The following performers are in some of the most successful film franchises of all time,
and while that likely secures them career longevity, it doesn't mean they earn every
paycheck in between.
These are the most overrated actors in Hollywood.
Scarlett Johansson managed to carve a space for herself in Marvel's highly successful
Avengers franchise, but there's no denying that she otherwise aligns herself with some
questionable projects.
2008's The Other Boleyn Girl, for example, was so inexplicably self-serious that it couldn't
help but spur a Saturday Night Live parody.
"And he said, 'Well, perhaps the goat thinks itself a haberdasher.'"
(laughter)
But perhaps the worst example of Johansson's acting judgment was 2017's Ghost in the Shell.
The blonde, green-eyed actress faced a litany of angry thinkpieces when she took on the
lead role of an Asian character.
She found herself facing similar scrutiny in 2018 after being cast as a trans man in
Rub & Tug, which she quit amid the backlash.
It's not clear why Hollywood is still trying to make Sam Worthington happen.
But somehow he's booked solid through 2025, mostly with sequels to Avatar, the film that
scooped him from the dredges of a Terminator sequel nobody asked for.
While Avatar was an all-time record-breaking massive success, Worthington's hardly immune
to a flop, though that hasn't really affected his career either way.
Two of his most high profile films, Clash of the Titans and its sequel Wrath of the
Titans, received big releases but not much critical praise.
The in 2018 came the unrelated The Titan, which got less attention and less love.
Perhaps Avatar 2 through 5 will flip the script, but it wouldn't be surprising if no one cares
about a series of sequels made more than 10 years after the original.
At least Worthington will probably make a ton of money.
Angelina Jolie has totally revamped her image in the last couple of decades.
She went from wearing a vial of Billy Bob Thornton's blood and mouth-kissing her brother
to being the type of refined activist who holds down a position as a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador.
She also fiercely advocates for her children.
It almost makes us forget that she's an actress, let alone the kind of actress whose career
has been fueled by tabloids rather than actual acting talent.
Looking at Jolie's career is like looking at a bunch of fond memories that weren't actually
that great.
As unsettling as her portrayal in Girl, Interrupted was, it wasn't enough for the film itself
to garner more than mediocre reviews.
Similarly, becoming video game icon Lara Croft amounted to little more than a cool costume
and a box office gross that far outweighed the critical response.
The fact that one of her best-reviewed films is A Mighty Heart, for which she was criticized
for dabbling in blackface, really speaks volumes.
Tom Cruise built a name for himself as one of the biggest action stars on the planet.
Not only did Mission: Impossible basically write the book on what a modern-day action
film should be, Eyes Wide Shut pushed boundaries in the world of thrillers, and Risky Business
just felt good.
Cruise even managed to capitalize on the dark underworld of bloodsuckers in Interview with
a Vampire long before Twilight gave them a glimmering new coat of paint.
But the Tom Cruise of recent years is not at all the same Tom Cruise that played air
guitar in his underwear or snuck his way into the dangerous world of underground parties.
Case in point: The Mummy remake.
"We're gonna figure this out.
Just stay with me."
By all accounts, Cruise should've been the sole person in Hollywood that could've improved
an action series fronted by Brendan Fraser and The Rock.
Instead, the 2017 flick suffered a critical drubbing, and its meager box office is not
very promising for Universal's future monster movie ambitions.
Johnny Depp's indescribable air of mystery might just be the reason Hollywood has let
his litany of box office bombs slide through the cracks.
His portrayal of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean was borderline brilliant, and
Edward Scissorhands will always be a classic, but for every hit, Depp has a massive failure.
Among his most notorious misfires was the possible red-face incident when he played
Tonto in The Lone Ranger.
Of course there was also 2015's Mortdecai, perhaps the most WTF movie of the century.
"Oh God, it's unbearable."
“You’ll get used to it, I promise.”
"Why should I have to?"
If the flops weren't enough, there's the fact that the Depp's entire on-screen persona has
been shattered.
A notorious 2018 profile in Rolling Stone revealed the extent of the actor's troubled
personal life.
Needless to say, there's nothing fun about watching someone pretend to lose their mind
on-screen when they're actually struggling in real life.
Before Chris Pratt lost 60 pounds in six months for Guardians of the Galaxy, he was a dopey
side character on Parks and Recreation.
And going even farther back, one of his first regular gigs was the gooey WB drama Everwood,
which does not hold up in 2019 if you happen to stumble across it on Hulu.
Today, Pratt is beloved for massive blockbusters like Jurassic World and Avengers: Infinity
War.
But all those hits don't change the fact that he played himself in the critically panned
live-action Jem and the Holograms adaptation or that he had a major part in the similarly
not-beloved Bride Wars.
And his star power wasn't even enough to save 2016's Passengers, in which his attempts to
woo Jennifer Lawrence in space turned off one too many critics.
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