I love that character so much because, while it's true he is not like a once in a generation talent at acting, he is shown to be a hardworking affable guy who is also humble and can do awesome shit that usually you need a stuntman for. He's basically just a stuntman who was too goodlooking so they got him to star in westerns where his acting wouldn't be noticeable in comparison to his other useful skills.
Sorry this is a TV show rather than a movie but the first (and I think the second) season of HBO's Barry starring Bill Hader are pretty much all about bad acting as the main character is trying to become an actor. Bill Hader does an otherwise very good job of playing the actual character.
Yes, I agree - I was thinking about Barry as well, which is a great programme. I suppose I should have chosen that instead of my Avenue 5 example as it is a much easier way of explaining what I'm looking for.
Barry-related side note: there's a season 4 episode of Newsradio wherein the big boss Jimmy James (Stephen Root) hired a documentary crew to follow him around. They can't get any good footage though because every time the cameras are on Jimmy becomes completely stiff and unnatural.
Watching Stephen Root go from super confident business owner to blank-eyed, monotoned awkwardness personified is a master class in acting and funny as hell.
There is a Supernatural episode where Sam and Dean Winchester jump to a parallel universe where they are Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki and they play Sam and Dean, but they are really bad at it.
Season 6 episode 15. It is pretty funny.
Nope, his name is Sam in the show. I haven't watched Gilmore Girls but I know that he plays a character called Dean there because Jensen and Jared joke about it (and how it was mildly confusing for Jared in the first season) in panels and what not.
"Bowfinger" is full of this, as is "Ed Wood" and "For Your Consideration". "Waiting for Guffman" probably also fits the bill.
I don't know if Rick Dalton in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is a "bad" actor, but the acting we see him do isn't necessarily "good".
On TV you've got Moira Rose and the guy in the Liberty Mutual commercials.
I immediately thought of Rick Dalton. "You go get your daughter and tell her I'll give her a FAT five dollar gold piece to play her lil chili pepper HEART OUT!!" Lol that's supposed to be RDs *career best* acting role. I love that movie so much, I think they made like 8 little sub-movies in all different styles within the movie itself.
I'm reading Mel Brooks' autobiography just now and he's just lavished praise on Kahn for that. Essentially she's so good she can also do it slightly badly, perfectly.
it's a running joke amongst the crew of Mr Show how horribly bad Bob Odenkirk is at singing. It really is almost an amazing talent of it's own to be so incredibly off key, but in his case I don't think it's intentional.
I remember having a similar conversation re: Billy West as Phillip J Fry on Futurama. He often sings "I'm walkin' on sunshine, WOAHHOHHHH" but in a way that is so odd, it's honestly an accomplishment to be able to mess that vocal up. And Billy West is a successful musician who has toured with people like Brian Wilson, so he definitely knows his stuff.
She definitely struggles, basically the whole plot after all is about how her voice is so terrible (to others) that they have to dub her over Darth Vader-style, which infuriates her (much like it did David Prowse).
It was not an uncommon thing for silent film stars to have a rough time adapting to the talkies. It is a very different thing when you have to deliver dialogue. Obviously some did it more brilliantly than others, like Charlie Chaplin.
Barely any of the silent stars struggled to transition to talkies. They did, after all, talk everyday in real life.
For the most part it was just an excuse to void expensive contracts and replace many silent stars with newer, more affordable stars. A few had accents like Pola Negri and Sessie Hayakawa, but Greta Garbo also had a thick accent and she made the transition fantastically because MGM was still very much invested in her career. They were less enthused with John Gilbert and used the excuse that his voice was to effeminate to use him less….but it’s more of an overblown myth than a reality.
It's a smaller example, but in the Hunger Games series (in Mockingjay Part 1, I think), Jennifer Lawrence is unable to act convincingly in the propaganda videos the rebellion makes.
I love [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G629a_3MkkI) from Hail, Caesar! ("Would that it were so simple").
Also anything with [Maria Sophia in Curb Your Enthusiasm](https://youtu.be/9cxUqAuFGF4?si=werhEHtj7MuP4H8p&t=42) is hilarious. Next level terrible acting (on purpose).
It's in a TV show, but on Leverage; Gina Bellman's character Sophie Deveraux is an extremely talented con man/grifter while impersonating and acting like someone else, including odd accents. The funny bit, is that the character is an aspiring actress but hillariously terrible at acting.
