Bad Actors we pretend are great

Sorry she beat you out on that big audition 40 years ago.

This thread was preceded by:

JACKASSES WE TAUGHT TO TYPE

....

Bitch what? Kathy Bates is one of the greats. Fuck you!

Meryl is very overrated

John Wayne

La Taylor

Wayne was popular, but not a great actor by a long-shot. He was effective in some films like "The Searchers", but usually gave the same performance.

Olivia De haviland

Kristy McNichol

Lin-Manuel (well some people think anything he performs in is at least good or to be encouraged)

Ben Afflack

Andy Griffith

OP, I'm a huge Kathy Bates fan, and I'm hard-pressed to summon ONE performance of hers that sounds like what you describe.

[quote]Andy Griffith

He was great in "A Face in the Crowd" and very good in the first five seasons of "The Andy Griffith Show." Then, he began phoning it in, and his character become kind of unpleasant. He, likewise, went through the motions on his lawyer show, "Matlock."

Griffith's very good too in "No Time for Sergeants", doing a role later adapted for Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle on his show.

Jack Nicholson. He WAS great (Cuckoos Nest, Chinatown, The Shining, As Good As it Gets, Terms of Endearment, Postman Rings Twice, etc) but he got lazy. I didn't really think he did that great in The Departed and he phoned it in ever since.

End of thread.

poor Ben Affleck has never been considered great by anyone. Remember when he gave that interview in the press room after the GG ? he said "of course I'm disappointed not to have been given an oscar nom for directing, but I didn't get one for acting, and nobody said I was snubbed" . Still I would be dangling on that dick / sucking those titties so hard he wouldn't know what fell upon him

Sean Penn

Julianne Moore. Seriously.

Tim Kruger

One-note Viola Davis.

While she is by no means a bad actress Amy Adams is highly overrated. She reads as a vulnerable all American girl next door and critics and audiences love that. As a result she is given far more accolades than necessary.

oh yeah , where is my oscar already ?

Let me tell you about Deb Messing.

Meryl is not all that

I was nominated for an Oscar for About Schmidt and I'm gonna win my fourth Oscar REEEEEAL SOOON, wink wink!

We need to do a thread on Great Actors we Pretend are Bad.

I was thinking the same Faye

Sally Field.

Emma Stone

Michelle " I'm a broken little bird someone please rescue me" Williams.

Florence Lawrence

Jennifer Lopez

Oliver Coleman , M

r33 stole my answer. Just a dreadful, energy sucking actress.

Jack Nicholson was excellent at choosing scripts. He knew who he was and how to act these characters. It’s a hallmark of successful Movie Stars.

Daniel Daylewis

Sir Laurence Lord Olivier

All technique.

R40 = Kenneth Branagh

Yep, r40. Olivier’s only honest moments as an actor was when playing extreme self-loathing, during moments in Sister Carrie and The Entertainer.

Guinness and Richardson were vastly superior.

Jessica Lange.

Julie Andrews because she was given an undeserved Oscar for not being in [italic]My Fair Lady[/italic], then for turning down her last chance at Tony because nobody else from that shitty drug show of hers was nominated.

Kathy Bates absolutely sucked as Miss Hannigan but she was good in a lot of other stuff.

Nicole Kidman. She is great at playing ice queens but flounders desperately at anything requiring warmth or spontaneity.

Bette Davis

Kate Winslet. Butch and obnoxious.

R47 = Henry Cavill

I've been saying that at every fucking opportunity for 50 years :Natalie Wood

Leo D

That ghastly, vulgar American harridan, Patty La Pony. Or whatever her name is.

M & G

ellen paige won an Olivier award ? for ?

Audrey Hepburn.

R54 put down the gin and go to bed, Julie, it was a long time ago

You misspelled Landers, R54.

The latest actor getting the hype treatment is Brendan Fraser. 🙄

Who could play George of the Jungle better than he could?

the weirdo with the scarface who won for that joker movie, the gladiator guy

All the Friends cast members

de niro owns this thread

nepotism Jane F

Frances McDormand

R21 is right. I love Julianne Moore and I always hope for the best from her. Early in her career, she gave some interesting performances ("Boogie Nights", "Far from Heaven", "The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio"). But she's gotten lazy and gives the same performance over and over. I watched "Children of Men" yesterday for the first time and thought "I've seen this before". She gave the same performance in "The Hunger Games - Mockingjay". And in "The Woman in the Window". I wish she would stop taking roles where she plays the "strong leader" and start picking some that allow her to be more vulnerable.

Angela Bassett. Bad actress and she look like a man. An ugly man.

I don't think anyone thinks anyone from the cast of Friends is a GREAT actor, they might think they are good at what they do, but I've never heard anyone say, 'Matt LeBlanc: Great Actor'.

Anne Baxter was always fake and actress-y

R66: but the way the media industrial complex talks about that show as if it was on a par with Mary Tyler Moore or M*A*S*H when it is even worse than Full fucking House is nauseating.

R64 is new here. Can someone please explain ?

Annette Benning

Matt Damon

Johnny Dep

Leonardo diCaprio

Robert Downey, Jr.

Jane Fonda

Diane Keaton

Michael Keaton

Sean Penn

Joaquin Phoenix

Will Smith

Kare Winslet

R61 More specifically, De Niro in comedy.

Joan Crawford

Elizabeth Taylor. Always phony

you can add richard burton, fascinated with himself and delighted with his own voice

[quote]Andy Griffith

OT: I will always love Andy Griffith and old black & white episodes of the Andy Griffith show because it was one of the shows I'd watch with my Dad and genuinely enjoy.

Also OT: One season on “Married With Children” the Bundys went on vacation to Dumpwater Florida where they stayed at the Poppy’s By the Tree Inn (which was known for a serial killer who killed tourists) and one of the town’s attractions was to “meet the man who met Andy Griffith.” As it turns out the serial killer was the man who met Andy Griffith so they didn’t arrest him and I think they may have run the Bundys out of town for hurting him.

Kate McKinnon

Ryan Gosling.

Don't have time to read the whole thread to see if he was already mentioned but he if he was, he deserves another one!

but if he was*

julie andrews

al pacino...OMG scarface is an orgy of bad acting

I truly think "Leo" now being considered this all-time great actor is a microcosm of our dumbed down society.

