Best Bad Acting Performances

emuboy

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Some acting performances are just flat out awful and painful to watch, but others because of how bad they are are amusing, entertaining and make for enjoyable viewing. For example, I've heard one of the reason long-running UK soap Hollyoaks is so popular in England is because some of the acting is so hilariously bad. Which are some acting performances over the years in movies or TV shows that you enjoyed because of how bad or over the top they were? Here are some of mine:

Rip Torn in Freddy Got Fingered - The late Rip Torn was a respected actor across several genres, but in the 2001 shock comedy 'Freddy Got Fingered' Rip Torn looks to be having the time of his life hamming it up alongside the star, writer and director Tom Green. Playing the role of Jim Brody, the authoritarian father of Gord and Freddy, his character, driven insane by the antics of eldest son Gord, goes on rampages in which he shouts, swears, destroys things and chases people while roaring with rage.

Graham Crowden in Doctor Who - The Horns of Nimon - Graham Crowden, who died aged 88 in 2010, was for the most part a serious dramatic actor both on stage and screen, although he did have some forays into comedy. In 1979 he was cast in the Doctor Who episode 'The Horns of Nimon' playing Soldeed, the high priest and dictatorial ruler of a very strange race of people who worship a fearsome horned beast called 'The Nimon'. Crowden gives an over the top pantomime villain performance so large it can be seen from space and in the process chewed up not only the scenery on the sets for Doctor Who, but other BBC shows being filmed at the studio at the same time too. Having said that lots of others were over-acting on this serial too, and it was meant to be a fun episode anyway, if it had meant to be serious Crowden would have played the role differently. Crowden's performance as the fawning, sycophantic Soldeed has passed into legend among Doctor Who fans. Many love it, but some humourless fans still seem angry by it more than 40 years later.

Nicholas Cage in The Wicker Man - There's only two scenes I really remember from this 2006 horror remake. In one Nicholas Cage's character screams repeatedly 'how'd it get burned?' to ascertain how a doll got burned, and the other is the iconic 'not the bees!' scene.

Entire Cast in Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark - This 2019 horror film was set in the late 1960s, and after seeing it I was wondering if those who produced it intentionally had the cast acting this way to emulate the bad acting in B Grade 1960s horror films. If they did, it was a stroke of genius, as it made for a very enjoyable movie.
 
Aug 9, 2021
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Keanu Reeves in Speed, which is a fun movie and a real time capsule of that era.
Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper more than hold their own, but Keanu is just a big dumb goofy dude bro wooden cheesy meatball
 
For example, I've heard one of the reason long-running UK soap Hollyoaks is so popular in England is because some of the acting is so hilariously bad. Which are some acting performances over the years in movies or TV shows that you enjoyed because of how bad or over the top they were? Here are some of mine:

Straight away "Pacific Drive" an Australian soapie from the mid 90s comes to mind. Me and my best mate ******* loved that show. The acting was terrible and so were the outrageous storylines.

My cousins were madly into "Passions" which I think falls under this category but I myself never watched it.
 
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Avery Brooks in Deep Space 9


You shut your mouth!

Also known as chewing scenery, there's a fine line between being so bad it's actually good (Ian McDiarmid in the Star Wars movies, Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman) and so bad it's entertaining (Arnie in Batman & Robin). A personal favourite though is Sean Connery in Highlander, playing a Spanish knight with a thick Scottish brogue.
 

emuboy

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Straight away "Pacific Drive" an Australian soapie from the mid 90s comes to mind. Me and my best mate ******* loved that show. The acting was terrible and so were the outrageous storylines.

My cousins were madly into "Passions" which I think falls under this category but I myself never watched it.

I've never seen 'Passions' but I remember 'Pacific Drive' from the late 1990s, it had a young Libby Tanner in it.

Pacific Drive was filmed and set on the Gold Coast, and several years before that there was another 'so bad it's good' soap from there too - Paradise Beach in 1993 and 1994 - which has kind of gone down in legend. At the time it was always mocked on morning radio shows and TV sketch comedy shows, and people still laugh at the limited number of clips of it on Youtube nearly 30 years later.
 

emuboy

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How could I have forgotten the 1960s live action Batman TV series starring Burt Ward and Adam West, where there were captions like 'Bam!', 'Kapow!', 'Smash!' and 'Crunch!' during the fight sequences?

I loved that show, but have never been a fan of the serious Batman movies made since then.
 
Sep 12, 2007
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Keanu Reeves in Speed, which is a fun movie and a real time capsule of that era.
Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper more than hold their own, but Keanu is just a big dumb goofy dude bro wooden cheesy meatball
Bit rough on Keanu, hes more there for the physical and to be the beefy bro. His reaction when Daniels dies is actually pretty good and believeable.
 
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