Top Ten Most Overrated Actors/Actresses of All Time

Big Hollywood ^ | 11/20/11 | Ben Shapiro

[This Just In]

Top Ten Most Overrated Actors/Actresses of All Time by Ben Shapiro

It’s been almost two years since I posted at Big Hollywood regarding the Top 10 Most Overrated Directors of All Time. I’ve had a chance to reflect and think about the crimes I committed in that post. And, to paraphrase Mr. Eko from the greatest TV show of all time, “Lost,” I ask no forgiveness because I have committed no sin … except leaving Spike Lee and Tim Burton off the list, that is.

So, because you all enjoyed that list so much, and because I apparently have a death wish, it’s time for another: The Top 10 Most Overrated Actors/Actresses of All Time.

Unlike last time, I will claim that these are objective facts, not subjective opinions, so that all my critics may have full liberty to attack me (To those same critics who claimed last time that I phrased my opinions in an “objective” manner, this is called being facetious. That means I’m kidding. Also, seriously? That was your criticism?).

[This Just In]

I was going to list Will Smith, but decided to go with Jeanine instead. :^)

Kirsten Dunst

Willem Defoe

Nick Nolte

Alec Baldwin

Wanda Sykes

Whoopi Goldberg

Agreed. Add Demi Moore to that list.

Can’t agree with you on Ian Holm and Elijah Wood.

[boop]

Some of these actors really could act at one time, but now are just phoning it in. DeNiro in Raging Bull? Gained 60lbs for the role. Totally convincing. Great in GF II. Believable. Taxi Driver- best depiction of descent into madness I've ever seen. After that he just started playing Robert DeNiro.

Sean Penn- great actor, terrible human being, but has incredible range. Spicoli, Mystic River, Asassination of Richard Nixon. Completely forget it's Penn.

Dustin Hoffman- nothing good recently, but nailed it in earlier roles.

Nicholson- always watchable, but he's just playing himself. Bill Murray-great at improv, but no real range.

Steve Martin-was funny 25 years ago. Nothing good since then.

Robin Williams- I HATE him in comedic roles, but really good in serious roles.

Will Ferrell-KING of overrated. His uniformly unfunny "comedies" make mucho bucks, so he'll always have work.

Underrated: Ed Harris. Good in everything I've ever seen him in.

[This Just In]

“So he played “Wonka” as some kind of creepy satanic pedophile (basically a hybrid of Michael Jackson & Marilyn Manson) that enjoys torturing children.”

Disturbing, but funny statement.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree on DeNiro. I’ve viewed most of his films, and Taxi Driver and The Godfather were his most memorable. My personal favorite was Midnight Run. Funny film.

[onona]

Gary Sinese

[onona]

I confess. It was me....

[Varsity Flight]

Penn, however, good performance in Falcon and the Snowman.

Bette Davis was fantastic in the wonderful, The Corn Is Green.

“and when I walk in the dark I can touch with my hands where the corn is green.”

[monkeyshine]

Viggo Mortensen is an actor’s actor. I have no idea why he is on your list. He is extremely underrated imho.

[RightOnline]

Heath Ledger could act. Watch the remake of “The Four Feathers”; he’ll make you a believer. Unreal performance.

[Comrade Brother Abu Bubba]

Should definitely add Madonna no matter how many times she "reinvents herself". Mention has been made of Ali McGraw (wasn't even permitted at Steve McQueen's funeral).

The perfect script for Madonna would be entitled, "Road Whore". It would not be a stretch for her as an actress as well, setting would be at a Truck Stop.

[ScottinVA]

Warren Beatty has to be on the short list. Never was impressed by his “acting.”

[ScottinVA]

Steven Segal and Arnold Schwartzeneggar. Those two are one-dimensional all the way. Schwartzeneggar did do a comedy bit when he played in that faux-horror flick “The Governator.”

[rman04554]

Robin Williams...keeps doing Mork over and over

[Vanders9]

I think youre wrong about Keanu Reaves. The list is “most overated actors”. Keanu Reaves may be many things, but he is certainly not overated. Most people know exactly how bad he is. :)

[Vanders9]

As I understand it, he wasnt the first or even second pick. The actor they wanted dropped out at the last minute and Mortenson had to be drafted in very quickly.

Personally I thought he did OK as Aragorn. According to the weaponmaster for the films, he was by far the best at the swordfighting.

[chuckee]

Where’s Tom Cruise on the list?

[sunmars]

can’t believe i dont see Susan Sarandon on that list anywhere, she grates the hell out of me.

[trimom]

And now, Cruise is filming One Shot, playing Jack Reached. This is quite probably the worst casting ever. Readers of the novels know Jack is six foot five, a full foot taller than Peewee Cruise. What a disaster.

[muir_redwoods]

Katherine Hepburn: she successfully played the role of “Katherine Hepburn” in every movie she was ever in. There is absolutely no difference in her “interpretation” of any role she ever played, none. Not one. Never.

[Clara Lou]

Interesting. I thought LoTR was his only good work— excellent, actually.

[Bender2]

Re: Just off the top of Ben Shapiro's Top 10 List 8. Spencer Tracy: He’s immensely likable on screen, but he’s not a great actor by any stretch of the imagination. Light comedy is his forte (watch the original “Father of the Bride” or “Adam’s Rib”), but he’s too stolid in heavy drama like “Bad Day at Black Rock.” He’s always Spencer Tracy, no matter what he’s in. That’s more a characteristic of older actors who were movie stars rather than actors (see John Wayne, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, etc.), but those actors are rarely listed among the best of all time. Tracy routinely is.

7. Katharine Hepburn: Overwrought, overhyped, and overblown. Hepburn is the same in virtually all of her films, save “The Rainmaker,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” and “On Golden Pond.” She tends to chew the scenery, and she never inhabits a part; she insists that the part inhabits her. Her films with Tracy are just as formulaic as Hope and Crosby (and no one ever called Hope and Crosby great actors). Many critics loved her because she wasn’t afraid to lose her femininity at the door, but that made her a hard actress to love onscreen.

6. Gregory Peck: Atticus Finch is supposed to have a Southern accent. Joseph Mengele is supposed to have a German accent. And characters are supposed to be different from each other. Philip Green in “Gentleman’s Agreement” is not supposed to be the same character as Joe Bradley in “Roman Holiday” or Captain Ahab in “Moby Dick.” Peck could not play pathos, could not play vulnerability, and could not play real anger. Like Tracy, the best word to describe him would be stolid.

What in the world... is this guy smoking?????

What young Ben knows about acting... you could fit inside a Hollywood agent's heart and still have room for a full sized replica of the Titanic!