Good actors/actressses who choose bad roles

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I think Katherine Heigl is a wonderful actress. She just hasn't been choosing good movie roles lately. One of her movies "Killers" only got 12% approval rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes, and her latest movie "Life As We Know It" only got 29%. She's a good actress (I think she was great on Grey's Anatomy) but her other roles aren't going too well. What other actors or actresses do you know who are talented but choose poor movie or TV roles?

I adored Jim Carrey's work in the 90s and early 00s, but he seems to have lost his luster over the past decade. I loved it when he did his over-the-top comedy roles, but his more recent comedies feel bland and I don't even want to watch him do drama. I want the old zany, chewing-the-scenery Jim Carrey back.

My mom and brother love Nicholas Cage but they hate the fact that he's been appearing in fantasy movies recently such as The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Season of the Witch. (Personally I think Season of the Witch looks pretty good, but that's beside the point.)

Her name is Molly Ringwald.
Her name is Molly Ringwald.
Her name is Molly Ringwald.
Her name is Molly Ringwald.
Her name is Molly Ringwald.
Her name is Molly Ringwald.
Her name is Molly Ringwald.
Her name is Molly Ringwald.

ronnie raygun had one or two good roles [the corrupt businessman in "the killers", and as the amputee ["where's the rest of me?!"] in "kings row.". not to mention the role of a lifetime, that of POTUS#40. but for the most part he could have phoned-in his performances.
at the opposite end of the scales of favorable justice, was frances farmer- she fancied herself the actress of the ages, but unfortunately the fates often would not cooperate with her. her best role was as herself, living the tempestuous life she led. much of her life was the question, "will there really be a morning?" i wonder what she would have thought of POTUS#40?

Rutger Hauer.
He will forever be remembered for his roles in Blade Runner, and The Hitcher, but since then, he's done a whole lot of forgettable stuff.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

EDIT: Sorry... I thought this thread was about Underrated actors... So yeah... I'm doing a new thread about that...

Michael Cera
Keanu Reeves
Nicolas Cage
Robert Pattinson

OH WAIT? YOU SAID GOOD ACTORS? Sorry about that... Okay lol, let's take this seriously now...

Robin Williams- First off let's get this out of the way, I am NOT a fan of Robin Williams comedic roles... Although he is one HELLUVA a serious/dramatic actor. I mean he is WAY underutilized. I mean seriously, watch him in Insomnia, or One Hour Photo and try and tell me the guy is a bad actor. The man is AMAZING and one of my favorite actors of all time.

Will Ferrell- Although I've only seen one serious role he has done (Stranger Than Fiction) I thought he great in that and would love to see him take on more serious role like that... I honestly believe he has great talent as a serious actor. And whether you like his comedy or not (I love it) you can't deny that the man is an improv master.

Ariel Winter- You may know her as the younger sister in the sitcom Modern Family, now it may be a bit too early to call her underrated, it's obvious she has an amazing amount of talent, especially for her young age. It's shown a bit in the show but what really showed me how far she will hopefully go was watching her audition for the film Let Me In, (which sadly Chloe Mortez won the role...while a good actress, Ariel would've been a lot better) Try and find the interview on Youtube if you can and she simply blew away the audition. Making Chloe and the other girl (who was just terrible) look like kids just picked off the streets... Sadly she wasn't picked because the producers thought that Chloe would get the film more money after having recently appeared in Kick-Ass

Edward Norton- Yes I know he is very well known, but the issue is he is severely underutilized as an actor... I mean this guy has INCREDIBLE range, and can literally play any role. It's sad he isn't used as much as he should be. He's on my list of top favorite actors.

Kevin Spacey- The actor while well known (like Norton) I still consider underrated... I mean the guys is literally one of the most talented actors OF ALL TIME! But sadly I feel he is being severey underutilized as an actor... I mean he makes EVERY movie he is in, no matter how terrible it is at least somewhat bearable with his performance. I might even go as far as to consider him my favorite actor.

Brandon Routh- From watching him in the terrible Superman Returns, I honestly believed he actually showed some genuine acting talent, it was sad that the films script was so terrible that he never really got to show it... But then when he began playing the emotionally tortured rouge spy/villain Agent Shaw in Chuck I was insanely impressed and really enjoyed him in it. I also really liked him in Scott Pilgrim although it was a very small role.

