Well Acted Movies with one BAD performance

Cody Horn in Magic Mike

"Amadeus" with Cynthia Nixon as the servant girl. Everybody talks about Elizabeth Berridge, but I thought Cynthia seemed like someone from another century., or a parallel universe.

Michael J. Fox in Casualties of War. Sean Penn was superb as the psycho sergeant, and the rest of the cast was good, but whoever decided to cast Mr. Sitcom as a conflicted GI in Vietnam should have been shot.

R1: are you the Cody Horn troll?

Much Ado About Nothing - Keanu

Steel Magnolias, Julia Roberts, although I don't how any actor could have said, "I would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful, then a lifetime of nothing special."

Gone With the Wind - Leslie Howard

The Age of Innocence, Winona Ryder

Ryan Phillippe in "Gosford Park"

All of the above except Cody Horn since I don't know who he is or the film

Gary Merrill in All About Eve.

I always thought that Hugh Marlowe was fairly wooden in that film as well, R11.

r4 no... didn't know she had a troll.

Shame, Carey Mulligan. OK, her performance as a whole is fine but that rendition she does of "New York, New York" is so embarassing. It's supposed to feel "raw" because of it's honesty but there is no way any jazz club would allow Carey Mulligan to sing.

She drains all the energy from the song. Liza would be pissed.

The on body who played Meryl's son in The Bridges Of Madison County Flash forwards. Awful.

Mame. You know which performance.

R14, ok thank you!!! I felt like I just didn't understand the movie correctly, because that part was so out of place David-Lynchian.

... also, were they molested is the point? Yeah, ok. I didn't get it.

r14, it's not like you're going to find Broadway caliber singing at a dive bar

R18, I think the point was to show that she and her brother come from a broken home with a lot of problems, which is shown by the main character crying. But seriously, the whole singing performance is flat. I wouldn't cry if I heard that--I would just think to myself "when the hell is this song going to be over"" and "I know you were molested but don't quit your day job, sis."

R19, probably not but dear god, I hope it's less boring than that performance. i had to fast forward through it. I can't imaging having to listen to the whole thing in a theater.

Mulligan showed her big hairy fanny in this pic but all people talked about was Fassbender's big, gorgeous, pendulous knob of love!

Mickey Rooney in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. Thread closed.

Nicholas Cage in “Peggy Sue Got Married” Sofia Coppola in “Godfather III” Keanu Reeves in “Dracula”

Coppola should call George and figure out how to digitally insert another actor/actress.

Olivia DeHavilland in that Killer Bee movie

The child actress who plays Mimi Rogers' daughter in the otherwise excellent and undeservedly neglected film "The Rapture." Her horrible whining makes you so grateful when Rogers finally shoots her.

John Travolta in “Hairspray”

Nobody in that film was amazing, but they were at least good.

Travolta’ s performance was like watching a row of lights slowly flicker out.

I agree with you, r26, except Travolta's superb dancing at the end makes up for it (as always, he is the best dancer in any movie he's in, although Christopher Walken might have been able to outdo him if given a better solo).

Steve Forrest in Mommie Dearest. He's hot AF...but that's it.

r28, do you REALLY want to stand by that claim, and say that his performance is worse than Diana Scarwid's?

[quote] Nobody in that film was amazing, but they were at least good.

Michelle Pfeiffer was amazing. She made one of the weakest numbers in the show its absolute highlight.

So was the guy who played Seaweed.

R28 Jeepers, he was like Olivier compared to that dreadful actress playing teen Tina

Another vote for Sofia Coppola in Godfather III.

I actually think the movie might have worked if there was someone compelling in that role. So much of the plot centers on how admired and adored she is. Every time Sofia comes onscreen, she makes the other characters words and actions seem weird and unmotivated.

I love her work as a director, though.

Keanu and Winona both were bad in Dracula. "Take me away from all this...death"

Robert Redford in Out of Africa...

R34, he stood out like a sore thumb in that

R24, the rest of the cast in that piece of shit was good?

They were vertical is all.

R33, I can't think of a single performance that didn't reek in "Dracula", including the lead. And it's full of actors whom I generally like.

