Top 10 worst Irish accents on film (OF COURSE there are links so you can hear them :-))

Irish Central ^ | March 17, 2009 | Conn Corrigan

[Stoat]

Top 10 worst Irish accents on film

Julia Roberts and Sean Connery may have won Academy Awards, but that does not mean that they can pull off a believable Irish accent on screen. See who else made the list of worst movie attempts at an Irish accent, including two more Oscar winners.

By

Conn Corrigan

,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, March 16, 2009, 7:14 PM

Updated Monday, March 9, 2009, 10:00 PM

Julia Roberts as Mary Reilly

 

The Irish accent, judging from some of Hollywood's attempts at it over the years, must surely be one of the most difficult for actors to master. (Unless of course, the actor in question is already Irish. In which case it becomes considerably easier.) 

Presumably then, it's also one of the easiest to mess up, as this top 10 list of bad Irish accents shows.

  

1. SEAN CONNERY IN "DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE"

The gold standard to judge against all other bad Irish accents must surely remain Sean Connery's portrayal of Michael McBride, in the Walt Disney classic "Darby O' Gill and the Little People."

 

Hear his horrific attempt at an Irish accent
 

 

2. SEAN CONNERY IN "THE UNTOUCHABLES"

That was in 1959; by 1987, when he starred as the tough Irish cop Jim Malone in "The Untouchables," things had scarcely improved (though ironically, he nabbed the Best Supporting Actor Oscar).

 

Here's his second attempt

 

It might also be pointed out that it's not just the Irish accent that the Bond star has grappled with it - no doubt he also made the cut for some Top 10 List of Bad Russian Accents for his portrayal of Captain Marko Ramius, a Russian commander submarine commander in the movie, "The Hunt for Red October."

 

3. KEVIN SPACEY IN "ORDINARY DECENT CRIMINAL"

Every so often, U.S. actors - even really good, respected actors like Kevin Spacey - come out with stuff like "Ordinary Decent Criminal," a fairly unremarkable movie save for the fact that the main stars all try to outdo one another on the bad Irish accent front.

 

It's a kind of bizarre concoction of various Irish regional accents - a little bit of Dublin, a touch of Northern Ireland - that slips into American every fifth sentence or so.

 

It's astonishing that Colin Farrell, a native Dubliner, didn't think of saying to Spacey, "What the f**k, Kevin?! No one in Ireland, and I mean no one, talks like that! Now go get a voice coach and give the Oirish accent a rest!"

 

This mustn't have happened - and indeed, the director, Thaddeus O'Sullivan, himself an Irishman, somehow failed to spot that Spacey's co-star, Linda Fiorentino, had an equally ridiculous accent. Shame on both O'Sullivan and Farrell for not spotting these...

 

It remains a mystery why this film actually got made, when John Boorman's "The General" - a movie about the same thing - came out before it, and is vastly superior.

 

Hear Spacey's Oirish
 

 

4. TOMMY LEE JONES IN "BLOWN AWAY"

One of the other stock Irish characters in Hollywood movies is the Irish terrorist. (For example, Sean Bean in "Patriot Games," Brad Pitt in "The Devils Own," Richard Gere in "The Jackal," etc.)

 

Perhaps the worst bad Irish accent offender from the Irish terrorist category is Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of Ryan Gaerity in "Blown Away," above and beyond the worst Northern Irish accent you are every likely to hear. Real-life Northern Irish terrorists must have been disgusted that their movement could be insulted with such a woeful accent.

 

Here is Jones' "Northern Irish" accent
 

 

5. JULIA ROBERTS IN "MICHAEL COLLINS"

Like Sean Connery, Julia Roberts is a repeat bad Irish accent offended: in 1996, she played Kitty Kiernan, the lover of Michael Collins in the movie of the same name.

 

(Although English actor Alan Rickman, playing Eamon de Valera in that movie does a pretty good job in his Irish accent - shame he didn't pass on any tips to Roberts.)

 

6. JULIA ROBERTS IN "MARY REILLY"

Things went from bad to worse for Roberts in "Mary Reilly," which was also released in 1996.

In it, she plays the title role, an Irish housemaid who becomes embroiled in a love affair with her employer Dr. Jekyll, and his alter ego, Mr. Hyde.

 

Apparently, Roberts had a voice coach for the part - and Roberts spokeswoman told a tabloid, "Julia wants her voice to be authentic."

 

Do yourself a favor, Julia - the next time you play an Irish character in a movie, get yourself a new voice coach.

 

This is Roberts' attempt at Irish
 

 

7. TOM CRUISE IN "FAR AND AWAY"

To be perfectly fair to the much pilloried Tom Cruise, his Irish accent in "Far and Away" is truly appalling.

 

Joseph Donnelly, the 19th century Irish peasant played by Cruise, sounds like how a Hollywood film executive imagines Irish people talk.

 

If Cruise's Irish accent has any redeeming features it's that it might fall into the "It's so bad, it's funny" category of Irish on screen accents.

 

It also diverts attention from Nicole Kidman's efforts at an Irish accent in the same movie. (In one scene, Cruise tells Kidman, "Yer a corker, Shannon. What a corker you are!" - a well known Irish pick-up line.) While being fairly feeble, it's not the crime against Irish humanity perpetrated by her ex-husband, to be sure, to be sure.

