# Great Movies Marred By One Bad Performance
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** movies
**Created:** [May 7, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360 "2020-05-07T22:21:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/21 "2020-05-08T12:17:31Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> Kevin Kline in **A Prairie Home Companion.** I know Guy Noir is supposed to be a little bit over-the-top, but it’s like he’s in a very different movie than everybody else. And this, in a movie featuring Lindsey Lohan in mid breakdown!
I felt his over the top performance in Sophies Choice wasnt appropriate for the seriousness of the material. And, like Horatio Hellpop said, it was like he was in a very different film than Meryl Streep.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/22 "2020-05-08T12:33:03Z")
Gerard Butler in **Phantom of the Opera**. I love the film overall. It’s gorgeously put together with wonderful music and a top-notch cast. But every time Butler sings it brings the film to a screeching halt. I suppose he can sorta sing, in a community-theater way, but he’s outclassed by light years by the rest of the cast. Michael Crawford he ain’t.
At least Butler can sorta sing. That’s more than you can say for Russell Crowe in **Les Miserables**. He definitely is a helluvan actor, but as a singer, he’s a helluvan actor. I felt sorry for him.
And, continuing down the list of non-singers in singing roles, **Man of La Mancha** gave us Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren as the totally miscast leads. Great actors. Non-singers. Howard Kiel and Joan Diener, for the original NY cast were still available. So were lots of other, more recognizable leads.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/23 "2020-05-08T13:23:57Z")
Keanu Reeves has an expressive face. He would have been good in the silent movie era. But whenever he opens his mouth, the southern California beach bum voice comes out.
Raymond Massey is a good actor. He made a valiant attempt to play the villain in _Arsenic and Old Lace_.
But the part was written for Boris Karloff.
Massey does not look enough like Karloff to make the “you look like Boris Karloff” jokes funny.
Massey is not famous enough to make a “you look like Raymond Massey” joke funny.
Any film starring Stewart Granger. He would have been fine in supporting roles, but I don’t think he was ever charismatic enough for a lead role.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/24 "2020-05-08T13:40:49Z")
Not a great movie, but **Mamma Mia** would have been significantly more enjoyable without having to bear witness to Pierce Brosnan’s woeful attempt at singing.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/25 "2020-05-08T14:21:30Z")
[quote=“madsircool, post:1, topic:853360”]
The idea for this thread came to me at 4am the other morning. The epidemic and distancing meant that I had been home and not working for a few weeks. Ive been waking up around 3ish. Looking for a movie to watch I came across The Rivers Edge on an HBO channel. I had seen it years ago and really liked it. I loved the acting and especially Crispin Glover. Boy, was I wrong. He criminally overacts, his accent is bizarre and his performance doesnt fit in with the ensemble of really brilliant performances. Daniel Roebuck…amazing and scary as hell. Ione Skye sexy and innocent and conflicted. Even Keanu Reeves gives a deep and masterful performance. But Glover is just terrible. I know that this is likely a minority opinion but if you have a chance to watch or re-watch this brilliant film Id like to know what others think about this film. Or any other that fit the thread title.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting-- that was Crispin Glover’s debut, wasn’t it? Probably the first thing I saw him in and I remember thinking he did a great job with that role at the time. Now I do want to watch that movie again. Currently watching season 2 of “American Gods” and I think Crispin’s killin’ it as Mr. World.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/26 "2020-05-08T14:27:26Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> Not a great movie, but **Mamma Mia** would have been significantly more enjoyable without having to bear witness to Pierce Brosnan’s woeful attempt at singing.
Pierce Brosnan still has Gerard Butler and Russell Crowe beat hollow
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/27 "2020-05-08T14:39:21Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> Interesting-- that was Crispin Glover’s debut, wasn’t it? Probably the first thing I saw him in and I remember thinking he did a great job with that role at the time. Now I do want to watch that movie again. Currently watching season 2 of “American Gods” and I think Crispin’s killin’ it as Mr. World.
I felt the same way watching it years ago as I noted in the OP. The movie is brilliant and the movie is very dark. Watching it now Glovers’ performance, to me, comes off as phony, cartoonish and scenery eating. The other actors (all brilliant to a fault) play the material intensely but straight.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/28 "2020-05-08T14:53:15Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#):
>
> MGM’s 1962 remake of “Mutiny on the Bounty.” Trevor Howard a great Captain Bligh. Richard Harris a great Richard Harris. Technicolor. Ultra Panavision 70. A Bounty replica costing $750,000. On-location shooting in beautiful Tahiti. Respected Director Lewis Milestone. What could go wrong?
>
> Brando.
>
> The memory of Clark Gable was hard to live up to, but Brando’s hammy, foppish performance as Mr. Christian, combined with his off-screen tinkering with the script, his arrogance and utter refusal to take direction, turned what could have been an epic the likes of “Lawrence of Arabia” into a shambles. I don’t know who else could have played that role at the time, but even Jerry Lewis would have been better.
I agree. Brando’s atrocious accent and his nasal vocal tone were so grating, I winced every time he spoke.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/29 "2020-05-08T15:00:34Z")
Couldnt talk about Crispen Glover without linking to his infamous Letterman appearances. I think hes trolling but who knows?
