told blue jokes about Mary-Kate and Ashley in his stand-up act while Full House was on the air. :eek: And I’d written him off as this bland, boring non-entity … .

Hell, no. It’s been much said in stand-up circles that Saget is one of the most foul-mouthed comedians out there. Seeing the sorts of people who’ve said that made me realize long ago that Full House and that home video show have absolutely NOTHING to do with the man in his natural habitat…

[Larry_Mudd]

I developed a hatred for Sean Penn in the eighties and avoided nearly everything he was in up until I Am Sam, in 2001. And then of course I went back and had another look. :smack:

I developed a hatred for Johnny Depp around the same time, and just pretended that he had nothing to do with it when I enjoyed movies he was in. I think I dropped the pretense sometime around Fear and Loathing.

[Zebra]

@Justin_Bailey

So you’re pissed that Buffy didn’t get out of her car in traffic to give you an autograph?

No, the fact that she wouldn’t acknowledge our existence, for several minutes, it is not uncommon for the stars leaving that show to sign for people, but she could have at least smiled and waved.
By traffic, I mean that the limo spent a few minutes stuck in the driveway, waiting to pull out and then a few more just sitting on the street.

[Sam_Stone]

@middleman

The word probably shouldn’t be “hating”, but you get the point.

Has there ever been an entertainer that you had a strong dislike for that turned it around and made you a big fan?

I’m not talking about where they had a good performance that you grudgingly acknowledged as excellence, but rather over a period of time, they made you a true fan.

Two come to mind for me.

First was Johnny Depp. For years his presence in a film was a distraction or a reason to avoid the film altogether.

Even though he was good in one of my favorite films (Donnie Brasco), I tried to avoid Depp vehicles.

I even rolled my eyes at the success of Pirate of the Caribbean. Eventually, I watched it and was quite surprised at his performance. The film was good BECAUSE of Depp. He was equally impressive in Finding Neverland. Around this time, I saw Chocolat for the first time. By Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, he was one of the actors that I would give a second look at his film simply because he was in it.

I went from being a Depp hater to a Depp fan.

I also had the same experience with Jason Bateman. I HATED that guy in the 80’s. He was so smarmy. He was the sitcom bad guy in Silver Spoons. He was annoying in Valerie and pretty much everything he did annoyed the heck out of me. He was the Bizarrro World Michael J. Fox!

But when Arrested Development came out, I figured I’d give it a look. It was the kind of quirky show that I like. It had a lot of other cast members who slay me. I figured that maybe I could just tune out when he was the focus of attention.

Turns out, I like the adult Jason Bateman. When he is onscreen, I pay GREATER attention. Quite simply, he is the best actor on television. Then I saw his cameo in Dodgeball. In a movie full of great comedic actors, he stole the show.

Whatever Bateman does after Arrested Development uses the last of its nine lives I will follow Jason Bateman on to his net project.

Sadly, there is one solid example of where I was a big fan of someone and grew to dislike them. It is the actor that for much of my life was the answer to “Who is your favorite actor?”

Harrison Ford.

How could you not love Harrison Ford? He played TWO of the most memorable characters in the history of film! He is the star of my favorite movie of all time. He even had a third film franchise (Clancy). Even his non franchise films (Witness, Presumed Innocent, Fugitive and Working Girl) were excellent flicks.

But in his later life, he became WAY too Hollywood. The appeal of Ford was that he was this rugged Everyman who was annoyed with bullshit. Kind of like a tough Tom Hanks.

But somewhere around the mid to late 90’s, he became a Hollywood cliche. He started dyeing and blow drying his hair, got an earring, left his wife for a 20 something anorexic. Basically acting like a guy 1/3 his age. Sad. And he started picking crap films and phoning it in.

The guy hasn’t had a GREAT film since 1993 (Fugitive), a really good film since 1994 (Clear and Present Danger) or even a DECENT film since 1997 (Airforce One).

It has gotten so bad that I hope that they do NOT make Indy 4, because I don’t think Ford can be Indy anymore.

Any for you?

I agree with every one of these.

[Tarrsk]

Hate to Love: Johnny Depp (admittedly because I’d been under the false impression that he was just another prettyboy who couldn’t act), Joss Whedon, Jim Carrey (who won me over with “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”).

Love to Hate: Weezer (*please *break up already!), Mel Gibson (for “Passion” and various assholish comments), Harrison Ford.

[Baldwin]

Posted by Beware of Doug:

Marcia Wallace, “Carol” from The Bob Newhart Show. In my teens I had a crush on her for her tall skinny frizzy quirkiness (left picture). Years later I caught her with her middle-age-pounds on (right picture) and was aghast. “My Og,” I thought, “she’s turned into a gay man!”

So, your like and dislike are based entirely on appearance? Great; you dislike an actress for growing old. (And points off for the silly affectation that is “Og”.)
Posted by Pochacco:

Having only experienced him as an annoying voice actor and bit player I was astounded when I watched The Aristocats to discover that he’s actually hilarious doing stand-up. My opinion of him did a complete 180.

So, which one of the cartoon cats did he play?

Posted by Zebra:

No, the fact that she wouldn’t acknowledge our existence, for several minutes, it is not uncommon for the stars leaving that show to sign for people, but she could have at least smiled and waved.

I’m still trying to understand this. In your mind, is an actress required to be accessible to you every moment she’s in public, if it’s physically possible to make contact? Maybe she was tired and just wanted some time to herself.

For myself: Martin Landau. I first saw him in the old show “Space: 1999”, in which he showed the expressive range of a cigar store wooden Indian. For years I thought he was a good example of an untalented, boring actor – then I started seeing him in movies where he showed himself to be an excellent, sensitive character actor and a pleasure to watch. He won a well-deserved Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood.

