The Most Phoned-In Performances of All Time

[Green Goblin]

Plus, just say the freaking "With Great Power" line without paraphrasing it!

It's funny, Uncle Ben never said that line in the comics. The one they used was from ultimate.
Back on topic, Pierce Bronson in Percy Jackson

 

[Octoberist]

Tim Robbins in Green Lantern.

 

[Octoberist]

Sean Connery in 'You Only Live Twice. He looked so bored that you can tell they had edit around Connery's performance. Most of the time, you see the back of his head as he's talking.

 

[Sawyer]

The entire cast of Grown-Ups 2. Then again, alot of them are ****, so who knows, they might have actually been trying...

 

[zeroapoc]

Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Sean Connery in 'You Only Live Twice. He looked so bored that you can tell they had edit around Connery's performance. Most of the time, you see the back of his head as he's talking.

His performance in YOLT is Oscar worthy compared to what he does in Diamonds Are Forever.

 

[The Navigator]

His performance in YOLT is Oscar worthy compared to what he does in Diamonds Are Forever.

"Oh right, I had a wife that Blofeld brutally gunned down. Well...whatever."

 

[jacobed]

Some of these on here. Bana in Star Trek, Costner and Shannon in Man of Steel, TLJ in Batman Forever or Sheen in ASM. Um do you guys know what phoned in performance is

 

[Warhammer]

It's funny, Uncle Ben never said that line in the comics. The one they used was from ultimate.
Back on topic, Pierce Bronson in Percy Jackson

That's probably why he didn't reprise the role.

 

[jonathancrane]

Bruce Willis in A Good Day to Die Hard

 

[MrMaooz]

Do you guys think Gwenyth Paltrow in IM3 fits the bill?

 

[Poni_Boy]

Nope

 

[Poni_Boy]

There's a huge difference between phoning in a performance and giving an off/bad performance. Phoning in implies a complete disregard for effort, especially when compared to the other actors on screen.

 

[Octoberist]

Do you guys think Gwenyth Paltrow in IM3 fits the bill?

She was fine.

 

[Octoberist]

There's a huge difference between phoning in a performance and giving an off/bad performance. Phoning in implies a complete disregard for effort, especially when compared to the other actors on screen.

Again, like Michael Madsen in Sin City.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Again, like Michael Madsen in Sin City.

Exactly. He put as little effort as possible into that first scene (rumor has it they had to read him his lines out loud while the camera were rolling).

That's very different from actors giving an off performance because they didn't understand the character, or there wasn't much to work with.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Precisely. I mean, could anyone tell if it was Bana before being told or looking it up? I still can't believe that's him. And while yes, makeup is a part of it - there are still plenty of phenomenal actors that can't blend 100% even with that.

I'm not sure what you mean here. I did follow the production for a year or so before the movie came out, so I knew that Bana was playing the villain. But even if I walked into it blind, I still think I would have known it was him. And kudos to Bana for sitting in a makeup chair for hours everyday to look like a Romulan but I really found his performance bland. He came off like he didn't give a sh** about anything in that movie. His first officer, Clifton Collins Jr. (very underrated actor) was more menacing and "alien" than Bana. He should have been the primary villain because he at least came off like he cared about what was happening.


Also... thought of a couple more.

Kevin Spacey and Frank Langella - Superman Returns

Mark Wahlberg - The Happening

Jon Voight - Transformers

 

[nite-owl]

Keifer Sutherland in Phone Booth. Literally.

 

[Octoberist]

Bruce Willis in A Good Day to Die Hard

Yeah, he was just so disconnected. Like the movie. Seriously the film had decent moments but the lack of consistency of tone and reality mucks up the movie.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I


Mark Wahlberg - The Happening

Mark Wahlberg - any movie that isn't Boogie Nights

It's the only movie where Mark Wahlberg reveals the depths of his acting ability.

 

[Hotwire]

Well, this is certainly one list of actors that will NEVER include Nicolas Cage!

 

[Ultimatehero]

I'm not sure what you mean here. I did follow the production for a year or so before the movie came out, so I knew that Bana was playing the villain. But even if I walked into it blind, I still think I would have known it was him. And kudos to Bana for sitting in a makeup chair for hours everyday to look like a Romulan but I really found his performance bland. He came off like he didn't give a sh** about anything in that movie. His first officer, Clifton Collins Jr. (very underrated actor) was more menacing and "alien" than Bana. He should have been the primary villain because he at least came off like he cared about what was happening.

And therefore, you have no way of actually telling. If you take a poll, hell I'm even sure look at all the critic ratings for the film, you'll see that the vast majority didn't know. Why did you? -- Following production.

To me, Clifton was good but he didn't stand out above the classic henchman role whereas Bana had that cold energy that you would expect someone with his history to have -- having lost everyone. Also, if I remember correctly - the critics liked his performance because he did blend in. And the fact that he wasn't scary made it all the more of an excellent performance. Sure, we could be scared of the guy all the time -- but, really, this guy was not a bad guy. He blamed Spock for killing his entire planet, his wife, and his child and was seeking vengeance because of it. He was basically a galactic Punisher. In another story, he would have been the good guy. It was one of those few grey-area villains that worked.

 

[dark_b]

ohhhh no you didnt

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I really didn't view Nero as being all that grey. His motivation against Spock is that Spock didn't science fast enough rather than any actual fault of Spock's and then he decides in response to go on a genocide cruise based on their racial relation to Spock cause why not. He might be tragic but he really isn't sympathetic and he is definitely a bad person through the sheer lack of mercy he displays and continual deceptions like murdering unarmed prisoners of war.

Also I would have been able to identify him as Eric Bana simply because he has a distinctive face and the Romulan makeup really didn't do anything to cover those features up.

 

[Ultimatehero]

The reason why Nero viewed Spock as a villain was wrong, but he basically wanted Spock to feel the exact pain he felt that Spock made him go through. It wasn't because of random race relations it was back you destroy my planet - I destroy yours. Was he 100% a good guy? No. Was he your typical villain? I wouldn't say that at all. Did he come off as 'human' to the point where you can see how someone can get like that after going through that? Yes. He was, to me, a lot more gray than most of the villains out there.

As said, when the reviews -- and everyone can go ahead and check if they want - started pouring in when the movie came out most of them said "unrecognizable" to "barely recognizable." It was one of the main things the critics talked about.