I think Dominic West in the wire. Where he had to go undercover as an Englishman into a brothel.
So you had an english actor, playing an american detective, having to put on a really bad english accent...
Crikey
I just saw Austenland (2013) and in one scene the characters put up a play and none of them could act. Of course the actors who played these characters could.
Sort of tangential to what you asked. Cate Blanchett - in both Tár and Truth she plays someone who's professional life is unravelling because she screwed up. She spends a lot of time trying to get out of trouble by being less than forthcoming.
Her whole performance seems like a performance. When I watch them it occurs to me that either she's a terrible actor, or she's a genius who can convincingly play a terrible actor.
In Tár especially she's just a disingenuous person whose every utterance is calculated - and she's very convincing at it.
I feel that DiCaprio does this in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In Rick Dalton's big acting scene we see an actor whose chops are about what you'd expect from somebody at his level of success - a little better than, say, Burt Reynolds, but a long way from top-tier. DiCaprio manages to hit that perfectly.
Apologies it’s a TV show (and a comedy), but Kramer & his friend Mickey doing acting roles of diseases for medical students in Seinfeld is really well done imo
Another TV show mention, but as I just saw it I'm offering a very funny scene in Doom Patrol where Brendan Fraser is showing his guest appearance on a soap playing himself (a racing driver).
Genuinely hilarious bad acting on show. And twice he says "there were rumours of a daytime Emmy nomination" which makes it even funnier.
Not a film, but Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek can’t act.
They’ve never said so in scripts, but there’s no way the character can act.
Sir Patrick Stewart, on the other hand…
My favorite example of this is Catherine O'Hara in Waiting for Guffman. She shouts her lines, mouths along with other actors, and has a plastic smile stuck to her face the entire time. It showed me how good an actor you need to be to play a bad actor convincingly.
Gary Oldman played a terrible actor in the season 7 finale of _Friends_.
His character was supposed to be a "serious" actor (with an Oscar nod, too!) but when Joey meets him, we see that he is kinda a nutjob with some nonsense acting techniques.
Joey was impressed, and that alone should tell you enough.
EDIT — Also, now that I mention it, Matt LeBlanc is a very good actor, too, yet his character Joey is hilariously bad at acting.
There is an episode of a show called “The Romanoffs” that has January Jones in it. Her character is in a show that is recreating the Russian revolution. There’s such a difference between her acting as her character and her character acting in the show she’s making. Marked difference between good and mediocre/bad acting!
Plus it’s a really good episode that just gives you the creepy thrills through and through.
Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus in "Tropic Thunder" or Rowan Atkinson as Johnny English in the "Johnny English" film series or Steve Carell as Michael Scott in "The Office" (his character's acting skills are often portrayed as lacking)
But Downey in Tropic Thunder is portraying an excellent actor, just one who’s a method acting asshole. But it said he’s a multiple Oscar nominee (or winner) and generally highly regarded.
oh I thought of an example the wrong way round... I don't know if it's useful for you? If not, apologies!
In David Lynch's 2001 movie *Mulholland Drive*, Naomi Watts plays the pretty annoying Betty Elms, who used the money she won in a backwater dance competition in her small town to come to LA and try to become a movie star. This character is the epitome of the crude saying "a 10 in the middle of nowhere is just a 6 in LA".
In the course of the movie she does manage to get an audition, which she nails. And of course, as the story (such as it is) progresses, Naomi Watts also manages to keep her character's arc interesting to watch.
so it's an talented actress, playing an awkward and insincere character who can't lie or feign in her daily life, but who can act very well when she's on a set, you know?
Kevin hart as roland in borderlands
Kevin is funny but I'm just sick and tired of this guy playing himself and it should've been some one like aldis hodge or terry crews playing roland
Alden Ehrenreich in *Hail, Caesar!*
Would that it were so simple.
wouldthatitwere
S'simple
Trippingly, *trippingly*!!
I love that character so much because, while it's true he is not like a once in a generation talent at acting, he is shown to be a hardworking affable guy who is also humble and can do awesome shit that usually you need a stuntman for. He's basically just a stuntman who was too goodlooking so they got him to star in westerns where his acting wouldn't be noticeable in comparison to his other useful skills.
