Adam Sandler makes such awful films, like Grownups, where all I want to do is punch out the entire cast for being such horrid people, and those like Steve Martin and Steve Carell which specialise in being annoying wimps. Yet they are very popular, and make lots of movies.
It must be an American thing, but can anyone explain it to me?
I’m not going to make a list, but there are many such.
Are you talking about the people involved being awful actors, i.e. they’re doing a poor job at the acting itself, or playing awful characters who are selfish, annoying, evil, etc.? I can’t quite tell which you’re referring to.
Sorry to not be clear. It’s “playing awful characters who are selfish, annoying”.
If the intent of Sandler is to play characters that make me want to beat on him, he does a very good job at it. The pity of it, is that he has actually made some really excellent films, which is why I keep watching them.
BTW, I don’t have a problem with “evil”. Many of filmdom’s greatest characters have been evil eg Hannibal Lecter. Indeed without “evil” characters, there wouldn’t be many films, good or bad.
I just despair when I have to suffer characters like Steve Martin plays being wimped out for 1 1/2 hours.
I don’t think it’s a case of Americans liking awful actors as much as Hollywood emphasizing Star Power and charisma over acting skills for the past few decades.
Bolding mine.
They make those movies because people give them money to do it. If you honestly felt they way you say you do about every Steve Martin and Adam Sandler etc movie that you say you do, you’d stop watching them, they’d get paid less to make them and eventually they’d stop making them.
But as far as the movie industry is concerned, you keep paying them, so they’ll keep making them.
If you don’t like them, vote with your money. Don’t go to the movie, don’t rent it, don’t download it, don’t even illegally steal it. If the movie ends up being viewed by you, one way or another the movie industry knows about it and they’ll churn out another.
I didn’t realize Ricky Gervais was American.
It isn’t different anywhere else. Check out some Bollywood.
Forum change countdown . . . .
Last I heard it was the French who loved Jerry Lewis the most. And didn’t he make a career out of portraying annoying morons?
Not really. At least, not according to The Master.
Yes, OP, there are many such. And they are found in every country. How about Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean and Johnny English? There are French and Italian comedians who are more famous in their countries than Adam Sandler is in America for playing the same kind of character. I’ll bet more money than Romney that you can find the equivalent in every country’s film history.
The real question is: how can you possibly think this is something limited to Americans?
Moved from General Questions to Cafe Society.
samclem, moderator
Here’s as good an answer as any to that (and many similar) question:
From this site:
Doggo, if you understand Spanish, may I suggest watching the Torrente series? Or perhaps not…
Torrente, The Dumb Arm of the Law (1998) was the best-grossing movie in Spanish history, but it got beat by
Torrente 2, Mission in Marbella (2001), which in turn got beat by
Torrente 3, The Protector (2005), and this one by
Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis (2011), which is not the best-grossing film in Spanish history any more but, amazingly enough, it didn’t get beat by Torrente 5 but by a mystery/drama. Then again, there is not Torrente 5 (yet?)
Santiago Segura made the first one with a handful of friends, now he needs linebacker-sized bodyguards to keep away the people asking to “please, please, let me do a cameo in the next Torrente!” The caracter is a Ron of the highest order.
Don’t even get me started on the astronomical popularity of talentless Thai “actors” and the shit movies made here.
“Americans”? Just try watching any other country’s cinema that is not intended for export. This movie outgrossed Titanic in Quebec and this is part of a popular film series in Germany.
Y’know, people like to pick on their least favorite actors by saying they “can’t act,” and I’ve just never found it to be true. Some are better than others, sure. But all mainstream A list movies have people that can act. If you want to see true “can’t act,” go support your local high school and see a show. College and many community theaters as well. It’s really, truly not their fault, they’re still learning, and some of them may indeed go on to learn how to act, and there may even be a kid or three there who can act. But you will most likely see at least one who, god love them, truly can’t act. Stilted line readings, corpsing, no variance in tone or pitch, incongruent body language, stiff movements, people who just turn off when it’s not their turn to speak… It’s a whole different ballgame from, “that actor made some odd choices that I just don’t agree with,” or “he’s just playing himself over and over,” or “this script is…unfortunate.” Even the most irritating vapid starlet Hollywood shoves down our throat can act.
These are people who “can’t act”. And they’re actually quite good for high school kids. I couldn’t bear to be mean enough to link to the worse ones.
Even trying to be as subjective as possible, the quality of acting has made a dramatic change in recent times.
WhyNot makes a good point.
Watch any movie where a non-actor makes an appearance, like Dan Marino’s role in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.” Marino is clearly trying his best, and is literally playing himself, but there’s something off about him as compared to the ACTORS. He is easily the worst actor in the cast, by a mile.
In “He Got Game,” Spike Lee elected to cast Ray Allen, an actual basketball player, as the basketball player. Allen’s performance is strikingly, jarringly amateurish despite the fact that he’s clearly giving it every ounce of effort he’s got.
Cite?