Very controversial but I will add Michelle Pfeiffer. Not bad per se but not a fraction as gifted as she is made out to be. She's been over praised for years. Sharon Stone is a similar type but gave a better performance in Casino than Pfeiffer has ever given in her " serious" performances . As an aside I absolutely loathe her husband David E Kelley but that's a subject for another thread.

R80 Scarface is very camp to me, it demands a scene chewing, overacted performance. Can you imagine a subtle and nuanced Tony Montana?

Spacey

Sorry, he’s a fay, snide cunt in EVERYthing he does.

Same goes for Malkovich

R82 I'll agree. She completely fucked up that scene, she always ends up whining. She was surprisingly good in MOTHER! (OH btw? jENNIFER lAWRENCE HAS A 1000 YEARS LEASE ON THIS THREAD) and white oleander. She gives good bitch when she wants, but always plays the good girl, and is bad at it. I still give her countess Olenska though

[quote] Sharon Stone is a similar type but gave a better performance in Casino than Pfeiffer has ever given in her " serious" performances .

You're entitled to your opinion on Pfeiffer but you ruined it with that.

Explain what to me, R66? Julianne Moore? Seriously?

R82 there's a whole spectrum between "subtle and nuanced" and "I don't even know which accent I picked and my face hurts"

Whoever said Debra Messing... YES! The last season of Will & Grace must have taken three days to tape one episode because she always looks like she's going to break character.

My contributions (most of these are not BAD bad and can turn in good to great performances, but are generally middling) would be Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Fonda, Amy Adams, Robert Downey Jr., Carey Mulligan, Jennifer Lawrence, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, and Anne Hathaway

R88 was meant for R69.

Obviously OP has not seen About Schmidt or Six Feet Under.

BRAD PITT BRAD PITT BRAD PITT

I love some of his films, but fuck he's a terrible actor. Terrible!

And he does that weird gurning with his jaw to emote which makes him look like a retard (see example below and you will forever see it in every single one of his performances).

R88 really ? "Julianne Moore. seriously" is one of the seminal jokes on DL. It's as famous as the "draining pasta" feud, or the "sure Jan" gif. Is it the first time you see it ? the legend goes that Julianne herself has been made aware of the joke and likes it.

I was going to say the same, R87.

While I enjoyed Stone in Casino, she was treading into Sally Kirkland territory there a few times.

I'm aware R95. I've been here for 22 years. I'm well aware of the Julianne Moore joke.

Are you retarded?

Scarlett Johansson. She's very beautiful but I think she's a very wooden actor. She owes her career to that gorgeous face.

Barbra

lady gaga and bradley cooper

“ Misery” seemed autistic

[quote] She owes her career to that gorgeous face.

She owes her career to her surgeon

Corrected that for you

Pia Zadora

The pig?

I guess it’s possible.

R94. Who pretends Brad Pitt is a great actor?

(R80) I agree, that cokehead should have been put out to the pastor long ago. And his buddy DeNiro. Keeps making movies to financially support ex-wives. Those two have phoned it in for years.

Just because Pacino and De Niro aren't as good as they used to be (I'd argue Pacino at least has turned in good performances in the last decade with the Jack Kevorkian movie, the Joe Paterno movie and The Irishman) doesn't make them bad actors. I'd say their phoned in performances are better than about 60% of currently working male actors.

Saoirse Ronan. She doesn’t seem like a real girl and she doesn’t seem like an American girl. She’s also not pleasing to my eyes.

Robert Pattinson....why ? he's a black hole of zero nothing nil. there is more talent in christina Ricci left ear than in Pattinson + Chalamet+ kristen stewart + saoirse ronan 's careers put together

R108 Parrallel thinking

Parker Posey

Judy Tenuta

Saoirse ronan is a pasty, mediocre, common excuse of an actress. her below average looks, pretentiousness and belief in her own hype , The fact that she's a feminist plate adds even more diarrhea to her shitty personality and absolute lack of charisma. She's less sexy than a can of expired sauerkraut

I've watched all of Leo D.'s movies except for Body of Lies. I gotta say I liked his early performances a lot - Basketball Diaries, Marvin's Room, Total Eclipse and, of course, Gilbert Grape. In both Romeo + Juliet and Titanic, I found him to be very inconsistent. And ever since The Man in the Iron Mask, he makes me cringe in everything he does. Okay, to be fair, he had his moments in Wolf of Wallstreet and Catch Me If You Can, probably because those were more light-hearted roles. I think the characters were also quite close to his 'real' self - slick, charming con artists. But I think even those types of characters he couldn't pull off anymore. He comes off so still and humourless now, almost robotic.

stiff = stiff

Ugh I meant still = stiff

Faye Dunaway

Spencer Tracy

Helen Cunt

R113, she's not trying to be sexy. Why are gay men so obsessed with female seminars anyway? Are you a closeted straight? Talent has nothing to do with sexiness

[quote] Why are gay men so obsessed with female seminars anyway?

Because the male ones were sold out.

hahahahahaha R118 I was hoping to trigger a frau or a lez with that one. me =1/R118 =0

R81, as opposed to the "everything was better in 100 years ago when I was a kid" crowd who think Elizabeth Taylor is the apotheosis of acting?

Glenda Jackson

[quote] who think Elizabeth Taylor is the apotheosis of acting?

we never said that. NATALIE WOOD is the apotheosis of acting

That's because most of you can't even use the word correctly in a sentence.

R109 Have you seen Good Time, Map to the Stars, High Life or The Rover? Have you seen even one of these movies? He's not just Edward from Twilight.

cosmopolis was also good

[quote] Robert Pattinson....why ? he's a black hole of zero nothing nil.

There were better actors than him in the movie [italic]The Black Hole[/italic]. Even the black hole itself gave a better performance.

no it wasn't. You have horrible basic taste. Just because something is presented to you as "artsy", you buy it. pathetic. Go back to your twilight franchise missy, and let the men do the talking

Pssssh you insult people who don't share your pop culture tastes. That's something a teenager would do. You're the pathetic one here. I'm sorry Robert Pattinson killed your grandma or whatever the fuck he did to make you spew aggression.

I'm sorry you can't come up with anything other than clichés, psychological projection, and baseless assumptions in the defense of the mediocre pretty-boy you worship.

R129 another one bites the dust. Me = 2 / R129 = 0...more fraus on this gay board ? I'm in the mood for a nice cat fight

PS I've only seen one of the Twilight films so I can't call it MY franchise. You horrible excuse for a human being.