R9, I think of Phillips as being intentionally awful. He's much more relaxed once he drops the facade.

A bit like Lauren Bacall in Murder on the Orient Express, where she is playing up a shrill, flat, unlikable personality as a disguise.

R37, I thought Gary Oldman was good. But everyone else was so campy--especially Keanu and Winona.

I like Anne Baxter but really, who would ever believe she was competition to Bette Davis in All About Eve? Not a bad performance but not entirely believable.

R40, younger women are competition just for their youth.

R41, I think i underestimated how much those 50s hairstyles aged women. Apparently Baxter was 27 when All About Eve was released but she looks 35 or 36.

Jeanne Crain in A Letter to Three Wives

Helen Reddy as a singing nun in Airport 1975.

R40 - I think Baxter was asked to do something very difficult - convey two sides of a character who is ultimately shown to be a villain. She's fantastic when she's in full bitch mode - the flare-up of energy when she finally confides in Addison - but I agree that her "sweet" act is never 100% convincing. But she looks lovely and there are enough moments, like her conversation with Addison and Miss Casswell to make up for it.

R45, points taken. Don't get me wrong, I like Baxter, I was just not fully convinced in her character.

The Hitchcock edition:

Jane Wyman in Stage Fright

Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train

Bob Cummings in Dial M for Murder

"Dolores Claiborne"!

The often wonderful Jennifer Jason Leigh gave the worst performance I'd seen in years and easily her own worst performance. She comes close to ruining the film.

[quote]Nicholas Cage in “Peggy Sue Got Married”

That's a famously bad one. He does not interpret the character as written, and simply chews the scenery in the most inept way possible. It almost ruins the movie alongside the other polished actors. The charming Miss Turner saves all scenes.

r15 Oh gee, I think she did a shen-shay-shional job. It takesh gutsh to shing that shong, I'll shay!

R21 Carey has a hairy ass?! Now I’ve got to watch it just to see that.

The worst by far for me was Elizabeth Berridge in Amadeus, which I otherwise love.

Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings & a Funeral. She ruined every scene she was in.

Keanue in everything...esp Dracula...so fucking bad!!!

G in Albert Nobbs.

Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds. Sticking out your jaw isn't acting.

Marky Mark in the Basketball Diaries.

Will Ferrell in that Eurovision movie. Horrible.

Denzel Washington in Training Day.

[quote]Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings & a Funeral. She ruined every scene she was in.

You could say that about every Andie MacDowell movie. Either you find her charming, or you don't.

I do sometimes find her charming so she hasn't ruined any movies for me, but can see she is often a technically terrible actress.

[quote]Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds.

HIs "Tennessee" accent was so community theater.

R16 agree. They could have thrown out the "kids discover something about mom!" framing device, as the Meryl/Clint storyline functioned well on its own. Also, Meryl's accent was distracting. I'm realizing now that I actually didn't like that movie.

r52 I did-tent see it

I was trying to decide on a good Andie MacDowell movie and couldn’t decide.

I think Anne Baxter and Hugh Marlowe are the weak links in "All About Eve". Everyone else is fine.

Totally agree with whoever said Robert Cummings in "Dial M For Murder" and Farley Granger in "Strangers On A Train".

Cameron Diaz in “Gangs of New York”

Katie Holmes in “Batman Begins”

I really love ScarJo but she kinda sucked in “The Prestige”

Tom Cruise in "Magnolia"

I thought ScarJo was DREADFUL in Match Point. Just really amateurish overacting.

R65 she’s grating towards the end, I’ll agree. But I thought she nailed the scene where she gets drunk in the bar with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.

Sal Mineo in Exodus (1960)

This. When she dies at the end of the movie you actually feel happy.

Maxwell Caulfield in Grease 2 (1982)

All the performances in Grease 2 sucked

[quote]Sofia Coppola in “Godfather III”

Madonna had her eyes on that part when Winnona dropped out.

Jodie Foster in Nell (1994)

Ryan O'Neal in Barry Lyndon. What the fuck is an aging American fratboy doing in 18th Century England? I mean besides trying to make some coin at the box office for a pricey Stanley Kubrick epic.

