# Worst working actors who are highly successful **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545 "2009-01-23T00:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/21 "2009-01-23T02:49:31Z")
Tom Cruise was pretty good in _Tropic Thunder_. We were pretty surprised when we watched it, because prior to seeing them, we had no idea that Cruise and Matthew McConaghey (sp?) were in that. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/22 "2009-01-23T03:03:03Z")
Jennifer Aniston. She was the worst cast member on _Friends_ and even in the critically-acclaimed _The Good Girl_, she was terrible. I don’t understand how she deserves the “America’s Sweetheart” title. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/23 "2009-01-23T03:08:07Z")
> [@Nutty\_Bunny](#): > > Jennifer Aniston. She was the worst cast member on _Friends_ and even in the critically-acclaimed _The Good Girl_, she was terrible. I don’t understand how she deserves the “America’s Sweetheart” title. I never watched Friends, but I liked her in Office Space. I don’t think she is a good serious actress, but she can be funny when she doesn’t want to talk about her flair :). ---
**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:** [January 23, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/24 "2009-01-23T03:11:03Z")
Gotta go with Nicholas Cage as the worst actor. He makes Keanu look nearly Shakespearean. Women? Andie MacDowell is up there, but I think Madonna beats her out. This makes me think of what would be the best worst movie to cast with the worst actors and actresses? I suggest remaking The Big Chill with Keanu, Nick Cage, Tom Cruise and Vin Diesel as the men; and Scarlett (she can be the retarded girlfriend), Andie (the one who wants to get pregnant), Madonna (the one who loans her hubbie to Andie), and for lack of a worse choice here Theresa Russell as the women. You could actually make it popular if you bring in Freddie at the end to slaughter them all. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/25 "2009-01-23T03:14:23Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Tom Cruise was pretty good in _Tropic Thunder_. . No he wasn’t. He was Tom Cruise in a fright mask. Absolutely did not work. Woulda been a hilariously 15-second cameo, but it did not stand up to scrutiny. Worst thing about an otherwise funny movie. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/26 "2009-01-23T03:21:34Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Theresa Russell Yes, but the trailer for “Whore” is the funniest unintentionally funny trailer ever. Anyway… once David Caruso has been nominated it’s kind of hard to top that, if we’re limiting ourselves to actual working, successful actors. His continued employment can only be explained by the producers of CSI: Miami being under corporate orders not to rock the boat of a show that gets good ratings. Either that or the guy is so comically, hilariously bad that people watch the show for that reason. I’ve managed to struggle through a few episodes and he’s just jaw-droppingly bad. And he has NO defenders I’ve ever heard of. Many of the usual suspects in these threads are like Keanu Reeves, who will always have some people say “Now, to be fair, he was pretty good in this and that movie, he’s good in certain roles” but I’ve NEVER heard anyone say anything good about David Caruso. I can think of some pretty bad actors, and even some worse ones but none are acting regularly anymore. Any bad actor I can think of who’s working now, I can come up with at least one reason why he or she is better than David Caruso. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/27 "2009-01-23T03:33:36Z")
> [@Smokinjbc](#): > > I never watched Friends, but I liked her in Office Space. I don’t think she is a good serious actress, but she can be funny when she doesn’t want to talk about her flair :). Her delivery of the line “how DARE you JUDGE me?!” in Office Space has always made me cringe. Otherwise unnoteworthy. > [@lissener](#): > > Worst thing about an otherwise funny movie. The worst thing about that otherwise funny movie, imo, is that it was 30 minutes too long. As soon as they introduced the kid as the leader of the bad guys it nosedived off a cliff. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/28 "2009-01-23T03:35:43Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Yes, but the trailer for “Whore” is the funniest unintentionally funny trailer ever. > > Anyway… once David Caruso has been nominated it’s kind of hard to top that, if we’re limiting ourselves to actual working, successful actors. His continued employment can only be explained by the producers of CSI: Miami being under corporate orders not to rock the boat of a show that gets good ratings. Either that or the guy is so comically, hilariously bad that people watch the show for that reason. I’ve managed to struggle through a few episodes and he’s just jaw-droppingly bad. And he has NO defenders I’ve ever heard of. Many of the usual suspects in these threads are like Keanu Reeves, who will always have some people say “Now, to be fair, he was pretty good in this and that movie, he’s good in certain roles” but I’ve NEVER heard anyone say anything good about David Caruso. > > I can think of some pretty bad actors, and even some worse ones but none are acting regularly anymore. Any bad actor I can think of who’s working now, I can come up with at least one reason why he or she is better than David Caruso. So far it looks like die-hard baseball fans stand united behind Caruso being the worst. I doubt there is a connection, but it does make me wonder. BTW: I might well agree with Andie MacDowell as the worst actress. Other light-weights at least have looks or personality. She comes across as a bland and not really attractive. Liv Tyler can out act Andie and that is truly sad. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/29 "2009-01-23T03:38:55Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > No he wasn’t. He was Tom Cruise in a fright mask. Absolutely did not work. Woulda been a hilariously 15-second cameo, but it did not stand up to scrutiny. Worst thing about an otherwise funny movie. I liked him, especially him shouting down the Laotian drug smugglers, but what was the deal with stupid little dance at the end? Are white people so desperate to seem cool that they have to embrace something black, no matter how ineptly? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/30 "2009-01-23T03:41:13Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > BTW: I might well agree with Andie MacDowell as the worst actress. Other light-weights at least have looks or personality. She comes across as a bland and not really attractive. Liv Tyler can out act Andie and that is truly sad. I would generally disagree with that. I haven’t seen her lately but back in the ‘90s when she was a little more popular I thought of her a lot like I think of Anne Hathaway now: smokin’ 90% of the time but admitedly a little weird-looking the other 10%. Same with Minnie Driver really but I’d lower her ratio to about 70/30. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/31 "2009-01-23T03:41:40Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > YES. She’s usually my first choice in these threads, I can’t believe I forgot. Scarlett suuuuuucks. Does anyone actually like her? Or is it just really good PR–you see her face on so many mags and so forth. I mean, yeah, she’s sexy…but I hate seeing her in movies. She has the same blank expression, the same flat affect, the same hoarse voice, in everything I’ve seen her in…Ghost World, the Prestige, Lost in Translation…it’s just always more of the same. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/32 "2009-01-23T03:44:02Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I liked him, especially him shouting down the Laotian drug smugglers, but what was the deal with stupid little dance at the end? Are white people so desperate to seem cool that they have to embrace something black, no matter how ineptly? In that respect, Hollywood is still stuck in the 1980s when it was rare for a middle-aged white guy to like rap music. Kind of like how they kept using golden-age video game sound effects to indicate someone playing a video game for a good 20 years after they fell out of use. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/33 "2009-01-23T03:45:04Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Does anyone actually like her? Or is it just really good PR–you see her face on so many mags and so forth. I mean, yeah, she’s sexy…but I hate seeing her in movies. She has the same blank expression, the same flat affect, the same hoarse voice, in everything I’ve seen her in…Ghost World, the Prestige, Lost in Translation…it’s just always more of the same. Yes, inexplicably. I’ve seen her fawned over on this very message board. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/34 "2009-01-23T03:49:48Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I would generally disagree with that. I haven’t seen her lately but back in the ‘90s when she was a little more popular I thought of her a lot like I think of Anne Hathaway now: smokin’ 90% of the time but admitedly a little weird-looking the other 10%. Same with Minnie Driver really but I’d lower her ratio to about 70/30. I can think of three movies she made when she was younger and one later. _Groundhog Day_ of course. She was not great looking and had no personality. _Green Card_ where she was terrible and just did not do anything for me. _Sex, Lies, and Videotape_ where she looked good but was blown away by Laura San Giacomo. Later she did \*Michael \*where I thought she effectively reprised her role in _Groundhog Day_ except she did not look as good and was still the worse part of an otherwise fun movie. I know I have seen her in other movies but she was forgettable. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/35 "2009-01-23T03:53:07Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I can think of three movies she made when she was younger and one later. > _Groundhog Day_ of course. She was not great looking and had no personality. > _Green Card_ where she was terrible and just did not do anything for me. > _Sex, Lies, and Videotape_ where she looked good but was blown away by Laura San Giacomo. > > Later she did \*Michael \*where I thought she effectively reprised her role in _Groundhog Day_ except she did not look as good and was still the worse part of an otherwise fun movie. > > I know I have seen her in other movies but she was forgettable. Sorry, I should have clarified. I agree she’s a horrible actor. I meant I didn’t think she was unnattractive. I find her pretty most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/36 "2009-01-23T03:55:40Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Sorry, I should have clarified. I agree she’s a horrible actor. I meant I didn’t think she was unnattractive. I find her pretty most of the time. No I got that part. I think most of the time, by Hollywood standards, she does not even look very good. She has no sexiness and no personality that comes across. She is not beautiful, cute or sexy. There are thousands of actresses that look better. Still a very good looking woman of course, but not by Hollywood standards. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/37 "2009-01-23T05:08:23Z")
Madonna can do a good job when she’s in a second banana role such as “Desperately Seeking Susan,” or “Dick Tracey,” or “A League of Their Own.” She can’t carry a movie though, (though I liked “Who’s that Girl,”). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/38 "2009-01-23T05:19:51Z")
I’m gonna go with **Kirsten Dunst**. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/39 "2009-01-23T05:23:45Z")
Tom Hanks. Many years ago, you saw him in Big. He’s been acting the same character ever since. No matter how responsible or grown up his character is supposed to be, he’s still a wide-eyed 13-year-old boy. > [@drm](#): > > I’ll stand up for Tom Cruise though, he may be insane but he’s a decent actor (cite: Magnolia, Born on the Forth of July, I also thought he was good in collateral) and whether you like him or not, he usually makes pretty entertaining movies. He chooses films well, and, while not brilliant, is never terrible. He’s still Tom ‘Scientology’ Cruise, which puts me off. > [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Keanu Reeves doesn’t have any great skill, but it’s pretty obvious to me why he’s still getting work. By all accounts, he’s a nice guy and doesn’t act like a dick on set. He, or his agent, mainly choose roles that are well within his limited range (he did just fine in **Speed** , **The Matrix** , and **The Replacements** , not to mention the Bill and Ted movies, **Parenthood** , and he was watchable in **Point Break** ), and he’s really freaking pretty. I mean, objectively, he’s really, really pretty. > > There are much, much worse actors currently working–like, what happened to David Caruso? I seem to recall him being pretty good in **Session 9** , but I was unfortunate enough to catch an episode of **CSI: Miami** , and watching him caused me physical pain. Keanu Reeves is great when he’s acting stupid. He can, however, kill a film if it requires him to actually _act_. The Matrix could have been a genuine classic if they’d had a lead actor with more than one facial expression, and have you ever seen him try to do Shakespeare? He probably is a loveable guy, good to have around on set, but he can’t bloody act. I have no clue who David Caruso is. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545/40 "2009-01-23T05:37:58Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > … once David Caruso has been nominated it’s kind of hard to top that, if we’re limiting ourselves to actual working, successful actors. His continued employment can only be explained by the producers of CSI: Miami being under corporate orders not to rock the boat of a show that gets good ratings. Either that or the guy is so comically, hilariously bad that people watch the show for that reason. I’ve managed to struggle through a few episodes and he’s just jaw-droppingly bad. And he has NO defenders I’ve ever heard of. … I will defend him to the extent of saying he has nice hair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-working-actors-who-are-highly-successful/482545.md?page=3)