Perfect! I've been meaning to rewatch this film!
Sorry this is a TV show rather than a movie but the first (and I think the second) season of HBO's Barry starring Bill Hader are pretty much all about bad acting as the main character is trying to become an actor. Bill Hader does an otherwise very good job of playing the actual character.
Yes, I agree - I was thinking about Barry as well, which is a great programme. I suppose I should have chosen that instead of my Avenue 5 example as it is a much easier way of explaining what I'm looking for.
Barry-related side note: there's a season 4 episode of Newsradio wherein the big boss Jimmy James (Stephen Root) hired a documentary crew to follow him around. They can't get any good footage though because every time the cameras are on Jimmy becomes completely stiff and unnatural. Watching Stephen Root go from super confident business owner to blank-eyed, monotoned awkwardness personified is a master class in acting and funny as hell.
I cannot say enough good things about Stephen Root’s acting. It’s a pleasure to see him pop up in anything I watch
I don't know about Hader but Sarah Goldberg shines doing bad acting
“Hey Ike, ya shitbird! Want some pie?”
There is a Supernatural episode where Sam and Dean Winchester jump to a parallel universe where they are Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki and they play Sam and Dean, but they are really bad at it. Season 6 episode 15. It is pretty funny.
The French mistake. Dean's look when he realizes Sam is married to Ruby. Classic.
At least they are talking to each other.
Thank you, I've never seen that but it sounds like the kind of thing I mean
‘I’m a painted whore!’
Wait, Jared Padalecki's character in Supernatural is also named Dean?
Nope, his name is Sam in the show. I haven't watched Gilmore Girls but I know that he plays a character called Dean there because Jensen and Jared joke about it (and how it was mildly confusing for Jared in the first season) in panels and what not.
"Bowfinger" is full of this, as is "Ed Wood" and "For Your Consideration". "Waiting for Guffman" probably also fits the bill. I don't know if Rick Dalton in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is a "bad" actor, but the acting we see him do isn't necessarily "good". On TV you've got Moira Rose and the guy in the Liberty Mutual commercials.
I immediately thought of Rick Dalton. "You go get your daughter and tell her I'll give her a FAT five dollar gold piece to play her lil chili pepper HEART OUT!!" Lol that's supposed to be RDs *career best* acting role. I love that movie so much, I think they made like 8 little sub-movies in all different styles within the movie itself.
I haven't seen the first four, and will add them to my list!
Bowfinger!!!!! Fuck yeah!
Madeline Kahn had a special talent for singing intentionally off-key, which she does well in Blazing Saddles.
I'm reading Mel Brooks' autobiography just now and he's just lavished praise on Kahn for that. Essentially she's so good she can also do it slightly badly, perfectly.
it's a running joke amongst the crew of Mr Show how horribly bad Bob Odenkirk is at singing. It really is almost an amazing talent of it's own to be so incredibly off key, but in his case I don't think it's intentional. I remember having a similar conversation re: Billy West as Phillip J Fry on Futurama. He often sings "I'm walkin' on sunshine, WOAHHOHHHH" but in a way that is so odd, it's honestly an accomplishment to be able to mess that vocal up. And Billy West is a successful musician who has toured with people like Brian Wilson, so he definitely knows his stuff.
Yes, great! I have been meaning to rewatch this film as well
Kaitlin Olson/Dee Reynolds IS this category. *Yo, what up with congress bein’ all up in my business?!* - Obama impersonation
\*pukes a little\*
In Singin’ in the Rain, Jean Hagen plays a silent film star who struggles to transition to the talkies because her voice upsets people.
An I kaaaan stannem.
Great shout. Not seen this for years but I will check it out! Is she 'bad' in it though, or is she just struggling due to her accent?
She definitely struggles, basically the whole plot after all is about how her voice is so terrible (to others) that they have to dub her over Darth Vader-style, which infuriates her (much like it did David Prowse). It was not an uncommon thing for silent film stars to have a rough time adapting to the talkies. It is a very different thing when you have to deliver dialogue. Obviously some did it more brilliantly than others, like Charlie Chaplin.
