Bill Paxton must have good connections because it ain’t his talent that gets him parts.
Kevin Costner either embarrasses himself (e.g. Robin Hood) or he simply plays a version of himself (e.g. Tin Cup). He can’t stretch as an actor.
Richard Gere played a great part in An Officer and a Gentlemen. Then he quit trying.
For every role that Winona Ryder gets that “fits” her, she gets another role that doesn’t fit her at all: Abigail in The Crucible; Jo in Little Women; the long-suffering wife in Age of Innocence.
Sorry, I don’t understand. You still seem to be criticizing certain actors because the batting average of their recent films is low.
But you could just as easily apply to them the same standards you use to damn Pacino and DeNiro. In THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, Hackman basically recycles his Oscar-winning role from UNFORGIVEN. O’Toole has been in hardly anything lately, and when he has made appearances, they have not been particularly distinguished. That is, some young filmgoer who know him only from FAERY TALE: A TRUE STORY and PHANTOMS would think he was the most overrate actor of all time.
More bizarre reasoning. The studio system may be to blame for the quality of movies you dislike, but that doesn’t mean that all the actors working today have suddenly lost their talent.
The Gaspode, you seem to know your movies, i.e. you’ve seen a lot of them. When even the greatest actors of our time get on your nerves more often than not, how do you manage to remain a film fan in general? Glutton for punishment much?
What I’m reading is not a thread about overrated actors, it’s a snipe fest. Which is fine – just don’t delude yourselves.
A quick reply for now to ScriptAnalyst and Billy Baroo.
Hollywood has always been about money. Actors in general are neurotic. Hollywood has always let hurt egos get overinflated, through fame, money and sex. But the mariage between actors and Hollywood has made for some great films, and some are still being made.
I happened to catch Good Will Hunting on TV last night. Ben Affleck is bad (and hadn’t got his teeth fixed), but Matt Damon made what is his best performance to date. Since then, he’s gone south.
The studio sytem of late corrupts, with it’s insane fixation on box office blockbusters. The money corrupts the actors. Hell, If someone was stupid enough to offer me €1 mil, to work for four weeks on a cheesy movie, I’d laugh all the way to the bank.
Maybe I’m not being clear enough, but what I’m trying to say is, that these so called great actors, might not be that great at all. Maybe they just struck luck earlier on in their carrers, when the studio system wasn’t so cramped, and there still was some chance for directors and/or screenwriters to do some original work.
Of late, I’ve seen and enjoyed The Royal Tenenbaums. I was pleasantly suprised by Angel Eyes. No, I don’t think Jennifer Lopez is a great actress, but I do think she’s a pretty good hack, which makes her unique among people trying to do both music and movies.
Russell Crowe may or may not be lots of things in his personal life, but an “overrated actor” he is not. He’s an excellent actor, among the finest working today. If someone considers him overrated as an actor, they (pick one, or all):
a) haven’t a clue as to what makes an actor good
b) haven’t seen the movies people talk about when they talk about his being a great actor (such as L.A. Confidential and The Insider and Romper Stomper or even A Beautiful Mind. To take just the four of those and watch them together, and realize that the same actor inhabits those VERY different characters is mind-boggling.)
c) just can’t seem to look beyond whatever it is that they don’t like about him personally to give any credit to his talent.
Jack Nicholson HAS ACTED recently, but it got totally ignored. See The Pledge for proof.
Brad Pitt - Kalifornia, Fight Club and Snatch - all great performances.
Jennifer Lopez - her music is awful (to my ears) and the diva bit is overblown, but I dare anyone to watch Mi Familia, Selena and Out Of Sight and claim with a straight face that she can’t act. She’s not a hack.
What has ed Norton’s sexual orientation to do with anything?
That said: Maybe I was a bit sweeping in dubbing J Lo a “hack,” but Shakespeare material, she is not. Yes, she is good in thsoe three movies, too. But her diva attitude almost destroys it for me.
You might say, and I DO say, that Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis are underrated actors, since they have done som really good work in movies with inspired screenplay and directing, I’m thinking of 12 Monkeys. They are considered by many to be worse actors than the gang of Pacinos and De Niros. Yet, when Willis stop doing shit like Striking Distance and get down and does a good movie, he works for me. He’s at least as good in 12 Monkeys, as De Niro is in Heat.
