Father Merrin

List some 'bad' , subpar or incredibly 'mannered' performances from usually good/decent actors.....(granted these actors were sometimes strapped with bad material, and just couldn't rise above.......)

Off the top of my head......

Marlon Brando- Island of Dr. Moreau
Richard Burton-Exorcist 2
John Travolta -Battlefield Earth/Swordfish
Liam Neeson- Episode one
Dustin Hoffman-Outbreak
Jared Leto- Panic Room
Kevin Costner-Dragonfly
Michael Caine -Jaws:The Revenge
Julianne Moore- Evolution
Adam Goldberg- The Salton Sea
Robert DeNiro-Analyze This

I realize some of you may actually like some of these performance's, but I guarantee all of these people have obviously done much, much better work.

CitizenKaneRBud

IMO of course -

Edward Norton - Red Dragon
Ralph Fiennes - Strange Days
Gene Wilder - Sherlock Holmes

mrhan

How about all the actors in AoTC?

BizRodian

How about every single actor? every single actor has done a bad performance or at least a performance that looks terrible comparied to past works.

LBPound

Nine posts in 9 months, a man of a few words!

Harry Dean Stanton in Repo Man.
Tom Hanks in The 'burbs.
George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Yeah, and this one him a Golden Globe, so what do I know?)

SuperJim88

Tom Green in Freddy got fingered
Tom Green in Road Trip
Tom Green in Stealing Harvard

Wait, good actor u asked? My bad, but Tom Green is worst actor there is possible.

grunter

Let me just chime in with my usual: Alan Rickman in "Prince of Thieves"

Flame away all you want, but Mr. Rickman was the true weakest link in that whole Costner Robin Hood flick.

Pointyskull

Thora Birch - Dungeons & Dragons

Groucho

Rickman was in a different movie than the rest of the cast. Not better, not worse, just different. Costner was taking it way too seriously, and Rickman brought the film the camp it needed.

grunter

Yep - Alan Rickman was apparently playing the fourth member of "Spinal Tap."

Coral

Ed Norton Jr. - Death to Smoochy.

Rypro 525

i agree with the person who said anyone who stared in aotc (actually, only ewan mcgreggor is the only one who is a good actor like the thread said)
im not sure if hes consitered good but most of arnold's 80's roles.

Vampyr

This was mentioned right at the top by Father Merrin. However, it is so glaring to me it's worth revisiting (although not re-viewing)


Marlon Brando- Island of Dr. Moreau


Just what was he thinking of making this movie.......What's up with that stupid white make-up and that foolish Pope mobile? This movie was so bad it astonishes me to this day.

Oh yea.........Was Val Kilmer really on drugs when he made this movie? It seems that way to me. I think they were all on drugs

This movie was a great disappointment to me for many reasons.
1) It had a great budget.
2) It had top talent.
3) John Frankenheimer was co-director.
4) It's based on an H.G. Wells novel.

There is no excuse when a production has so much going for it and turns out so badly.

The only answer I have is that it is due to a very poor team of screenwriters. IMHO Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson hardly have what I call even "fair" writing talent. Yet, that doesn't account for the director and producer allowing such a script to go forward. I mean, did these guys (Brando, Kilmer and Frankenheimer, etc...) actually sit there during production and say, "Gee these scenes are great. It's a good movie. Great job guys. We have a winner."??????

Jazzbutcher

Sacrilege!!!

raithen

Errr... Rickman was by far the best part of Robin Hood. Of course, his performance was over-the-top, but then, so was the entire premise of the film. I mean, come on!!!

Also, I'm a little baffled at the idea presented by another user here that he was in a "different" movie than the rest of the cast. Perhaps its not his performance that you have an issue with, it's the script and character? Hrmmm....

Anyway, to each his/her own, but I think you guys will probably be in the minority with your opinion of his performance. No matter.

However, for me, the first person that comes to mind would be Jeremy Irons in Dungeons & Dragons. From what I've heard, he was a moody git on the set - as if he suddently realized that he was mired in dreck up to his knees.

-matt

Numanoid

Agreed. Stanton nailed exactly what I would imagine a repo man to be like.

LBPound

It wasn't really a bad performance, just totally out there!

I thought of some more, but I forgot most, oh but here are some:

Giovanni Ribisi in Gone in Sixty Seconds
Robert De Niro in Men of Honor

NavinJohnson

Malcolm McDowell in Blue Thunder. Okay, this wasn't exactly Shakespeare material, but he seemed too flip to be an Army Colonel. I also wonder why he was cast as a pilot since he has a big fear of flying. In some close-ups (while he's pretending to pilot a helicopter), Malcolm looks absolutely frightened out of his wits. I still think he's a very good actor though; this film/role just wasn't his cup of tea.

ToddSm66

John Wayne - The Conqueror
Sean Connery - The Avengers, Entrapment, Finding Forrester
Robert De Niro - The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
Peter Sellers - The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
Jack Nicholson - Man Trouble
Tony Curtis - The Manitou
Ray Milland - The Thing with Two Heads

UAIOE

"Unlike some Robin Hoods, i can speak with an English accent"



Rickman was the saving grace for this movie.

Quote:

However, for me, the first person that comes to mind would be Jeremy Irons in Dungeons & Dragons. From what I've heard, he was a moody git on the set - as if he suddently realized that he was mired in dreck up to his knees.

I'm sure he did this movie for the paycheck..i mean, being Jeremy Irons doesnt pay the electric bill.

Then again he might have done it just for fun and the ability to overact.

I really didnt think this movie was as god-awful as everyone proclaims it is...its not the best movie out there but the plot in this movie is pretty true to the roleplaying games i've always come across. (generic or not)

A band of people have to search to find some rare/powerful artifact that will help a Queen/King/Whoever ward off a powerul rival or whatever....standard fantasy stuff.

Jaymole

Analyze That - I know it hasn't come out yet but he looks awful in all the clips I've seen. His career has become very, very sad...why Robert, why?

grunter

As for "Prince of Thieves" and Alan Rickman - trust me, I know my opinion is diametrically opposed (thank god) to most folks out there.

I still maintain that had there been an actor in Rickman's role who took the part seriously, the film would have worked far better than it did. The see-sawing back and forth between Rickman's cartoon antics and the rest of the cast's earnestness is what tore the film apart.

Again, IMO.

raithen

But the whole movie was a cartoon!

-matt

UAIOE

Its Kevin Costner as Robin Hood...or course its a cartoon!!





An American Robin Hood? This is to be taken seriously?


I don't mind Kevin Costner, but when i think Robin Hood i really would prefer someone a bit more...uh, British.


Alan Rickman was the saving grace of this movie, his character was over the top funny. I'm glad at least one person had fun with this movie.

AJP

I'd add:

Anthony Hopkins in Instinct