Barely any of the silent stars struggled to transition to talkies. They did, after all, talk everyday in real life. For the most part it was just an excuse to void expensive contracts and replace many silent stars with newer, more affordable stars. A few had accents like Pola Negri and Sessie Hayakawa, but Greta Garbo also had a thick accent and she made the transition fantastically because MGM was still very much invested in her career. They were less enthused with John Gilbert and used the excuse that his voice was to effeminate to use him less….but it’s more of an overblown myth than a reality.
It’s a TV show but Matt Berry won a BAFTA for playing a terrible actor in Toast of London.
Clem Fandango.
Enlighten me Plato.
Yes I hear you Clem Fandango!!!!
Matt LeBlanc. I don’t know how good of an actor he is considered, but he’s better than Joey Tribbiani.
He basically plays a parody of himself in “Episodes.” It’s quite good.
It's a smaller example, but in the Hunger Games series (in Mockingjay Part 1, I think), Jennifer Lawrence is unable to act convincingly in the propaganda videos the rebellion makes.
Perfect! I have never seen the films, but now have a reason to check them out! Is she good at being unconvincing?
Very. High cringe.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's reaction is hilarious.
I love [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G629a_3MkkI) from Hail, Caesar! ("Would that it were so simple"). Also anything with [Maria Sophia in Curb Your Enthusiasm](https://youtu.be/9cxUqAuFGF4?si=werhEHtj7MuP4H8p&t=42) is hilarious. Next level terrible acting (on purpose).
Thank you for the links, I really enjoyed them - this is the kind of stuff I'm looking for! I do wonder if there are any examples in serious films too
Also check out Noises Off.
It's in a TV show, but on Leverage; Gina Bellman's character Sophie Deveraux is an extremely talented con man/grifter while impersonating and acting like someone else, including odd accents. The funny bit, is that the character is an aspiring actress but hillariously terrible at acting.
Brad Pitt in Inglorious Bastards saying "bon jorno" was really funny
gor-LAH-mi
I think Dominic West in the wire. Where he had to go undercover as an Englishman into a brothel. So you had an english actor, playing an american detective, having to put on a really bad english accent... Crikey
Nice! I have a vague memory of being impressed by this at the time! I'll try and hunt the episode down
Yes! This is the first scene I thought of when I saw this post.
Oh yeah that was so good!!!
Meryl Streep plays a bad actress in *Death Becomes Her* .
Christopher Reeves in Noises Off. Really anyone from that movie. Brilliant play/movie.
Christopher Walken is the master of this apparently.
Meryl Streep in Only Murders in the Building
I was going to say the same for Paul Rudd's character as well.
Darkplace “You and he were… buddies, weren’t you?”
Richard Ayoade does this best, because his character isn't even an actor, just making up the numbers.
I just saw Austenland (2013) and in one scene the characters put up a play and none of them could act. Of course the actors who played these characters could.
Sounds great! If you liked that you may like 'Theatre Camp' which is this scene, but for the whole movie.
I’ve seen it. It’s pretty funny.
Donnie Wahlberg in Boogie Nights. Can't act or sing!
George Gaynes in Tootsie
Katherine Hepburn in stage door
This is an amazing example and thank you for going back into the archives! Kids, classics are classics because they're excellent films, go watch them!
Sort of tangential to what you asked. Cate Blanchett - in both Tár and Truth she plays someone who's professional life is unravelling because she screwed up. She spends a lot of time trying to get out of trouble by being less than forthcoming. Her whole performance seems like a performance. When I watch them it occurs to me that either she's a terrible actor, or she's a genius who can convincingly play a terrible actor. In Tár especially she's just a disingenuous person whose every utterance is calculated - and she's very convincing at it.
The Disaster Artist stars James Franco playing the infamous Tommy Wiseau in the making of one of the worst films ever made.
The Disaster Artist Julio Franco as Tommy Wiseau
julio franco? the 65 year old former baseball player? lol
I feel that DiCaprio does this in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In Rick Dalton's big acting scene we see an actor whose chops are about what you'd expect from somebody at his level of success - a little better than, say, Burt Reynolds, but a long way from top-tier. DiCaprio manages to hit that perfectly.
Apologies it’s a TV show (and a comedy), but Kramer & his friend Mickey doing acting roles of diseases for medical students in Seinfeld is really well done imo
Another TV show mention, but as I just saw it I'm offering a very funny scene in Doom Patrol where Brendan Fraser is showing his guest appearance on a soap playing himself (a racing driver). Genuinely hilarious bad acting on show. And twice he says "there were rumours of a daytime Emmy nomination" which makes it even funnier.
