While there were loads of problems with Avatar: The Last Airbender, the actors have recently blamed the film’s failure on miscasting. Some films have such great premises, are beautifully shot, and are full of great actors, but audiences’ enjoyment of them can easily be marred by a single performance.
- Even the best actors can have missteps in their careers, and even the best movies can see some performances that drag it down a bit. However, there are some cases where a great actor has a performance so bad that it almost dooms the movie from the start. A great example from 2022 is Morbius, which most fans didn’t expect to be good, but featured a performance from the otherwise great Matt Smith that became a meme from people mocking the movie. While the movie was panned by critics, it didn’t help that performances like this seemed to doom it from the start, which always starts great conversations between Reddit movie fans.
It doesn’t matter how great the movie is, one badly mismatched character and actor or actor who just doesn’t suit the story itself can pull viewers right out of it. Unsurprisingly, Reddit movie fans have tons of opinions on which films are impaired by terrible casting choices. Between directors casting their daughters and actors completely misunderstanding what makes an iconic character great, these movies would probably be better without those performances.
Cary Elwes - Saw (2004)
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Saw was a hugely successful horror movie and one that revolutionized ultra-gore. However, unlike many of the movies that followed it, Saw featured a great morality tale and remains a favorite for horror fans, even those who dislike the subgenre itself.
With that said, there was something about Cary Elwes performance that rubbed viewers the wrong way. Reddit movie fan vicarofvhs wrote, “I really like this movie, but there’s one thing that’s always bugged me, and that’s Cary Elwes’s TERRIBLE American accent. He’s a great actor, and I love most of his performances I’ve seen, but in this one he’s hamstrung by that accent.”
Jar-Jar Binks - Star Wars Prequels
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There were several complaints about the Star Wars prequels, but one character that seemed to take the brunt of the fan’s wrath was Jar-Jar Binks, portrayed by Ahmed Best. The character was the prequels’ answer to C-3PO, but few fans took to him and most of his moments were hard to watch.
However, fans on Reddit seem more forgiving of Ahmed Best, who went through a hard time after the movies. riegspych325 wrote, “Had any other actor been cast in the role, they’d still be stuck with the same sh*tty direction and writing. But Best did seem to give it his all.”
Shelley Duvall - The Shining (1980)
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Many horror fans consider The Shining to be one of horror’s great masterpieces. There are those detractors, mostly fans of Stephen King’s novel, who feel the movie doesn’t convey the same message. King is one of those detractors himself, and he pointed out many times his hatred for Shelley Duvall’s performance as Wendy.
Reddit movie fans seem to be split when it comes to her performance in the movie. An example of someone who felt her performance ruined the movie, ReasonableScorpion wrote, “Her acting in that movie is atrocious. Go back and watch it again. One standout scene is when she is on the radio talking to a radio operator. Good god it’s bad.”
Sophie Turner - X-Men: Dark Phoenix
There have been a lot of complaints about the last few X-Men movies, but the truth is that X-Men: Days of Future Past has one of the highest Rotten Tomatoes scores of any X-Men movie, and X-Men: First Class was critically acclaimed when it was released as well. However, X-Men: Dark Phoenix ranks very low for fans and critics, and a lot of complaints focus on Sophie Turner as Jean Grey.
The movie relied on fans wanting Jean Grey to beat the Dark Phoenix, but fans didn’t buy into her as the iconic X-Men member. b3n_writes posted that they didn’t like “Sophie Turner in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Give me Famke Janssen’s portrayal of Jean Grey any day of the week.”
Stephen Lack - Scanners (1981)
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David Cronenberg has created some of horror cinema’s best body horror movies, and Scanners is up there as one of his masterpieces. The movie has a Criterion Collection edition and often falls on best-of lists when it comes to horror fans. However, some viewers believe the one area that hurts the movie is the lead actor, Stephen Lack.
Reddit movie fan MondoUnderground points out that this performance was one area where the movie was lacking. “Stephen Lack, who plays the main character, puts on one of the worst performances in film history. Unbelievably flat. And it’s a real shame … Cronenberg’s direction is brilliant, the script is well-written and every other cast member is really good, but the lead derails the entire thing.”
Keanu Reeves - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
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While celebrated director Francis Ford Coppola is currently self-funding his $120 million movie Megalopolis, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was the filmmaker’s last bold cinematic statement. The film looks incredible, adapts a centuries-old story on an epic scale, and features a jaw-dropping performance of the titular character from Gary Oldman.
Unfortunately, VampireHunterAlex notes the one drawback that keeps the film from being a masterpiece. The Reddit movie fan argues, “It’s a great movie, and I love Keanu as much as anyone else, but woof… he’s not good in it.” While Keanu Reeves has done a great job at honing in on what he’s good at, especially in recent years, he was terribly miscast as Jonathan Harker.
Sofia Coppola - The Godfather Part III (1990)
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Along with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Godfather Part III is another Coppola-directed epic that Redditors think was ruined by one bad performance. Calm_Strength_9888 complains about Coppola casting his daughter, Sofia Coppola, as Mary Corleone, noting, “Acting was not her forte in that movie. She’s a superb director though.” Sofia has become an incredible filmmaker in her own right, having directed fantastic 2000s movies like Lost In Translation and Somewhere, and she was smart to leave her acting career behind her.