His 1st appearance
His 2nd appearance
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws0Xjr58ImY)
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/30 "2020-05-08T15:03:54Z")
> [@madsircool](#):
>
> I felt the same way watching it years ago as I noted in the OP. The movie is brilliant and the movie is very dark. Watching it now Glovers’ performance, to me, comes off as phony, cartoonish and scenery eating. The other actors (all brilliant to a fault) play the material intensely but straight.
Yeah, that’s why I want to watch it again- to see if my opinion of his performance has evolved as yours did. I’m almost the same age as Crispin (and almost exactly the same age as Keanu-- he’s 3 days older than me). So I matured with those guys. From my admittedly hazy memory of watching it 30+ years ago (CHRIST) I seem to recall his character was supposed to be eccentric, unbalanced or downright mentally ill, so his scenery-chewing or cartoonish behavior was fitting to the role.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/31 "2020-05-08T15:07:40Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> Yeah, that’s why I want to watch it again- to see if my opinion of his performance has evolved as yours did. I’m almost the same age as Crispin (and almost exactly the same age as Keanu-- he’s 3 days older than me). So I matured with those guys. From my admittedly hazy memory of watching it 30+ years ago (CHRIST) I seem to recall his character was supposed to be eccentric, unbalanced or downright mentally ill, so his scenery-chewing or cartoonish behavior was fitting to the role.
Thats an interesting point and I totally get it. Had he done a ‘straight’ accent, however…
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/32 "2020-05-08T15:21:36Z")
Quintin Tarantino as Jimmy in \*Pulp Fiction \*.
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### Author:  [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/33 "2020-05-08T15:33:49Z")
Kyle T. Heffner as the train dispatcher in _Runaway Train_. His acting is just amateurish.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/34 "2020-05-08T15:38:57Z")
**Guys and Dolls,** 1955.
“Brando sings! Sinatra acts!”
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### Author:  [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/35 "2020-05-08T15:45:49Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> Not a movie but a TV miniseries. 1983’s [The Winds of War](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085112/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0). It was a sprawling, 12-hour story with a budget of #5 million, starring Robert Mitchum and filled with a cast of veteran character actors and rising newcomers. The pivotal role of Mitchum’s daughter was played by Ali McGraw. She was stunningly bad, with a chirpy demeanor and tone-deaf line readings that seemed to be lifted from a rom-com.
>
> She was replaced in the sequel by miniseries veteran and reformed Bond Girl Jane Seymour, who understood there was a war going on around her character.
I agree with this eleventy thousand percent. Ali McGraw immediately comes to mind any time the words ‘worst performance’ are uttered. I really rooted for the Nazis in every scene she was in.
Nitpick: McGraw was Mitchum’s daughter-_in-law_
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/36 "2020-05-08T17:18:35Z")
> [@Superdude](#):
>
> Quintin Tarantino as Jimmy in \*Pulp Fiction \*.
Or in Reservoir Dogs or anything else. Like Mel Brooks, he should stick to directing.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/37 "2020-05-08T17:28:15Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> I always loved the musical \*Chicago \*and was excited when it got the big screen treatment. Everyone in it was great except for Richard Gere in the role originated by Jerry Orbach. Wow did he suck! He’s a fine actor in a dramatic role, but he couldn’t pull off a song-and-dance con-man to save his life.
Well, Gere won a Golden Globe for Best Actor (in a Comedy/Musical) for that performance so you may be in the minority. I thought that for a non-musical actor he did quite well.
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### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/38 "2020-05-08T17:41:35Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> Honestly, he is not a very good actor.
>
> But, he found his niche and he is great at those (think “John Wick”). Also, turns out he is just a super nice, stand-up guy as a person in real life. I am hard pressed to think of another actor with a reputation as just a super solid, nice guy to everyone and anyone he meets. There’s gotta be some points for that.
>
> I just pray he never tries to do Shakespeare ever again.
I was going to say exactly this. Reeves is very good in action films, and always has been - from Point Break a few years after Bill & Ted, to Speed, to the Matrix films, to John Wick. Those films also tend to require limited range in its lead actors. Though Reeves doesn’t look like your regular action star, so I’m sure that’s why he was cast in those other roles.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/39 "2020-05-08T18:57:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> At least Butler can sorta sing. That’s more than you can say for Russell Crowe in **Les Miserables**. He definitely is a helluvan actor, but as a singer, he’s a helluvan actor. I felt sorry for him.
I think Crowe can do just fine on rock songs that don’t require a big range. Javert part has the most difficult songs in the play. It’s easy for veteran stage singers to lose the melody in some parts. It takes someone like Phillip Quast to do the part justice. It’s the one part they really needed to pick a singer over an actor.
Not that I thought most of the rest was any good. Too many times the cast chose overacting over singing the part. The music in a musical is too important to take a backseat. Hugh Jackman can sing and he wound up whispering half his lines.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movies-marred-by-one-bad-performance/853360/40 "2020-05-08T19:10:07Z")
When talking about Les Miz Sacha Baron Cohen’s awful Innkeeper should be mentioned. At least Crowe acts well as Javert despite his vocal shortcomings. The Innkeeper is a much needed comic break in the story as well as being an evil villain. Cohen is flat and humorless.
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