# What movies or TV shows feature bad general American accents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597 "2016-08-22T02:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/41 "2016-08-23T20:23:45Z")
The sixth Doctor’s companion, Peri Brown, was supposed to be American. At one point she referred to the letter “z” and he said, “Zed”. That aside, her accent wasn’t believable. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/42 "2016-08-23T20:42:52Z")
First steel magnolias movie southern accents were not very good. Except for Dolly Parton. Julia Roberts is from Georgia but does not have a southern accent in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/43 "2016-08-23T21:12:42Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Yep, that’s the best way to describe Liam Neeson when he does an American accent, like in Taken. I didn’t see the movie but from the clips I had no idea he was trying to be American. > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [Oh and I’ll leave this Family Guy clip here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUbsCyyXdps). I don’t know what season that was but Liam Neeson ended up in Seth MacFarlane’s western without the attempt at an American accent. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/44 "2016-08-23T21:50:59Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I didn’t see the movie but from the clips I had no idea he was trying to be American. He’s an ex-CIA agent, so he’d at least have to be a naturalized US citizen, no? But yeah, I think it’s one of those things you’re not supposed to worry about much. > [@](#): > > I don’t know what season that was but Liam Neeson ended up in Seth MacFarlane’s western without the attempt at an American accent. Looks like the episode was 2006 and the movie 2014. And he played a non-cowboy version of himself in a 2015 episode. Still better than English Bob in _Unforgiven_. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/45 "2016-08-23T22:47:10Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > The sixth Doctor’s companion, Peri Brown, was supposed to be American. At one point she referred to the letter “z” and he said, “Zed”. That aside, her accent wasn’t believable. On the other hand (or is it the same hand?), an actress on a more recent episode (nuWho, the one where they end up in the American’s underground complex and he has a Dalek chained up) had me convinced she actually was American – until she pronounced her character’s last name, Ballard, as BAL-AHRD rather than BAL-urd. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/46 "2016-08-24T02:16:25Z")
Watching _Big Eyes,_ the story of sketchy painter Walter Keane, Christoph Waltz’s halfassed Viennese-American accent bothered me portraying a guy from San Francisco by way of Lincoln, Neb. - especially in a few full-out rants where he appears to be trying out for the next Hitler bio. But it bothered me in kind of a logical way. Let me explain. When you take a Hollywood gloss on a guy like Keane - who’s a desperately grandiose huckster in the film - you actually might not want to portray him as just another American salesman. Someone who might as well have been pushing aluminum siding or miracle vitamins. You might want to make him…_otherworldly_. A tightly bound bundle of base motivations. Floating between worlds, but choosing art to do his thing. A huckster who succeeds wildly, but is still tin-pot control freak enough, as Keane is in the film, to try to burn down his own house on a moment’s notice to show his wife he’s not kidding around. That is the character Waltz and his off-center, sharp-edged delivery create. Not Academy Award caliber, but it works. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/47 "2016-08-24T07:58:02Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I pronounce the name of places where I live the same way that other people who live here pronounce it… > > That’s fine, but did you intentionally avoid quoting the part that said it’s a glaring error when the show takes place in an area where people should know better? Fair enough, point conceded. I stand by my point in the general sense, but yeah, obviously locals are expected to use local pronunciation, and if actors playing natives don’t then that is clearly wrong. My bad for injecting a pet peeve where it didn’t fit. I was once corrected by a Coloradan (?) on the proper way to say Colorado. While we were both in (my home state of) Connecticut. I asked if she pronounced New York and Boston the way locals do, which of course she didn’t. So why would I pronounce Colorado like locals do? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/48 "2016-08-24T08:44:13Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I thought Charlie Hunnam and Charlie Cox did pretty mediocre accents in “Sons of Anarchy” and “Daredevil” respectively. I found it particularly surreal hearing Daredevil speak in a bad American accent with Elektra speaking in a bad English accent. Elektra has an ESL accent which happens to be British-influenced, so “a bad English accent” is fine. The kind of accent most of my ESL teachers despaired of ever giving me, as they taught Her Majesty’s English but I was one of a handful of students who somehow managed to sound American without ever setting foot in the country\* and without any access to media in American English. - Eventually I did, but not back when Father Bujedo was pulling at his hair over his four students with best grammar having “that horrible American accent!” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/49 "2016-08-24T08:47:25Z")