However, Part III has the reputation of being much worse than its classic predecessors, and fans would argue that the movie had many other problems too. Between the way Michael is somewhat redeemed for all the terrible acts he has committed and the strange incestuous relationship between Mary and Vincent, Mary’s casting is just one of the film’s issues.
Katie Holmes - Batman Begins (2005)
Batman Begins marked a change in the movie industry, and after the movie’s success, there was a dark a gritty reboot of every franchise imaginable. The film is a huge change of pace for the live-action Batman character, it features a comic accurate depiction of Gotham, and Christian Bale is many fans’ favorite Bruce Wayne.
But DullBicycle7200 reckons there’s one major issue with the movie, which is Katie Holmes’ performance as Rachel Dawes. The Reddit movie fan explains, “I could never buy her as a hard-hitting district attorney fighting against corruption in the city, and some of her lines come off as flat.” Holmes was replaced in The Dark Knight by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and neither performance is more loved than the other. Ultimately, there are two types of Batman fans in the world; ones who prefer Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes and ones who prefer Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Cameron Diaz - Gangs Of New York (2002)
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Daniel Day-Lewis is such a committed actor and always goes above and beyond for any role, often taking method acting to the extreme. And that is no truer than with his role in the Martin Scorsese period epic, Gangs of New York. But not every actor was operating on the same level.
Akincisor posits, “Cameron Diaz just completely ruined Gangs of New York for me. Took me out of the movie every time she was on screen.” In fairness, Cameron Diaz isn’t the only actor who struggles to keep up with Day-Lewis in the movie. For as great as Leonardo DiCaprio is, his Irish accent in the film always ends up sounding American by the end of each sentence.
Kate Capshaw - Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is commonly referred to as the worst Indy movie, or at least it was until the release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But fans have warmed to the darker tone and more confined narrative over the years, and there are still so many classic scenes in Temple of Doom. However, there’s still one problem that audiences struggle to look past.
Referring to Kate Capshaw’s casting as Willie Scott, Scottmushroom notes “Just a useless and annoying character that dragged down every scene she was in with her screaming, whining, and stupid facial expressions.” While it seems like the Redditor has more of a problem with the character than the actor, Scott could have lowered the volume of her screaming just a little bit.
Awkwafina - Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021
DullBicycle7200 reckons that Awkwafina was miscast as Katy in last year’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. They argue, “Her performance isn’t bad, but her character just felt very shoehorned into the plot.” Again, just like Willie Scott in Temple of Doom, it’s more that the character isn’t as three-dimensional as she could have been than Awkwafina not delivering the goods.
The character simply exists to make self-aware jokes about the absurdity of what’s going on. The actor actually went above and beyond for the role. Awkwafina even took up archery lessons to prepare, as Katy somehow becomes a professional archer overnight.
Dakota Fanning - War Of The Worlds (2005)
War of the Worlds is one of the best modern remakes of old sci-fi movies, and that’s largely thanks to visionary auteur Steven Spielberg behind the camera. For a movie that’s rated PG-13, there are a surprising amount of scares, and few other movies are as suspenseful as when the probe inspects the basement. Even R-rated thrillers struggle to achieve that kind of terror.
However, Reddit movie fan PunyParker826 is more critical of the 2005 film, believing that Dakota Fanning holds the movie back. The Redditor complains about her “screaming her head off.” Given that incessant screaming was also the complaint about Willie Scott in the Spielberg-directed Temple of Doom, the blame may very well lay with the celebrated director.
Kristen Stewart - Snow White And The Huntsman (2012)
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While Snow White and the Huntsman isn’t exactly regarded as an incredible movie, Laxwildcat87 must think it is, as they believe it was simply Kristen Stewart who ruined the movie. The Reddit movie fan argues that the film was “completely overshadowed critically and financially by Kristen Stewart’s performance.”
Stewart has come a long way since the Snow White and the Hunstman days, as she was recently nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Spencer. And it could have been that these franchise movies just didn’t allow for the versatility and range that she clearly has.
Jared Leto - Suicide Squad (2016)
UncleWillard5566 thinks Suicide Squad was completely ruined by the Joker. The Redditor believes, “Suicide Squad would have been less of a failure without Leto’s horrible performance.” The 2016 movie had way more problems than just Leto, but when debating who is the best Joker, not many fans will jump to his defense.
There was even more Joker material cut out of the movie, and there’s apparently enough to make a whole Joker movie. Some fans begging for the “Ayer cut” are dying to see it, but most viewers who sat through the 2016 movie think the footage is where it belongs, on the cutting room floor.
Russell Crowe - Les Miserables (2012)
* Stream now on Netflix
When it comes to musicals, the musical sequences are usually filmed during principal photography, and then actors dub over the footage in post-production, and they record multiple takes in order to get the best one. And sometimes, several of them are spliced together to use the best part of each take. But director Tom Hooper made the bold decision to record the musical numbers in Les Miserables live and with no overdubs.
Reddit movie fan Connorroy2024 thinks “Russell Crowe in Les Mis” ruins the entire movie. Where Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman’s performances are pitch-perfect, Crowe’s performances could have down with a few of those post-production touch-ups.
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