If I'm a horrible excuse then you have no excuse at all.

you're fat

R132 you are so fat, and you have bad hair too

Girls, girls, GIRLS! You're BOTH fat!

I've blocked R136 , what is she saying ?

Was there a nuclear holocaust or did R137 just fart?

more whining ?

I found a video of R132

I wish Tarantino had hired real washed up actors in the Leo and Brad roles in “once upon a time in Hollywood” and a lesser known actress as Sharon Tate. Leo was unconvincing as the washed up actor since he’s the king of the “got lucky club” and Brad Pitt is not very convincing as a stunt man either. Margo was ok as Tate but lacks the enigma that would have made the part more interesting. I think leo and Brad are pretty good at giving a performance but it’s always the same performance so really they are bad

that movie was just so dumb. tarantino should stick to movies where Bambi's mother is saved by snow-white. IRL Tate was only famous by virtue of marrying Polanski, she was pretty but had bitch face for decades and was an active satanist, and not exactly Vivien Leigh in the acting department either, and that ugly actor portraying Steve Mcqueen gossiping at the beginning like a yass queen, please. tarantino is just so fucking stupid, and wears it on his ugly face

R38 DeNiro famously said “the talent is in the choices,” and I totally believe that. Of course that’s funny coming from DeNiro, who has come close to ruining his legacy by making the world’s WORST choices, but no matter.

G.

Sissy Spacek

BRANDO owns this thread!

Brando the greatest actor who ever lived, um, no. He was great in one or two movies, good in a couple more. The other performances, and there are a LOT of them, were pure dreck. He gained the title in the 1950s because he was a different kind of Post-War actor, which is not enough to sustain the title greatest actor. Sorry.

[quote]gives the same performance over and over.

There was a time when this was a good thing. It made a star a star!

[quote]Yep, [R40]. Olivier’s only honest moments as an actor was when playing extreme self-loathing, during moments in Sister Carrie and The Entertainer. Guinness and Richardson were vastly superior.

Only honest moments as an actor? So you saw all his stage work? I'm impressed! What were the most "honest moments" of Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson? Two good actors (especially Richardson, I'm not as impressed by Guinness), but which one do you think would have made a better Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights? Or Maxim De Winter in Rebecca?

Sarah Paulson

Tina Louise

Judi Dench. She gives the same angry, sour performance over and over.

The thing I hate about American audiences is that when they hear a British accent, they lose all sense of critical assessment.

Kindly note, M, that the periods are not used in this context. But you are forgiven for having a "senior moment."

Joan “I’m acting” Crawford.

Des ANYONE outside of the DL think Joan Crawford was a great actress?

R154 Des ANYONE outside of the DL think about Joan Crawford?

Mariska Hargitay

Joyce Bulifant!

Leonardo DiCaprio.

Matt Damion.

I think Montgomery Clift always strikes me as a weird learning-impaired adult. He's the most unrelatable actor with a career I've ever seen and he's uncomfortable to watch. I think he kinda sucks.

Jessica Lange and her horrible accents , especially the German one oof.

De Niro.

End of thread.

R43, R161, whatever, bitches!

John Gielgud

Looks like Jessica at R163 is drunk. Again. Might be easier to just mention the times she is actually sober. I puked many times when I had to perform with this lush back in the day.

R165,

[quote]Montgomery Clift always strikes me as a weird learning-impaired adult.

That style of acting was in vogue in the 1950s. Actors you couldn't "see acting." Clift was my favorite over Brando and James Dean.

Frankly, r167 ALL I see is the "acting".

For Monty Clift's debut film, The Search, movie audiences thought he was a real soldier because his acting was so naturalistic.

Thanks, OP, but it’s just too easy.

Daryl Hannah is completely wooden in everything she’s done.

Today is Robert Redford Day on TCM. He had a natural like acting thing going until until 1973, after, and including The Great Gatsby, it all disappeared. He should have quit after All the President's Men in 1976.

Interesting that he started directing right about that time.

Three years later, R173.

nobody ever pretended that Daryl was great

another vote for Lange. I watched in horror her blanche dubois until I couldn't take it anymore, and she gave the same performance in blue sky, or whatever. She was okay in king kong and tootsie .and all that jazz IIRC. She's never better than when she keeps her mouth shut. she was moving in music box, but it was a part that was playing itself.and that plastic surgery. PUKE. She's unfilmable

R172 he was great in All The Presidents Men, actually. Probably his only really good performance, though he has probably about 4-5 more that I like.

Naomi watts . She seems like a narcoleptic.

Angelina Jolie. While she turned in a few good performances in her youth everything since has been OTT and overwrought. She's like a model posing for her scenes rather than inhabiting the roles. It's as if she forgot how to portray a normal human being.

R179: Shut up, Jen, you homewrecking bitch!

Gary Cooper

[quote] Today is Robert Redford Day on TCM. He had a natural like acting thing going until until 1973, after, and including The Great Gatsby, it all disappeared. He should have quit after All the President's Men in 1976.

He only retired from acting once all he could get were Mickey Rooney's leftovers.

I tried to re watch EAST OF EDEN the other day, and after 5 minutes I was literally exhausted . Dean can't even stand straight for 2 seconds. He's ACTING more in one frame than Vivien Leigh in the entire STREETCAR screen version.

My favorite actress is Julianne Moore, seriously. But even I want to see her do something different. She was solid in the recent “Lisey’s Story” but it wasn’t very different from past performances.

I watched the lesbian movie the other day and it’s a shame she wasn’t Oscar nominated alongside Bening.

This thread is owned by Meryl Streep.

Vanessa Redgrave. Dreadful, staring eyed, manic grinning, and over the top in every role.

Vanessa is a special case. She can be absolutely divine and inspired ('howard's end, Mary stuart) or dreadful. I saw her onstage in the tempest, and I left at the intermission, crying. She had decided she didn't like the cast, and she wasn't even looking at them or talking to them. She was throwing her lines AT them facing the audience all the time

"Great" actors James Dean, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino = all HAMS

R188 Dean is massively overrated, Hoffman is good in certain performances (The Graduate, Tootsie), but Pacino legitimately deserves the acclaim he has for his work in the 70s alone, come on! What about either of The Godfather movies or Serpico is ham?

Dusty was good in the graduate and John and Mary. Still ok, in midnight cowboy. it went downhill from there.

[quote] This thread is owned by Meryl Streep.

thanks, it was my first reaction, but I didn't have the courage to start an endless frau outrage.

I didn't say Hoffman and Pacino were bad actors, I said they were hams. Both have done some excellent performances, but they're overrated. Dean isn't even in the same category.

A forgotten gem of Hoffman's is "Straight Time".

DL is ludicrous at times- at least it’s posters are-

what's the name of the movie where Robert Redford is good, again ? it's like a road movie, little known , help me

I bet you ANYTHING that R194 is about to have a meltdown over the "streep" comments. Frau alert

YES, R193. Good little film and Hoffman is completely hamless.

Who isn't overrated? You can make that claim about every actor someone claims as "the best" because no actor has a spotless filmography. The thread in question is "bad actors people pretend are great" not "overrated actors"

Hoffman was hilarious as Redgrave's husband in the agatha christie movie. she's 8ft tall and he's like, 3"5

[quote]Who isn't overrated?

EVERY actor who has EVER received any acclaim for ANY one film performance. They may have been able to repeat it once or twice, then either repetition or anonymity. The end .

THREAT CLOSED.

generally speaking , star actors are overrated, because they need that publicity and praise to remain stars. normal good working actors who desrve their good reputation are dime a dozen. most stars are overrated, but not all of them are. some are underrated on the contrary. Caan , Hackman, are not overrated. what's the name of that beautiful actress who was in the perfect storm ? Diane Lane ! not overrated. Julianne Moore is not overrated, she's terrific. just a few examples

Laurence Olivier was a stagey, ego-driven, manipulative creep.

R202 -- but Pauline Kael loved him in THE BETSY.

>>Caan , Hackman, are not overrated

CAAN?

CAAN is probably the finest american film actor who ever was.

R205, Hi, Jimmy!

Grace Kelly

And she was a lousy driver too

James Caan was super hot but can't really act his way out of a paper bag. Gene Hackman is just as widely respected as the other New Hollywood guys (two Oscars!), but he retired a while ago.

2 words =Paul Newman

I didn’t mean to WW. ^

Judy Garland

R211 Oh thank you, you're so brave; You re going to be banned for years, for telling the truth. That ugly dreck! I tried to watch A STAR IS BORN the other day. Yuck. a mentally retarded dumpy narcissist looking like "the cat lady" from down the road...unsufferable. I can' believe any gay man under 96 yo can like her. It's the idea of having a flag figure is it not ? Bye gurl, R211 you are a hero

Helen Lawson

It's so stupid (but it's your right) to say actors like James Dean are overrated, when 65 YEARS LATER* people are still watching his films and enjoying his work. The same for Monty Clift, people still watch him in The Search, A Place In The Sun, From Here To Eternity. These people get new fans all the time. I don't know who thinks Vivien Leigh was not great in Streetcar but you just can't enjoy acting. You probably think Gregory Peck was great in To Kill A Mockingbird, the man was a walking corpse.

*say it in a French accent like the narrator of Spongebob

Brando is the worst. His Corleone was so whiny and sissy I felt embarrassed for him

Betty White

Ava Gardner...not even so pretty

Some of these are just movie stars, not actors we think are great actors.

Laurence Olivier definitely. All technique. Has the Streep syndrome, no person underneath the technique. Same with Daniel Day Lewis IMO. I'm always impressed by the technique but never think of their characters as flesh and blood I should care about.

Margot Robbie.

James Dean is overrated but not Montgomery Clift. Elizabeth Taylor is underrated. She was awful once the sixties started but she was very entertaining and sympathetic in the fifties. Full of life.

Garbo. Overrated. Spencer Tracy. Overrated. Not likeable. Was looking at Libeled Lady. Powell, Loy, Harlow, Tracy. Tracy was just so annoying and unlikeable when he was trying to be a charming rogue - an obsessed newspaper man who could charm his long suffering girlfriend into waiting just a couple more weeks for a ring. He had no charm. Saw him in an early 30s film with Loretta Young (with whom he had an affair). Two people in love in a shanty town. He was just an asshole. Gable was originally slated for Libeled Lady in the Tracy role and that would have been more like it. Gable's kind of not a great actor (he is doing the exact same thing in Misfits that he'd done 30 years before and in the more naturalistic environment the push button personality shows), but there were certain roles where he was perfect.

what's hername the fuggo who was called out by the critic ? the promising young woman tart ?

BRIE FUCKING LARSON

I don't think anyone ever thought Gene Kelly was some great actor. He was charming and a great dancer.

Same with Robert Redford. No one ever thought he was a great actor. Sometimes a great screen presence is good enough.

I think Sigourney Weaver is a terrible actress. just awful

[quote]people are still watching his films and enjoying his work

SO? That has nothing to do with it. People still watch Lucille Ball and Gary Coleman too.

[quote]People still watch Lucille Ball and Gary Coleman too.

Not me, I've had sufficient.

John Payne (you know what was great about him)

R226, He knocked up Jane Russell with that gorgeous cock.

Has anyone mentioned Natalie Wood, or is she off limits?

Jane Russell was a lesbian, dear.

R229, That would come as a surprise to Howard Hughes, Robert Mitchum, John Payne and Bob Waterfield, her hunky football player husband.

[quote]SO? That has nothing to do with it. People still watch Lucille Ball and Gary Coleman too.

Too bad Gary Coleman didn't play Patrick Dennis in LucyMAME. He wouldn't have been worse than the boy they got who sleepwalked through it until Bruce Davison, who wasn't that bad, took over.

I think Weaver can be a very good actress. But she needs a good director. Too many directors just have no clue how to get a great performance out of their actors. Some are probably afraid to exert control and leave it up to the actor - especially with big names they don't want to offend.

Reese “Do You Know Who I Am?” Witherspoon

R145 that's ridiculous. Spacek is indeed a great actress with a slew of marvelous memorable performances.

[quote]Has anyone mentioned Natalie Wood

LEAVE.NATALIE.OUT.OF.THIS...seriously

Everyone is autistic to you scum-fuckers. That accusation is so old now it has no meaning. I have always loved Kathy Bates and she is one of the few to have deserved her Oscar. She has given numerous excellent performances in her career. Misery. Dolores Claiborne. I love her way more than super fug Meryl Streep.

[quote]He knocked up Jane Russell with that gorgeous cock.

Bich! apparently, it was more, like, John Pain

[quote] Natalie Wood, or is she off limits?

GURL !!!!!

Reese Witherspoon has never been a bad actor either, you cunts. She's had a few awesome performances. Walk the Line was a horrible movie but she was great in it. I loved her in Freeway and Fear. Freeway was a low budget indie that no one saw but it has her best performance ever. Fear was a horribly cheesy movie but Mark Wahlberg was hot and OTT.

R228 = Rita Moreno

R228, this is a kind warning. Now you back off, or there'll 49 more faster then you could say "Tabuntah"

Brad Pitt is a terrible actor. I think his looks are overrated as well.

Natalie was stunning looking. I loved her but parts of Splendor In the Grass are cringy. She was actually most natural in Rebel Without A Cause.

Oh OK..

Yes really

you crossed that line...

you know what the punishment is for trashing Natalie here, 50 studio portraits in a row

you shouldn't have

Bette Davis

say you're sorry

Do we have a Nat Wood troll now too?

That Pepsi-swilling actress named after a can of peas. What was her name again?

R250: She looks like Judy Garland in that picture.

R251 everyone on DL knows that attacking Natalie or Elizabeth's acting is punished by 50 studio portraits

I didn't hear you

louder, you are SORR....

40 more to come , dude, you'd better apologize

fast

Is the Wood troll a relative of the Lange loon?

oh, we're a headstrong

that's the law

Liza Minnelli

There is no such thing, R259. You've had too many martinis tonight.

I like blue.

still nothing ?

Okay you wanna play

let's do this

this is a warning for others

now

are you sure ?

Natalie is great, right ?

I have all day

OKAY OKAY I APOLOGIZE, PLEASE STOP, NATALIE WOOD WAS GREAT

Now that's a good gurl

Next time we're posting her singing voice.

R209 no fucking way - was a wonderful actor, and unlike so many “legends” gave great performances right up until the end.

R276 didn't see CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and THE SILVER CHALICE

Agree R276. That's another bullshit call. He was a very very good actor. Reese isn't a bad actor but no one would ever consider her great.

Rebel Without a Cause was always a horrible, over-rated movie. Everyone sucked in it. Especially stupid retard James Dean. Wood and Mineo sucked in it. Their performances were way too self-conscious. Maybe not their fault, poor direction perhaps. They used to always play this on the old movie channel. I bought the James Dean collection on blu-ray just to marvel at how truly awful he was. He never deserved the title of "legend" as his acting was always "retarded" and embarrassing.

He made 3 movies.

He was a better actor than a driver.

R280 is a fucking genius.

He was dreadful, dean. True. He didn't make "3 movies". he had the normal journey of a struggling young actor. Lots of supporting roles. Rebel was not even his first film with Wood. She was lovely in rebel BTW

R45 Comedienne Michelle Collins--formerly of the View--has a fucking GREAT show on Sirius and she said the funniest thing about Kidman.

She said In EVERY role, Nicole Kidman looks like she freezing. I just want to give her characters a sweater

I don't know why people like Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and co don't retire. They've been going downhill for decades, they just embarrass themselves more and more. They don't need the $$$. Why don't they ??

Jodie Foster owns this thread.

R286 that's not fair, she was a great James bond gurl

R237, Jane Russell wrote about aborting the child Payne gifted her with in her autobiography.

The subject got more than a little uncomfortable during this appearance with Joan Rivers to promote her book.

I went to Hollywood just to fuck Payne

"Week-End in Havana' 1941..Okay, I know what I'll watch tonight

R145 Z& R223 Are Mary Louise.

R230, other than her husband, those names shouldn't be on the list. If she wasn't a lesbian, maybe.

Watch it with those Natalie Wood pics. I don't count Natalie after rhinoplasty as in R246's post.

which rhinoplasty? she had at least 3

Carey Mulligan. She nearly ruined Shame. Her version of New York, New York is supposed to make you go "awww, how sad" but it's just awkward and seems to go on forever. It's supposed to be a pivotal moment in the movie but it falls completely flat.

I think Spencer Tracy had a huge amount of charm and was great at drama and comedy, I don't know why it's necessary to cherry pick some old movies like one he didn't even play the lead in, but that's the nature of this thread I guess.

Carey Mulligan is not hot enough for that part R295

[quote] Reese isn't a bad actor but no one would ever consider her great.

Disagree, R278.

She’s an Oscar winner and been nominated several times. Her projects are hyped to the heavens.

She’s camp and overwrought.

She’s a BAD actor.

Name ten great actors, OP.

R297, agreed. She really wasn't. Like Fassbender would want to have incestual sex with her!

R296, I find Spencer Tracy very attractive. I don't know why but I do.

R299 I'm not OP, but I will take the challenge. I know I'll attract a lot of trash, but this is my list of 10 great actors. nOT GREAT IN everything THEY DID, but pretty much

James Caan

Michel Piccoli

Alan Bates

Genevieve Bujold

Vanessa Redgrave

Simone Signoret

Bette Davis

Pam Grier

Gena Rowlands

John Mills

Now we have a James Caan troll. Above, and see other thread:

Natalie Wood was terrible with a grating voice. Very pretty, good body. Brie Larson - haven't seen her in enough stuff, but in Room her part was obviously supporting. Joan Allen stole the movie. Larson wasn't in a single scene that wasn't from Jacob Trembley's POV. Trembley and Joan Allen were the real leads.

I don't know, R296, Tracy didn't have the lead in Libeled Lady but was devoid of charm in a role that demanded it. He definitely had the lead in A Man's Castle (early 30's, Loretta Young, drama) and came off abusive and also devoid of charm.

Sigourney Weaver IS really really bad and awkward and stilted but with the right director she works. Three movies all told. "Year of Living Dangrously." "Alien." That Ghostbusters one where she had a baby.

Then you look at her supporting in "Working Girl" and she sucks.

Natalie Wood was conspicuously bad. In a NW documentary Robert Redford even makes fun of her mannerism of doing a 3/5th head tilt/side eye to the camera.

I also think her insecurities showed in her insistent heavy eyeliner and spider eyelashes everywhere in the early/mid-sixties. Yes it was the fashion but her eyes could speak for themselves, and she couldn't let go of the thick eyeliner even at the beach. I read she was stuck between two eras - the fifties and the sixties. While Splendor in the Grass was 1961 it was really a leftover 1950s sensibility. She didn't fit with the 1960s but tried her best, I think the spider eyelashes were part of it.

I can't tell if someone is a good actor or a bad actor

[quote]Robert Redford even makes fun of her

Isn't that certification that one is GOOD?

R307, I feel like Redfod knew better than to make fun of real actors. The fact that he made fun of Wood speaks to just how terrible BOTH of them are at acting but especially her.

Redford doesn't know/never knew SHIT

Jon Hamm.

all the people who have trashed Natalie Wood are going to die in a very painful way, I am so sorry for them...

R311 = Lana Wood

Isabelle Huppert

Cate Blanchett

Charlize Theron (where she is because of Harvey's deformed cock)

R298 Witherspoon was great in "Election." And that's about it.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Melanie Griffith, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, and Sophie Turner.

R315, Not to be confused with Sophie Tucker.

I always thought Jane Russell was a bit butch.

R302, I think you missed the point of my question.

The point is that it’s very easy to tear down an actor’s performance. I’d like to read OP’s list of ten great actors.

[quote]Jack Nicholson. He WAS great (Cuckoos Nest, Chinatown, The Shining, As Good As it Gets, Terms of Endearment, Postman Rings Twice, etc) but he got lazy. I didn't really think he did that great in The Departed and he phoned it in ever since.

You just said he was great and he is. Getting lazy is not what this thread is about.

John Mills? I dare you, no, I double dog dare you to watch "The Family Way' and think that. He will break your heart.

Matt Damon is a mediocrity. He’s a charming conversationalist so directors and the press love him, but he’s very poor.

A BIT, R317???

What I think is interesting about Matt Damon is that you can really see his improvement. He's CLEARLY over his head in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" but has really progressed. Same with Wahlberg. Neither are going to win Oscars for acting but their journey or development into decent actors can be seen throughout their filmographies.

De Niro, same guy every picture. Let's hear him do an accent other than tough-guy goombah.

Brie Larson was sublimely natural in Short Term 12 and Room, that she’s smug now and doesn’t do shit or seem to care to do shit other than Captain Marvel isn’t helping her case in the slightest. She was supposed to be in ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’. But whoever realized Jessie Buckley could act was smart.

Yes! Some people get better.

R325 So true. Most people get better over time. In some cases people who started out really well just taking pay checks (Robert De Niro a case in point). It is next to impossible to find anybody who has had an impeccable filmography spanning more than 10 years.

Timothee Chalamet wins this thread.

Rachel Weisz is so pretty she plays characters about 15 years younger than she is (Disobedience) and for the best directors. She’s a mostly predictable actor and was very poor in the 90s but has improved somewhat. Her best performance, happily, was her Oscar winning role in The Constant Gardener. Kate Winslet was up for that role, and her hearty Jolly Hockey Sticks persona would have been all wrong.

And some people get WORSE!

Frances McDormand owns this thread

I don’t think there is a single viewer who thinks Keira Knightley is a “great” actress. She was charming, if mannered in Pride And Prejudice but she peaked in Bend It Like Beckham.

The Keanu Reeves reappraisal is kind of understandable. His reputation is as a wonderful guy, and people want to think well of him. Plus, he's settled into doing movies that are within his skill set, instead of flailing in costume dramas like he did as a young man.

But the idea that he's a great actor is nonsense, and ranking him as the fourth greatest actor of the twenty-first century was shameless trolling by the New York Times.

Al Pacino = zero range.

I never understood the widespread praise for Henry Fonda's acting.

To me, he was like a walking piece of plywood.

Keanu Reeves was good in "Point Break"! .......Okay.... he was damn hot, though! And great movie.

Good actors never have to scream. They can modulate their voice. Pacino was truly one of the worst "actors" ever with his horrid screaming all the time.

I understand praise for Henry Fonda, R334, because James Stewart makes me puke.

GTFO with the Pacino hate. Any man who did Dog Day Afternoon cannot be a bad actor.

R336 He wasn't screaming in any of his 70s flicks, have you only seen (the horrid) Scent of a Woman?

THERE IS NO ANESTHESIA FOR A BROKEN SPIRIT

He needs good directors in order to get the best out of him.

I don't consider Jerry Schatzberg to be a particularly "good" director and he was great in both Panic in Needle Park/Scarecrow, and Sea of Love with the middling Harold Becker at helm as well. He mostly works with good directors.

R339, "You're out of order! You're out of order!"

"And Justice for All"(1979)

R343, how about "Attica! Attica!"

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

The "Attica" outburst was an iconic piece of improv which made complete sense for the character and the movie, and it wasn't even absurdly loud yelling, plus his character was very quiet for most of the movie. The idea that great actors aren't loud EVER is total bullshit.

He wasn't like that for the whole movie in those cases.

^ Anyone want to take this?

A counterexample:

"Hips or lips?"

Bryan Cranston

Judi Dench

Human turd Pacino ruined Michael Mann's Heat. Just kidding, the whole movie was terrible. It was like ten different movies in one with nothing connecting them. Pacino's screaming every line was just one out of a hundred horrible things.

There are a few actresses that are sublime in the right role and with the right director. In other roles, they flounder badly.

Renee Zellweger (Jerry Maguire, Bridget 1 and 3, Chicago, Judy) Sigourney Weaver (Year of Living Dangerously, Aliens, Working Girl, Dave, Galaxy Quest) Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married, Oceans 12, that Modern Love episode) Geena Davis (Accidental Tourist, Hero, Thelma and Louise)

Nicole Kidman’s only good, not great, performance was Rabbit Hole. She fluctuates between pretty wallpaper (Big Little Lies) and raging mess (Destroyer, Paperboy).

R351 Ur trippin, Nicole has been good in more than that, and she was beyond great in Destroyer.

These kinds of threads are just one sad qweens opinion. No one really cares what they think. If they make money and critics like them, that's all that counts.

R350, I actually enjoyed Heat because of Pacino's over-the-top performance, which was pure camp.

But I agree that it is a very bloated heist movie. Directors like John Huston, Jules Dassin, or Jean-Pierre Melville would've spun something great out of the material and cast. And it wouldn't have been half as long.

R354 Heat was 10 horrible movies in one and could never be "made better" by anyone. It was a shit movie and Pacino was the worst thing about it.

All actors, apparently.

R352 She was ROBBED for her performance in "To Die For"

I loved Heat, but I'm a huge Michael Mann fan. I think his directing style doesn't work for everyone, obviously.

Michael Mann's films age poorly and tend to have plot holes the size of Dawson's or Austin's mancunts. I loved Jamie Foxx in Collateral but the movie was nothing but one huge plot hole where absolutely nothing makes sense. There are at least 100 plot holes in that movie.

Thief, Manhunter, Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, and Miami Vice all aged incredibly well and are still super watchable today. I guess they're more "bro" movies so most DLers wouldn't go for them. All my straight guy friends are obsessed with Mann's films.

All your "straight" guy friends! Haha. As if. Straight men don't hang with effete homosexuals. Has never happened. All your credibility just went out da window. Mann has always been a poor film maker whose work has never stood up to scrutiny. His films are nothing but pure sensation, that have no reason or logic to them. James Cameron is the same. His films are nothing but plot holes and he is a horrible screen writer.

Morgan Freeman, plays himself in every role

R362, And your point is?

ALL film actors. They play themselves in every role.

[quote]Morgan Freeman, plays himself in every role

Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman in "Morgan!"

R354 That's not good acting he's simply annoying. Pacino is no de Niro.

Jennifer Jason Leigh. Her father was bad enough but she is worse.

De Niro always leaves me cold. Always. Pacino makes you feel something for his characters, actual emotions.

^ that's because De Niro at his best is an actor. Pacino morphed into a personality.

Clooney. His entire career and fame among Hollywood piers is just a product of excellent PR and marketing strategy. Also Thimoteey (however the fucks it's spelled) Chalamet. He's so bad. Like, so bad. He is famous only because he's a living yaoi character to all his female teenage Gen Z fans.

People really live to rip down Timothee Chalamet and Jennifer Lawrence. They’re both wonderful.

Toni Collette. She always uses that retard look. I avoid anything she is in.

Harrison Ford

R372 Is Muriel's sister.

Ryan Reynolds is awful.

R369 If your idea of acting is pure technique ala DDL or Streep, then yes, De Niro is a "better" actor, but I prefer watching actors that truly evoke emotion, make me feel SOMETHING. I haven't really given a shit about any character De Niro has played, even though he's objectively been fantastic in roles such as Raging Bull or Goodfellas. Each their own, I guess.

R304 Well I guess that's your opinion but since he was very popular with the public for another 35 years after that example, he certainly had something. If you need specific examples of charm: Captains Courageous, Adam's Rib, Father Of The Bride, Father's Little Dividend, Desk Set.

Alan Rickman was a wonderful actor - sensitive, nuanced and smart. Of course he did "Barchester Chronicles" and the Potter films and played the villain or supposed villain so well people thought he lacked range. But even in his typecasting he showed his depth, as in "Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny" for which he won Golden Globe, Emmy and a SAG Award. But I'll take him in "Galaxy Quest," doing that send-up of Spock/Nimoy.

Like anybody here knows anything about good or bad acting.

Olivia Mouthbreather Colman is the definition of this thread.

R379 It doesn't take a degree or any special qualification to know good acting from bad acting. It comes down to one question: Did the actor cause you to suspend disbelief and connect with or react to the character on an emotional level? If not, he or she stinks.

I agree, R381. That's why 70% of people over 60 think Barbra Streisand is a great actress.

Rickman was like Jack Nicholson at the end of his career: always the same character.

I finally watched Call Me Your Name and though Timothy Chalamet was excellent. Not hot, but did a great job. Haven’t see his other films.

Thanks. We all need to know what a crusty ole syphilitic qween thinks.

Diane Keaton

Emma Thompson & Olivia Colman

Gummy and limited.

[quote] Jennifer Jason Leigh. Her father was bad enough but she is worse.

Geez, nothing to lose your head over.

Vic Morrow was head and shoulders above many other actors.

[quote] Freeway was a low budget indie that no one saw but it has her best performance ever.

I fell in love with that movie when it was frequently aired on HBO and Cinemax in the late 90s.

R386=G.

R381 It's not that simple (at least for me). You can apply that logic with our current "natural" acting introduced by Strasberg, which to me was a total disaster for actors' mental health. Between the end of 1800 and the early decades of 1900 acting was full of a mannerism which aimed to emphasize emotions, being a very romantic acting mostly about historical plays (and during silent film era). Luise Rainer was a great actress at the time but right now she would be considered rigid and over the top.

R391, Method Acting was introduced by the Russian Konstantin Stanislavski and adopted by several American acting teachers, such as Strasberg. Most of them, including Stella Adler and Sandy Meisner dumped The Method early on and developed their own techniques. The result was the same "natural" style, but without delving into one's background to dredge up real life pain and emotion.

R379: It's the most subjective and arbitrary business in the world.

Rami Malek

Kate McKinnon

R393 It's not subjective dear. I am great.

Or rather The Greatest.

R395, Clickety click click . . .

How the hell was Lee Strasberg not subjected to a class action lawsuit for the damage he did? He didn’t even stay up-to-date on the improvements Stanislavski made to his actual method.

Plays himself in every role is a stupid critique. Acting isn't about being different in every role. It's about being believable in imaginary circumstances.

Also - Bryan Cranston was overrated in Breaking Bad and underrated in Malcolm in the Middle.

And to add to R392, Stella Adler and Sandy Meisner were very critical of Strasberg's teachings, calling his techniques unhealthy and dangerous. Adler studied with Stanislavski in Paris and contended that Strasberg badly misinterpreted Stanislavsky's teachings.

Thank you, R398 -- the nauseating worship of Bryan Cranston ever since BREAKING BAD is hard to stomach.

Anne Baxter

Cate Blanchett - great mimic does not equal great actress

Boring, bland Emily Blunt

Bette Davis

R403, You left out homely.

GARBO

Kristen Wiig. I always hated her and found her unfunny (like the rest of the cast) on SNL. She was the weakest part of Bridesmaids. I hope her career is finished. She was awful.

R406 Rubbish

Rami Malek is good in everything BUT Bohemian Rhapsody.

R406 = recovering from nerve struck

Overdramatic Angela Bassett. Yale Drama School be damned. That degree clearly did not awaken any acting talent in her.

(R407) After that horrible Wonder Woman sequel, let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Al Pacino is way overrated.

I just finished watching Wolf of Wall Street. Everybody was awful in that. Terrible movie.

I thought Kathy Bates was just very exaggerated and fake in her acting too. But then I realised it is because she has perfect pronounciation. She pronounced every words perfectly that make you feel like she is being so fake. But she is a great actress.

Leonardo DiCaprio OWNS THIS THREAD

I'm tired of reading about what a great actress Laurette Taylor was.

Where is the proof?

Is anyone who saw her perform still alive?

