Overacting aka big ol' hams

[thelittlemango]

Are there any actors you struggle to watch because they overact to an off-putting degree?

Elisabeth Moss is one of mine, ever since Handmaid's Tale where they kept doing those extreme close-ups of her face while her eyes darted around and a tortured grimace made way for a manic but defiant grin. Just watched Invisible Man and it's full of it too, one scene when she's talking to her sister and filling every single syllable and moment with some kind of exaggerated expression or quirk that makes it seem like "this is proper acting, I'm a proper actor...acting" whereas her sister plays it much more naturally in the scene and would give the impression that she's being acted off the screen, it must be tiring to do scenes with these people.

[Fr.Bigley]

Can't watch anything with Steven Berkoff- Not even the Man down "mental-eastern-european-caretaker" that was obiously a jab at his melodramatic ridiculousness. I simply can't.

[pigamus]

Julie Walters.

[greenman]

It does seem to go hand in hand with "national treasure" status.

[thelittlemango]

Julie Walters.

YES! Also one of mine, makes me squirm.

[Dex Sawash]

[Fr.Bigley]

Also Sheridan Smith, why fuckwits think shes great for crying in every fucking role just tells me they are as council as she is.

[phantom_power]

Jared Fucking Leto

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Despite what a classic it's considered, I'm not sure I ever want to watch Sunset Boulevard, solely because of this:


The pictures didn't get small, dear - they got good.

[JaDanketies]

Also Sheridan Smith, why fuckwits think shes great for crying in every fucking role just tells me they are as council as she is.

eesh

The Sheridan Smith episode of Inside Number 9 is one of the best half-hours of telly ever.

I used to really enjoy Star Trek TOS and I've been rewatching it recently and couldn't be arsed at all. I'm sure there's no need to mention exactly who is the hammy overactor.

Gf gets annoyed with June on the Handmaid's Tale, too. Surely you've got to blame the directors for the extreme closeups of her eyes looking moody.

[thelittlemango]

Gf gets annoyed with June on the Handmaid's Tale, too. Surely you've got to blame the directors for the extreme closeups of her eyes looking moody.

Hmm, it's not the closeups, it's that it highlights something she does throughout in an extreme way. I've noticed it in a lot of her post-Handmaid's work though so to be fair I imagine part of it is director's encouraging it. Either way it's hammy and awful.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Al Pacino gets a mention for seemingly hamming it more as he got famous.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Laura Dern.

Except maybe Marriage Story where her bastard lawyer character was big enough to hold all the ham.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Nicolas Cage, absolutely detest him.

[neveragain]

Despite what a classic it's considered, I'm not sure I ever want to watch Sunset Boulevard, solely because of this:


The pictures didn't get small, dear - they got good.

She's meant to be an over-actor, of the old school, that's the point. And I don't think it robs her of any pathos. See also Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? ('Their acting is grotesque!' 'God, someone should have told them.')

[greenman]

Laura Dern.

Except maybe Marriage Story where her bastard lawyer character was big enough to hold all the ham.

The Lynch films really are aiming for ham with her roles surely.

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, Nicholas Cage is great in wild at heart, but I don't think I've liked him in pretty much anything else.

Is nice ham allowed too?

Sam Neill is delicious ham.
Can make or break a film depending on whether or not he's right for the role and the tone of the film.

The witch in Troll 2 as well. Fantastic, couldn't take my eyes off her! :D

[El Unicornio, mang]

Yeah, Nicholas Cage is great in wild at heart, but I don't think I've liked him in pretty much anything else.

Yeah Wild at Heart is an exception, and maybe Raising Arizona

[JaDanketies]

The witch in Troll 2 as well. Fantastic, couldn't take my eyes off her! :D

She's brilliant.  I doubt the movie would've become the cult classic it is if it wasn't for her overacting. "Think of the cholesterol..."

[Blumf]

Yeah Wild at Heart is an exception, and maybe Raising Arizona

Snake Eyes? He was a perfect match for that role.

[thelittlemango]

I think Nicholas Cage gets away with it a lot because his acting is so OTT and often silly/endearing, whereas the more luvvy actors are cringey because they take themselves so seriously and do it in a smug way.

[Gregory Torso]

Snake Eyes? He was a perfect match for that role.

He's amazing in both Mandy and Vampire's Kiss, too.

[dissolute ocelot]

Anthony Hopkins seems like it's his entire purpose on screen that you must never forget he is a GREAT ACTOR. In that respect, he's like Brando without everything that made Brando interesting.

Having said that, I much prefer a bit of honest ham to all those American indie actors who just say everything in a monotone as though they're talking in their sleep.

[imitationleather]

If other people mistake Nicholas Cage for Kevin Spacey as much as I do then I actually feel quite bad for him.

[Mister Six]

He's amazing in both Mandy and Vampire's Kiss, too.

And Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

And pretty much everything else.

I think Nicholas Cage gets away with it a lot because his acting is so OTT and often silly/endearing, whereas the more luvvy actors are cringey because they take themselves so seriously and do it in a smug way.

Exactly. Even in the shittiest film - and he's been in a lot of them - Cage gives 100% or 100,000%. Or anything in-between.

[Inspector Norse]

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Jared Fucking Leto

His version of the joker was cack and he's a tool for all the method shenanignans he got up to behind the scenes of that film, but I can't think of any other particularly bad performances I've seen him give. He's hammy in Panic Room, but it fits the proto Jesse Pinkman character.

[Shit Good Nose]

Daniel Day Lewis ever since he became the planet's foremost scenery chewer - I've mentioned before he even manages to overact using a pickaxe in There Will Be Blood, in a performance which makes Bill The Butcher look positively low key.

Anthony Hopkins is quite embarrassing when he goes for it - I'm mainly thinking of Hannibal Lecter: The Panto Years.

Craig Wasson in Body Double, but that's more to do with De Palma regularly making his actors overact.


It's when the actor/director thinks they're getting something serious, intellectual and special when it's all a bit awful.  When they know exactly what they're doing with the hamming (Hugh Grant in Paddington 2 for example) it can be quite fun.  But it's also the tone of the film - hamming has no place in otherwise furrow-browed serious films in my opinion.  Always sticks out.  Badly.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Snake Eyes? He was a perfect match for that role.

Haven't seen that one.

I did like Bad Lieutenant: POCNO but in spite of Cage rather than because of him. But I also really like Elisabeth Moss so I'm the wrong side of the OP's argument tbh.

[phantom_power]

His version of the joker was cack and he's a tool for all the method shenanignans he got up to behind the scenes of that film, but I can't think of any other particularly bad performances I've seen him give. He's hammy in Panic Room, but it fits the proto Jesse Pinkman character.

He is very shit in Blade Runner 2049 as well. I think he started out as a decent actor but began to love the smell of his own farts too much and turned into a shit actor

On the Good Ham side, Jeff Goldblum