Worst performance in a movie

[stj]

I'm puzzled why Michael Keaton's Dogberry is so easily dismissed from the competition.

WHAT?!? That was one of my favourite roles in the movie! I love when Keaton does comedy. His fixation on the word "ass" was unforgettable for being one of the last things I'd expect in a Shakespeare play while also natural and hilarious.

There is a case for any actor doing Dogberry to go over the top. Still, Keaton was not only way over the top but he was he doing a different nationality than the other actors. And he reminded me of Beetlejuice and the morgue attendant from Night Shift. I imagine Keaton was hired because he has done wild comedic characters and directed to ham it up. But when looking at the performances in Much Ado About Nothing, the one that is questionable, regardless of who's responsible for it, is Keaton's Dogberry.

I gather Shakespeare wrote these clown roles that didn't fit very well because they were popular, but moved away from these standup routines/farcical skits as soon as possible. I've forgotten whether it was Will Kempe who Shakespeare disliked, or Kempe was the more restrained replacement he favored in later plays.

 

[DBR]

Every scene in In The Name of the King. It's like they went out of their way to find as many of the worst actors as they could, and put them in movie together.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Just about any movie starring Madonna...horrible horrible actress.

 

[Mojochi]

Kirsten Dunst, take your pick

 

[Joeman]

and George Clooney all did worse jobs.

I kind of like George, and I just always thought he was the victim of a bad script. I mean, that movie was so bad it's hard to tell.

 

[Aragorn]

Every scene in In The Name of the King. It's like they went out of their way to find as many of the worst actors as they could, and put them in movie together.

Are you not familiar with the work of Uwe Boll? First of all, he's a horrible director and storyteller. Secondly, his idea of casting is to wait until the last minute and find whatever big names aren't working who are willing to whore themselves out for a big paycheck, and it doesn't matter if they're right for the part or not.

 

[Samurai8472]

Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic

Keanu Reeves in "Bram Stoker's Dracula"

 

[OmahaStar]

I believe the answer we're looking for is "Will Ferrell in every single thing the bastard's ever done."

 

[Santa Kang]

Thats a bit like saying John Wayne in every movie he's ever made. Wayne usually plays "John Wayne" and Ferrell usually plays "Will Ferrell". I'm not a fan of Ferrell or the "Will Ferrell" character, but he does it quite well.

 

[stj]

Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic

Keanu Reeves in "Bram Stoker's Dracula"

Again, since Keanu Reeves was half the action in the whole opening sequence, then that must mean Coppola's Dracula started badly. But when I watched it, from the moment Reeves climbed down the castle wall (and more or less out of the picture) the movie got progressively worse, in direct proportion to the amount of screen time Wynona Ryder got.

But Johnny Mnemonic really was a bad performance. Johnny Mnemonic being a man whose childhood memories were erased so that he was basically a walking flash drive was an extremely difficult character to play. Without memories he'd have no personality, and being a kind of machine would have no personality, yet the role demands that the actor communicate some sort of humanity in the middle of a frenetic action flick. Reeves didn't succeed at all. That role would have been tough for the greatest actors to pull off.

Since, inevitably, Keanu Reeves has come up, let me recommend, heartily, Netflixing the Canadian TV series Slings & Arrows, season one. It is funny and fascinating.

 

[Admiral Shran]

and George Clooney all did worse jobs.

I kind of like George, and I just always thought he was the victim of a bad script. I mean, that movie was so bad it's hard to tell.

It was definitely a bad script, and a bad movie in general, but George Clooney was NOT suited to play Batman.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Keanu Reeves is apparently the most popular choice in this thread, having now been singled out for three different movies. He's such a limited actor, but I've enjoyed some of his roles as airheads ("Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure", "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey", "Parenthood") and deadly serious monosyllabic heroes ("The Matrix", "Speed"). Stj, fair enough...I still enjoyed Keaton's clowning in that movie, but I can see where you're coming from.

 

[Starbreaker]

Teo Leoni in Fun With Dick & Jane

 

[Joeman]

and George Clooney all did worse jobs.

I kind of like George, and I just always thought he was the victim of a bad script. I mean, that movie was so bad it's hard to tell.

It was definitely a bad script, and a bad movie in general, but George Clooney was NOT suited to play Batman.

Well, for not the first time here we disagree. I think that with a good script Clooney would have made a great Batman. I absolutely loved him in O Brother Where Art Thou, and I think he could have brought that same energy to a Batman performance. I mean for god's sakes, if Keaton and Kilmer could do it (which they both did well IMO), then certainly Clooney could have made a good Batman. That's always how I'll see it anyway.

 

[Admiral Shran]

^ Keaton did a superb job. Kilmer did a passable Bruce Wayne, but once he was in the suit I didn't think he did a good Batman. Clooney didn't do a good Bruce Wayne or Batman.

 

[DBR]

Every scene in In The Name of the King. It's like they went out of their way to find as many of the worst actors as they could, and put them in movie together.

Are you not familiar with the work of Uwe Boll? First of all, he's a horrible director and storyteller. Secondly, his idea of casting is to wait until the last minute and find whatever big names aren't working who are willing to whore themselves out for a big paycheck, and it doesn't matter if they're right for the part or not.

I think I've seen his name tossed around here a few times, but I don't really know who he is and I didn't know he directed this flick.

Guess I know what to look (out?) for.

 

[Shazam!]

Chris O'Donnell in everything he's ever been in.
Jessica Alba in everything she's ever been in.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Lori Petty...how does that woman keep working? She's awful.

 

[stj]

Stj, fair enough...I still enjoyed Keaton's clowning in that movie, but I can see where you're coming from.

It's not so much that it was bad in itself. As a farcical skit, it was actually entertaining enough. But it broke up the action in the movie, didn't fit. Which I gather it did in the original stage performance as well, to the displeasure of the playwright.

PS Lori Petty was excellent in The Glass Shield, costarring with Michael Boatman. Boatman is perhaps remembered only for a role on Spin City, but he too is excellent in this fine drama about police brutality and corruption.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Keannu Reeves in anything. I've never been able to stand him as an actor.

Uma Thurman in Batman & Robin. She's generally a good actress, but hers is the most awful performance in a movie filled with them.

Halle Berry as Storm in the X-Men movies. She sucks in each one, and yet kept getting more & more screen time.

Sofia Copolla in The Godfather III.

I'm sure there are some really obvious ones I'm forgetting, but that's all I can think of right now.