Why do people bash/hate Kevin Costner?
 

He's an above average actor and his films always entertain me. Is it because of Waterworld?

While I don't hate him, I'm usually left unimpressed by him.

His acting skills are very mediocre in most films. There are only a few films where his limited range doesn't hurt his performance.

One big knock on Costner is his ego. He has to learn to stop casting himself as a major character in the films he directs.

Re: Why do people bash/hate Kevin Costner?
 

Well, yeah, that and The Postman and Revenge and The Bodyguard and Tin Cup and Message in a Bottle and 3000 Miles to Graceland and Dragonfly and that ridiculous accent in the otherwise entertaining Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

Hey, The Postman was awsome. The rest....well ya your right.

Jealousy.

I don't hate him but he just seems to be playing himself most of the time e.g. the "Julia Roberts syndrome". But I love Dances with wolves and Field of dreams but couldn't get into The Postman (if I remember correctly, did Tom Petty portray himself?) or Sizzle Beach USA :lol:

It's because of the way he CENSORED his career by picking so many crappy scripts along the way.

I thought he was great as the corpse in "The Big Chill."

Sorry but Robin Hood was cool. So was Tin Cup.

doc

well, he made a big production out of Waterworld, just because he looked bald..... from there, his amazingly star status went downhill.....

we only bash/hate him when we wanna give Halle Berry the day off..

I like Waterworld.

What about that movie with Clint Eastwood and Lara Dern set back in the 60s? Great movie.

Now way out? :up:

Yeah Giantrobo, I really liked "A perfect world". Yummmy, mustard sandwiches -biggrin-

So did I. Solid action movie with some cool visuals. I mean, at least I could see why the movie cost so damn much. Well, I could at least.

But why the Costner hating? Well, his movies have gotten a lot worse. In the early parts of his career he was in some very good films. The quality has...dropped. Sure I enjoyed Waterworld but it ain't no masterpiece. I wouldn't say many of his hated movies are awful, even the Postman was ok in many respects. But when your best is mediocre and your worst is...3000 miles to graceland, well, blah. And I will add that Costner ain't much of an actor. While he's not terrible, his range is lacking and his voice sometimes just sounds like he's reading lines. Granted I think that's just how it is...but it's not the most compelling thing in the world. But where is the old quality? Untouchables, Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, hell even Robin Hood. he just fell from those heights what can I say.

The only time I hear bad things about him when people start
threads like this one. ;)

Jason

human nature, its fun to critisize

I think he's generally given a free pass these days with people hating Ben Affleck, Halle Berry, and so forth.

But I suspect the simple answer is that he got so popular a decade or so ago and when he had the ability to do almost anything he wanted, and people didn't really like what he did. People in general didn't like Waterworld or The Postman and so he got attacked for it.

If he wasn't so popular before hand or the projects weren't so big, then it probably wouldn't be the same.

I think people just got tired of him because there was so damn much of him there for awhile. The flops like Waterworld and the impression that he is a bit egomaniacal didn't help. The fact that he is a somewhat two-dimensional actor doesn't help either.
I think it boils down, largely, to over-exposure for about 2 years there.

Take Edward Burns for example. He constantly directs himself in films and is also a pretty two-dimensional actor, but no one starts "I hate Edward Burns" threads because he isn't in every moviegoers face all the time. Heck, you have to go to a coffeehouse theater or a film festival just to see one of his films usually.

I think that he does better when he has a good cast around him (Robid Hood, No Way Out, Silverado . . . the last being his best performance, as far as I concerned). Once he starts getting into roles where he is the main focus of the movie, I don't think he has the skill to keep the movie going (The Postman, Waterworld . . . Dances With Wolves is borderline . . . good when he is working with the others . . . a little weaker when he is on his own). That doesn't mean that I think those movies are bad . . . I just think that he isn't able to brong them to their full potential with his skills alone.

I personally love Silverado, The Untouchables, and Field of Dreams and I enjoyed JFK and Robin Hood:Prince of Theives. BUT Costner is not the reason I like these movies. I agree with Josh in that he seems to be playing himself. He tends to be very wooden and I think he thinks he can carry a movie when all his better movies have other actors he can play against. I've seen most of his movies (I try to give his films the benefit of a doubt) and I try to watch some of the movies he has directed but FFeehhh, some are just bad and overblown.

i don't hate Kevin Costner, i just wouldn't give it a second thought if he died

I don't hate him, but I avoid his movies. Dances With Wolves was his only brilliant work...sans that boring and monotone voice of his.

I love many of Costner's films, I would consider JFK, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and A Perfect World masterpieces. No Way Out, Waterworld, Tin Cup, The Untouchables, and Silverado are very good films IMHO. Nine good movies can be considered a decent career, it just his bad movies are so bad, i.e. The Bodyguard, Postman, 3000 miles, and Wyatt Earp that it is easy to focus on that part of his career.

But Kevin Costner as Robin Hood was not, unfortunately. However, it did provide us with the best line from "Robin Hood: Men in Tights": "Unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with a British accent."