Someone mentioned the movie Fargo earlier in this thread…
I saw that movie in the theaters when I was living away from here and thought the accents were spot-on - til I saw it again a few months ago. The accents were just off enough to set my teeth on edge.
Everyone in The Gambler , which is set in Russia, has that British accent too. Man, those British folks really get around. 
And speaking of Russia, everyone in K19-The Widowmaker is doing a Russian accent, which makes no sense since they’re all RUSSIANS on a RUSSIAN sub! I guess they just didn’t trust us audience members to accept anything else.
Only twice? You obviously haven’t seen many of his movies.
The one that springs to my mind is Much Ado About Nothing. Yeesh. Come to think of it, Michael Keaton’s accent was…unique…in that one as well. Beetlejuice goes to Cornwall, IIRC.
Ever notice how so many movie villains, especially those in sci-fi and fantasy flicks, speak with a posh English accent? Even if the character in question comes from another planet, a magical realm, or a time in the far distant past or future?
This used to puzzle me, but I now realize that it’s just because they were all in boarding school together. Hogwarts, House Slytherin.
julia roberts-mike collins/mary reilly
brad pitt in the ira terrorist role and harrison ford kinda sucks on the widowmaker
Stop! reading back, i have to agree - dan ackyroyd driving miss daisy.
Well, Intaglio, as someone born in West Virginia, and who has lived most of his life in Georgia (including a stint in Savannah), I have to disagree with you.
Spacey’s accent, while not terrible, was hardly perfect. In fact, it was “off” enough to be a distraction for me while watching the film.
And Russell Crowe doesn’t even come close to replicating John Nash (or any West Virginia accent that I’ve ever heard).
Oh yeah, and I’ll chime in and agree that Dan Ackroyd was the worst.
That he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance is proof that Hollywood has a tin ear.
It’s not only the accent that lends authenticity to a role, but the natural malapropisms that occur when one speaks a foreign language. Consider Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice, when she compliments Stingo on his “new cocksucker jacket”. Or the “French soldier” in the Holy Grail who “fart(s) in your general direction”. These would be natural mistakes for people, and I’m always disappointed that writers don’t include a few.
Too many actors attempt an accent by speaking perfectly pronounced and structured English.
I think David Ogden Stiers should be told that NEW England is not the same as ENGLAND.
Sweet merciful crap, Kevin Costner’s Bahston accent needs to be executed. Now.
When Fargo came out, I know a lot of my fellow Minnesotans were mighty pissed. Many times their complaining was adorable, something along the lines of “Ooh goash dat Fargoo was awwful. Wee just doon’t talk like dat around here, dooncha know.” Yeah, most of the people from the Cities don’t have much of an accent, but get more than an hours drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul, and the Scanahoovians just crawl out of the wood panelling. I should know - I’m one of 'em. They may have been played up a little in the movie, but it wasn’t all that far from the truth.
As I said in a previous post
Spoke,
Russell Crowe was not replicating a West Virginia accent.
I don’t think Dr. Nash had an accent, and even if he did,
going to school, and living in the North, as he has done for more than half of his life, any accent would diminish.
He completely got the way John Nash speaks, his use of langauage, diction, mannerisms, etc. I have heard Dr. Nash,
in person and interviews, and Russell Crowe had it correct.
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?
I realize that in the case of Fred Astaire, he probably just wasn’t trying, but this made me recall an kid I used to know from Melbourne who sounded just like an American when he spoke (except when he said the word “Melbourne”). Is this common in Melbourne, or was he an odd case. He certainly wasn’t happy when I pointed this out to him.
Bad accent: The “cockney” explosives expert in the new version of Ocean’s 11. How rotten was that accent? And of course there’s all the guys from Moty Python talking like John Wayne when they do “American.”
Good accent: I’ve always been really impressed with Minnie Driver’s Michigan girl in Grosse Pointe Blank. Flawless.
Re Brad Pitt’s accent in Snatch: an Irish friend of mine felt it was very convincing. Does this not match the general consensus?
Tim Curry in “Congo”
Kevin Pollack in “Whole Nine Yards” (although I think it was intentional and it worked!)
Bobcat Goldthwait in “Police Academy I-VII”
how about surprisingly well done accents:
Brad Pitt in “Snatch”
Richard Gere in “The Jackal”
Renee Zellweger in “Bridget Jones’ Diary”
m
Well, to be honest, my therapist told me I’ve been repressing memories of The Devil’s Advocate. But that was a truly awful accent. And, as an aside, the scene when he comes home and celebrates his court victory with his wife should win some sort of award for Worst Acting by a Screen Couple. It looked like really bad community theater magnified by the horrible use of accents.
Starling was from West Virginia and West Virginia is considered south, both geographically and culturally. It’s different from, say, Georgia, but it’s definitely a southern state.
And I agree that Jodie Foster’s accent was good. She did a good job of being a woman with an accent trying to minimize her accent.
I wanted to reinforce that Kenneth Brannagh’s American accent is quite good. In Dead Again, he made a few minor errors (which I can’t quite remember, just now), so I’d give him a B+. Emma Thompson generally does a fair imitation of American - probably not good enough to fool anyone, but not thoroughly distracting by its awfulness, unlike:
All the American characters on the Britcom (soap opera? What genre IS it?) “As Time Goes By”. I watch it rebroadcast on PBS, and the forced Rs and heavy-weight boxer style vowels are enough to make my ears weep.
To bring up Monty Python once more, their American accents were painfully horrible, though I agree with whoever it was that suggested it may have been intentional. Since their American characters were usually flashy hyper-American things like cowboys an film producers, it isn’t a suprise. HOWEVER, Carol Cleveland does a terrific American Movie Star in one python sketch (a la Marilyn Monroe) - but I believe she spent much of her childhood in the US, which I consider cheating.
Hugo Weaving’s middle American accent in The Matrix was practically perfect, as was Jon Voight’s Memphis accent in The Rainmaker.
My pet peeve is when there’s a household of accents from all over the place, all under the guise of “southern”. The father sounds like he’s from Tennessee, the mother from Texas, the daughter from Georgia, and the son from Alabama. I guess it all sounds the same to the director.
Intaglio wrote:
Boy, you can say that again.
And do you mean to say that Nash wouldn’t have had an accent, even when he arrived at Harvard from the hills of West Virginia. (You remember–the whole first half of the movie?)
So you’ve hear Nash speak? Big deal. So have I. Saw his whole 60 Minutes interview. He does still have an accent, albeit a mild one these days, and (sorry) Crowe sounded nothing like him.