And that’s the reason I think De Niro’s overrated.
Also, was I the only one who liked The Kid with Willis?
I’m going to have to disagree with Kevin Spacey’s inclusion on this list. I haven’t seen all of his films (especially the more recent ones) but the ones I remember him being good in are:
Swimming With Sharks - IMO Spacey made that film.
Se7en
Usual Suspects
LA Confidential
Glengarry Glen Ross
Looking For Richard - Spacey plays Buckingham in the play. He didn’t have that many lines, but the way he said them was absolutely electric.
American Beauty
And he turned in a solid performance in other films, like The Negotiator, Ordinary Decent Criminal and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Personally, I’d argue that he’s one of the best actors out there, but I might be biased because I want to shag him senseless.
I was going to defend Kevin Spacey, but I was beaten to the punch! I will say that I disagree that his character in The Ref is exactly the same as in American Beauty. Sure, they’re both discontented husbands (not exactly rare characters), but they were played completely differently. He’s more subtle than most ‘actors’, so perhaps that’s why he comes across as similar in different films, but if you look at the larger scope of his work – comparing roles in LA Confidential, Swimming with Sharks, American Beauty, Seven, and so on – it’s obvious that he’s not just playing himself (ala Bill Paxton).
Every actor makes bad movies. Anthony Hopkins is, IMHO, an excellent actor, but that didn’t stop me from hating Titus (a Shakespearian adaptation so abysmal that I shudder to even remember it). Yeah, there are bad actors out there. (I, too, don’t see the point in Nicholas Cage.) However, a lot of the listed actors aren’t there for their acting – they are there because they are pretty and people swoon after them. (Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, etc.)
This thread is about ACTING ability, not physical beauty. Whether or not you think that Julia Roberts is pretty or not has nothing to do with the OP. Ho hum, once again a woman be judged by her looks rather than her talent or lack thereof.
And what’s wrong with being a vagina Phlip. You are perpetuating the medieval belief that women’s vaginas are meant to swallow up men’s manhood and drain them of their power. Oh no, God forbid! How many porn pages have a stumbled upon touting women that can take “multiple giant cocks in one hole!”. On the one hand, men want women that can do such things, but then Julia having a mouth that “could fit 2 oranges side by side in that there Vagina” is used as an insult. I just don’t get it. I don’t see anyone here discussing how physically unappealing Jack Nicholson is when citing the opinion that he is an overrated actor.
I am still of the personal opinion that Russell Crowe could not act well if his life depended on it. However, I respect your right to enjoy him and his work. No matter how much you respect him and his work, I don’t think there is really and reason to be so insulting towards those of us who simply do not share your opinion. Thank you, that is all.
It was a joke, but I forgot the smiley. You said “The only remotely good actor to come out the last 5 years is Edward Norton” and in America, “come out” usually means that they’ve “come out of the closet” and have made it public that they’re gay.
I do disagree with you about that though. There are several excellent actors out there, especially in smaller indie and foreign (i.e. not Hollywood) films. They just haven’t had the high-profile roles yet that Norton has had.
I stand by what I said and don’t think it was insulting at all.
a) what makes your opinion more correct than the professional actors who have nominated him for an Academy Award 3 times in a row? Actors are nominated by actors. They’re not known for nominating no-talent hacks ever, let alone on a regular basis. It sure isn’t because he’s the most well-liked guy in Hollywood.
b) Tell the absolute truth. Have you seen all 4 movies I mentioned in my post (L.A. Confidential, The Insider, Romper Stomper, A Beautiful Mind)? I purposefully failed to mention his other excellent roles in smaller Australian films since they’re not likely to have been widely seen or available to be seen. Romper Stomper has been easy to find for years though. What Russell Crowe movies have you seen? Please name them all so I can get an idea of what you’re basing your opinion on. If your opinion isn’t an informed one, coupled with an inability to at least acknowledge that his peers consider him a great actor, then why should I take your opinion (as opposed to you as a human being) seriously?
c) it’s very common for people to project their personal dislike of a person on to that person’s careers. I can’t stand Woody Allen as a person, but still respect his filmmaking talent. It would be easier to slag off his movies as a sweeping “I don’t like him” rant, but I can’t do it. Lord knows that Russell Crowe has acted like a right royal dick in his personal life and has understandably pissed off a lot of people. Nothing he could do in his personal life could ever take away from his pure acting talent.
