Let’s face it, even Hollywood’s best sometimes stumble on their own talents. There is a particular kind of thrill that results from seeing a normally impeccable actor perform so out of tune that you find yourself questioning whether you turned the wrong channel and are watching a parody instead. Occasionally, it’s terrible scripts. Occasionally, it’s crazy directing decisions. And occasionally, it’s simply. Chaos, so get your snack and settle in for a lesson in misfires. These are ten of the worst performances ever given by some very great actors, leading up to the most wonderfully calamitous of them all.
10. Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Glenn Close may be one of the biggest stars of Hollywood, but her role in Hillbilly Elegy as “Mamaw” feels more like a wildly off SNL sketch. In a film that seems to mistake volume for substance, this is a large, glitzy, Oscar-baiting performance. Critics branded it as an aggravatingly stereotypical and self-indulgent mockery. They claimed that even talent at the level of a giant cannot save a movie that is full of clichés.
9. Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Even Meryl Streep can make a mistake. Her portrayal of the Witch in Into the Woods is loud, boastful, and lacks feeling; plus, there is a rap sequence that definitely should not have been filmed. Normally, Streep is a great addition to any project; however, here she seems out of place and overdressed, which is a case of “too much” becoming “way too much.”
8. Naomi Watts – Diana
Naomi Watts is a wonderful performer, but the film Diana may be the lowest point of her career. Playing the role of Princess Diana would have been the pinnacle of her career; however, it is instead a painful reproduction set in a boring script. The movie is weirdly written and terribly sincere, which is probably why Watts seems to be wandering lost among bad lines and worse directing. It’s less an homage and more of a cautionary tale.
7. Russell Crowe – The Mummy
In the ill-conceived “Dark Universe” film series that Universal attempted to revive with the help of Russell Crowe, one of the performances that stood out for its sheer bizarreness was the one that should have been a horror movie of its own. His Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a bewildering medley of different accents, snarls, and changes brought about by the computer. While Crowe definitely goes all in with his performance, unfortunately, there is also the comedy of errors that was not intentional.
6. Robert Downey Jr. – Dolittle
Post-Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. was the one we thought would always find a way to charm his way through any project. What the case was with Dolittle was the exact opposite – an unrecognizable accent, a confusing plot, and a leading man who looked as if he desperately wanted to be anywhere but there. Rather than being alluring, his method of communicating with animals is just tiring, as a result of which the question of how even the most charismatic of actors can’t save a movie in which everything goes wrong still stands unanswered.
5. Natalie Portman – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
It’s an open secret that Natalie Portman is an Oscar-winning actress; however, you would never be able to tell it from this distant galaxy. As Padmé Amidala, she has to endure awkward lines, zero chemistry with her co-star, and a love story so fake that it goes against the laws of nature. I bet you could see her pretending not to be in this fake world and hoping for another script.
4. George Clooney – Batman & Robin
Not even Clooney’s charmingness can save the Bat from his worst hour. The film Batman & Robin is famous for its over-the-top nature, the brightly colored settings, and the funny Bat-credit card, and Clooney has publicly made fun of it himself. The way he plays the character doesn’t really correspond to the typical features of the Avengers, and he is acting as a father who unwittingly came to a cosplay event.
3. Robert De Niro – Dirty Grandpa
Time out: De Niro was once the serious type in film. Following that, there’s Dirty Grandpa, a movie so immature that it makes Meet the Fockers look like The Godfather. It is cringe-inducing to watch De Niro indulge in the use of vulgar humor and spring-break jokes, and thus, it is a “how did we get here?” moment for one of the greatest cinema performers.
2. Tom Hanks – Elvis
In most cases, Tom Hanks would be the most sincere person, but his portrayal of Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis reminds one of a detached out-of-body hallucination. Underneath a mask and a voice that sounds partly like a Dutch one, and partly like an alien, Hanks goes over the top with his acting, which is almost to the level of a cartoon. The critics branded his work as “movie-ruining,” and this time, they were not being exaggerative. Even Elvis couldn’t go toe-to-toe with that madness.
1. Nicolas Cage – The Wicker Man
One shouldn’t be surprised that Nicolas Cage is quite simply the quintessential definition of an actor who over-commits to his role, and thus, this could either work in his favor or not. In The Wicker Man, his character is so maniacal to the point where, with the smallest fraction of the energy that he has contained in his character, he goes completely overboard, and this performance has been immortalized as one of the greatest memes. We can find among them: yelling, punching, bee stings, and a bear costume, all lacking in the slightest bit of the calmness of a hurricane. Though it is acting in history, the way that Cage probably intended is not.
What you are left with after all these cases is a list of ten instances when even the most legendary of men were shown to be only human. The great ones don’t necessarily leave the stage unscathed; it is rather shown by these performances that they can get back up higher and (hopefully) without bees despite bad direction, worse scripts, or simply having taken the risk too far.