# Otherwise good/great movies stolen by a terrible performance? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498 "2012-05-01T12:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![That\_Guy\_over\_There](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@That\_Guy\_over\_There](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Guy_over_There)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/141 "2012-10-02T19:32:42Z")
Paul Dano in There Will Be Blood. Just awful. I heard he only had a week to prepare because the first choice dropped out late, but still. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/142 "2012-10-02T21:39:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I just saw the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk and thought it was actually a pretty good movie. Except for Liv Tyler . Same with “That Thing You Do”. It has to be one of the best cast movies, even the minor parts were spot on, except for her. Part of the problem was that her “traveling with the band” role didn’t make sense in the story. Her big scene at the end was cringe-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/143 "2012-10-02T22:36:51Z")
All this hate for Dr. Christmas Jones - I can name at least five Bond movies with worse actresses in the leading lady role. Does nobody remember [Tanya Roberts](http://youtu.be/UMnidixxghw)? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/144 "2012-10-02T23:28:10Z")
I kinda felt _Battlefield Earth_ might have been watchable had John Travolta not been in it. Of course, had he not been in it, it would never have been made. ---
**Author:** ![Troutsqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Troutsqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troutsqueezer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/145 "2012-10-03T04:57:00Z")
John Lithgow as Roberta in The World According To Garp. Yechh… ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/146 "2012-10-03T19:25:03Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Let’s go old school. > Tony Curtis in [The Black Shield of Falworth](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLJbzKkSbzw) > “Yonder lies the castle of my faddah.” > Pure Brooklyn accent. Except he never said it, and that wasn’t the movie. Debbie Reynolds did in an interview making fun of him. He says "Yonder in the valley of the sun is my father’s castle.” Now I can’t speak for the accent but apparently there are scenes from the movie (which is actually the 1952 movie The Son of Ali Baba) on youtube. (I tried to check your link but it doesn’t work anymore. Neither did the one I tried. My info is from [here](http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2010/10/rip-tony-curtis.html).) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/147 "2012-10-03T19:36:17Z")
“Bend of the River” (1952) is justly acclaimed as one of the greatest westerns ever, one of the five films that James Stewart and Anthony Mann did. But unfortunately it has some scenes with Stepin Fetchit. Jessica Lange early in her career was especially terrible. See “King Kong” (if you must) or “All That Jazz”. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/148 "2012-10-03T21:14:52Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Have to disagree with Paxton. > > For me it was Four Weddings and a Funeral. Excellent movie with Andie MacDowell horribly miscast. It’s like she read the script and thought to herself, “now how could I possibly say this the worst way?” > > And totally agree on Duvall. She bitches that he yelled at her most of the time to “get that performance” - hell it was like trying to squeeze water out of a rock. Why they didn’t just fire her I’ll never know. I agree with both of you, and yet … I always got a kick out of watching her in this film. She took the movie somewhere where it was never expected to go and I found myself wondering if Kubrick might have used her in this way on purpose. For me, it really enhanced the bizarre and macabre nature of the film. It was a crazy film and she was the craziest of all. I appreciated her performance and found myself wondering whether she was in on the joke or not. If she was not in on the joke, then I have to elevate Kubrick to an even higher spot on my idea of the greatest directors of all time. Many of his film were just the most outstanding of all and I have read that he intentionally screwed around with the actors to get the kind of performance he wanted. I sure wish he would have lived for many more years. IMO, Kubrick died far too young and if he had lived, he would have given us many more wonderful films. Screw the actors! What was that film where someone asked something about actors and someone else asked, “Have you ever eaten with one?” It was a hilarious moment in film. Oh yes! It was from The Producers. Zero Mostel is another one who died far too soon. He would have given us many more wonderful performances if only he lived another 20 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/149 "2012-10-04T01:08:07Z")
> [@Lazlo Hapsburg](#): > > I agree with both of you, and yet … > > I always got a kick out of watching her in this film. She took the movie somewhere where it was never expected to go and I found myself wondering if Kubrick might have used her in this way on purpose. > > For me, it really enhanced the bizarre and macabre nature of the film. > > It was a crazy film and she was the craziest of all. > > I appreciated her performance and found myself wondering whether she was in on the joke or not. > > If she was not in on the joke, then I have to elevate Kubrick to an even higher spot on my idea of the greatest directors of all time. This is hilarious if you pretend it’s about Four Weddings and a Funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/150 "2012-10-04T13:45:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t dislike her, either. She’s been good in some movies, and she’s smokin’ hot in _Iron Man_ and _Sky Captain_, but in those roles she needed to dial the spunky up to eleven. There’s a scene in the [trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQgD9qOhRs) for _Iron Man 2_ where Tony asks for a kiss for good luck, and she kisses his helmet. I think it was edited out of the movie, which is kind of a shame, but she still needed to sell it a little more. Put some passion into it. I mean, you’re teasing the guy, make it look like you’re enjoying it. > > I’m not familiar with how Pepper is in the original comic books; maybe she wasn’t supposed to be quite as spirited as I would have liked. _Sky Captain_ is such a throwback that it just screams for that fast-talking 30’s type of female lead. There was Carole Lombard in _My Man Godfrey_, Myrna Loy in the _Thin Man_ movies (noticing a pattern), and Rosalind Russell in _His Girl Friday_. For a more modern take, watch Blythe Danner in _Futureworld_. > > Come to think of it, I can’t think of a current actress who has really done that kind of performance well. I think there are a number of actresses who could handle such a role well. We’re looking for sexy/funny/smart/spunky. Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore, Parker Posey, Tina Fey, Jennifer Anniston .. and a lot of others whose names I don’t remember. It’s a long damn list. And Gwyneth Paltrow does NOT belong on it. She stank up Sky Captain big time. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498/151 "2020-05-24T17:32:35Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > (By the way, kudos to **GuanoLad** for [taking note of this weird internet grouphate of Andie MacDowell](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10205327&postcount=22) long before I ever mentioned it.) One of the first websites I ever saw (in the 1990s sometime) was devoted to hatred of Andie McDowell. Onto the main topic of the thread - John Larroquette, a fine actor, is the weakest part of “Stripes” - everyone else is a plausible exaggerated “type,” which is just right for this type of movie, but Larroquette’s character is just over-the-top ridiculous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/otherwise-good-great-movies-stolen-by-a-terrible-performance/620498.md?page=7)