# "You're too good for this": good actors in bad movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189 "2006-12-31T04:33:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/1 "2006-12-31T04:33:20Z")
Right now I’m painfully watching a Sci-Fi movie starring Lorenzo Lamas. Co-starring with him is a pretty and apparently talented young lady named Hayley DuMond. Poor, poor girl. I’ve seen video games with better effects (no, I really have). Who have you felt sorry for in the past in movies and TV? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/2 "2006-12-31T05:22:36Z")
Sean Connery in First Knight. Matthew Broderick in Project X. Both horrible, terrible movies. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/3 "2006-12-31T05:39:05Z")
I once imagined Sean Connery in a sequel to _Highlander_. I’m glad they never made that movie. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/4 "2006-12-31T05:54:15Z")
Well, the first one that comes to mind is actually the last movie I saw (lest, you wonder about my taste, please understand, I was being a good daddy in taking my young daughter to a picture _she_ wanted to see.) I refer, somewhat ashamedly, to [Eragon](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0449010/) and the unfortunate [Jeremy Irons](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000460/) who, I can only presume, was blackmailed or in some other way coerced to co-star in it. ---
**Author:** ![Charogne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@Charogne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charogne)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/5 "2006-12-31T06:07:26Z")
Ummm… how about Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman and the Dewey Balfa Band in The Big Easy? My teeth are still on edge. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/6 "2006-12-31T06:22:21Z")
Then again, how could I neglect to mention what is surely the _best_ actor in the _worst_ movie, but who, apparently, had no trouble descending down to the bottom of the pit when he co-starred in [The Jazz Singer](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0080948/). Perhaps, if only someone had told [Sir Laurence (Olivier)](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000059/) that there are differences, admittedly subtle, between Yiddish and Irish accents, he might have come across better. As it was, after sitting through that miscarriage of a film, I was the one who needed to sit _shiva_. I mourned the loss of a fine, fine actor. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/7 "2006-12-31T06:34:24Z")
The main actors in the Davinci code are all known to be pretty good. Too bad the movie sucked royal ass. But we can blame that on the director…or Dan Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/8 "2006-12-31T06:43:27Z")
Ewan MacGregor in the Star Wars prequels, although I felt worse for Natalie Portman because she did a crappy job. Ice-T in _Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo_… he was only there for a second, but he was there. Harry Lennix in _The Matrix Reloaded_. Presumably he was paid well enough. Henry Fonda, Michael Caine, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens and Olivia de Havilland in _The Swarm_. Of course, I felt much worse for _me_, because I was watching it. Raul Julia in _Overdrawn at the Memory Bank_, although I’ve only seen the Mystery Science Theater version. Donald Sutherland and Edward Norton in the _Italian Job_ remake. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/9 "2006-12-31T06:46:07Z")
[Michael Clarke Duncan](http://imdb.com/name/nm0003817/) in [The Underground Comedy Movie](http://imdb.com/title/tt0201290/). ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/10 "2006-12-31T08:15:34Z")
Bill Murray as the voice of [Garfield](http://imdb.com/title/tt0356634/). (I confess I didn’t see it; I suspect pretty strongly that I don’t need to, though.) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/11 "2006-12-31T09:11:24Z")
Raul Julia’s last role was in **Streetfighter** with Jean-Claude Van Damme. ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/12 "2006-12-31T09:28:58Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Who have you felt sorry for in the past in movies and TV? [/QUOTE] Not felt sorry for the genuinely good actor but felt sorry for the two higher rated actors who went against him and helped produce a totally unbalanced but, probably because of that lack of balance, an entertaining movie. I refer to “The Specialist” starring Sylvester Stallone, with his nuanced neanderthal approach to acting, Sharon Stone, whose acting shone brightly in comparison to Sly, and finally, James Woods who despite chewing up the scenery showed both of the “star” actors up and actually managed to provide a lot of positive entertainment value to the whole sorry mess. Yes, I know, I’m a bit warped. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/13 "2006-12-31T10:13:13Z")
I hope Gene Kelly was able to pay off whatever bills were coming due when he signed on for a godawful piece of crap like [Xanadu](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081777/). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/14 "2006-12-31T15:08:47Z")
Bela Lugosi’s Ed Wood movies would have to be the bottom of the barrel. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/15 "2006-12-31T15:14:05Z")
Christopher Walken in **Gigli**. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/16 "2006-12-31T15:15:06Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGauss] I refer, somewhat ashamedly, to [Eragon](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0449010/) and the unfortunate [Jeremy Irons](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000460/) who, I can only presume, was blackmailed or in some other way coerced to co-star in it. [/QUOTE] Is that the same reason he starred in [Dungeons & Dragons](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190374/)? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/17 "2006-12-31T15:25:15Z")
I’m sure the Jeremy Irons blackmail somehow involved little pieces of green paper with pictures of dead white guys on them. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/18 "2006-12-31T15:57:18Z")
[Sean Bean](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000293/) has made a career out of being the best thing in some godawful movies. [QUOTE=Sublight] I hope Gene Kelly was able to pay off whatever bills were coming due when he signed on for a godawful piece of crap like [Xanadu](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081777/). [/QUOTE] Bite your tongue, **Sublight**. That’s a cinematic classic, that is. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/19 "2006-12-31T17:05:48Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] [Sean Bean](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000293/) has made a career out of being the best thing in some godawful movies. [/quote] And, I see from a current trailer that he’s starring in a pointless remake of _The Hitcher_, brought to us by the folks who made the recent pointless remake of _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_. God, I hate those people. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189/20 "2006-12-31T17:09:05Z")
Neil Dickson in _Biggles_. A talented and immensely likeable actor in one of the most badly-scripted movies I’ve ever sat through. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-too-good-for-this-good-actors-in-bad-movies/386189.md?page=2)