Bad Actors, best acting.

[Tom Hendricks]

I was contemplating buying Speed on Blu-Ray. While I'm not a Keanu Reeves or Sandra Bullock fan, I actually enjoyed this movie. It also got me to thinking, is this for both the movie with their best acting in it. For Sandra, I would say no. However for Keanu I would say yes. Many I think would argue Matrix would be his, but that performance had no nuance. His performance in Speed besides his "tough guy" persona, was actually really good.

So what are some of your favorite bad actors best performances. I don't really want is an argument over who is or isn't a good/bad actor. So if someone says an actor you like is bad, don't argue that point. If you have a better acting performance, do argue with that.

 

[DevilEyes]

Vin Diesel in Pitch Black

Jennifer Lopez in U-Turn

Demi Moore in Passion Of Mind

Arnie in Terminator and Terminator II

I can't think of a single movie where I found Keanu's acting really good, but I have never seen Speed.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Milo Ventimiglia, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Greg Grunberg aren't the best actors you ever saw, but they are well paired with their particular characters on Heroes. They come off better when you remember that the bad writing isn't their fault.

 

[Aragorn]

I haven't seen Punch Drunk Love but I have seen Funny People, and it's amazing to see how different Adam Sandler can come across when he's not speaking with an annoying made-up accent while beating up people, making bodily function jokes and raising his voice at random moments.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Punch Drunk Love was phenomenal. I got the chance to see Funny People over the weekend and its not your typical Sandler fair, nor surprisingly Apatow-ish. I thought it was a good movie regardless, although it did seem like 2 different movies from the first half to the 2nd half. Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartz still bug the hell outta me, while Seth Rogan is comparable.

But yeah its pretty night and day when Sandler does the serious stuff compared to his over the top comedy stuff. Just like Jim Carey or Will Farrell with Stranger than Fiction.

There's a whole slew of bad actors, that do decent to great performances. Does Jean Claude Van Damme in JCVD count? He's just about sucked in everything he's done except for the one movie he's playing himself or a character based on himself. Almost, ALMOST, a 2nd renaissance for him, but I'm sure he'll go back to the same straight to DVD action movie fold in no time.

 

[Aragorn]

Van Damme's next film is going straight-to-DVD -- Universal Soldier: Regeneration.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder

 

[Islander]

I can't think of a single movie where I found Keanu's acting really good, but I have never seen Speed.

Bill & Ted's excellent adventure. Well his acting really sucked but at least it was at par with the rest of the movie.

Ben Afflect - Dogma
Leonardo Di Caprio - The Basketball Diaries
Wil Wheaton - Stand by me

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder

Cruise is more a case of good actor, bad acting (or roles that are bad for him because they don't tap into his strengths). He needs to stick to the Collateral type roles, and occasionally dabble in fun, character roles like Tropic Thunder. The mainstream action hero is ironically the worst role for him.

 

[Harvey]

I can't think of a single movie where I found Keanu's acting really good, but I have never seen Speed.

Have you seen A Scanner Darkly or Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?

 

[exodus]

Tom Cruise did his best work in "Magnolia".

 

[John Picard]

Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder

Cruise is more a case of good actor, bad acting (or roles that are bad for him because they don't tap into his strengths). He needs to stick to the Collateral type roles, and occasionally dabble in fun, character roles like Tropic Thunder. The mainstream action hero is ironically the worst role for him.

Cruise was absolutely brilliant in both Collateral and Tropic Thunder.

 

[Kegg]

I can't think of a single movie where I found Keanu's acting really good, but I have never seen Speed.

Have you seen A Scanner Darkly

Aw, heck, someone beat me to it.

The only downside is whenever Keanu gets cast in some sci-fi property there's a glimmer of hope in my brain that maybe lightning will strike twice somehow (The Day The Earth Stood Still? ... yeah, on second though that never happened).

Ahem.

Nicholas Cage is something of a joke these days (I hear Bad Lieutenant is actually good, but hey, it's Werner Herzog - what did one expect?) but he was brilliant in Raising Arizona.

 

[exodus]

I can't think of a single movie where I found Keanu's acting really good, but I have never seen Speed.

Have you seen A Scanner Darkly

Aw, heck, someone beat me to it.

The only downside is whenever Keanu gets cast in some sci-fi property there's a glimmer of hope in my brain that maybe lightning will strike twice somehow (The Day The Earth Stood Still? ... yeah, on second though that never happened).

Ahem.

Nicholas Cage is something of a joke these days (I hear Bad Lieutenant is actually good, but hey, it's Werner Herzog - what did one expect?) but he was brilliant in Raising Arizona.

Cage was also great in "Peggy Sue Got Married".
Anything after "Leaving Las Vegas" he sucks in.


Will Ferrell-Stranger Than Fiction.

 

[Harvey]

Cage was rather good in Lord of War and The Weather Man, I thought. He's just bad at picking out films to star in--Next, Knowing, The Wicker Man--all of those films should have been no goes solely based on the script.

 

[Kegg]

Point taken.

How about Ryan O'Neal? While sort of notorious for this, he's fairly good in Barry Lyndon (even if his 'Irish' accent slips about over the place).

 

[Ben Sisko3]

Nicolas Cage, Raging Arizona.

 

[John Picard]

Cage was rather good in Lord of War and The Weather Man, I thought. He's just bad at picking out films to star in--Next, Knowing, The Wicker Man--all of those films should have been no goes solely based on the script.

Lord of War was teh awsome

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Point taken.

How about Ryan O'Neal? While sort of notorious for this, he's fairly good in Barry Lyndon (even if his 'Irish' accent slips about over the place).

He was trying for an Irish accent?

Keanu Reeves and Nic Cage are two more Cruise-type cases - if they're in a certain, narrowly-defined role, they can be very good. But versatile they are not.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder

Cruise is more a case of good actor, bad acting (or roles that are bad for him because they don't tap into his strengths). He needs to stick to the Collateral type roles, and occasionally dabble in fun, character roles like Tropic Thunder. The mainstream action hero is ironically the worst role for him.

Cruise was absolutely brilliant in both Collateral and Tropic Thunder.

I was going to add Minority Report to that list....