# My ears! my ears! (bad accents in movies) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2002, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746 "2002-08-07T11:04:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/121 "2002-08-13T16:20:05Z")
Get your facts right, Spoke. I read the biography, as well as saw the movie. He went to Princeton, he did not go to Harvard (wanted to though). I saw the 60 minutes interview also, but I was at a lecture Dr. Nash held in Philadelphia, PA, I saw and heard him in person. I did not say he did not have an accent, but it has diminshed over time and experience. You have your opinion and I have mine. ---
**Author:** ![TwungTister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TwungTister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwungTister)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/122 "2002-10-26T19:19:16Z")
I don’t mind bad accents so much as the hokey tone of voice they use, for instance, in Dune. Robin Williams is good at accents. His Jakob (Jakob the Liar) is Polish. Daniel Day Lewis on In the Name of the Father is even better. Hey, I can’t get these to print italics. Or does it post different than it looks in preview? ---
**Author:** ![TwungTister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TwungTister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwungTister)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/123 "2002-10-26T19:39:44Z")
Vivalostwages: Originally quoted by Blalron:" The woman who played Marla Singer in Fight Club, who is from England, did an excellent American accent. I didn’t know she is English until I saw her being interviewed, and talking in a thick british accent." > [@](#): > > ## \*Originally posted by vivalostwages \* \*\* > > That’s Helena Bonham Carter, and you’re right. She also did a good job of sounding American in **Novocaine**. \*\* I didn’t know she wasn’t American either! Don’t tell me the woman who played Marla is the one who played Ari on _Planet of the Apes_ ! ---
**Author:** ![TwungTister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TwungTister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwungTister)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/124 "2002-10-26T19:42:34Z")
Vivalostwages: Originally quoted by Blalron:" The woman who played Marla Singer in Fight Club, who is from England, did an excellent American accent. I didn’t know she is English until I saw her being interviewed, and talking in a thick british accent." > [@](#): > > ## \*Originally posted by vivalostwages \* \*\* > > That’s Helena Bonham Carter, and you’re right. She also did a good job of sounding American in **Novocaine**. \*\* I didn’t know she wasn’t American either! Don’t tell me the woman who played Marla is the one who played Ari on _Planet of the Apes_ ! Libertarian on “Hugo Weaving’s middle American accent”: I guess they’re doing a good job when I don’t realize they’re supposed to be “putting on” an accent but think they always speak that way. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/125 "2002-10-26T20:46:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TwungTister \* > \*\*Vivalostwages: Originally quoted by Blalron:" The woman who played Marla Singer in Fight Club, who is from England, did an excellent American accent. I didn’t know she is English until I saw her being interviewed, and talking in a thick british accent." > > I didn’t know she wasn’t American either! > Don’t tell me the woman who played Marla is the one who played Ari on _Planet of the Apes_ ! > > SNIP \*\* * * * That’s exactly what I’m telling you. 🙂 Not bad, eh? She can go from British to Merkin and back again. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/126 "2002-10-27T01:16:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruffian \* > > Nicole’s accents are impeccable. I truly think that woman is a phenomenon. She hadn’t quite nailed it down at the time of The Peacemaker, at least for the scenes where she had to shout. “Toik the Shawt!” ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/127 "2002-10-27T01:17:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hodge \* > \*\*Wasn’t Clarice Starling supposed to be from West Virginia? I remember Hannibal Lector making some snide allusions to hillbillies and coal miners. WV doesn’t really count as “south” does it? \*\* Part of the performance is that she’s trying to hide her accent, which is suppossed to be a very ‘white trash’. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/128 "2002-10-27T01:23:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*You’d have to be from Quebec to know it, but Rosanna Arquette’s accent in _The Whole Nine Yards_ was atrocious, made even worse by the fact that the movie was filmed and set in Montreal. They could easily have gotten an attractive local actress to play Matthew Perry’s treacherous wife. The local actress playing Arquette’s mother, Carmen Ferland, sounded poetic by comparison. \*\* That’s all true, but Arquette’s accent was a perfect recreation of parodic Quebecois. Considering how mannered and broadly the film was playing (check Kevin Pollack’s ridiculous Hungarian and the impossibly stiff Montreal police inspectors), it was probably exactly what she was asked for. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/129 "2002-10-27T06:57:07Z")