Timothy Hutton in the criminally underrated Q&A. Surrounded by Nick Nolte out DeNiroing DeNiro, an amazingly charismatic Armand Assante, plus brilliant supporting work from Paul Calderon, Dominic Chianese, Lee Richardson, Charles Dutton and Luis Guzman, Hutton’s callowness and stiffness was never more apparent.

OTOH, this was Sidney Lumet’s late-career curse - getting to make brilliant films, but often (not always) with sub-par leads.

R73 [quote] Ryan O'Neal in Barry Lyndon

I dunno, I thought the point was to have an obviously shallow character portrayed an obviously shallow actor. Worked for me, anyway.

[quote] "Dolores Claiborne"! The often wonderful Jennifer Jason Leigh gave the worst performance I'd seen in years and easily her own worst performance. She comes close to ruining the film.

I rewatched this film earlier this year and actually thought JJL did excellent work in a role that was little more than a device to set up Dolores' memories to the past. They give the adult Selena absolutely nothing to do in the film, and the fact that JJL actually manages to be present for Bates and give her something to play against shows you just how good of an actor she is.

If you want to complain about someone in Dolores Claiborne, pick David Straithairn. His fucking Gorton's Fisherman Maine accent was so over the top and distracting, I cringed every time he came onscreen- for the wrong reasons.

R61, Groundhog Day is a great movie and she is fine in it.

Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but the guy who played Buck in 'Ordinary People' delivered a dead-on-arrival performance. The guy playing Buck would've never won an Oscar like Timothy Hutton.

OP - your thread reminded me of this old TV sketch:

I know Crash is heavily reviled on Data Lounge, (if only because of the movie it beat out for Best Picture), but I thought it was extremely well acted. It was the first time I ever liked Sandra Bullock, she made a great bitch...but I thought Aiden Quinn, who I normally like, was awful. When they won the SAG award, I kept hoping Aiden would be excluded from the stage.

Catherine Deneuve in Indochine (1992). Her only Oscar nominated performance? WTF? She acted like a zombie in that film. Cold, boring, uncharismatic.

Come on...I loved Catherine Deneuve in Indochine. She's so damn glamorous.

[quote]I was trying to decide on a good Andie MacDowell movie and couldn’t decide.

I watched READY OR NOT (2019) a couple weeks ago and thought Andie was surprisingly good as the family matriarch.

Meryl Streep in [italic] Holocaust [/italic]

R81 Isn't the character an opium addict?

Re: Godfather Part III, Winona Ryder was originally cast as Mary. She would have been great. But she dropped out because of "exhaustion."

Rebecca Schaeffer was high on Coppola's list. She also would have been great. But she was shot dead the day of her audition.

R82, watch that film again (I just did). Weak performance. She's glacial.

Everybody in "Julia." Except for M.

Everybody in "The Deer Hunter." Except for M.

Everybody in "Sophie's Choice." Except for M.

Everybody in "Manhattan." Except for M.

Everybody in "Kramer Vs. Kramer." Except for M.

Everybody in "Silkwood." Except for M.

Dear. This could go on forever, couldn't it?

Deneuve was glacial in everything

If you want perky, stick to Julia Roberts; if you want cool, timeless sophistication, stick with Catherine Deneuve.

I don't even like Roberts that much but she has done plenty of darker roles where she isn't perky at all. She has probably shown more range than Deneuve, who's better known as a style icon than an actress

Deneuve is about glamour, full stop. You want modulation, get another actress.

I was blown away by Julianne Moore's performance in "The Hours."

And Kidman was quite good, too.

But Streep bugged the shit out of me -- always twitching and drawing focus when other actors were talking. Always REACTING.

Streep can act circles around Kidman, who's only famous because she married Tom Cruise

Another vote for Anne Baxter in All About Eve. She overplays the sweetness to the point where she becomes unbearably cloying (how was Birdie the only one who saw through her for so long). The moments when she reveals her cuntiness are fun but she overplays those as well.

