My 100 Worst Movie Performances

Good God, Cruz in Blow is extremely irritating and a major part of why I can't stand that movie.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

73.

John Travolta as Strip

Moment by Moment (1978)



Travolta followed his smash hit Grease with this tired performance as a drifter with a shady past who has an affair with a Malibu socialite (Lily Tomlin). Travolta's performance was just the tip of the iceberg as far as the problems with this film are concerned, directed by Tomlin's lover-collaborator Jane Wagner.

Everything relating with daughter in "Blow" was beside the point regarding screen time and focus, yet the most crucial regarding the story and ending. I as a viewer was not invested in daughter aspect at all, so I didn't get the ending nor the point of the movie.

72.

Keith Gordon as Jason Melon

Back to School (1986)



Holding your own opposite Rodney Dangerfield proved to be more than this young actor could handle in this comedy about a struggling college student who finds school even more difficult when his millionaire father decides to go to school with him. Dangerfield has rarely been this likable onscreen and again, Gordon's performance is one of the few things in this movie that didn't work.

Blow spoilers below

I get the impression that a concern with family was supposed to humanise the film version of George Jung and provide a motivation for his actions that had more dramatic weight than mere drug-fueled hedonism (especially considered the complicated relationship he has with his parents - his disapproving mum even rats him out to the police at one point). There's supposed to be dramatic irony in the fact that he does what he does in order to provide for his family yet it ultimately estranges them permanently. You'd think that Cruz's character would be sort of sympathetic in a Skyler White kind of way but the fact that said character is a shrill and manipulative harpy who earns only the most arbitrary of sympathies is a major disservice to the film.

71.

James Brolin as Jerome K. Weber

Skyjacked (1972)



Brolin gave new meaning to the term "overacting" in this outrageous performance as a mentally deranged Vietnam Veteran who hijacks an airliner to Russia. I bet Brolin has hidden this one from Barbra.

Never gonna get over how much he resembles Christian Bale.

70.

Diana Varsi as Allison Mackenzie

Peyton Place (1957)



Varsi inexplicably received an Oscar nomination for her wooden performance as the dreamy-eyed daughter of Constance Mackenzie (Lana Turner) who dreams of being a writer and of a romance with Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn).

I have not seen the movie, but I have seen the review of this film and the chemistry between Travolta and Lily Tomlin (I hope I spelled her name right) is AWFUL! And so is their acting!

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

This definitely makes me want to see Moment by Moment, as well as the fact that it was supposedly considered for an appearance on MST3K. Says it all, really.

69.

Jerry Lewis as Christopher Pride/Warren/Ringo/Rutherford/Heather

Three on a Couch (1966)



Lewis plays five different roles, badly, in this slapstick comedy about an artist who wants more time with his psychiatrist/fiancee (Janet Leigh) who is spending all her time with three man-hating patients (Mary Ann Mobley, Leslie Parrish, Gia Golan), so he takes it upon himself to pretend to be potential boyfriends for the three patients so they don't need to see his girlfriend anymore. This was the first Jerry Lewis movie I ever saw as a kid and thought it was kind of funny, but rewatches over the years have revealed how ridiculous Lewis is in this movie.

68.

Bruce Jenner as Ron White

Can't Stop the Music (1980)



The former athlete turned actor and now actress, really stunk up the place in this forgettable musical debacle featuring the 1980 flavors of the moment, The Village People.

67.

Tyler Perry as Madea/Brian/Joe

Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)



Tyler Perry first introduced the cinematic horror show known as Madea in this unfocused melodrama from 2005, as well as two other characters, slightly less annoying but no more effective.

66.

Cyd Charisse as Ninotchka Yoshencko

Silk Stockings (1957)



Don't get me wrong...Charisse was an amazing dancer and her dancing in this film is as spectacular as it always was, but her acting in this 1957 film version of a Broadway musical based on the Garbo classic Ninotchka, is, in a word, uninspired.

65.

Tom Cruise as Cole Trickle

Days of Thunder (1990)



Cruise is unconvincing as a cocky stock car driver who becomes involved with a pretty lady doctor (Nicole Kidman). I don't know what Cruise was thinking here...

64.

Burt Reynolds as Nick McKenna

Cop and 1/2 (1993)



Reynolds looks tired and embarrassed in this 1993 comedy about a cop assigned to protect an 8 year old murder witness. It was too many films like this, as well as some health issues, that caused the waning of Reynolds' movie career.

Yeah. They tried to buy the rights to it, but were refused.

63.

Barbara Parkins as Anne Welles

Valley of the Dolls (1967)



Parkins is beautiful but is totally wooden as a theatrical secretary who becomes a world famous cover girl. The woman looks incredible in this movie but her performance is awful.

62.

Greta Gerwig as Naomi

Arthur (2011)



Gerwig gives a lifeless performance as the woman Arthur (Russell Brand) falls for to get away from fiancee Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner). Gerwig plays the role counterpart to the one that Liza Minnelli played in the 1981 original and she is just as annoying as Minnelli was.

Another great list Gideon. Lots of films that I've seen and liked and some I've never seen.


George Brent as Dr. Frederick Steele
Dark Victory (1939)

You're so right that Brent is dull, dull dull. He's been dull in every movie I've seen him in. He must have mainly been hired for his looks.

Bette Davis as Bunny O'Hare
Bunny O'Hare (1971)[/size]

I've seen most all of Bette's movies, but not that one. Now I'll have to watch it just to see her role.


Cyd Charisse as Ninotchka Yoshencko
Silk Stockings (1957)

I liked her in Silk Stockings as she played a repressed Soviet woman who only through dance found her femininity. When in her military uniform she was very close off emotional.

I look forward to more of your list.