Who's responsible for some of the worst acting performances in movies that you've seen?

Madonna. Always Madonna.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – I love all of the cast in that movie but the acting was just terrible by everyone in it.

Stephen Colbert…the worst of the over actors. (not necessarily movies, but relevant to bad acting nonetheless)

Hayden Christensen.

Nicolas Cage

Keano Reeves. He’s had some really good parts in movies, and has probably done well in acting out the part, but he always comes across as a California boy to me, despite being a Canadian.

Jennifer Anniston (yes, she was good in Friends but that is a TV show)

Matthew McConaughey

Cameron Diaz

Tom Cruise in the new War of the Worlds. I understand that he was trying to fake an accent, but it sounded like a speech impediment. I turned it off halfway through.

Steve Carell in Dinner For Schmucks. Actually everybody in that film was dreadful. I wish I had the hour of my life back that I spent trying to like the movie before I gave up and left.

@Foolaholic Which reminds me: Dakota Fanning in WotW. Her acting included going AHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHH for the entire fucking movie.

Mike Myers in The Love Guru.

Ben Affleck in most of his roles.

Spencer Breslin in everything. Cute only carries so far… you can just see him processing the director’s instructions. “Ok, now look ‘surprised’”

Michael Pare. Vin Diesel. (I admit he looks good, but he’s one of those guys. Mouth is open, should be shut.)

Jake Lloyd
Hayden Christensen

Miley Cyrus
Tara Reid
David Hasselhoff
Steaven Segal

Damn, all the really crappy actors are already taken! Let me just second Keanu, Ben Stiller and that god-awful marionette that screwed up all the Star Wars prequels (not George Lucas, the other one).

Thanks all, fairly suprised William Shatner never got a mention. Or all the cast of the Star Trek films for that matter.

Of the ones already taken I’ll add votes for Keanu Reeves, Hayden Christiansen and David Hasselhoff.

Adding a couple not yet mentioned; Lindsay Lohan, William Shatner

@ucme dammit you posted william shatner while I was typing my answer!

@downtide Shatner not mentioned, ahem I beg to differ.

John Wayne

@YARNLADY John Wayne Gacy, maybe….

@rangerr I’m sorry, but Gacy must have been a pretty good actor.

@YARNLADY Sure, most of the time, but he was darn good in The Quiet Man

John Wayne Bobbit, on the other hand…

@Blueroses That really cracked me up.

:-) I hear he only does short films.

Oh, I forgot about Linda Fiorentino almost single-handedly ruining Dogma with her one-note acting range.

@Blueroses But you can see them at half price shows.

His technique was half-cocked.

Mr. T in “The Toughest Man in the World” It’s an absolute cheese-fest horror show, and best of all, it’s on Hulu!

@rangerr LOL Hayden Christiansen. He should never have a speaking role.
The worst actor? I think there are many. Jennifer Aniston alwasy sucked at acting. I would rather stare at a wall then watch a movie she’s in. Alicia Silverstone always was a terrible actress. Every movie she was in was a heap of crap.

@Mikewlf337 Oh, I think Hayden Christianson is very good at a limited range of acting skills. He’s good at acting annoying… oh, wait, that’s probably not an act.

@Dr_Dredd His lines in the Star Wars movies were good lines but he ruined them with his terrible acting. He doesn’t sound believable at all. he sounds like a 4th grader in a school play.
Other times he has the personality of a block of wood. I always thought of Anakin Skywalker as a charasmatic hero. Then Episode 2 and 3 came out and the only emotion that Anakin had was whining and being pissed off.

Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents.

@Mikewlf337 If only they’d done the Vader transformation in 2 and allowed us a Hayden free movie in #3… or maybe he could have still worn the suit but let James Earl Jones still do the voice.

@crazyivan I don’t think Hayden wore the suit. Darth Vader was much taller….and I don’t wan’t to think that whiney bitch is in such a cool suit. :D

I know that height was a real factor in casting Christiansan (apparantly more important than acting ability). He’s about 6’ 2” and David Prowse was 6’ 5”, so I guess Vader’s awesome outfit included 4 inch heels or something.