Nobody’s mentioned this one yet, but I love Bob Hoskins’ accent in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” It’s not a _particular_ city, but it’s a Hardboiled Hollywood Detective voice and he nails it very well. Again, comedy has different requirements. And speaking of the Pythons, John Cleese lapses into a very funny American accent (and good, for about five words) at the end of “A Fish Called Wanda.” But then, I have a thing for FISH ---
**Author:** ![maikai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@maikai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maikai)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/130 "2002-10-27T07:28:59Z")
What does “Merkin” mean? Is it some kind of play on “American?” ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/131 "2002-10-27T08:20:43Z")
Al Pachino doing a Puerto Rican in _Carlito’s Way_. He did a passable Cuban accent in _Scarface_, even mumbling lines in Spanish, but it seems he got lazy over the years. ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/132 "2002-10-27T08:55:51Z")
Unless I missed it I can’t believe that nobody has mentioned **Don Cheadle** in **Oceans 11**. Possibly the only cockney accent worse than Dick Van Dyke. However, I think he is a terrific actor so he may have deliberately put on a truly terrible accent for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/133 "2002-10-27T18:26:20Z")
That’s one of my very favorite pet peeves, when someone in a movie tries to fake a Southern accent. Or TV shows. I recall a promo for some A&E mystery in which a British-y dectective-type fellow goes to NC to solve a case. He encounters a young lady at a convenience store (which looks like an outhouse) who asks him “Yew ain’t frum araoun’ heyar ahr ya?” :smack: To reiterate: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*99.999% of all Southern accents are bad. Not everyone in Georgia sound like they just walked off the set of _Gone With the Wind_. \*\* Not everyone in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, or Tennessee. I claim no knowledge about the accents in the other Southern states. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/134 "2002-10-27T19:47:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulehoopo \* > \*\*What does “Merkin” mean? Is it some kind of play on “American?” \*\* * * * Yeah, I think I learned it from the SDMB in fact. It’s like saying “Murricans.” ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/135 "2002-10-28T04:19:56Z")
> [@](#): > > ## \*-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by pulehoopo \* \*\*What does “Merkin” mean? Is it some kind of play on “American?” \*\* \*Originally posted by vivalostwages \* \*\* > > Yeah, I think I learned it from the SDMB in fact. It’s like saying “Murricans.” \*\* A “ **merkin** ” is a pubic wig. IIRC Cecil had a column on the origin of merkins. It is also used in Terry Pratchett’s discworld series to denote an inhabitant of …er… a place where Merkins live.😃 > [@](#): > > USA, usa merkia [which is, itself, a back-formation from “Merkin” (q.v.), [here](http://gaspodesguide.users.btopenworld.com/faq/acronyms.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/136 "2002-10-28T09:07:18Z")
Come to think of it, the Worst Accent Ever award should go to UK TV presenter [Loyd Grossman](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-108210). Not for his screen accent, but for his real one. Boston Lockjaw meets Oxbridge Wannabe. Guaranteed to have me reaching for the remote. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/137 "2002-10-28T16:37:26Z")
Keanu Reeves’s accent also sucked in Dangerous Liasons. Glenn Close dubbed over Andie MacDowell’s speaking parts in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan because MacDowell’s accent was so distracting and terrible. Since it was on, recently, A Knight’s Tale offers a plethora of bad accents; I think Shannyn Sossamon might be the most egregious sinner of them all. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/138 "2002-10-28T20:33:03Z")
I thought Lucy Lawless did a great job with the Southern Californian accent all the actors on _Xena_ were asked to use, with only an occasional slip: “extr_ord_n’ry,” etc. Cary Elwes used to stomp on the r’s at the ends of words a lot, but he’s getting better. He sounded fine in _Cat’s Meow._ ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/139 "2002-10-28T20:38:50Z")
I thought Lucy Lawless did a great job with the Southern Californian accent all the actors on _Xena_ were asked to use, with only an occasional slip: “extr_ord_n’ry,” etc. Cary Elwes used to stomp on the r’s at the ends of words a lot, but he’s getting better. He sounded fine in _Cat’s Meow._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746/140 "2002-10-29T01:01:11Z")
William Hurt sounded uncomfortable in _Gorky Park_ – but the character he played was under considerable pressure. Perhaps it was an exceptionally uncomfortable shoot. He just didn’t sound like he was from the same planet that Paulina Porizkova and the others came from. HBO’s original movie _Citizen X_ featured Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland, Max Von Sydow, Joss Ackland, Jeffrey DeMunn, and a whole bunch of actual Hungarian (and Romanian? Czech?) actors in minor roles/extras. The accents were all over the place, but aside from that, it was a very fine movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ears-my-ears-bad-accents-in-movies/122746.md?page=8)