Actors and actresses who are just terrible in everything

[Phil_A]

The flipside to the other thread. Prompted by seeing some of Avatar on the telly other night, which brought to mind that weird time when Sam Worthington was considered to be a bankable leading man.

Who are the actors who continue to get work despite never been good in anything at all?

Gerard Butler is one. An entire career with maybe one or two memorable roles, but never rising above mediocrity at any point.

[Keebleman]

Genuinely incompetent, as oppose to mediocre, performances are rare for obvious reasons.  Look at Sofia Coppola in Godfather 3: it's hard to think of another example of someone who is so clearly not up to the job.

I suppose though you could include actors who have a personal quality that overrides their lack of talent.  A big star like Schwarzenegger qualifies on this, and so does a bit player like Maurice Gosfield on Sgt Bilko.

[jobotic]

Kiera Knightley.

[Paaaaul]

I watched all the Harry Potter films last year while I was laid up.
Emma Watson is dreadful in the first couple of films, but she improves as the series goes on.
Daniel Radcliffe is dreadful in the first couple of films, and then continues to be so all the way through.
I've seen him in Woman In Black and Horns too. He's a fucking lousy actor.

Martin Freeman is good in The Office, OK in Fargo, but has been poor in every film I've seen him in.

[Absorb the anus burn]

Jennifer Connelly.
Tony Booth.

[Kane Jones]

Daniel Radcliffe is dreadful in the first couple of films, and then continues to be so all the way through.
I've seen him in Woman In Black and Horns too. He's a fucking lousy actor.

Agree wholeheartedly. Radcliffe is fucking abysmal. He simply cannot convey any emotion convincingly. Just widening your eyes and swallowing a bit does not equal 'fear'.

[Sal Vicuso]

Daniel Radcliffe is dreadful in the first couple of films, and then continues to be so all the way through.
I've seen him in Woman In Black and Horns too. He's a fucking lousy actor.

In fairness to him, he does take on some interesting and challenging roles which is more than you could say for your Butlers or Worthingtons

[Ignatius_S]

...Martin Freeman is good in The Office, OK in Fargo, but has been poor in every film I've seen him in.

He's excellent in Nightwatching.

[Ignatius_S]

Tony Booth.

Very good turn in The Revenger's Tragedy.

[Ignatius_S]

....I suppose though you could include actors who have a personal quality that overrides their lack of talent.  A big star like Schwarzenegger qualifies on this, and so does a bit player like Maurice Gosfield on Sgt Bilko.

Gosfield and Joe E. Ross on Bilko (and the latter Car 54, Where Are You?) were brilliant, albeit inconsistently, when basically playing themselves. Hiken was attracted to them because they offered something natural and unrefined, which he wouldn't have gotten from polished actors. It's an extreme version of actors with a limited range.

That said, I spotted Gosfield in being in the cast of a couple of episodes of Whitehall 1212, an OTR show that I'm fond of, which claimed to have an 'all-British cast'. Gosfield's roles were minor but his performance were okay - there were plenty of actors taking on radio roles (including stars) that were worse.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Agree wholeheartedly. Radcliffe is fucking abysmal. He simply cannot convey any emotion convincingly. Just widening your eyes and swallowing a bit does not equal 'fear'.

Have you seen Swiss Army Man, Kane? I'd not a huge amount of time for Radcliffe before then but he really impressed me in it.

[Kane Jones]

Have you seen Swiss Army Man, Kane? I'd not a huge amount of time for Radcliffe before then but he really impressed me in it.

I haven't, although I may be tempted to view it after your usually trustworthy recommendation. If he turns out to be rubbish in it, I will come round to your flat and shit in your underpants. So be warned.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Jennifer Connelly.

Yeah, but....   

nevermind.

[Kelvin]

Despite being acclaimed as one of the greatest living actresses, Meryl Streep is one of the most consistently awful, hammy performers I can think of. In fact, her scenes can all be recreated by throwing your hands in their air, dismissively saying"Oh, Darling", and doing a big, haughty laugh. 

[Shit Good Nose]

dismissively saying"Oh, Darling", and doing a big, haughty laugh.

My favourite scene in Sophie's Choice.

[SteveDave]

Vin Diesel

[armful]

This is a hard one; even actors who I find annoying usually have at least one good performance in them.   Ill have to  say Danny Dyer  as I have only Seen  him in two films The Assassin  and football factory , both  films  I did not like. 

That TV show he did when  he meets hard people and hangs out with them was beyond embarrassing to watch. I still watched it mind you just to laugh 

[Gulftastic]

Vin Diesel

I thought he was quite good in 'Boiler Room'.

[Bobby Treetops]

Eddie Redmayne

Currently gets gainful employment in the film industry due to Hollywood's current hard-on for posh English actors. Won an Oscar for sitting in a wheel chair and pulling a face.

Talentless prick.

