# What actors have hardly ever made a bad movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 31, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462 "2022-05-31T20:52:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/61 "2022-06-01T12:15:06Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I’m gonna go with Tom Waits I’ve seen everything old Tom has been in and enjoyed them all, even the one with horses. What about **William Macey**? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/62 "2022-06-01T12:35:53Z")
Cary Grant has been in some mediocre films, but no truly bad ones that I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/63 "2022-06-01T12:41:47Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > What about **William Macey**? Far too prolific to dodge that bullet. Jurrassic park 3, Psycho remake, ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/64 "2022-06-01T13:34:08Z")
Ahhh, I’ve only seen the ones where he shined. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/65 "2022-06-01T13:53:12Z")
> [@BigDfromLA](#): > > Clint Eastwood? If your co-star is an orangutan, you are in a crappy movie. > [@Jasmine](#): > > I think Helen Mirren deserves serious consideration. _Caligula_ - Which even the porn can’t save. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/66 "2022-06-01T13:57:10Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Tom Hanks’ version may have been subpar, but Guinness’ version was excellent. Since we are talking about both actors, you need to be explicit. I was responding to a quote about Hanks, so I meant the Hanks one. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/67 "2022-06-01T14:21:32Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > > [@gkster](#): > > > > I didn’t see it but distinctly remember several friends saying it was crappy and mocking her delivery of the line “A dingo took my baby!” [A Cry in the Dark - Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cry_in_the_dark) > > Are you sure you are remembering your friends saying it was crappy because they’ve seen it or… > > Because Elaine in Seinfeld used the line to get rid of annoying people in the episode The Stranded? Good question, but no. I looked up the date for The Stranded. It aired in Nov 1991, and I moved in 1990 so wasn’t seeing that group of friends by the time that episode aired. Also I remember their saying that they’d gone to the film thinking it would be good because Meryl Streep was in it and couldn’t believe how bad it was. So people were making fun of the dingo line before Elaine. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/68 "2022-06-01T14:46:24Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I was responding to a quote about Hanks, so I meant the Hanks one. I guessed that may be the case, but the quote you gave included a reference to the Alec Guinness film Raise the Titanic, which did indeed suck. Guinness also made a film called The Card, which is tedious. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/69 "2022-06-01T14:46:34Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I’m someone who ranks Terry Kiser highly based on Weekend at Bernie’s, Weekend at Bernie’s II, and Friday the 13th Part VII He was particularly great as Vic Hitler, the narcoleptic comic on _Hill Street Blues._ ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/70 "2022-06-01T14:49:01Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Drew Barrymore? Maybe “The Wedding Singer” wasn’t the best movie ever made, and “Fifty First Dates” wasn’t the best either, but neither was what I’d call “bad.” They were entertaining and fun, which is what they were meant to be.[…]Yes she was in a couple of rom-coms with Adam Sandler, but she can act. You missed _Blended_, which was crap. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/71 "2022-06-01T14:52:45Z")
My bad. Conflated him John Gielgud. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/72 "2022-06-01T14:53:48Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I think Helen Mirren deserves serious consideration. The _Arthur_ remake with Russel Brand was dire. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/73 "2022-06-01T14:57:13Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The _Arthur_ remake with Russel Brand was dire. Well, if that’s her only lemon, I think she qualifies as “hardly ever”. LOL ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/74 "2022-06-01T15:22:43Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Well, if that’s her only lemon Others have mentioned _Caligula_, but no, those aren’t her only bad movies.Just of ones I’ve seen - _White Nights_ was not good. _Teaching Mrs. Tingle_ was not good. _Raising Helen_ was formulaic pap, and _The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu_ was a sad coda to Peter Sellers’ career. I haven’t seen _No Such Thing_ because it was panned, likewise _Love Ranch_. _The Nutcracker and the 4 Realms_ was also a bomb I didn’t watch. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/75 "2022-06-01T15:27:13Z")
What about Gary Oldman? Maybe he’s only an example of an actor who always acts excellently even in bad movies (like the aforementioned Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Lemmon), but though I don’t know all his films, the ones I’ve seen in him were all outstanding in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/76 "2022-06-01T15:29:46Z")
OTOH, has she ever done a truly great one? 😉 > **[Name One Masterpiece Of Cinema That I've Starred In](https://www.theonion.com/name-one-masterpiece-of-cinema-that-ive-starred-in-1819584655)** > > My friends and I were sitting around yesterday having a casual conversation about how the one thing all great actors have in common is that they have all starred in at least one classic piece of cinema. For my good friend Al Pacino it's obviously The... ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/77 "2022-06-01T15:38:08Z")
The onion nails it again… And this was before the huge horror which was Mama Mia! Actually no, it wasn’t. That was the year after… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/78 "2022-06-01T15:58:41Z")
Let’s not forget Mazes and Monsters. On second thought, let’s. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/79 "2022-06-01T16:32:28Z")
I can go into a Tom Cruise movie and be reasonably sure I’ll like it. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a “good movie” of course. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462/80 "2022-06-01T16:41:04Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > I can go into a Tom Cruise movie and be reasonably sure I’ll like it. I can’t stand the guy, but _Rain Man_ was pretty good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-have-hardly-ever-made-a-bad-movie/965462.md?page=5)