Loach says in post #29 (referring to the Monty Python sketch): \> The guy at 2:10 has an awful accent. That’s Terry Gilliam speaking there, who is of course the only American among them. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/50 "2016-08-24T17:50:31Z")
As for the difference between “Paris” and “Paree,” that really isn’t relevant here. One is how it’s pronounced in English and the other in French. We should stick to however two people speak it in the same language. No matter how many years I lived in, say, Munich, I would never say “Muenchen” when conversing in English. The same with my old home of Bangkok. Never mind that the Thais all say “Krung Thep,” when they _do_ say “Bangkok,” they pronounce it “Bahng Gohk.” No farang (Westerner) would ever say “Bahng Gohk.” ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/51 "2016-08-24T20:20:18Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Fair enough, point conceded. I stand by my point in the general sense, but yeah, obviously locals are expected to use local pronunciation, and if actors playing natives don’t then that is clearly wrong. My bad for injecting a pet peeve where it didn’t fit. > > I was once corrected by a Coloradan (?) on the proper way to say Colorado. While we were both in (my home state of) Connecticut. I asked if she pronounced New York and Boston the way locals do, which of course she didn’t. So why would I pronounce Colorado like locals do? How do you vs. them say Colorado? Is it all in the “ra” part (/æ/ “cat” vs. /ɑ/ “car”)? I think we’re talking about different things, though. (Some) Bostonians and New Yorkers have non-rhotic accents, so they might do stereotypical thinks like say “Haavaad Yaad” for “Harvard Yard.” That’s not what I’m talking about, but rather people with the same phonemes saying something differently depending on where they come from. > [@Nava](#): > > Elektra has an ESL accent which happens to be British-influenced, so “a bad English accent” is fine. I think of it as a “boarding school accent.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/52 "2016-08-24T21:47:35Z")
Yeah, there is a difference between not using the local accent and in using the wrong phonemes altogether. If you say Ar-Kansas, I don’t know anyone who won’t tell you it’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/53 "2016-08-24T23:08:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Yeah, there is a difference between not using the local accent and in using the wrong phonemes altogether. > > If you say Ar-Kansas, I don’t know anyone who won’t tell you it’s wrong. Unless you’re in Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/54 "2016-08-25T05:13:51Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yeah you are way off. I was able to hear a few small issues with his accent in the beginning and then nothing, but I was looking for it. Most people who were not familiar with British TV had no idea he wasn’t American. The little bit I saw of Cumberbatch in the trailer didn’t sound great. More like when a comedian exaggerates an American accent. > > From The Wire I thought Dominic West’s accent was pretty bad. Idris Elba was perfect. I’m not a fan of Idris Elba at all, but I have to say, based solely on his appearances on the Office, the first place I ever saw him, I would have had no idea he wasn’t an American. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/55 "2016-08-25T08:04:05Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > How do you vs. them say Colorado? Is it all in the “ra” part (/æ/ “cat” vs. /ɑ/ “car”)? With an “ah” sound. Colorahdo and Nevahda. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/56 "2016-08-25T18:14:36Z")
My grandfather had a sister named Nevada. They pronounced it Ne-VAY-da and called her Vade. 🙂 ---
**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:** [December 9, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597/57 "2016-12-09T00:13:54Z")
Bumping b/c I just watched the David Suchet Poirot episode of _Death on the Nile_ from 2004. The character of wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway was played by Emily Blunt, in what looks like one of her earliest roles. I’m can’t remember if she’s used an American accent in another movie since then, but hoo boy, her attempt at one in that role was [atrocious](https://youtu.be/uzEHLBhXG-g). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-or-tv-shows-feature-bad-general-american-accents/763597.md?page=2)