[Shit Good Nose]

Eddie Redmayne

Currently gets gainful employment in the film industry due to Hollywood's current hard-on for posh English actors. Won an Oscar for sitting in a wheel chair and pulling a face.

Talentless prick.

I haven't seen enough of him to pass a fully informed judgement, but by christ is he the oddest looking heart throb that has ever existed.

[Phil_A]

Eddie Redmayne

Currently gets gainful employment in the film industry due to Hollywood's current hard-on for posh English actors. Won an Oscar for sitting in a wheel chair and pulling a face.

Talentless prick.

Yes! That is also one of my bugbears. Cumberbatch can at least act a bit, but Redmayne can't even manage "a bit". Judging by the comments under any youtube video featuring him, the majority of his fans just want to fuck him and don't care that he has all the acting range of a Madam Tussaud's version of himself, which I guess explains his inexplicable rise to the ranks of acting aristocracy.

I keep waiting for the penny to drop in the industry and people to realise he's not actually any good, surely it's got to happen soon.

[Steven]

Ah, come on, Redmayne is excellent as the doe-eyed coquettish and eponymous Danish Girl:

[Puce Moment]

Mark Wahlberg

He has only ever got close to something resembling a decent performance in Boogie Nights, but I maintain that was by accident. His big thick lug shtick is really what he seems to be like. An arrogant prick in real life, his acting is just fucking terrible.  I generally avoid anything he is in.

Seth Rogen

Who the fuck likes this guy? WHO ACTUALLY FINDS HIM FUNNY?

Andrew Garfield

So mannered and actorly. I never really feel I am watching a real person - his technique is so apparent it really affects immersion in the story.

[Sal Vicuso]

Mark Wahlberg
He has only ever got close to something resembling a decent performance in Boogie Nights, but I maintain that was by accident. His big thick lug shtick is really what he seems to be like. An arrogant prick in real life, his acting is just fucking terrible.  I generally avoid anything he is in.

He was one of the best things in the otherwise average The Departed. Seems like a pretty unpleasant guy though

The only thing I've ever seen Eddie Redmayne in was the first 10 minutes or so of My Week with Marilyn which I turned off very quickly, mainly because of how cringingly bad his acting was

[Small Man Big Horse]

I haven't, although I may be tempted to view it after your usually trustworthy recommendation. If he turns out to be rubbish in it, I will come round to your flat and shit in your underpants. So be warned.

That might've been my original intention.

It's a film I've a lot of time for though, I mean it's ridiculous and silly and you shouldn't take it seriously for a second but I also found it quite audacious and surprisingly touching in places, which I didn't expect at all.

Ah, come on, Redmayne is excellent as the doe-eyed coquettish and eponymous Danish Girl:

I've yet to see that but he sure did stink up Jupiter Ascending and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, the latter with a terrible Matt Smith impersonation that came off as bizarrely unsympathetic.

As for Mark Walhberg, I did like him in I Heart Huckabees a fair bit, but then I'm extremely fond of the film. I could be terribly wrong though as almost everyone I know thinks it's pretentious shite, and I was very very stoned whilst watching it.

Edit: This may be unfair as I've seen him in two things (Pixels and that Billy Crystal sitcom The Comedians), but Josh Gad is almost as annoying as Seth Rogen whenever I see him onscreen. I mean, not quite, he's not that much of a cunt, but it's a close run thing.

[Gwen Taylor on ITV]

Yes! That is also one of my bugbears. Cumberbatch can at least act a bit, but Redmayne can't even manage "a bit". Judging by the comments under any youtube video featuring him, the majority of his fans just want to fuck him and don't care that he has all the acting range of a Madam Tussaud's version of himself, which I guess explains his inexplicable rise to the ranks of acting aristocracy.

I keep waiting for the penny to drop in the industry and people to realise he's not actually any good, surely it's got to happen soon.

He was awful in The Danish Girl, only a few shades away from David Walliams doing his "I'm a lady" thing.

[Phil_A]

He was awful in The Danish Girl, only a few shades away from David Walliams doing his "I'm a lady" thing.

Ha, yes. I also can't get over how much his voice sounds like Adam Buxton's impression of Orlando Bloom.

"Maybe it's just meee, sucking all the excitement out of it with my face, and my total lack of charisma."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roC9AgU0HB8

[Bhazor]

Scarlett Johansson seems to have hit on the Natalie Portman scheme of appearing in a series of big budget award winning films in such quick succession no one seems to have the time to notice "She's not much cop is she?"

[Mr Banlon]

Jennifer Lopez. I love her to bits, but her acting is terrible.
Nick Moran.
Steven Seagal. Obvious, but fucking hell he's just unwatchable.

[Paaaaul]

Scarlett Johansson seems to have hit on the Natalie Portman scheme of appearing in a series of big budget award winning films in such quick succession no one seems to have the time to notice "She's not much cop is she?"

Have you seen Under The Skin?