And although we're told that she's a brilliant actress (we never see her onstage performing) she simply doesn't have the self-awareness and intelligence to be a good actress. She's like a less-extreme version of Lora Meredith in Imitation Of Life.

Jeanne Crain would probably have been a better choice to play Eve.

R10 She was the main character's love interest in Magic Mike. I hated her in that movie, and I'm not one of those gays who hates all women. I later learned that she was the daughter of a studio executive.

Disagree about Strathairn in DOLORES. I thought he was excellent and his accent was similar to the one Bates used.

Agree about Streep in THE HOURS. Unfortunately she is stuck with the least well-developed character so she tries to fill it in with a lot of actorish "business". Plus she's doing scenes with a rather hammy Ed Harris.

Not crazy about Moore in the film either. She regurgitates her "out of it" performance from SAFE and it's as tiresome here. However she is marvelous in the later scene with Streep.

Maggie Smith in TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT. Mannered to a grotesque degree.

Daniel Day-Lewis in A ROOM WITH A VIEW. He comes off like a university acting student playacting as a effete snob. There's not a believable moment in the whole performance. Fortunately, LAUNDRETTE came out right after and proved he was talented.

[quote]Daniel Day-Lewis in A ROOM WITH A VIEW.

Yes. He is like a cartoon.

Whenever he is on screen the film pivots from humorous romance to slapstick silliness.

Did Daniel at least have the decency to show his willy?

[quote] I dunno, I thought the point was to have an obviously shallow character portrayed an obviously shallow actor. Worked for me, anyway.

Agreed, it was similar to the casting of Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut. Ryan O'Neal is a mediocre actor who achieved limited success in life--the perfect fit for Barry Lyndon, the story of a mediocre man who thinks he's duping others when he's the dupe himself.

[quote] And although we're told that she's a brilliant actress (we never see her onstage performing) she simply doesn't have the self-awareness and intelligence to be a good actress. She's like a less-extreme version of Lora Meredith in Imitation Of Life.

I actually think Marilyn Monroe would have been great in the Anne Baxter role. It was before her Marilyn Monroe persona was established. And although I'm not a huge fan of hers, I think it would have been very easy to envision Monroe charming everyone she meets and fooling others. The first half of this clip shows a more restrained Monroe without the baby voice thing she does.

R102, I am a big fan of Marilyn’s and I agree that she would have done a great job.

[quote] I am a big fan of Marilyn’s and I agree that she would have done a great job.

Thank you. Imagine if she got did get to play Eve. Her entire career would have turned out differently.

And I would have got my 3rd Oscar!

Hey Bette, look over there, it's Joan Crawford stealing another one of your men!

Meryl Streep’s performance in The Hours is my least favorite of all her work. You can see all her tricks because the role isn’t fleshed out.

[quote]I dunno, I thought the point was to have an obviously shallow character portrayed an obviously shallow actor.

I might have agreed with you, if only O'Neal could have found an acceptable accent and stuck to it.

So we end up with an obviously shallow character portrayed by an obviously shallow actor who can't even be believably Irish.

Ryan Phillippe in that Clint Eastwood war movie.

That's my problem with O'Neal. Everybody around him is in period but he's stuck in 70s LA. Still love the film.

I think also Jeanne Crain as well as Ann Blythe would have been great in the first half of Eve. They were able to portray genuine sweetness. Then when the ambitious bitch came out it would have been shocking and satisfying. I like Baxter a lot but around all these sophisticated Broadway types she's pretty cloying. Though she's terrific in the 2nd half when it becomes her story.

Ann Blyth had already done "Mildred Pierce" so Eve's bitchery wouldn't have been surprising to audiences.

I don't see how Monroe would have a different career if she'd played Eve. Would you want her to have Baxter's not especially great film career? (And let's not pretend Marilyn wouldn't have died young if she'd only played Eve.)

r111, I think she would have still died young but I do think she would have been a little happier. She was so desperate to be approved of for her acting. And if she was accepted, I doubt she would have just had Baxter's career. Since she was way hotter, she could have still been in a lot of other movies with prestigious directors.