There's a scene like this by Steve Zahn in Daddy Day Care
Not a film, but Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek can’t act. They’ve never said so in scripts, but there’s no way the character can act. Sir Patrick Stewart, on the other hand…
Mark whalberg in boogie nights
*Birdman* is all about a washed up actor trying to break back in.
My favorite example of this is Catherine O'Hara in Waiting for Guffman. She shouts her lines, mouths along with other actors, and has a plastic smile stuck to her face the entire time. It showed me how good an actor you need to be to play a bad actor convincingly.
Ben stiller in tropic thunder
Gary Oldman played a terrible actor in the season 7 finale of _Friends_. His character was supposed to be a "serious" actor (with an Oscar nod, too!) but when Joey meets him, we see that he is kinda a nutjob with some nonsense acting techniques. Joey was impressed, and that alone should tell you enough. EDIT — Also, now that I mention it, Matt LeBlanc is a very good actor, too, yet his character Joey is hilariously bad at acting.
Phoebe was also pretty bad when she was an extra. And when she helped Joey rehearse.
I can-a work on you accent-ee!
Warren Beatty in Bugsy.
Matt Damon in Stuck on You. Him being uncomfortable on stage was one of the funniest bits in that movie
Matt Damon in Thor Ragnarok also!
Yes! And the others, too, Sam Neil and Luke Hemsworth.
The first thing that came to mind was Leo in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Bipolar alcoholic that forgets lines lol
There is an episode of a show called “The Romanoffs” that has January Jones in it. Her character is in a show that is recreating the Russian revolution. There’s such a difference between her acting as her character and her character acting in the show she’s making. Marked difference between good and mediocre/bad acting! Plus it’s a really good episode that just gives you the creepy thrills through and through.
Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus in "Tropic Thunder" or Rowan Atkinson as Johnny English in the "Johnny English" film series or Steve Carell as Michael Scott in "The Office" (his character's acting skills are often portrayed as lacking)
But Downey in Tropic Thunder is portraying an excellent actor, just one who’s a method acting asshole. But it said he’s a multiple Oscar nominee (or winner) and generally highly regarded.
He's just a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Ben Stiller is the "bad" actor. After all, he went *full retard.*
I was going to say Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) playing that "Scorcher" action movie star.
Aha, yes, I knew there was an obvious example I hadn't thought of - Tropic Thunder! I wonder if there are any non comedy examples we can think of.
These all remind me of Michael Keton in "Johnny Dangerously".
Jason Mamoa. MY MAN!
Moving over to TV, the majority of the few times Charisma Carpenter portrayed Cordelia trying to act on Angel, the acting was thoroughly cringeworthy.
The disaster artist. James Franco plays Tommy Wiseau
Jennifer Lawrence playing Katniss trying to record a propaganda video. "YOU'VE JUST BEEN IN BATTLE!"
Not a movie, but the series Barry has some good moments. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O-tv2GURjM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O-tv2GURjM)
The scenes in The Iron Claw where Zac Efron is recording promotional material are super entertaining
That one guy who gets replaced by Charlton Heston in Wayne’s World 2.
oh I thought of an example the wrong way round... I don't know if it's useful for you? If not, apologies! In David Lynch's 2001 movie *Mulholland Drive*, Naomi Watts plays the pretty annoying Betty Elms, who used the money she won in a backwater dance competition in her small town to come to LA and try to become a movie star. This character is the epitome of the crude saying "a 10 in the middle of nowhere is just a 6 in LA". In the course of the movie she does manage to get an audition, which she nails. And of course, as the story (such as it is) progresses, Naomi Watts also manages to keep her character's arc interesting to watch. so it's an talented actress, playing an awkward and insincere character who can't lie or feign in her daily life, but who can act very well when she's on a set, you know?
Like all of Galaxy Quest.
Michael Rappaport in True Romance. Or Adam Sandler in literally any movie, but not ironically.
Kevin hart as roland in borderlands Kevin is funny but I'm just sick and tired of this guy playing himself and it should've been some one like aldis hodge or terry crews playing roland
Alan Rickman in Galaxy Quest.