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Actors who can't act

Katheri​ne

over 2 years ago

I am dismayed to see that Ewan McGregor is starring in Polanski’s new film, The Ghost Writer. In my opinion, he’s not a bad actor, he simply can’t act!
What are other people’s picks?

Patapon

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

Charlie Sheen

Katheri​ne

over 2 years ago

Not even in Wall Street…?

AAnovel

over 2 years ago

Yeah;…I agree for the actor Charlie Sheen co’z is my idol…:)

Patapon

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

Nope sorry but my biggest problem with him is his role in 2 and a Half Men. Gutter trash

6000

over 2 years ago

Is one an actor if one cannot act? Hmm…

Frank P. Tomasul​o, Ph.D.

over 2 years ago

Nicolas Cage, assuming that OVER-acting equates with “can’t act.” I refer to the opening scenes in Leaving Las Vegas and Snake Eyes.

On the distaff side, Melanie Griifith. She couldn’t maintain a consistent Southern accent in (ugh!) Bonfire of the Vanities. And, in one of her early films, Arthur Penn’s Night Moves, she has a line: “No one is talking about what I really need!” I yelled out, “Yeah, acting lessons!” It brought down the house!

I thought Charlie Sheen was pretty good in Platoon and Wall Street. He seems not be that good in comedy, though. He doesn’t seem to take it seriously. :-)

Dzimas

over 2 years ago

I think one of the greatest non-actors was John Wayne. He just played himself in movies.

Gary Cooper also comes to mind.

Harrison Ford

Kevin Costner

Mel Gibson

to name but a few.

Sunday

over 2 years ago

Perhaps it’s more “can’t act as a general rule,” as I thought Cage did fine in Adaptation.

Patapon

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

define acting…

House of Leaves

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

I think the real distinction here is between ACTORS (who embody a character) and MOVIE STARS (who play themselves).

There can be some crossover, and it can even have fantastic results. Example: Kubrick used Cruise perfectly in Eyes Wide Shut, knowing full well what he was as an ‘actor’.

But ‘actors’ are those for whom their off-screen selves is disintegrated by their on screen performance.

Patapon

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

So what you are saying is that this thread doesnt make any sense… ;)

I agree

Dzimas

over 2 years ago

I wonder who was using who in Eyes Wide Shut. Apparently, Kubrick was very frustrated with Cruise, as he would only go so far in the role not to tarnish his “image.” Yet, Cruise very much wanted to be in a Kubrick movie. Kubrick wasn’t at all happy with the result.

House of Leaves

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

Not a bad point, though I’m not certain about those facts (not that they’re not true, just that I don’t know them). Either way, filmmaker’s intent be damned—the end result was a story about a shallow man that utilized a shallow actor in a very creative way. It’s still brilliant.

Dzimas

over 2 years ago

I was very disappointed with the movie. Yes, we were supposed to see this couple as narcissistic and shallow, but in the end it seemed little more than a mindf@ck. Maybe if Kubrick had better actors it might have worked, but it reminded me of his ill-cast Lolita, which I thought was one of his worst movies. I think Kubrick had a real big hang-up when it came to sex, and probably would have been better off avoiding the subject.

Anyway, Tom Cruise is another “personality,” as opposed to actor, no matter how many times he tries to recast his image. Even as Ron Kovic in “Born on the Fourth of July,” he is still Tom Cruise.

Law

over 2 years ago

I find Eyes Wide Shut pretty fantastic. It’s about jealousy and castration anxiety.

House of Leaves

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

I also wasn’t engaged by Lolita. Of all his films it’s my least favorite (though I’m constantly told I’m wrong [c’est la vie]).

I disagree about this film, though. I don’t find it a mindfuck at all. Not that I ‘got it’ at first glance, but it really isn’t that inaccessible, and has a lot to say about human nature that every single one of us can relate to, no matter where we’re from.

In any case, I thought the casting to be perfect, especially since I happen to hate both the leads (as actors).

Drew Gregory

over 2 years ago

I’m pretty sure we are all actors…

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

Shakespeare reference!

House of Leaves

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

You can’t go wrong with The Bard.

Patapon

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

I like Cruise in everything he’s in except A Few Good Men…am I stupid?

Cruise isn’t that bad an actor.

But you sure can go wrong with THE BRAD. Fuck, didn’t he work with an accent coach for IB?

Berjuan

over 2 years ago

Does Adam Sandler count as an actor?

Patapon

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

Brad rocks the long hair though

House of Leaves

-moderator-
over 2 years ago

The BRAD has his uses. I’ll even defend him in:

12 Monkeys (thought I have a natural attraction to monkey movies)
Fight Club (maybe the best role for him evarr(
Interview with the Vampire (what was wrong with that?)

Dzimas

over 2 years ago

Brad can act when he wants to. He was pretty good in Snatch too. But, he was awful in Benjamin Button. Of course, the film was a waste of talent in general, as neither Blanchett nor Swinton came off very well in it either, and they are both consumate actresses.

Dzimas

over 2 years ago

The sad thing about Tom Cruise is that he is upstaged by everyone around him:

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Forest Whitaker (not to mention Paul Newman) in The Color of Money,
Valeria Golino (not to mention Dustin Hoffman) in Rain Man, although this may have been his best performance,
Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire,
Cuba Gooding Jr. and Rene Zellweger in Jerry Maguire,
and even his ex-wife in Eyes Wide Shut, although she wasn’t very good herself.

The guy so desperately wants an Oscar that like a misogynist he just keeps getting outshone time and time again. Even in The War of the Worlds he was no match for Dakota Fanning.

He should stick to his Scientology.

Zdziech​owski

over 2 years ago

Tom Cruise is very very good in Magnolia and Minority Report.
Brad Pitt is an excellent actor (Fight Club / Assassination of Jesse James… / Seven / 12 monkeys/Burn after reading).
Tom Hanks always plays the same.
Russell Crowe is not so good, except The insider but Michael Mann is too brilliant.

Dzimas

over 2 years ago

Well, you know, even Sylvester Stallone was good in the original Rocky, but does that make him a great actor?

deckard croix

over 2 years ago

Pfft, Stallone wasn’t that great in Rocky … but Copland and First Blood, yeah.

Ya know this thread is bollocks by the way. There’s a Cruise-bashing opportunist at every turn – I knew I was psychic.

I totally agree with Ewan McGregor, and I’d like to add Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams to the list of “actors” who are deficient in the acting skills department. But the person who is fooling most of the people some of the time is…Halle Berry.