Marilyn was fantastic as Miss Casswell though. It's my favorite performance of hers in anything.

Hugh Marlowe is worse than Gary Merrill in All About Eve.

The actress who plays Phoebe in the end is stunning, however she had a rather tragic life, unfortunately.

Marilyn still would have been used up, whether she played the lead in "Baby Doll," "Three Faces of Eve" or whatever. She wasn't a Jayne Mansfield in terms of her resume.

I think Angela Lansbury should have played Eve. She was pretty but not a stunner. Could play sweet and naive (The Picture Of Dorian Gray) as well as ruthless and calculating (Gaslight, State Of The Union).

Her talent might not have been so wasted during the 50s. Plus I doubt she would not have demanded to be campaigned in LEAD.

Subtlety has never been Lansbury's strong point... I'm imagining Eve's first scene as performed by Salome Otterbourne (sp?).

Lansbury was never pretty. She had similarly big eyes as Davis, though.

Elizabeth Berridge was amazing in Amadeus, she actually stole a couple of scenes from F Murray Abraham. I was always surprised she didn't even get a nomination.

Kidman was terrible in Eyes Wide Shut.

R120, completely disagree. That was one of her best roles. Even Tom was good enough.

This movie had some wonderful, delightful performers who handled their scenes well.

Unfortunately there was a gurning circus-performer in the title role. He was an out-of control egomaniac who thought he was making a kids movie.

Let me guess: You want to fuck (young) John Gavin, which makes you think he had talent.

R123 Peter, Charles and Larry were the 'wonderful, delightful performers'. Those two others with the fake names were merely eye-candy.

PETER USTINOV

Ustinov, an excellent impressionist/raconteur with some wonderful material

Thank you for this video, R126

I'm surprised Ustinov didn't trash John Gavin!

I remember enjoying this movie when I was still very young, mostly for Ustinov.

Agree with the poster who said Hugh Marlowe was the weakest link in All About Eve (He's not embarrassingly bad, just not as good as the rest of the cast to me)

Ustinov's performance in Quo Vadis always reminds me of Trump.

I'm a lesbian, and Peter Ustinov has always been overweight, and yet I've always found him incredible attractive, sexy, you name it.

I'm not a lesbian but I thought Ustinov was rather cute and role-poly in the late 40s and in 'Quo Vadis'. Him being intelligent and a cultured polymath made him even more attractive in the 50s and early 60s.

I can understand wanting his company. But wanting to pump him or have him pumping away on top of you? It takes all kinds...

Nicolas Cage in The Color Out of Space.

Scratch that; anything with Nicolas Cage in it.

There comes a stage in life, R132, where sex means nothing more than gender.

Sandy Duncan in The Cat From Outer Space.

Cybill Shepard's performance renders "Daisy Miller" nearly unwatchable. Her character is supposed to be this flirty chatterbox, and that's pretty much as deep as it went as far as she was concerned. Every line was completely phony.

See the clip below; her ENTIRE performance is like this. Did director Peter Bogdonovich know she was this bad, or was he too pussymatized?

What R134 said! I would have loved his company, regardless.

R136 GOOD LORD that was awful. And still someone went ahead and gave her a sitcom with her name on it.

Natalie Wood in Inside Daisy Clover. Terrible performance, terrible hair, terrible film title.

^ LOL!

I suppose the homosexual writer though that awful 'inside' pun was amusing.

R136, that was like something from a bad high school play. (I've like Cybill in other things, though)

Cybill is one of those performers with little talent and technique but she can be very effective, probably when she gets out of her own way.

Well CERTAINLY not ANY of US!

Tom Cruise in Rainman (1988).

Hugh Marlow didn't bother me in AAE; though by the time I'd seen it, I had already welcomed him into my heart as Jim Matthews.

From the beginning I couldn't believe that everyone didn't see through Eve like Birdie had. ESPECIALLY since Birdie had.

But maybe that was the point. The audience was supposed to figure it out before Margo et. al. did.

