Great Performances in Below Average Movies
 

What performances in movies were really good, but the movie would suck hard without that person????

Monster with Theron comes to my mind, along with Jackson in changing lanes.

Air Force One would have been pretty bad without Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman's performances.

I really enjoyed Marlon Brando's bizarre performance in Missouri Breaks.

jack nicholson in the shining

Paul Bettany in The Reckoning. Willem Defoe is great in it too, but the film doesn't gel and the only thing holding it together is Bettany's performance.

Christian Bale in Equilibrium. The film has a few other things going for it, but without such a strong actor (and capable of the physical stunts he had to do), it would have been a suckfest.

Jack Nicholson in Batman, Matt Dillon in The Outsiders, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Flawless.... well, that's it for now.

Movieline magazine used to have a regular feature on this very subject, which they dubbed "Greatish Performances". ANYway....

Robert Duvall in Open Range
Dustin Hoffman in Sleepers
John Hurt in Heaven's Gate
John Glover in 52 Pick-Up
Joan Cusack in In & Out
John Lithgow in 2010: The Year We Make Contact
Jeff Goldblum in Mad Dog Time
James Woods in True Crime
Christopher Walken in Envy

Robert Deniro, Marlon Brando and Edward Norton in The Score

Samuel L. Jackson in The Negotiator :yup:

Robert De Niro ~Stanley & Iris (1990)
Jean Arthur ~The Talk of the Town (1942)
Kay Kendall ~The Reluctant Debutante (1958)

Liam Neeson in The Haunting. He was the only believable character of the lot (including the house).

omg yes!

Not quite a "bellow average" movie, 101 Dalmations - Glenn Close was awesome as Cruella de Ville. Fell in love with her that very moment ;)

Dan O'Hurlehy in The Last Starfighter.

Johnny Depp as Agent Sands in Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Nuff said.

Edward Norton in American History X was a god, but the movie seemed a bit boring and i honestly think it's a bit overrated.

John Hurt in The Proposition

Tim Robbins, Antitrust

(Although, I've gotta admit: I think that film is more enjoyable than it should be.)

Alan Rickman in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Although both the performance and the film are camply enjoyable...

Don Cheadle : Crash

Hey, people are going to mention The Shining (!!!) here, so I will mention this after-school special masquerading as a film.