You know that moment : the one when you're watching a great movie, and you're taken out
of it every time a particular actor shows up onscreen?
A single person can throw a whole movie out of whack with a performance that's clearly
disconnected from everything else.
It can be painful to watch.
But the true test of a great movie is whether or not it can withstand that one clunker.
Here's a look at some great movies that were almost ruined by one bad performance.
Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim seemed like a "sure thing" in Hollywood.
It's basically Transformers vs. Godzilla, only smarter, and it had visionary director
Guillermo del Toro behind it.
But there are no certainties in Hollywood.
Del Toro simply didn't do the math when he decided not to cast a bona fide movie star
in the lead role.
Instead, he brought in Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam, hoping that he'd rise to the
occasion and be the charismatic, thoughtful and romantic tough guy the film needed.
But Hunnam didn't rise.
His performance is flat and lifeless.
He also had zero chemistry with co-star Rinko Kikuchi and Pacific Rim nearly crumbled under
the weight of his blandness.
However, the movie didn't totally crumble.
It's still a lot of fun to watch, and it made a lot of money overseas.
But we can only wonder how much better it might've been if Hunnam matched the rest of
the energy in the movie.
Gangs of New York
It's easy to blame a bad performance on the actor who delivered it.
But sometimes it's all the result of poor casting, and Cameron Diaz was definitely wrong
for Martin Scorsese's 19th century turf-war drama Gangs Of New York.
To be fair, Diaz was on a roll at the time, having scored accolades for Being John Malkovich
and Vanilla Sky.
But Gangs of New York is a very different animal.
Playing pickpocket Jenny Everdeane required Diaz to dye her hair red and don a Scottish
accent.
Or maybe it was Irish?
To be honest, it's impossible to tell, and more often than not, the accent just sort
of disappears.
"Maybe we can pal in together."
"Oh, I think you're, uh, a bit rough for this sort of game."
"Besides.
I work alone."
There's also a fundamental disconnect between Diaz and her character—a tough-as-nails
thief.
Diaz never quite finds the character's essence, and it frequently undermines the film.
"Don't tell me you're angry with me.."
"No.
I'm through with ya."
Thank goodness Daniel Day-Lewis was around to keep things interesting.
Shakespeare In Love
Back when Shakespeare in Love somehow bested Saving Private Ryan to win the Oscar for best
picture in 1999, lots of critics thought it was a clever and romantic take on the life
of history's most beloved playwright.
But they probably also would've mentioned how weird it is when Ben Affleck turns up
as legendary English actor Ned Alleyn.
"What is the play and what is my part?"
Affleck's appearance in the film is a genuine head-scratcher.
We're still not sure how director John Madden allowed him to go with that horrible British
accent.
"Pay attention.
You will see how genius creates a legend!"
But Affleck makes everything even worse by trying to bury it under a smarmy layer of
machismo.
It doesn't work, and it leaves us utterly disliking a character that should've been
a lot of fun.
The film is almost unwatchable when Affleck is onscreen and his presence becomes one of
those glaring distractions that most films can't overcome.
But Shakespeare In Love still works in spite of him, which is something we can't say about
Daredevil.
The Prestige
Many fans of director Christopher Nolan argue that his 2006 film The Prestige is his best
work.
It's got that mix of high-concept and high-entertainment fare that Nolan is known for.
But we'd be a little more inclined to call it his best movie if we could go back in time
and make him recast the role of Olivia.
If you're wondering why Scarlett Johansson was hired to play a turn-of-the-century Brit,
you're not alone.
It's hard to believe she was Nolan's first choice for the part, and we can't imagine
that producers were worried about packing big stars into their film.
They already had Batman and Wolverine in the lead roles and Rebecca Hall, Michael Caine
and David Bowie to back them up.
So, why Johansson?
Well, that remains a mystery.
All we know for sure is that she couldn't handle the British accent or the turn-of-the-century
dialogue.
She struggles so much that she seems to forget there are other actors in her scenes.
It would take more than magic to look past ScarJo's bad performance.
Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds will be remembered for a lot of reasons.
Not only did it rewrite history and give Adolf Hitler the brutal end he deserved, it also
made a star out of Michael Fassbender and brought Christoph Waltz an Oscar.
But while Tarantino has always had a knack for casting exactly the right person in exactly
the right part — and resurrecting a career or two in the process — his decision to
cast Mike Myers as a high-ranking British officer was one of those WTF moments we still
can't quite get over.
"Basically we have all our rotten eggs in one basket."
"The objective of Operation Keno?
Blow up the basket."
Not that casting Myers wasn't worth the risk.
The Saturday Night Live veteran has proven that he's capable of doing great things with
the right part, and Tarantino has proven he can make almost any risk pay off.
But both of them missed the mark here.
Myers seems to be trying so hard not to do Austin Powers that he ends up just doing a
watered down version of Austin Powers.
His appearance in the film — even behind all that makeup — feels like a stunt.
"Got the jist?"
Batman Begins
Christopher Nolan has clearly had some trouble casting female roles.
If Scarlett Johansson turning up in The Prestige didn't hammer that point home, allow us to
present exhibit B: Katie Holmes in Batman Begins.
We're willing to admit that her role as Bruce Wayne's childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes
isn't exactly the most well-rounded character.
Rachel is probably the worst-scripted character in the entire trilogy, and in Batman Begins,
she's the definition of a stock love interest.
In the right hands, characters like Rachel can be quite memorable.
Unfortunately, Holmes brought zero nuance to the character, delivered her lines with
no emotion, and Rachel always seems two-dimensional.
That made it easy for Nolan to recast the character for The Dark Knight.
And even though Rachel isn't the sharpest character in Nolan's trilogy, Maggie Gyllenhaal
managed to do what Holmes couldn't: make Rachel seem like a real person.
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