Great actors who blow it/awful actors who nail it

**Nowhere Man** · 06-16-2009, 02:55 AM

Despite the unfortunately suggestive title, I think you get what I mean. Every now and then, even the best in the business can drop the ball. Whether it's because they were going through personal stuff during the shoot, were just mis-cast for a completely inappropriate part, didn't really 'get' what the character was about, or just decided to phone it in, once in a while a truly great actor can come out and absolutely embarass themselves with a piss-poor performance. This can be a black mark on careers, and sometimes even end them entirely.

On the other side of the coin, occasionally the stars will allign, and an otherwise godawful actor can catch everyone off-guard with a really great performance. Nine times out of ten, they immediately revert back to being utter crap, but it's still nice to see.

I don't necessarily mean good actors who were in shitty movies and vice versa, but more of just their individual acting in the movie.

For instance, I'm a huge fan of Paul Giamatti, but watching him try and be a villain in Shoot 'Em Up was just embarassing. The way he delivered of his snarky one-liners (combined with the way he looks) just reminded me of the guy from Mythbusters.

On the other hand, I've always been a staunch supporter of dragging Hayden Christiansen out into a field and beating him to death with a baseball bat like Joe Pesci in Casino. However, I gotta hand it to him, I actually enjoyed the hell out of his performance in Awake. That doesn't excuse him for mumbling and whining his way through the Star Wars prequels, but at least he can show some chops when he's got a halfway-sane director on the helm.

Anyone else?

06-16-2009, 02:55 AM	#1
Nowhere Man Now. Here. Man. Posts: 8,370	Great actors who blow it/awful actors who nail it Despite the unfortunately suggestive title, I think you get what I mean. Every now and then, even the best in the business can drop the ball. Whether it's because they were going through personal stuff during the shoot, were just mis-cast for a completely inappropriate part, didn't really 'get' what the character was about, or just decided to phone it in, once in a while a truly great actor can come out and absolutely embarass themselves with a piss-poor performance. This can be a black mark on careers, and sometimes even end them entirely. On the other side of the coin, occasionally the stars will allign, and an otherwise godawful actor can catch everyone off-guard with a really great performance. Nine times out of ten, they immediately revert back to being utter crap, but it's still nice to see. I don't necessarily mean good actors who were in shitty movies and vice versa, but more of just their individual acting in the movie. For instance, I'm a huge fan of Paul Giamatti, but watching him try and be a villain in Shoot 'Em Up was just embarassing. The way he delivered of his snarky one-liners (combined with the way he looks) just reminded me of the guy from Mythbusters. On the other hand, I've always been a staunch supporter of dragging Hayden Christiansen out into a field and beating him to death with a baseball bat like Joe Pesci in Casino. However, I gotta hand it to him, I actually enjoyed the hell out of his performance in Awake. That doesn't excuse him for mumbling and whining his way through the Star Wars prequels, but at least he can show some chops when he's got a halfway-sane director on the helm. Anyone else?