R145, I think the implication is that they're all too vain, neurotic and wrapped up in themselves. Eve tells them what they want to hear and behaves politely and supportively and they all accept that at face value because it saves time. That said, Margo begins to mistrust her after a short while; Bill evidently sees through her attempt to interest him; Addison isn't fooled a moment; Miss Casswell couldn't care less; and Karen is aware that Eve has been underhanded the minute her article comes out. The only one still in her thrall to the end is Lloyd, who is responding chiefly to her talent. We never have Eve's account of events at the very end confirmed (where she claims Lloyd will leave Karen for her) and it's possible, given Addison's reaction, that she is lying about that as well and merely means to sow seeds of further discord.

R142 She needs the right material and the right direction, and that doesn't happen often! I used to love Moonlighting, because for some reason it worked perfectly (the first few seasons at least, or maybe just the first season).

R146, excellent points.

One of my many favorite exchanges in the film is Margo saying to Birdie: You don't like Eve do you

Birdie: Do you want an argument or an answer?

I suspect Eve was lying about Lloyd saying he'd leave Karen; Eve was visualizing trying to make it happen.

In the middle of everybody’s overacting in “Osage County”, Meryl Streep stood out as the worst of the bunch.

R149, Julia Roberts was so much better than Meryl in that movie.

We can say Anne Baxter in ALL ABOUT EVE is not believable being a goody two shoes at first because we already Know she's a bitch. The rest of the people with her totally accept her (except Addison who can smell a rat in any Shubert Alley). And Hugh Marlowe was Extremely attractive.

That woman who played Patsy in Terms of Endearment. I don't even remember her name. She might have been passable enough if the rest of the cast was less fantastic, but as is, she sticks out like a sore thumb. Miranda Richardson took the role in the sequel and she might have given more ham than a butcher shop, but she at least didn't put the audience to sleep.

Nicholas Cage in Peggy Sue Got Married is another great example. He nearly ruins the movie every time he opens his mouth.

Liza Minelli in Arthur (1981).

Benedict Cumberbatch was the weak link in August: Osage County, not Meryl

Oh yeah... Raquel Welch in the early seventies "Three Musketeers" and "Four Musketeers" movie. They're by far the best movie version of the classic Dumas story, they're great fun and top quality movies overall, and all of the performances are great except one.

Not only did Welch give a performance that was flat and phoney compared to all the great work of the rest of the cast, she brought her own fucking costume designer! So everyone else's clothes are so authentic to the period that I know a costume geek who still raves about the scene of Faye Dunaway getting dress and tying on her panniers and shoving a buck down the front of her corset, and Welch's clothes and hair are sort of vaguely period.

Seinfeld nailed Welch's real persona. It's strange she would agree to portray herself that way.

[quote] I know Crash is heavily reviled on Data Lounge, (if only because of the movie it beat out for Best Picture), but I thought it was extremely well acted. It was the first time I ever liked Sandra Bullock, she made a great bitch...but I thought Aiden Quinn, who I normally like, was awful. When they won the SAG award, I kept hoping Aiden would be excluded from the stage.

Aiden Quinn was in Crash?

Sorry, "shoving a BUSK down the front of her corset".

Tom Selleck in Myra Breckinridge (1970).

Bridget Fonda in The Road to Wellville (1994). Anthony Hopkins and Mr. SJP were fine but Bridget was dull, uncharismatic, and sour. The movie was ok but its storyline was weak...and the film was a major bomb. Remember, Bridget turned down the lead in Ally McBeal. What is she doing now?

She's Mrs. Danny Elfman.

[quote]Julia Roberts was so much better than Meryl in that movie.

Julia Roberts has always been a talented actress.

I watching "Waiting for Adya" on Amazon Prime last night.

Not a great movie, to say the least, but Angelica Houston was notably awful.

She played her role as an older French woman like a drag queen hopped up on amphetamines.

And her accent was HILARIOUSLY bad.

Millie fucking Perkins in "The Diary of Anne Frank". Now the film itself is an overlong and over-sentimental piece of scheiße but the performances are pretty good and well-tuned, with the exception of Miss Perkins, who delivers one of the most amateurish performances ever caught on film.

