NBC showed Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom tonight, which is just painful to watch, in no small part due to an atrocious performance by Kate Capshaw. Her role -- Wilhelminia "Willie" Scott -- is by far one of the whiniest, most grating, most insultingly awful performances in cinematic history. There are other awful performances -- anything by Madonna comes to mind -- but when you factor in not only her absolute lack of talent with her character's innate hate-ability... I don't think you'll find a worse female lead.

Or am I wrong? Do you have a better -- or worse -- example?

That chick in Dogma. Linda Fiorentti or something. She was god awful.

i'll second linda fiorenetti plus she always reminds me of that girl from meet joe black, the one who squints all the time.

i also can't stand jennifer love hewitt and, of course, j-ho!!!

That girl who had the lead in The Transporter.

Some of the worst acting.

Just saw Temple of Doom for the first time in years, and I totally agree about Capshaw.

Another vote for Capshaw. Another Indy female in Karen Allen also makes my list of most annoying female leads ever. I hate her in EVERYTHING, even the all holy Animal House, I squirm every time she is on camera.

It's really a matter of taste though. IMO the single worste female ever I can think of is Angelina Jolie in anything. I just don't see what people like about her. She has that pouty goth look with I just loathe. Her lips make me want to vomit, there is NO WAY they are real. Her voice is annoying. She just looks like a slob.

No, you are very much correct. Kate Capshaw's performance in Temple of Doom is the worst female lead ever...officially! Just plain awful.

Looks like I'm the first (and maybe only person) to actually admit liking Kate Capshaw and her role as Wilhelminia "Willie" Scott. Yes, her character was annoying, but she was suppose to be that way!

Madonna gets my vote for the worst female lead ever.

Watch Deliverance. Her dad's lips are awfully juicy and voluptuous. He'd have been in a lot of trouble if Reynolds and Cox hadn't shown up when they did...

I have a contender: Melanie Griffith in A Stranger Among Us. An excellent cast (including a small role for James Gandolfini), and intriguing premise, a well-written script, one of the best Directors in Hollywood (Sidney Lumet), and the whole damned house of cards falls becaus of brain dead Melanie trying to carry the movie. A waste.

Boy do you guys really hate women that much?

another vote for J-lo, even in Anaconda (which I kinda liked!)

What!?!? Fiorentino is a great actress. She should've gotten the oscar for The Last Seduction....but it was shown on HBO first and she was ineligible.

Here's ANOTHER vote for J-Lo...

Her movies are made for people with low I.Q.'s.

J-Lo
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Tara Reid
Julia Ormond - how the hell did she get the lead to Sabrina, First Knight and Legends of the Fall???
Penelope Cruz
Selma Hayak
the Olsen twin.
Basically my list are actresses that I cannot stand. I think also that many of the leading ladies in the older films like Citizen Kane or Pyscho or whatever tend to overact and be overly dramatic.

My choices are a tie:

Britney Spears in Crossroads
Mariah Carey in Glitter

Nope, didn't watch either, but that's not stopping me from pre-judging.

Oh, no doubt. She's not fit to do action movies.

I like that chick in Indiana Jones: The Last Cruisade though.

What? She's great in First Knight. Wait, maybe I was just checking her out the whole way through 'cause she's so damn fine.

I haven't seen it but have heard some really, really scathing comments about Lorraine Bracco in Medicine Man.

How about the lead actress, Leonor Varela, in Blade 2? I thought she was basically reading cue cards through the whole movie.

How about Tracy Pollan in the TV movie "1st To Die"? The whole movie was utter garbage, and the acting made soap opera actors look like Olivier...

Virtually all singer/actresses are talentless in one area (applies to the male ones as well).

I agree w/ you in regards to Spielberg's wife. Her character, "Willie", was supposed to be obnoxious in Temple of Doom (just as Vince Vaughn was in Made). I liked Kate in that movie, I can't imagine it w/out her.

I'll throw my vote in for Madonna as well. She has no business trying to act, unless she is making a music video - that is as far as she should be allowed to go.

My vote goes against Denise Richards.

Jennifer Lopez in all of her movies except the excellent Out of Sight. Also, Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna in anything they've ever done.

Oh man, if only she'd just keep her mouth shut then it might not be that bad, but in all honesty this woman brings new meaning to bad acting. Gotta love on that MTV show Punk'd when they get that little kid to ask her what it was like to get to play someone smart (I'm guessing he was referring to James Bond?).

Madonna in "Body of Evidence"- this is the worst "acting" ever.