Sam Rockwell- This guy is an AMAZING ACTOR! He has amazing range, and is simply one of the greatest actors of all time. He mainly only does Indie Drama films but he's been in a few mainstream movies such as The Green Mile, Galaxy Quest, and Iron Man 2. I honestly hope he gets more mainstream roles in the future as the guy is AMAZING! Also watch him in Moon. It's great, and simply shows how amazing he is as well as you will be watching a science fiction masterpiece.

I'll add more later.

Agreed about Robin Williams, who is indeed a terrific actor. The little twinkle of humor that he allows to remain when doing dramatic roles gives his work a beautiful quality. His comic work has gotten a little tedious... and a surprise came from his voice work in Aladdin. As tired as that movie has gotten to me (a mom), I couldn't help admiring it the last time I heard him singing the famous genie song, in that the man can NOT sing but has many ways of getting around it.

I agree with Jim Carrey as well, but I like the work a lot of people don't. I thought he was good in Liar Liar (which covers multiple categories of acting), The Majestic, and I just loved The Truman Show. The look on his face when he's in the middle of a nervous breakdown and his wife is doing a cocoa commercial... wonderful. Totally dramatic and frickin' hilarious.

Robert Downey Jr was one of these for a while in the 80s but I am glad to say that he's done pretty well since, especially considering his personal life. I do hope he is clean now and stays that way. The Iron Man movies really are many notches above most of the other superhero movies we've seen... and they aren't even his best work. He's just a wonderful choice for the role. It was the movie "Restoration" that really moved me... when (SPOILER) his baby daughter is brought to him after he thought she'd died in a fire, his face goes through such an incredible range of feeling.

Which brings me to a good example... one I never thought I'd mention in this context... Meg Ryan. She was also in "Restoration" as a woman in a madhouse because she cracked up after her daughter drowned and her husband stepped over her while she slept and left her. She ends up choosing to die from a primitive C-section rather than let her baby die. She was very good in the role. I can't think of another time she was allowed to be anything but cute.

Natalie Portman is sort of on the list... because some of her worst work is so high profile! I blame George Lucas, obviously... He created such a subtle yet compelling romance with Han Solo and Princess Leia, so why couldn't the older and more mature Lucas come up with better lines than, "Hold me, like you did by the lake on Naboo; so long ago when there was nothing but our love. No politics, no plotting, no war." Pitiful. But not for the reason they intended.

the late comedian bob hope was a much better actor than he ever got a chance to prove in the movies. he could have done a milton berle number and done some masterpiece theatre on PBS, if he wanted.
elvis presley was a better actor than his no-good money-grubbing outlaw agent would let him be.

I had heard Elvis had had the chance to star in Westside Story, but Colonel Parker had convinced him to make a bunch of crappy little movies.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

yea, the "colonel" milked his cash cow for all he could. there were so many more ethical and fair agents who would have begged to have the king as a client. sigh.
elvis was offered kris kristopherson's role in "a star is born" but once again, the colonel nixed it. but i believe that streisand would have vetoed it as well, as that notorious egomaniac czarina could not accept the competition of more than one titan on the screen at the same time. i wish elvis could have disenthralled himself of this horrible little man. then he would have been a much more kingly king of rock and roll, indeed a king of all media.
oh, and if "the colonel" would have let elvis do international tours, oh the $$$$$$$$$ he coulda made. the colonel nixed those because he was an illegal immigrant who was nervous about leaving america for fear of not being allowed to return.

I think Nicole Kidman went astray when she took the role in the stepford wives.

I heard that Ben Kingsley agreed to play the villain in Uwe Boll's Bloodrayne because he had always wanted to play a vampire. I believe he remarked that the reasons were fairly immature.

And then there was Raul Julia. Dying of cancer, he has one last role to play, and he chooses one for the grandchildren. Street Fighter. And his large ham performance is the best thing in it.

"OF COURSE!"

I am going to go with Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. Some of their early work is really funny, but neither has done anything worth watching in ages.

I dunno if you've seen Mystery Science Theater 3000, but they actually watched a movie there called "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" that I guess was one of the earliest films he was in... must have been because it was spectacularly awful, as was he... and even then, there was just something about him.

Chevy Chase and Steve Martin seconded. But there seems to be a curse on most comedians... they either forget why they're funny or think that they'll be funny if they do something different, and the next thing you know, they're playing Yogi Bear.