# Why is Kevin Costner in so many of my favorite movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982 "2008-02-10T01:10:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/1 "2008-02-10T01:10:23Z")
I don’t dislike Kevin Costner, really. I am, however, surprised that he is involved in so many of my very favorite movies: Silverado The Untouchables Field of Dreams Bull Durham _On top of these, I really enjoyed:_ No Way Out A Perfect World Wyatt Earp _and didn’t hate:_ Tin Cup For the Love of the Game The War Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Dances with Wolves He has kind of a bad rap, but his body of work is pretty good. Are his mega-flops (Waterworld, The Postman) overshadowing a pretty good run? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/2 "2008-02-10T01:19:15Z")
Yeah, I think he got a bad rap because of the stretch where he was making $100 Million+ Epics that everyone knew were poorly conceived from the outset. He’s always selected really good roles and created some outstanding characters overall. I’m shocked that you omitted _JFK_ and _Open Range_ from your list, two of his very best roles and movies IMHO. Even _The Bodyguard_ was fairly watchable. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/3 "2008-02-10T01:24:14Z")
_JFK_ was an oversight, you are correct. I’d put that under “Really enjoyed.” I never saw _Open Range_. (It doesn’t even ring a bell?) \*The Bodyguard \* was watchable. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/4 "2008-02-10T01:44:49Z")
And Waterworld was so good. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/5 "2008-02-10T01:47:43Z")
_Silverado_, _Bull Durham_, and _Field of Dreams_ were fine movies in which he successfully played variations on the all-American everyman. The flops _Waterworld_ and _The Postman_, combined with the vastly overrated _Dances with Wolves_, fostered an image of a narcissist with a messiah complex that was easy to despise and ridicule. He’s not a bad actor, but unfortunately his flops have had a much higher profile than his successes for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/6 "2008-02-10T01:51:24Z")
(removed duplicated post) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/7 "2008-02-10T02:34:32Z")
[QUOTE=Southern Yankee] _JFK_ was an oversight, you are correct. I’d put that under “Really enjoyed.” I never saw _Open Range_. (It doesn’t even ring a bell?) \*The Bodyguard \* was watchable. [/QUOTE] [Open Range](http://imdb.com/title/tt0316356/) was a western that he did with Robert DuVall and a couple other well-known actors (Annette Bening and Michael Gambon). Costner directed. I didn’t really care for it, and I generally like Westerns. It’s not a bad movie, but it just didn’t click with me. ---
**Author:** ![Midaro77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Midaro77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Midaro77)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/8 "2008-02-10T05:05:42Z")
13 Days and The Upside of Anger are both very good films. His accent was iffy in the former, but he was great in the later. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/9 "2008-02-10T13:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] And Waterworld was so good. [/QUOTE] I know that’s probably sarcastic, but I was entertained (in a good way) by **Waterworld**. It was kind of silly, to be sure, but at least it had an interesting vision. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/10 "2008-02-10T14:01:11Z")
I was watching _Robin Hood: POT_ last night, and apart from the sometimes painfully clunky dialogue, what struck me was Alan Rickman. Is there such a thing as good overacting? Because whatever it is, Alan Rickman does it with relish. His facial expressions, his quiet malice, his frothing at the mouth…I don’t think a lot of actors can pull that off. I cannot WAIT for Snapes’ death scene in HP and the Deathly Hallows. Alan Rickman is going to sink his teeth into that and not let go. As for Kevin Costner, I’d read somewhere he was extremely tired when he made POT, which might account for the uneven accent. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/11 "2008-02-10T14:41:54Z")
You’ve got nothing on me. I don’t mind _Waterworld_, and I positively like both _The Postman_ and _Dragonfly_. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/12 "2008-02-10T18:15:33Z")
Since I recently saw it on DVD, I’ll add _Mr. Brooks_ to the list. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/13 "2008-02-10T18:22:53Z")
_The Postman_ is one of my favorite movies and I mean that in all seriousness. Costner is awesome and I always have to defend him from people who talk trash about him, which is constantly. They’re just jealous, I think, that they aren’t him. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/14 "2008-02-10T19:30:21Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] _The Postman_ is one of my favorite movies and I mean that in all seriousness. Costner is awesome and I always have to defend him from people who talk trash about him, which is constantly. They’re just jealous, I think, that they aren’t him. [/QUOTE] Another lover of _The Postman_ here. Admittedly, I found the Xerox-salesman-turned-warlord villain a bit more interesting. Will Patton smoothly playing a roll that Dennis Hopper would have overdone (if the movie were lighter in tone, it’d totally be a Dennis Hopper role though). Also, for what it’s worth, David Brin liked the movie too, though his only part in the production was selling the movie rights, cashing his royalties check, and buying a ticket and some popcorn when it was in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/15 "2008-02-10T20:04:11Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] _The Postman_ is one of my favorite movies and I mean that in all seriousness. Costner is awesome and I always have to defend him from people who talk trash about him, which is constantly. They’re just jealous, I think, that they aren’t him. [/QUOTE] Me too! Love Giovani Ribisi 's role. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/16 "2008-02-10T20:22:47Z")
Will Patton is badass, he’s also great in _No Way Out_ (which also has Costner, in the lead role - and an appearance by former presidential contender Fred Thompson, which surprised me the last time I watched it.) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kevin-costner-in-so-many-of-my-favorite-movies/436982/17 "2008-02-10T20:22:53Z")
And I really like _The Upside of Anger_, though Costner’s role was kinda peripheral in that. Joan Allen was outstanding in it.