I’m not defending him because I’m a big fan. He’s not one my favorite actors (those would be Robert Mitchum, Sean Penn and Ewan McGregor), but I have a great respect for his talent and have since I saw him play a sensitive love-struck farm boy in The Crossing and then a terrifying Nazi skinhead in Romper Stomper. And then a quick-tempered, troubled cop in L.A. Confidential. And THEN a confused, depressed business executive in The Insider, a proud, hurt, angry Roman general in Gladiator (a movie that otherwise didn’t work for me), and a gentle, mentally ill math professor in A Beautiful Mind (a movie I disliked, except for Crowe’s performance).
The man CAN act, no matter what you think of him personally or certain movies he’s been in.
Nicholson is always a creepily grinning asshole, Williams a faux-gamin clowning-around prat. I don’t know the actors personally but even if those personas are different to their real-life characters, I don’t think having just one crappy acted character in your thespian repertoire numbers you among the greats.
I can’t believe that in all these replies, no one has mentioned Tom Cruise yet! Egad, he makes me want to launch my lunch with his stupid, grinning, mugging excuse for an “acting” style…TRM
p.s. - Julia Roberts not only can’t act, and isn’t good to look at, but her face always reminds me of a horse. (“Why the long face?” - Emo Philips.) I think I’d rather boink her brother Eric, and I’m not even gay.
Tim
Thanks for YET ANOTHER example of my point in my last post here - a woman being judged primarily by her physical characteristics rather than her merit. I believe that there was another thread here last week about ugly actors - perhaps you, Phlip and BlackKnight would be better suited to post your remarks about Julia Roberts looks, vagina, and fuckability there. Yes, maybe she IS overrated as an actress, but why does it always have to come down to her looks or sexual appeal here? This thread is about ACTING ABILITY or lach thereof, and I take umbrage that all you guys can do is sexually objectify her. I don’t see any of that going on with the male actors mentioned here.
:: hmmm…c-of-cyn wonders if this is argument should be moved to the notorious Ms. Boards ::
Man, if this was in the Pit I would start up with the cursing, but I wont in Cafe. I would say that one of Julia “Evil Vagina” Roberts big draws is that guys think she is hot. That is all she has going for her because she is such a shitty actress, so I focused on that. Actually I guess I didn’t because I think she looks pretty shitty with that big Vagina Mouth. I am sure she could take many massive members in that there mouth. She probably has do so to land some of the roles she has gotten that should have gone to other actresses.
If I want to see a horse jaw its mouth I will watch Mr.Ed reruns.
You think his recent films are bad? How about all the dreck he did basically between Mork and GMV? He wasn’t in a position to choose roles then; he did what he had to do to make a living. Along the way, he refined his style and learned to something besides ad-lib.
Very few actors really get to “choose” roles. Back in 1990, Siskel and Ebert were discussing actors to watch in the upcoming decade. They weren’t far off, as I recall, but what they said about Tim Robbins was just dumb. “He’s this, he’s that…and he picks good roles!” WTF? What if good roles hadn’t picked him? He was still in the stage of having to audition: Bull Durham and whatever else they were lauding him for weren’t up to him. Sheesh.
[ramble]Molly Ringwald was sent a script for Blue Velvet. Her mother read it before she had a chance to, and shriekingly vetoed it. A road not taken? I think not: Lynch would still have cast Laura Dern, as the virginal opposite to Isabella Rosselini.
Haley Joel Osment was turned down for Phantom Menace, on the grounds that he was too teeny-tiny and his voice too high-pitched. Valid, I think; Jake Lloyd at least looked the part, and HJO would have missed out on Sixth Sense and been left with one major credit in a flop. Although from what I hear, the fault of Jake Lloyd’s current obscurity is just as much his (little pisher!).
I would give a lot to see the footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly, but it’ll probably never be made available. I’ve never gotten a clear-cut reason why the role was recast.[/ramble]