Tippi Hedren in MARNIE. She just got by in THE BIRDS, but she was in over her head with this one.

THE RED SHOES is anchored by an iconic performance by sexy beast Anton Walbrook and a marvelous debut by Moira Shearer. But the third point on this fatal triangle is held by Marius Goring and his performance stinks to high heaven. He's inexplicable. It is a British film with British producers and directors and perhaps, for Brits, at that moment in history, Marius Goring met some idiosyncratic expectation. But, GAH! I love the film, but I wish Julian Craster had been played by just about any other actor than Marius Goring.

THE RED SHOES is anchored by an iconic performance by sexy beast Anton Walbrook and a marvelous debut by Moira Shearer. But the third point on this fatal triangle is held by Marius Goring and his performance stinks to high heaven. He's inexplicable. It is a British film with British producers and directors and perhaps, for Brits, at that moment in history, Marius Goring met some idiosyncratic expectation. But, GAH! I love the film, but I wish Julian Craster had been played by just about any other actor than Marius Goring.

^ The inexplicable Marius Goring played the Uber-fop in 'A Matter of Life and Death' so, as you say, it's inexplicable that Mr 'Perversity' Powell chose him to be the weak link in the 'Red Shoes' triangle.

Handsome David Farrar should have played Julian Craster but it would have meant him to dye his hair blond. That worked perfectly for O'Toole in 'Lawrence' but David Farrar was another perverse, ornery man who (I suspect turned the bottle) and found oblivion in the wilds of Souh Africa.

I know this is heresy, but Julianne Moore in Magnolia. Usually I love her, but I found her over the top and ridiculous in this movie.

David Farrar for Black Narcissus (1947). Hot guy in shorts!

"...for Brits, at that moment in history, Marius Goring met some idiosyncratic expectation. But, GAH! I love the film, but I wish Julian Craster had been played by just about any other actor than Marius Goring. "

I think that was to some extent deliberate, the audience isn't meant to think that the love between Vicky and Julian is so deep and life-changing that it's worth any sacrifice, we're meant to think that the heroine of "The Red Shoes" is throwing herself away on a man who isn't worthy. WE know that her one true love is ballet, and that Julian is a deeply unsympathetic character.

Still, the WWII man shortage was over by then, they could have at least found someone who read as straight.

This may be an unpopular opinion but I hated Sharon Stone in Casino. It's been on alot the past few weeks and I've been watching it. She's ghastly.

Elizabeth Shue in "Soapdish". Every other performance in that movie was perfect. She couldn't do comedy to save her life. She played the straight woman but had to turn diva and she failed.

R172, I think Casino is overrated in general. It's good, not great. It feels overlong compared to Goodfellas. I'm surprised so many out there consider Casino superior to Goodfellas.

R171 I wish one could excuse all of Powell's foolish decisions by saying it was "to some extent deliberate".

The perverse Powell reached a pinnacle in the late 40s with the Oscar winning 'Narcissus', the box-office success 'Red Shoes' and David O Selznick begging to employ him and then he went 'artistic'.

He thought he was being artistic doing two painful ghastly middle-European duds and he killed his own career.

R172, I love Goodfellas! Ray Liotta in his prime and Lorraine Bracco with the best New York accent ever! Interestingly enough, last week, Casino was followed by Goodfellas.

R176, Goodfellas is master filmaking. Casino? No, but it has master filmaking in moments.

Demi Moore in “A Few Good Men.” And what was wrong with her voice?

R174 "I'm surprised so many out there consider Casino superior to Goodfellas."

Who??? Who are these idiots? We must shame them.

R179, there are countless forums on the internet where the eternal question "Casino vs. Goodfellas" is posed. I don't know how anyone could go with Casino--it doesn't do anything better than Goodfellas.

R175, by "middle European duds" are you referring to that awful film with Jennifer Jones and TALES OF HOFFMAN (or OH, ROSALINDA)?

I thought PEEPING TOM from 1960 was the film that truly wrecked his career though I don't know that he had any hits in the 50s.