Pacino is not more overrated than any of his major contemporaries, come on now. I'd say De Niro deserves that label more because I've never gotten anything human from a character he plays.

R418, Not even "Bang the Drum Slowly"?

Denzel Washington.

Charles Durning talks about Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie in that documentary Broadway: The Golden Age. He says what was remarkable was that it appeared that they had just brought someone in off the street because she was no natural, although someone just brought in off the street wouldn't have known the lines.

... so natural ...

I legit lost a few hundred braincells reading this thread. Either people are naming actual good actors, or crappy actors but who no one ever considered great. Or Jack Nicholson because he apparently got lazy (not what the thread title is asking).

Noel Coward.

R421 It kind of surprises me but I know/knew two guys who saw her in it, in New York - one is dead, an actor I used to act with - the other guy is a friend of my parents. He saw the play on comp tickets when he was in the Army. They both said she was great, but I couldn't get much else out of them.

R417 see above

Harrison Ford. He has two modes: he either mumbles in monotone with a deadpan expression or mugs grotesquely and laughably overacts. It's either/or with nothing in between. Watch him some time and see. From moment to moment, he's expressionless and mumbling with no inflection or he twists his faces into ridiculous, googy expressions to show happiness or anger and starts yelling. He's never believable.

R427 Americans famously love wooden actors. Harrison fits the bill perfectly.

Do people pretend Ford is great though? We might say he is not talented enough to be that famous but I don't recall him being critically praised in any movie.

He was paid like 25 million for appearing in SW Rise of Skywalker for 5 minutes. That says something.

*goofy expressions, not "googy." Sorry about that.

R429 He got an oscar nod in 86 for "Witness". He was pretty good in that. 3 Golden Globe nominations, but come one, they are GG's. I wouldn't call him a bad actor though. Just not particularly great, and he never really challenged himself with his roles.

Viola Davis

Can I get an Amen...and a snot rag?

You mean snotting and yelling are NOT signs of being a great actor, 433?6

I love super darkies like Viola Davis. I would take her 1 million times over the Caucasian Halle Berry, anytime.

R427 He was so bad in The Mosquito Coast. I didn't believe him for a second. Though he got pretty good reviews, overall. "Jack Nicholson was originally offered the lead role, but backed out partly because he could not watch Los Angeles Lakers games in Belize, where part of the film was to be shot." (says Wikipedia). I kept trying to picture a number of other actors in the role while watching the film. Because I thought Ford was fake and unbelievable.

Doesn't Jack Nicholson basically play himself in film after film?

Who cares - Nicholson has always been about raw sexuality. Most females (back then) wouldn't have minded being doggied by him when he was young and hot.

R438, When was he ever hot?

R439 O fuck off. Just because he doesn't give your tinymeat a stir doesn't mean females never loved him. Nicholson doesn't have to justify his sexiness (when he was younger) to a dumbfuck like you. Jesus fuck.

R440 = Roman Polanski

R441 Pedo lover.

Harrison Ford was a handsome, perfunctory male lead. Became a star in Star Wars and got loads of good roles. There are far worse examples of actors who become known and go on from role to role, to big movie after movie. Namely, TOM CRUISE.

OP, who has been named a troll!

Tammy looks terrible. Like a weird Barbie doll. Harrison still looks good for an octogenarian.

This thread is hilariously retarded for the most part. The person who said Monty Clift is overrated and clunky on screen should be shot.

Sometimes a guy's fuckability and attractiveness goes beyond the physical....as a straight woman (I'm sorry I infiltrated you guys) I concurr about Jack Nicholson being someone I would lower my panties for.

I don't particularly think Nicholson would have been great in Mosquito Coast, just better than Ford, who isn't an outgoing sort of actor.

I don't understand "plays himself". If an actor involves you and gets you to believe they're the characater, that's acting. Why is playing a character far removed from one's own looks or vocal inflections the mark of great acting? Oh, he had a limp! Great acting! He can speak in a German accent! Great acting! lol

[quote]I don't understand "plays himself".

ALL movie actors "play themselves." Or they play the same character over and over in every movie.

THREAD CLOSED

Not true. Only a great actor can inhabit any role he plays. There have been very few greats.

Excuse me, R450. 99% of all movie actors plays themselves in every movie.

R451, Even though Bette Davis was able to submerge herself in numerous roles, you always saw at least some of Bette Davis on the screen.

R451 Not true at all. Maybe 75%. Most of the world's actors don't suck like Americans always have. Britain has always had amazing actors.

[quote]Britain has always had amazing actors.

Didn't Ralph Richardson always "play himself"?

I ask again: why is playing a character without changing your voice, hair, accent, weight, or whatever, considered bad acting? If this is what people mean by "he played himself." So -in the classic film era, this means James Stewart was a bad actor? Henry Fonda and Spencer Tracy were bad actors? Cary Grant? James Cagney? If so, who were the good actors, in their day? Paul Muni, because he looked different in every role? Honestly curious.

That's what dumb people think, R455.

English actors may be better actors on the whole, but look at those UK actors who became stars - Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Julie Christie, Albert Finney, Dudley Moore...all of them the same personality in every film. I'm leaving Glenda Jackson and Richard Burton off the list because some pay confuse their stage work with their movie roles, but they too were themselves in movies. A STAR must leave a lot of themselves in a role - that's a requirement.

R455 speaking of Paul muni one of the worst performances I’ve seen is his in “a song to remember” - so over the top and like a caricature.

I feel like a lot of actors get lazy when they get older. Because they can. Pacino, DeNiro, Nicholson, etc.

R458 But also more interesting parts start to dry up.

They age out and are only offered crap.

Concerning actors repeatedly just playing themselves, often it's the case that the person was hired to do exactly that on the strength of their celebrity status to draw in the crowds, so we can't assume that the person otherwise lacks talent when in actuality in a particular case he's consciously doing what he was hired to do. But yes sometimes actors just get lazy or at least self-satisfied as time goes on; other times their youthful inner fire to achieve the transformations called for by great acting just dwindles and goes out; and other times yes they really do lack talent and have always lacked talent and always will lack talent, but in the beginning they were pretty or sexy or fun or charismatic or cherished because of some particular association or whatever, and roll along in show biz on the strength of that rather than on any talent for acting. To be fair, it has to be considered on a case by case basis, and considering circumstances and context.

I tried watching I, Robot with Will Smith and he no doubt plays himself in every role. Dude has no range whatsoever.