One benefit to his whiney, wooden acting though. I was happy as hell to see him get his legs cut off and set on fire by the end of it.

@Aster Hmm, don’t know about that one. I mean the movie is a classic. His acting may not have been astonishing, but he suited the role pretty well in my opinion.

I agree he suited the role. Obviously , he won’t be just gross since he’s a Hollywood actor! lol
I base my opinions on whomever I’d bet my life would never win an Academy Award.

The pope.

@crazyivan Nah that holy mother fucker rocks…..nazi zombies being a masterful performance.

@crazyivan @Mikewlf337 Anakin’s lines were terrible. And not just because of the bad acting.
Edit: He pretty much got the role because he’s pretty. And looked like he belonged with Portman. Not necessarily the height..

@rangerr I just can’t help but think that if a great actor had the same lines that they may have sounded better. I’m a huge star wars fan and even with hayden and his wooden acting in the 2 films I loved them and all the star wars films including the clone wars even though I didn’t think it was neccessary lol. I guess it depends on who you ask though.

@rangerr True enough, but we’re talking about a Star Wars movie. Everybody’s dialogue sucked. He just sucked so bad that it stood out.

@Mikewlf337 I’m not sure what you said, but no actors could have saved the prequels. Lucas dropped his game as far as writing and directing go. They weren’t bad movies, don’t get me wrong.. they just could have been a lot better, had the lines not sucked so hard. I’m not hating here, I’m quite the fan.. but I’m team Original Trilogy.

@crazyivan Don’t talk shit on Star Wars.

Dialog was never Lucas’ strongest point. The stilted silliness of the lines challenge even the most seasoned thespians, yes, even in the beloved original trilogy.

I adore the films too (the originals at least) but not for the acting or dialog.

@Blueroses

“I love you!”
“I know.”

@Dr_Dredd Lucas didn’t write that line.. Harrison Ford said it.. and it stuck.

Stilted? Silly?!? You must be forgetting the Oscar-snubbed “Nerf-herder” dialogue from Empire Strikes Back!

(Quick, what’re the html brackets for sarcasm?)

Jar Jar Binks

@rangerr Really? I didn’t know that. Actually, that’s kinda cool.

@crazyivan What’s so wrong with the Nerf herder line? :l

Don’t say that word! That’s our word! Only we can use that word!

@rangerr there’s nothing wrong with it! Harrison looked genuinely offended at the notion of being called “scruffy looking”... best acting he ever did!

Harrison Ford was the only actor who appeared in the movie to have a bright future afterwards suprisingly.

@Mikewlf337 James Earl Jones did some movies and has been on Broadway. Plus he used his really sexy voice for Bell Atlantic commercials.

@Dr_Dredd Well only james voice was in the movie lol

@Mikewlf337 His voice was a better actor than some actual actors! :-)

@Dr_Dredd That is true. Out of all the charactors Darth Vader is the most popular. Luke skywalker wasn’t that interesting and the only interesting thing for him was the fact that he was Darth Vader’s son. Hans Solo was also a good charactor. The droids were for the most part annoying. 3CPO was the most annoying and useless robot I have ever seen. How the heck does a fat lardass like Jabba the Hutt become so powerful in the criminal underworld? Most of the aliens where rediculous looking. Princess Leia was not a likable charactor. She always seemed snobby to me.
I am a fan of the movies. All 6 Episodes. I didn’t really care for the animated one though I thought it was watchable. I see why the movies are legendary even though they were full of crappy actors with the exception of a few. I think some of the fans take the movie too seriously. Im sorry but if a person went to the theatre dressed like a star wars charactor I would think that person is a complete douche.

@Mikewlf337 I beg to differ about Luke and apparently everyone else.. when the original trilogy came out in theaters, people loved Luke. I know a lot of guys who have admitted to wanting to be Luke when they first saw the movies because he was such a great Jedi. Not to mention, a strong lead male character.

Hans Solo doesn’t exist.

The droids.. well. R2 was one of the most important characters in A New Hope, and proved to be very useful throughout the rest of the movies..
3CPO doesn’t exist, either.

