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.
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.
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.
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.
[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.
Pierce Brosnan still has Gerard Butler and Russell Crowe beat hollow
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.
I agree. Brando’s atrocious accent and his nasal vocal tone were so grating, I winced every time he spoke.
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
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…
Quintin Tarantino as Jimmy in *Pulp Fiction *.
Kyle T. Heffner as the train dispatcher in Runaway Train. His acting is just amateurish.
Guys and Dolls, 1955.
“Brando sings! Sinatra acts!”
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
Or in Reservoir Dogs or anything else. Like Mel Brooks, he should stick to directing.
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.
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.
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.
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.