No matter how many awards an actor wins, they'll always have a few movies under their belt
that they might not be so proud of.
From cheesy action movies to overly dramatic bio-pics, sometimes an actor can't help but
cross the line into insane territory, often with amazing results.
And in some movies, it'd be ridiculous not to give 110 percent.
Are these the worst examples of overacting of all time...or the best?
You decide.
Either way, they're all inanely fun to watch.
Con Air
Playing a really bad guy is tricky business.
Go too far, and the whole endeavor winds up coming across as laughably cartoonish.
If there's one actor who can unnerve an audience as a villain, it's John Malkovich.
He's played memorably chilling creeps several times, such as his Oscar-nominated role as
a would-be presidential assassin in In the Line of Fire.
It went a bit differently with Con Air.
In this action drama about a mutiny on a prisoner transport plane, Malkovich plays a master
criminal who pushes his insanity to its amazing limits.
"Make a move and the bunny gets it."
The Room
At this point, The Room is practically legendary.
It's so filled with inept performances, bizarre acting choices, and completely unnecessary
scenes that it has to be seen to be believed.
"That's me.
How much is it?"
"It'll be eighteen dollars."
"Here you go.
Keep the change."
"Hi doggie."
"You're my favorite customer."
"Thanks a lot, bye!"
That's all primarily the fault of Tommy Wiseau, who wrote, directed, and produced The Room
and also stars as Johnny, a San Francisco finance guy caught up in a doomed love triangle.
"You're lying, I never hit you.
You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"
Keep in mind that in all these scenes, the writer, director, producer, and actor all
agree that the performances are spot-on,because they're all the same person.
"One of them found out about it, beat her up so bad about it she ended up in a hospital
on Guerrero Street."
(weird laugh)
"What a story, Mark."
Spawn
It's hard to blame John Leguizamo for his scenes in Spawn.
In the film, he plays Violator, a character whose every move is ridiculous.
"Spawny Spawny he's our man.
If he can't kill them no one can.
Yayyyyy Spawny"
The character's obviously supposed to be unpleasant, but in the film he makes clowns even more
unpleasant than they usually are.
But let's be clear here: this is an evil clown demon in a cheesy, over-the-top '90s comic
book movie.
Anything less from Leguizamo would have been under-acting.
"Oh come on you scream like a girl, do it like this…"
(screams)
Mommie Dearest
There are a few amazing things about Faye Dunaway's over-the-top performance in Mommie
Dearest.
For starters, she was playing Joan Crawford, a real-life Golden Age Hollywood actress.
Dunaway's portrayal of Crawford as a self-absorbed, violent monster ultimately meant that the
would-be drama has since come to be regarded as a camp comedy classic.
The most famous scene sees Dunaway truly heading into the stratosphere, Crawford really hates
wire hangers, and when she finds one in her daughter's closet, well, she's a little more
than just disappointed.
"Why?
Whyyyy!
Christina get out of that bed!"
Spider-Man 3
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 gets a bit of a bad rap, but for a good reason.
After two stellar films featuring everyone's favorite web-slinger, Raimi introduces some
ill-advised plotlines, one of which renders Peter Parker completely unlikeable.
On the bright side, that plot gives us some of the most memorable Spidey moments of all
time, when the Venom symbiote changes Peter's personality.
Tobey Maguire goes all in on Peter's bad boy montage.
It's one of the most unintentionally hilarious parts of the film, or any superhero film for
that matter.
Peter sports a "hip" black outfit and rhythmically shuffles down the street, flashing finger
guns at pretty women.
(still better than The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
He fails miserably, and it's all kinds of fun to watch.
Maguire is hamming it up more than any other actor in the trilogy, clearly aware of how
ridiculous the story is to begin with.
"This is for you…"
Spider-Man 3 marks the end of Raimi's time with the character, but thanks to Maguire's
ridiculous performance, it goes out on an unforgettable note.
Power Rangers
Considering it's based on a television series that's at its best when the camp and excess
is working in overdrive, 2017's Power Rangers film did a pretty good job of reimagining
the beloved team of teenagers.
While it never forgets to be fun, it makes every effort to tell a grounded and more human
story.
One character seems to be constantly striking against the grain, though.
It's not clear if Elizabeth Banks, the actress behind the villainous Rita Repulsa, got the
"grounded and more human" memo.
Her take on the space witch is way over the top.
Although …yeah, it's kind of understandable considering she's playing a space witch.
"Make my monster grow!!"
You can't say it isn't entertaining, it's just a different kind of entertaining than
the rest of the film.
There's certainly a place for performances like this, but even in the context of a Power
Rangers film it's some seriously laughable stuff.
The Fifth Element
In the '90s, actor Gary Oldman came into his own as a veritable high prince of overacting.
Films like True Romance and Leon: The Professional feature Oldman channeling an amazing level
of energy into these more villainous roles.
"Bring me everyone."
"What do you mean everyone?"
"Everyone!!!!!"
But nothing can match the overacted hysteria of his performance in The Fifth Element.
Oldman plays the film's antagonist, Zorg.
Before he even starts overacting, you can't help but laugh thanks to his ridiculous haircut
and hyper-stylized Southern accent.
"It's light; handle's adjustable for easy carrying; good for righties and lefties; breaks
down into four parts; undetectable by X-ray; ideal for quick discreet interventions."
Pair that with a truly bonkers performance and you've got one of the most peculiar entries
in Oldman's canon.
"Look it's easy.
Look at my fingers.
Four stones.
Four crates.
Zero stones.
Zero crates!"
Oldman has since reeled it in quite a bit and even scored best actor at the 2018 Oscars
for Darkest Hour, but it would be nice to see him in a Zorg-style role again someday.