Michael Powell's film for David O' Selznick was OK but I'm guessing that Emeric Pressburger influenced him to do those two high-culture middle-European duds which killed his bankability.

He did two war movies (one of which is ruined by the effeminate Dirk Bogarde). He attempted another European fantasy film 'Ondine' with Audrey Hepburn and a version of 'Tempest' with James Mason as the magician.

'Oh... Rosalinda' and 'The Elusive Pimpernel' are not shown in my country but they both got poor reviews. Everything after 1950 was failure. The second volume of his memoirs is sad.

The one with Jennifer Jones was Gone to Earth. Set in rural England, so not "Middle European" at all

I actually like that one, even though Jones is miscast

I tried to watch the film with James Mason (AGE OF CONSENT) and couldn't make it past 30 minutes. Awful. Even a young Helen Mirren couldn't save it.

PEEPING TOM is brilliant, if seriously fucked up.

Getting back to OP'S example, I never liked Malkovich. He's too unattractive for that role. Alan Rickman was so much better on stage in the role.

Malkovich is so unnatractive in Dangerous Liasons.

There are two versions of this movie.

Jennifer's lift-up brassiere always makes me laugh as she prances across the hillsides in barefoot caressing foxes.

^ I have a DVD with both versions. Cyril Cusack and David Farrar are great, even if Jones was totally miscast (her accent is so off, she kinda sounds Irish in some parts)

I love Age of Consent (1969), mainly because I went to the film location (island in Queensland).

Meryl in Postcards from the Edge. Not so much a bad performance, as she seems to be acting in a completely different movie from everyone else.

Annette and Shirley also both manage to wipe her completely off the screen.

Meryl does comedy in a kabuki theatre "actory" way. She's stilted and seems unnatural trying to be funny.

M. has no gift for comedy. In real life, she has no sense of humor. Believe me, I've been at dinner parties with her. She laughs only when she sees other people laughing. Like a good actress, she has the timing down. But not the actual humor.

R189 I'd like to visit Dunk Island to see the particular spots where that film was made.

I want to test my theory that ALL the scenes were photographed in the afternoon— because Powell and Mason spent every night getting drunk on the sun lounges around the hotel pool.

[quote]Malkovich is so unattractive in Dangerous Liaisons.

You could have left off the "in Dangerous Liaisons" part.

Meryl Streep was perfect in Death Becomes Her. At least until the film went off the rails midway through. “Now a warning?!”

Death Becomes Her is good to the last drop, but yes, Meryl is very funny in it.

Reese Witherspoon in American Psycho - she was so out of place in that movie, and poorly cast. I'm not slagging on her acting in general, she was fantastic in Walk The Line, but I didn't get why they chose her for AP.

"Cleopatra."

Liz was hideous. Everyone else was fine.

Running on Empty is one of my favorite films but I would have been happy if Judd Hirsch had been replaced.

I actually thought Reese was good in American Psycho, particularly in her final scene in the restaurant with Patrick. I can't really think of a bad performance in that film. Maybe Chloe is a bit stiff, but that's in keeping with the power dynamic.

Chloe usually is pretty stiff. I really thought she'd be the weakest person in Big Love and she ended up really surprising me and delivering a great performance.

Are concert movies allowed

The band, back up singers and crowd were supreme

THE LAST VOYAGE was a proto-disaster epic. A bit corny but loaded with suspense and drama. All of the performances were great, save for the obnoxious little girl Jill, played by Tammy Marihugh. Woody Strode should have pitched her ginger ass into the ocean.

Everything with John Lithgow

Have I mentioned that horrendous egomaniac who gave himself the title role in 'Spartacus'? He thought he was making another kids cartoon movie (like 'The Vikings' and '20,000 Leagues') and grimaced and gurned and displayed his leather-bound brassiere.

The director was a 20-something punk just out of film school and totally out of his depth.

And the screenwriter thought he was writing a script for Sergei Eisenstein and Josef Stalin.

How much time ya got?

Irene Cara in Fame (1980).

Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. The notorious bad accent and slapstick are too much for anyone to bear.

Me in me

G in Fatal Attraction

Ray Liotta in Goodfellas

Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman.