Overrated Actors and Actresses

Posted on November 17, 2005 in Celebrity Film

UPDATED

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you my list of the most overrated movies of all time as part of my continuing effort to avoid being a humorless or vindictive pundit. Time has come for me to squander more bandwidth with my list of the most overrated actors and actresses:

• Nicholas Cage (The man whines like a drunk in every role I have seen him in.)
• Joan Crawford (Mommy Dearest never struck me as much of an actress. She was all eyebrows. Given the power she exerted over her adopted children, maybe she should have directed.)
• Clint Eastwood (What is it about Westerns that they consistently produce bad actors who nevertheless are popular with the viewers of the genre? Eastwood became famous for saying nothing. And the best parts of his films are where he says nothing and then walks off the screen.)
• Charlton Heston (I call him “The Great Stone Face”. A few years ago he jumped on Robert deNiro for not having enough variety in his roles. “You keep playing the same part,” he said to deNiro. “Do some Shakespeare.” I think every role I have seen Heston in is the same role played with different lines.)
• Paris Hilton (Aside from her talent at talking on the phone while having sex and undulating her belly, just what can this woman do?)
• Demi Moore (Was her pregnant stomach so important to show the world? Was she ever worth a tenth as much as she received for her films?)
• Ronald Reagan (None of his supporters wants to remember that he was the lead in one of the ten worst films of all time, That Hagen Girl, in which he starred with Shirley Temple. His worst performance, of course, was as Uncle Ron in The Oval Office.)
• Robert Redford (Yes, I had to agree when his name came up in my previous blog of this type. I like his politics and I like his directing, but the man delivers his lines like they were blank newsprint.)
• Arnold Schwartzeneggar (People with no taste and understanding of the qualities of performance rushed to the polls to vote for this inept. And he proved every bit as competent in the political arena as he did on screen.)
• Shirley Temple (This child star supposedly tapdanced everyone out of the Great Depression. I watch her films with grave embarassment and do my best to stay out of my own depression. Honey, didn’t anyone tell you that when you “land” on a chocolate bar, your ship wrecks?.)
• John Travolta (We used to call him John Revolta. It’s that smirk of his. It’s hard to discern between his evil characters and his good ones.)
• John Wayne (This man never went to war, yet they call him a war hero? They have a huge bronze statue of him at the Orange County Airport and I must admit that it has every bit as much depth as Wayne acted.)
• Bruce Willis (It is nauseating to watch Brucie pretend he’s the kid’s best friend these days like he knows anything about parenting or about life. )