The Most Phoned-In Performances of All Time

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Marlon Brando, 'The Island of Dr Moreau'. The dude basically had someone feed him all his lines through an ear-piece.... during filming.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Basically the whole cast of The Phantom Menace. Though most of the blank stares and wooden delivery is probably due to the awesome directing by Lucas.

 

[jonathancrane]

I'd modify it to the prequel trilogy.

The only one who put any effort into their role was McDiarmid. And he had fun in ROTS.

 

[CGHulk]

Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor

 

[Sawyer]

And he was one of the GOOD ones in that movie.

 

[Octoberist]

And that speaks volumes.

 

[Sawyer]

I mean... the two leads didn't have enough charisma between them to fill a bottle cap.

 

[Thundarr]

The entire cast of Knight Chills.

 

[Loki882]

I'd modify it to the prequel trilogy.

The only one who put any effort into their role was McDiarmid. And he had fun in ROTS.

I thought that Ewan McGregor did a really good job as well, especially considering what he had to work with.

 

[Loki882]

I mean... the two leads didn't have enough charisma between them to fill a bottle cap.

Yeah, Cyclops acted more like Superman in that movie than SUPERMAN did. Come to think of it, James Marsden would have been a much better choice to play Superman than Brandon Routh and Parker Posey would have made an infinitely better Lois Lane than Kate Bosworth.

 

[Rowsdower!]

LOL, I love it when anyone bashes Superman Returns. One of the most disappointing movies of all time. The sad thing is, when you watch House of Cards, you see how good of a Lex Luthor Spacey COULD have been, if the script wasn't garbage and if he gave a a f*** about his performance.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

LOL, I love it when anyone bashes Superman Returns. One of the most disappointing movies of all time. The sad thing is, when you watch House of Cards, you see how good of a Lex Luthor Spacey COULD have been, if the script wasn't garbage and if he gave a a f*** about his performance.

Well that and if Singer didn't tell Spacey to do his best Gene Hackman impression for the duration of filming.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Well that and if Singer didn't tell Spacey to do his best Gene Hackman impression for the duration of filming.

Heh, yeah. What pointless, bizarre movie. Singer doesn't know the difference between a homage and a shameless knock-off.

 

[childeroland]

Portman in the SW prequels. I admire her to pieces, and she's great in Black Swan, V for Vendetta, etc., but here she just seemed bored.

Franco in Oz the Great and Powerful, though that could just be the horrendous miscasting.

Michael Caine in Betwitched

 

[Senator Pleasury]

Franco in Oz was just high as a cloud in every scene.

 

[Maximus One]

Malcolm McDowell in basically anything in the last twenty years. All I've seen him in pre-90s is A Clockwork Orange and he was amazing in that and I'm not saying he's not incredible in any way but he seems to just always play Malcolm McDowell. There's no real change in him at all between characters. He's just as much the villain from Tank Girl as he is Dr Loomis in Rob Zombie's Halloween or a Professor on Community.

 

[Schlosser85]

Malcolm McDowell was like the most boring phoned-in Star Trek villain ever.

 

[Sawyer]

McDowell gets a pass from me. Even if he's just playing Malcolm McDowell, that's pretty badass.

 

[MrMaooz]

Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation.

 

[Asr]

Malcolm McDowell in basically anything in the last twenty years.

What about his Metallo in STAS?

 

[TheNextNolan22]

McDowell's narration an episode of South Park was legendary.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

except for Looper, the most recent slew of movies with Bruce Willis

 

[Sawyer]

Eh. Outside of generally being a better film than much of his recent stuff, I don't really think he ventured too far outside his comfort zone with that one, either.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah, Willis was just Willis As Usual in that film. So much so that Joseph Gordon Levitt was actually playing Bruce Willis rather than a new character in the film. The only thing that set Bruce Willis apart in that movie from any other typical Willis character is that he does some truly horrible things.

Anyway, regarding McDowell... perhaps he is phoning it in most of the time but I still love most of his performances. He's awesome on Franklin & Bash.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Funny, I came in here to mention Willis too. The guy really is a piss-weak shadow of his former self.
It's like he's been sleepwalking through the last decade and nobody's had the heart to wake him up.