[middleman]

@Marley23

I think you mean that. Even if you didn’t, I liked him a lot. Although I don’t know if they’ll have him back unless Russell Crowe goes to jail or something.

I was being serious. I thought he was excellent.

[Dung_Beetle]

Jim Carrey. When he was on In Living Color, I was really impressed with him and I knew he’d be a star. Well, he’s a star now, and I can’t stand him. I think it’s because he’s forced to make ridiculous faces in every movie he’s in, whether it fits the character he’s playing or not.

[cactus_waltz]

Bill Murray. I think I was just too young to appreciate his sort of laid-back humor as a child (though I’ve always loved the script to Groundhog day), but his solid streak of quality movies this side of the millennium really opened my eyes for him and has made me rediscover his past efforts as well. I guess that doesn’t qualifiy for going from hate to love, but it sure is a reevaluation.

[Hey_It_s_That_Guy]

@Dung Beetle

Jim Carrey. When he was on In Living Color, I was really impressed with him and I knew he’d be a star. Well, he’s a star now, and I can’t stand him. I think it’s because he’s forced to make ridiculous faces in every movie he’s in, whether it fits the character he’s playing or not.

I just want to say that even though I hate rubber-faced crazy cokehead man Jim Carrey, he can be surprisingly good (and low-key!) in dramatic roles. He was good in The Truman Show and Man In the Moon, and he was excellent in one of my favorite movies, the previously-mentioned Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

[Larry_Mudd]

@cactus waltz

Bill Murray.

Wait 'til you see Broken Flowers. Bill Murray works very well with Jim Jarmusch. Wow.

[Zebra]

@Baldwin

Posted by Zebra:
I’m still trying to understand this. In your mind, is an actress required to be accessible to you every moment she’s in public, if it’s physically possible to make contact? Maybe she was tired and just wanted some time to herself.

I guess you just had to be there.

[Marley23]

@Dung Beetle

I think it’s because he’s forced to make ridiculous faces in every movie he’s in, whether it fits the character he’s playing or not.

I don’t think he’s forced to do that. I think that’s just Jim Carrey “being funny.” Eternal Sunshine did force me to give him some respect. I’ve never liked him, and that was the first of his serious roles that impressed me.

[Baldwin]

I guess you just had to be there.

I wouldn’t have been there; I’m too considerate of people’s right to being left alone if they don’t feel like mixing (including celebrities).

Another one I thought of: John Ritter. Back when he was doing “Three’s Company” I just found him annoying, but (either because I matured or he did) later on I found him to be a fine character actor. He was excellent as the lone uncloseted gay in a hick town in Sling Blade, and nailed a sympathetic comedic role in Bad Santa, his last movie. Also, he was great as J.D.'s dad on “Scrubs”.

[jackelope]

@Baldwin

John Ritter. Back when he was doing “Three’s Company” I just found him annoying, but (either because I matured or he did) later on I found him to be a fine character actor.

Back in the “Three’s Company” days, he was already a fantastic physical comedian. The episode in which Jack gets drunk and does a crazy dance at some Christmas party is my favorite example. Hilarious stuff.

[Asimovian]

@Pochacco

Gilbert Gottfried.

Having only experienced him as an annoying voice actor and bit player I was astounded when I watched The Aristocats to discover that he’s actually hilarious doing stand-up. My opinion of him did a complete 180.

Come to think of it, The Aristocats made me completely reassess my opinion of Bob Saget as well. Apparently he told blue jokes about Mary-Kate and Ashley in his stand-up act while Full House was on the air. :eek: And I’d written him off as this bland, boring non-entity … .

I came in this thread to make this exact comment about both comedians. Thanks for saving me some typing.

[Enright3]

Meg Ryan.

I used to love everything she was in. She was so cute and desireablle. Now I can’t stand seeing her anymore. I guess her image is tarneshed because of the Russel Crowe thing. That’s the only reason I can think of.

[Askia]

I’d written off Jamie Foxx as just another goofy TV actor until I saw “Ray” and “Collateral, and” listened to him sing the hooks on Kanye’s “Golddigger”

[An_Arky]

This thread seems to be dominated by the acting end of the entertainment world, so I’ll chip in my musical choices.

Paul Weller. Many in the US don’t know who he is, but he was the leader of one of the greatest bands ever, The Jam. He wrote exciting, angry, melodic power pop. Then, all of a sudden, he broke up The Jam and formed The Style Council, a soft, pale imitation of 60s R&B with virtually no guitar. Now, he’s solo and is at least sort of rocking, but the songs are shite.

Alex Chilton was one of the principals of Big Star, who made seminal, light-years-ahead AND behind power pop to much critical acclaim but no commercial success (he was also in the Box Tops as a teen). After descending into drugs and despair, he completely abandoned his talent and started cranking out shite. A couple of his solo albums were OK, but he basically thumbed his nose at his past achievements and seemed to be satisfied with sucking out loud for the rest of his career.

On the other side of the coin, John Mellencamp was just trying to be a pop idol and put out vapid crap for a few albums until he suddenly seemed to find his voice and wrote more serious and uplifting music. Very rare for an artist to go in this direction; it’s usually the opposite.

[Beware_of_Doug]

@Baldwin

Posted by Beware of Doug:
So, your like and dislike are based entirely on appearance? Great; you dislike an actress for growing old. (And points off for the silly affectation that is “Og”.)

Growing old, my ass. I could name 20 actresses who are still hot at 50, 60, 70. Sure, Marcia got big and heavy. Again no big deal. But she became a sort of drag-queeny self-caricature, with Bozo-red hair and freakout make-up.

And points off for “points off.”