Great Performances in Bad Movies

[Joel Barish]

Just finished watching "Cradle Will Rock", which really felt to me like sitting in the middle of a high school history class while being beaten repeatedly over the head with my own detached arms. Despite the overall unpleasant experience, there was a GREAT performance by Bill Murray as Charlie Rickshaw, a sad-sack, lonely ventriloquist slowly going insane, due to the the impending death of his vaudevillian act and the pressure from the supposed Reds invading his environment. It's a small role, but so effecting, and definitely merited a Supporting Actor Nod in '98, much like Murray's latest work. So this brought to my mind...What are some fantastic performances which are in turn underrated because they are in such disappointing, boring, or flat out bad/terrible movies?

[DareDevil]

leo decap in the beach

though the movie sucked but he was really good

[Joel Barish]

No one else has any selections for a great performance in a horrible movie?

[therealjohng]

Nicole Kidman was pretty damn good in the absolutely terrible The Others.

[pyscho dude]

Nick Stahl did a great job in the horrible Bully.

[The Other]

Maggie Smith was amazing in 1978s CALIFORNIA SUITE, and gives not only the funniest performance I've ever seen, but one of my 5 favorite supporting female performances ever. However, whenever she isn't on screen the movie blows.

[MickeyKnox]

Al Pacino-The Devil's Advocate-yes i know he is Satan in the movie,but his performance was a little over the top for me.

[Sigur509]

Russell Crowe in Master & Commander - The Far Side Of The World

Paul Giamatti in American Splendor

[Joel Barish]

Wow those are two I completely disagree with....

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (9/10) was a complete surprise to me, a movie that I was pretty sure I would be bored to death by, and ended up completely enthralling me, making me realize that Crowe is one of the few true on-screen badasses today, and has a great amount of charisma if given the opportunity to let it show.

American Splendor(9/10)...Paul Giamatti's great in a fantastic small movie about how life is far from perfect, in fact more often then not it's a compilation of sad and disappointing moments strung together by those glimmers of absolute joy.

[Hannibal21]

Paul Bettany in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump
Holly Hunter in Thirteen
Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Meg Ryan in In the Cut

[Black_Cherry]

There is another thread just like this so i'm gonna say the same as i did in that:

Ryan Gosling in Murder By Numbers - the film is worth sitting through for his performance.

[lynchfan_714]

My vote by far is...

Ed Norton in THE SCORE...

Ed Norton is such a great actor yet he has really picked some clunkers... (Death to smootchy)

[Squid Vicious]

Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

[ToRontoRon]

Originally posted by therealjohng
Nicole Kidman was pretty damn good in the absolutely terrible The Others.

I really liked The Others.



My 2 cents.

[markuskorpela]

Johnny Depp in Once Upon A Time In Mexico.

[Ted Pikul]

Johnny Depp's performance in Once Upon A Time In Mexico is probably the best of his career.

Which maybe contributed to the rest of that deeply average film falling flat when he wasn't on screen.

[Mikey2Dope]

Christian Bale in American Psycho
Colin Farrell in Daredevil

[normanbatesjr]

Al Pacino in Scent Of A Woman. He was great, but if you want to see him in a good movie that's not crime-related watch Frankie & Johnny. Scent was boring, otherwise.

[Sad man]

Originally posted by Joel Barish
Just finished watching "Cradle Will Rock", which really felt to me like sitting in the middle of a high school history class while being beaten repeatedly over the head with my own detached arms. Despite the overall unpleasant experience, there was a GREAT performance by Bill Murray as Charlie Rickshaw, a sad-sack, lonely ventriloquist slowly going insane, due to the the impending death of his vaudevillian act and the pressure from the supposed Reds invading his environment. It's a small role, but so effecting, and definitely merited a Supporting Actor Nod in '98, much like Murray's latest work. So this brought to my mind...What are some fantastic performances which are in turn underrated because they are in such disappointing, boring, or flat out bad/terrible movies?

I actually loved that movie (8/10), and I thought that Bill Murray and Joan Cusack both gave amazing performances.

Some...

Jason Lee - Dreamcatcher
Mira Sorvino - The Grey Zone
Johnny Depp - From Hell - Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Lisa Kudrown - Lucky Numbers
Cameron Diaz - Very Bad Things

[Succubus]

Gabriel Byrne in 'End of Days.' Okay, so it was over the top. But I would have happily paid the entry fee all over again just to watch his portrayal of Old Nick.

Natalie Portman in 'Cold Mountain.' Criminally underused, but she made the most of a small part. A shame the leads couldn't learn from her example.

Elizabeth Shue and Deborah Kara Unger in 'Leo.' I think the film was seen by about two people (myself included) worldwide, but both of these actresses turned out highly impressive, observant performances as a jaded, reluctant mother and a world-weary, abused waitress respectively.