Worst attempts at accents

[Christopher]

Or Picard could have been a very adept learner of English. His Anglophilia may have been part of his brother's annoyance with him.

His brother who also had an English accent? And whose wife and son had English accents too?

It's worth keeping in mind that they have transporters in the 24th century. Schoolchildren in La Barre could commute to London for school as easily as they could commute to the nearest town.

 

[lurok]

And Anthony la Paglia in Frasier

Reminded me how grating Daphne Moon's is as well.

I thought Forest Whitaker's Brit in Crying Game was a brave fail. Generally pretty unimpressed with most accents: either Brits doing American, or vice versa. Best joke I heard was a friend who said 'why is Apollo [Jamie Bamber] doing that bad Brit accent in Law & Order ? '. Like, durr.

 

[Caligula]

It's between Keanu Reeves' attempt at a Southern accent in The Devil's Advocate and Keanu Reeves' attempt at an English accent in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

 

[Starkers]

And Anthony la Paglia in Frasier

Reminded me how grating Daphne Moon's is as well.

I thought Forest Whitaker's Brit in Crying Game was a brave fail. Generally pretty unimpressed with most accents: either Brits doing American, or vice versa. Best joke I heard was a friend who said 'why is Apollo [Jamie Bamber] doing that bad Brit accent in Law & Order ? '. Like, durr.

Ha ha, excellent! I don't watch L&O though, but isn't he doing a more cockney/working class accent than his natural English accent which is quite posh if I recall? I remember being amazed the first time I head him in an interview.

On the plus side I think Owain Yeoman in the Mentalist does a great job, again until I saw an interview I hadn't a clue he wasn't American.

Also, and I may get shot down for this, but I thought Zellwegger did a great job as Bridget Jones

 

[TheSeeker]

I never realized Andrew Lincoln was a Brit until I read it somewhere a few weeks ago.

 

[Kemaiku]

It's between Keanu Reeves' attempt at a Southern accent in The Devil's Advocate and Keanu Reeves' attempt at an English accent in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I can't believe it took 5 pages for someone to mention that.

 

[TheSeeker]

^It's still on page 2 for me!

 

[auntiehill]

I never realized Andrew Lincoln was a Brit until I read it somewhere a few weeks ago.

Me, either. His accent is rather good.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

It's between Keanu Reeves' attempt at a Southern accent in The Devil's Advocate and Keanu Reeves' attempt at an English accent in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I can't believe it took 5 pages for someone to mention that.

Just when I thought I had erased those from my mind.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

^ Pretending to be Dutch in Diamonds Are Forever was played for comedy, anyway. You're thinking of the, "Who is your floor?" bit, right? The bad accent just fit in with the strange humorous vibe that permeated the whole film.

I assume you don't mean me. I was referring to his attempt at an English RP accent in Dr. No.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I love Hugh Laurie, but Dr. House sounds like he's doing an exaggerated movie trailer voice.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Or Picard could have been a very adept learner of English. His Anglophilia may have been part of his brother's annoyance with him.

His brother who also had an English accent? And whose wife and son had English accents too?

It's worth keeping in mind that they have transporters in the 24th century. Schoolchildren in La Barre could commute to London for school as easily as they could commute to the nearest town.

In that London school, they made a young Jean-Luc drink Earl Grey tea until he acquired a taste for it.

 

[Bob Karo]

Jean-Claude Van Damme in anything where he's not Belgian. They even lampshade it in Timecop when he stops a purse-snatcher and then tells his wife 'he read my mind' and she replies to the effect 'with your accent, he'd have to'.

I hate how they try to justify a lot of his American characters by making him Cajun. There's not a Cajun on this planet that sounds like him. Well, maybe if they grew up in Belgium, but not Acadiana.

 

[captcalhoun]

All great examples, but Hunt for Red October should also include honorary mention to Gates McFadden as Jack's wife. She's supposed to be English and can't give her two lines in character.

She was supposed to be English? It never occurred to be since the character in the books is an American.

It's been ages since I read the book, but I recall Jack's wife in HFRO was English. I don't have the book to verify that, though. Gates starts off with some kind of bad RP line about the kids, then the next is straight up standard American about being late. Brit or American in the film, it was a bad delivery.

She's American in the book; possibly German American since her maiden name is 'Muller'.

And Anthony la Paglia in Frasier

Reminded me how grating Daphne Moon's is as well.

What, her Mancunian natural accent?

 

[Deckerd]

And Anthony la Paglia in Frasier

Reminded me how grating Daphne Moon's is as well.

I thought Forest Whitaker's Brit in Crying Game was a brave fail. Generally pretty unimpressed with most accents: either Brits doing American, or vice versa. Best joke I heard was a friend who said 'why is Apollo [Jamie Bamber] doing that bad Brit accent in Law & Order ? '. Like, durr.

Ha ha, excellent! I don't watch L&O though, but isn't he doing a more cockney/working class accent than his natural English accent which is quite posh if I recall? I remember being amazed the first time I head him in an interview.

He's from Hammersmiff in Lahndon, so the accent is probably more authentic than most 'cockerneys'. All actors worth their salt know how to have an non-dialectal version of their own country. After a shaky start, Bamber managed an American one too.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

^ Pretending to be Dutch in Diamonds Are Forever was played for comedy, anyway. You're thinking of the, "Who is your floor?" bit, right? The bad accent just fit in with the strange humorous vibe that permeated the whole film.

I assume you don't mean me. I was referring to his attempt at an English RP accent in Dr. No.

Yeah, sorry. I meant Starkers. Starkers got my meaning and answered right after.

 

[Snaploud]

I often find that the people complaining about "terrible accents" are often less informed than they believe. A lot of the actors with "terrible" accents have just learned a slightly different dialect.

 

[FordSVT]

Alan Rickman in Die Hard, when he's trying to imitate an American accent. What's even worse is that McClane tells him that his accent was great, when it was absolutely atrocious.

Pretty much every word out of McClane's mouth in that movie was sarcastic, was he even being serious?

Liam Neeson's American accent. Family Guy had it right.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Interesting that Leonard Nimoy was mentioned, though: in one of his very first Trek lines ever, in 'The Cage', he suddenly lurches into a faux-Brit accent for one word ("CAHN'T be the screen, then!") and then never again.

Nimoy is originally from Boston, so it might be that accent slipping in rather than a momentary lapse into a British accent.

 

[Christopher]

Actually Nimoy was trying to give Spock an accent suggesting someone who'd learned English as a second language and wasn't effortlessly fluent in it.