He once made a good film…just to see how it felt.
Stranger Than Fiction and Anchorman for the former, and Punch-Drunk Love and Uncut Gems for the latter. But the batting average for both of them is pretty terrible, so avoiding them on principle is understandable.
I’m very much in the minority, I gather, in that I absolutely despised Horns. And I was even at the premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Nothing could redeem that flm for me. The Woman in Black was passable, I suppose, but I haven’t seen anything else non-Potter of Radcliffe’s.
Am I one of the only people that liked that movie? The original ending was haunting.
I consider that is from people that go to Sylvester Stallone movies expecting Shakespeare. You go to a Stallone movie to see a Stallone movie and you go to a Rob Schneider movie to see Rob Schneider.
I was going to suggest Jean-Claude Van Damme, but then I looked him up, and holy cow he’s been in a lot of well-reviewed and commercially successful movies. He’s got 9 movies rated ‘fresh’ on Rotten Tomatoes. Some even give him good marks for his acting.
I actually brought Van Damme up in the other thread about actors who NEVER made a BAD film. I wouldn’t say they are cinematic masterpieces but I almost always find his films entertaining.
To each his own I guess.
My personal choice would be Chris Farley, but I know others will disagree.
Men in Black, or Men in Black 2? He’s a great straight man to Will Smith in both.
Dodgeball was good. But Norris only had a cameo in that one.
How about Tom Laughlin of Billy Jack fame? Prior to starting that franchise he also did Born Losers. Neither of those were horrible, but I never thought they were really very good. And the other movies in the BJ franchise truly sucked/blew. IMHO, of course.
Maybe Ron Jeremy. He has a degree in acting and has been waiting for his big break in real film but can’t seem to stop making porn in the mean time.
References: Ron Jeremy - Everything2.com
Ron Jeremy was an extra in the original Ghostbusters (1984). - Ron Jeremy | Ghostbusters Wiki | Fandom
He’s also in The Boondock Saints (1999) among a very small number of other mainstream films. I don’t think he’ll be making any more films of any kind ever again.
Given that:
- His career ended in 2020 when he was charged with rape and sexual assault; by the end of 2020, he had been indicted for dozens of such charges, and then incarcerated
- In 2023, he was found mentally unfit to stand trial, due to “incurable neurocognitive decline,” and transferred to a mental health facility
- Since November of 2023, he has been in a private facility, receiving care for his condition
…it’s safe to say that he will not be getting “his big break in real film,” as well as that he has stopped making porn in the meantime.
Good Heavens.
Brian Dennehy was more of a TV actor, and got 6 Emmy nominations. I saw the movie in which he played John Wayne Gacy, and he did an excellent job.
A good point, though it should be noted that it was Norris’s first significant film role, at a time when he was an unknown outside of the martial arts community. And, while it was an important role as a villain, it’s not huge: Norris really only appears in the last portion of the film, and is Lee’s opponent in the big fight in the Colosseum in Rome.
I’m not saying these actors aren’t commercially successful; just that I don’t care for most of the films they’re “big” in.
Miller ‘Lite’ is more “popular” commercially than lesser known beers, but I don’t care for it.
Nah, forget it
You forget the excellent The Emperor’s New Groove.
He was very good in Vengeance, the 2022 BJ Novak movie which got a very respectable 8.something on Rotten Tomatoes. But I had no idea he was even in it before viewing - if his name came up in the reviews, I didn’t notice.
I enjoyed it, although I think it felt a bit like a very well made student film. Kucher had a significant role.
And when you want both, you watch Demolition Man, one of the cinematic masterpieces of the 20th Century.
Absolutely; David Spade can be forgiven any number of sins for his portrayal of Kuzco.