 

Hear Cruise as Joseph Donnelly
 

 

8. BRAD PITT IN "THE DEVIL'S OWN"

While not sinking to the same depths as Richard Gere in "The Jackal," Brad Pitt still manages to embarrass himself - and indeed anyone from Northern Ireland - with his efforts at playing Frankie Gallagher, an IRA man on-the-run.

 

Apparently, Pitt spent a few days hanging around Belfast to perfect a Belfast accent. (He was even attacked in West Belfast while he was researching the role.)

 

Probably could have done with a few more days in Belfast....

 

Hear Pitt's go at the Irish brogue
 

 

9. GERARD BUTLER IN "P.S. I LOVE YOU"

Everyone involved in the making of this film, from the producer to the coffee maker, should be rounded up and shot - it's that bad.

 

First on the list to go is Gerard Butler, who plays lovable Irishman Gerry Kennedy, and whose Irish accent is only one of the many problems in this pretty awful film.

 

Sean Connery has shown that even Scottish actors can have trouble with an Irish accent - a point also demonstrated by Butler in this movie.

 

P.S. Gerry, your accent sucks.

 

Check it out here (he narrates the letter Hilary Swank reads)

 

10. THE LEPRECHAUN IN "LEPRECHAUN"

Like many of the films featured on this list, this movie falls into the "It's so bad, it's good" category. And it's hard not to laugh at a movie with the tagline, "Your luck just ran out."

This horror gained something of a cult following, and was also notable for giving Jennifer Aniston one of her first roles.

 

Of course, in a movie about Leprechauns, anything less than a ridiculous "Oirish" accent would be a total shock - and Leprechaun doesn't disappoint.

 

Hear the accent of a murderous leprechaun

[Stoat]

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!!!!

Thank you very much, and the same to you! :-)

 

[gman992]

The best “Irish” movie ever was “The Quiet Man” with the Duke...

[Darren McCarty]

Dishonorable mention goes to all those St Paddy's Day radio ads for all the wannabe Leprechauns. I can't help but laugh at this. I'm a "Yank" who is mostly Irish by blood. I don't try to do an accent I can't do.

But if it impresses that lady in the picture (slapped) OW!. Never mind....

[Darren McCarty]

I think the Scotsman Mr. Connery knows better than to really try. He is who he is, and deserves credit for knowning that.

On a sidenote, it seems that most Yanks (like me) I know who try an Irish accent end up sounding like an American trying to sound like a bad Scotsman.

[Darren McCarty]

That was a great movie, and Maureen O'Hara actually was Irish, not to mention a 10 out of 10 beauty back in the day.

If I wasn't seeing someone, it makes me want to visit Ireland someday, as if I didn't want to go there to begin with.

[GQuagmire]

There should be an article written about bad Boston accents in movies. As someone who has one, some of the ones I’ve heard make my ears bleed....

[RaceBannon]

Martin Sheen in the departed

[Tax-chick]

[martin_fierro]

Faith and begorrah, I LOL'd.

Funniest movie bordering on ethnic slur.

[andy58-in-nh]

There should be an article written about bad Boston accents in movies.

That's a great point. Boston accents on film are uniformly awful, and on TV they are almost non-existent. I myself have a *moderate* New England accent, as opposed to a hard-core (that's: haaaahd-coahh) Southie barroom accent.

Even on Cheers they never quite got it right. The closest was Nicholas Colasanto ('Coach' Ernie Pantusso), who was born in Providence, RI. John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin) tried his best, but he's from the Connecticut suburbs of New York, which pretty much makes him a New Yorker. And Rhea Perlman is from Brooklyn, and it sounded like it.

[CougarGA7]

Richard Gere in “The Jackel”.

[GQuagmire]

Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting was pretty bad too.

[Pyro7480]

Ramius wasn't Russian. He was Lithuanian.

[shibumi]

My point being, he sure as hell wasn’t Scottish.

[driftless2]

The thing about Sean Connery is that in every film he’s ever made, he sounds like ta da!!!! Sean Connery. Sean simply cannot do a foreign accent. But, so what...I’s always been a huge Connery fan. No Bond like Connery’s Bond.

[driftless2]

"dreadful person"

It would be slightly more tolerable if she was a decent actress. The fact is she's just ordinary. I find Vanessa Redgrave's political views to be totally reprehensible, but she's a great actress.

[driftless2]

"understand"

It also, like Americans, depends on the person and type of education they've received. I have two in-laws from the Norwich area of England. One is perfectly understandable and one is not.

[driftless2]

"visit Ireland"

Am visiting Ireland next month with the wife. Incidentally, she's recently discovered that she has Irish ancestry and even found the town where her Irish ancestors came from. I have a small amount of Irish ancestry on my mother's side, but believe me, I certainly won't be trying any Irish accents while over there.

[Defiant]

I’m a little late on this thread, but don’t forget all the people in Back to the Future III, Michael J. Fox, Michael J. Fox and that girl that played Michael J. Fox’s mother/gg grandmother.

[Impy]

Some of those links are to musical montages.