The Most Phoned-In Performances of All Time

[Steyin]

Man reading over this thread I think a lot of people are confusing "phoning it in" with "hamming it up".

 

[kguillou]

Bruce Willis in pretty much every movie since Live Free or Die Hard.

 

[Schlosser85]

He didn't phone it in in Looper. But yea, 99% of the time I'd agree.

 

[Schlosser85]

William Hurt in almost his entire acting career.

 

[Schlosser85]

Johnny Depp in every recent movie except Black Mass.

 

[James]

Man reading over this thread I think a lot of people are confusing "phoning it in" with "hamming it up".

Feel free to enlighten us by contributing to the thread.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Christoph Waltz presence on screen is so much fun, most of the time I can't tell if he's phoning it in.
But I was bored watching Big Eyes so much, he didn't save it for me.

 

[Thundarr]

Michael Madsen in Bloodrayne. Watch The Nostalgia Critic's review of the film. It' hilarious when he points out just how much Madsen didn't give a s**t about the film.

 

[Thundarr]

Marlon Brando - The Island of Dr. Moreau
James Spader - Stargate
Ian McKellen - The Da Vinci Code
Jeremy Iron - Dungeons & Dragons, Eragon, Beautiful Creatures
Emma Thompson - Beautiful Creatures

I don't know about Beautiful Creatures, but Jeremy Irons didn't phone it in with Dungeons & Dragons or Eragon. You can't give an over the top, hammy performance like that and be "phoning it in".

 

[Thundarr]

Man reading over this thread I think a lot of people are confusing "phoning it in" with "hamming it up".

Agreed. For those of you who don't know here's the difference.

"Phoning it in" = Giving a lackluster performance, showing little to no emotion. Kristen Stewart in virtually every movie she's ever been in is a good example.

"Hamming it up" = Giving a ridiculously over the the performance, especially when a more subtle approach would probably be a effective. Jeremy Irons in Dungeons & Dragons is a prime example of this I effect.