I tried to watch K-Pax again to convince myself that it isn’t that bad. After all I try to see everything with Jeff Bridges in it and I watch anything that Kevin Spacey makes but this is a stinker. I’m sure conversations went like this:
Director Softley - “Hey Kevin remember how I asked you to look smug and enigmatic in the last scene we shot?”
KS - “Of course.”
Director Softley - “Well do it again. And Jeff can you pull off that puzzled and bemused expression again?”
JB - “Yep.”
Director Softley - “And maybe add a touch of irritated this time?”
Anyone else have unforgiveable flops starring multiple favourites?
I like Bridges and Spacey too, but yes, they have starred in some truly wretched fare.
Take Spacey in The Life of David Gale. Why oh why did he waste his time? I still can’t bring myself to watch Pay it Forward because of all that I’ve heard.
Or Bridges in Simpatico. Dull, confusing and pointless.
Johnny Depp never should have done Secret Window or The Astronaut’s Wife.
I like her, but Michelle Pfeiffer has not made good choices over the last several years.
Do not watch Pay It Forward! Spacey is not worth it. I love him and that’s usually enough to make any movie he’s in worth my time, but Pay It Forward was nothing but the glurgiest glurge that ever glurged.
I think it would have to be **Wag the Dog ** with Hoffman, DeNiro, Macy, and Harrelson. Plus, it was the second time I’d seen Kirsten Dunst who I liked from that vampire movie she’d done earlier. Thoroughly idiotic movie, no matter how hard a more than competent cast tried to make it work, all the more infuriating because it was a collaboration between writer David Mamet and director Barry Levinson, who I otherwise have such great respect for.
Really? Wow.
I love this movie. It’s one of my all-time favorites, with dozens of scenes that are some of the best performances by great actors and eminently quotable dialog. Ah, well. YMMV and all…
True Romance is in my all-time top five favorite movies. I understand why someone might not be into it, but if you already like the cast and Tarantino, what’s not to like? (I also think it’s one of Tony Scott’s better movies.)
I really like both True Romance and The Royal Tennenbaums but that is not the point. Lots of people like K-Pax too, but I hate it yet it stars people I like. I guess it’s more about things you assumed would be good due to the cast but ended up personally hating. Doesn’t matter what anyone (or even everyone) else thinks.
Actually, *Mars Attacks! * has a pretty stellar cast, but I hated the movie.
As much as I loved Charlie Kaufman’s later efforts Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I just wasn’t a big fan of his writing debut, Being John Malkovich, which starred several actors I like: the always-great John Cusack, a very out-of-character Cameron Diaz, and Malkovich himself.
Strangely, two that sprang immediately to mind both had Nicholas Cage in them:
Snake Eyes. Cage, Gary Sinise, directed by DePalma…and really, really bad.
Con Air. Of course, I didn’t presume to think that a Bruckheimer movie would do anything but suck, but still, what a waste of a DREAM cast: Cage, John Malkovich, Steve Buschemi, Ving Rhames, John Cusak, Mykelti Williamson, Chief O’Brien, and a bunch of weathered character actors that I’ve always admired. (MC Gainey, Danny Trejo, Nick Chinlund).
And another that I just thought of: Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Man, I had such high hopes for tihs one. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, one of a few whose movies I will seek out based on directing credit alone. Starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Eva Mendes, Mickey Rourke, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo… Sigh. What a mess.
I agree with Pepperland girl about “Once upon a time in Mexico”. I think its all those actors I like that make me enjoy a movie this bad.
As far as the original post goes, I can’t come up with a example other than “Skipping Christmas”. With Jamie Lee Curtis it shouldn’t have been as god-awful as it was.