Jabba pretty much ruled the spice world.. plus.. he’s a Hutt.. he’s supposed to be fat.

The aliens were ridiculous looking because they are.. well.. aliens.

Leia’s a politician. What do you expect? She’s hot.. we can’t complain about her.

But my biggest problem with what you said, was that you indirectly called me a douche.
I dress up in character. Hell. I pretty much get my own comic character.. please, tell me something that you’ve accomplished/done that is cooler than that. I’m a Star Wars model. I have no shame in telling the world.

So people are passionate about the movies.. they make costumes to show their respect and love for the movies.. what about that makes them a douche? There are thousands of fans who have made movie quality replicas of costumes from the Star Wars universe, and only a select few are any part douchey. But it has nothing to do with their costuming. Most everyone I have met from Star Wars events have been the kindest people I’ve ever met. There is a great level of respect between not only us, but between us and the people who hate us. We don’t mind being known as “Star Wars geeks”. We wear the title proudly.

They make costumes because they are fans. We love the movies. We’ve built a strong fanbase because of it. You said you understood why the movies are “legendary”.. but then say fans “take the movie too seriously”.. where is the sense in that? Please. Do explain yourself.

@rangerr You’re costing yourself all your StarWars cred by saying that anybody preferred Luke to Han Solo when the movies came out. I mean, Lightsaber Shmightsaber, we all wanted to pilot the Falcon.

I wanted to be Han Solo when I was a kid. I wanted the Millenium Falcon, and a Wookie.

@crazyivan You don’t count as every male Star Wars fan.

@crazyivan & @rangerr I just wanted to fuck Leia’s brains out…....dressed as Vader. Ahhh, happy innocent childhood :¬)

I always hated Leia. I found her to be very arrogant and snobby and her being a politician made me dislike her even more. I don’t know why everyone thought she was hot. I didn’t find her attractive at all.

@Mikewlf337 I think it was a gradual progression. My group didn’t find her attractive during the Cinnamon Bun/Over-sized Headphone phase because she was kind of like a mom. Quite the sourpuss and joykill.

She got better in the second movie because she actually showed an emotion other than ‘anger’ (eventually).

Third movie had the slave costume, and that pretty much cemented (or carbon froze) her in the ‘hot’ category.

@ucme Another reason to not wanna be Luke.

@mrentropy You’d be angry too if you got kidnapped, watched your planet explode and then have to deal with two boys drooling over you.

If everyone on Alderaan acted like Leia I would blow it up too :D

@crazyivan No denying, Luke was a total pussy!

@rangerr Yeah, but when you’re 9 or 10 you don’t think that way.

I think I can find quite a few women who would have been alright with a twenty something Harrison Ford drooling over them. Not so much Mark Hammil.

@crazyivan Harrison Ford was 35 in the first star wars.

I still think Han Solo is sexy as hell. Never had a thing for Luke or any other Jedi at all…. Han rules. Period.

@Blueroses He is very sexy. But my true Star Wars love is Boba Fett.

@rangerr I guess we both get to be happy and we don’t have to fight :-)

Han can control my wookie, any ol’ day.

Wow, this morphed into a Star Wars get together didn’t it? Ah well, that’s okay I suppose. Interesting how it seems those films & bad acting are apparently synonymous with each other. Thanks for your answers everyone :¬)

@ucme You’re right. We really shouldn’t spare the Star Trek actors :-P

@Blueroses I already gave Shatner a dishonourable mention. I mean that’s a gimme. As for Star Trek itself, well it’s shite basically :¬P

@ucme aww, now. At least Shatner has a sense of humor about himself.

@Blueroses Well there’s his wig for a start. I did enjoy watching his “roast.” George Takei has such a potty mouth! Hilarious.

@ucme Takei was hilarious on “Party Down” playing himself.

@Blueroses I remember him in Britain from his appearance on I’m a desperado seeking publicity…..Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. He shoulda won. Funny with bags of charisma. Shame he’s known for being in a shitty show with wooden actors.

It wasn’t bad for its time. There were worse shows on then. I liked the Galaxy Quest take on it… “You never miss an opportunity to rip your shirt, do you?”