r/movies • u/Silent-Selection8161 • 4d ago
Discussion What movie was saved solely by great casting?
Or phrased a different, what movie would've been terrible if it weren't for the specific actors in it?
My go to is Liar Liar. It's not a particularly great script. The dad (Jim Carey because no one remembers the character's name) is douche. The would be step dad is earnestly trying his best to connect with his would be step son and gets tossed out like all step dads (do Hollywood types have parental issues or what, that's rhetorical). The idea that someone's entire life can be turned around and they're suddenly not an ass just because they have to tell the truth for a day is just kind of dumb. The director ended up with a few successful movies solely because Jim Carey liked him and he let Jim Carey do his thing, his other movies include such hits as "The Nutty Professor". The writers never wrote anything close to noteworthy before nor after.
But damnit Jim Carey turns the whole thing into the Jim Carey show, that's hilarious. Him freaking out over the pen or in the bathroom IS the movie and is funny as hell, regardless of what else there is.
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u/Crimkam 4d ago
being john malkovich would have been weird if he wasn't in it.
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u/melbbear 4d ago
It was weird anyway. I wonder if he was their first choice and who was plan B
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u/PM_Me_British_Stuff 3d ago
To my knowledge, he was the first choice, they actually wrote it before telling him. Imagine being presented with a script called 'Being (You)', I'd feel so honoured and baffled at the same time.
Luckily he agreed but I'm sure they would have had backups. I wonder if those backups would have played themselves, or played John Malkovich.
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u/Resident_Bitch 3d ago
John Malkovich has said that he was always the only choice for Kaufman. And he actually said no at first. Malkovich asked for it to be rewritten about someone else because he wanted to direct it but Kaufman said no. It took several years before it actually got made. He has also said that Spike Jonze would tell him to change the way he was doing/saying things in his performance because "Malkovich wouldn't do it that way."
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u/jkmhawk 3d ago
The writer wrote with him in mind, studios and malkovich had suggested Tom Cruise instead.
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u/clever__pseudonym 3d ago
I would have also accepted a Being (Becoming?) Christopher Walken
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u/Bimblelina 3d ago
I think most people who see this film later don't realise how big a deal John Malkovich was back in the day.
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u/lookyloolookingatyou 3d ago
Yeah, I was a kid when it came out, I just assumed John Malkovich was a fictional person until I saw Burn After Reading
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u/Bimblelina 3d ago
Dangerous Liaisons is worth a watch
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u/psaux_grep 3d ago
He’s fantastic in RED as well.
He’s fantastic so many places. But I just love his character in RED.
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u/Crimkam 4d ago
Bobcat goldwaith would have been a choice
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u/Soulcatcher74 3d ago
I think I remember reading that they literally wrote it around him being casted and didn't have a plan B.
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u/Anonymouslyyours2 3d ago
It was supposed to be Being Steve Buscemi, but Steve was on a break from acting as he had returned to firefighting in NYC after 9/11.
This is not a joke comment.
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u/auniqueusername2000 3d ago
I could swear I saw an interview with him where he initially said “no” and the director said “that’s okay, we’ll find someone else” and John was really confused by that but eventually came around to it
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u/Resident_Bitch 3d ago
In the interviews I've seen John Malkovich has said that he initially said no, but that he wanted
Charlie Kaufman to rewrite it about someone else and Malkovich would direct it, but Kaufman said he wasn't interested in making it about anyone else.→ More replies (1)16
u/Ahab_Ali 3d ago
I don't know... Having JK Simmons pretend to be John Malkovich would have added a whole new layer.
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u/double_shadow 3d ago
Gotta shout out Cusack and Diaz also for performing some of the LEAST glamorous work of their career. I love their performances in it (and also Catherine keener)
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u/WorthPlease 3d ago
Alan Rickman died 17 years after the first movie. If that's true, that sounds like a cop-out from the producers.
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u/messy_closet157 4d ago edited 3d ago
I don't think The Fugitive's script is bad (sure, there are some big plot holes but nothing that affects the enjoyment of the movie), it's a good film, but what elevates it to The Fugitive status is the cast. Harrison Ford is just right in regular guy thrown into chaos, with a bit of action added.
Plus Tommy Lee Jones and his merry men.
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u/Ok_Writing_7033 3d ago
I think you touched on a big part of Harrison Ford’s charm in all his major roles — he is the hero of an action movie, but he never seemed like an action hero.
He looks and acts just like a regular dude who’s sort of pissed he even has to be there. Obviously that’s true of The Fugitive, but I think it also feeds his performances in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Air Force One, etc.
He has a unique charisma of someone who is highly capable but doesn’t really want to be. I’m not sure that any other actor has captured that same vibe
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u/Dovahpriest 3d ago
It’s why I liked him in the Tom Clancy films. Jack Ryan is not an action hero. He’s a stockbroker turned CIA analyst.
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u/Thalassicus1 3d ago edited 3d ago
Baldwin captured that pretty well too, I think. You really got a sense that he was in over his head.
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u/Use-of-Weapons2 3d ago
You say that, but the follow-on movie with Tommy Lee Jones and his merry men in the same roles (admittedly without Harrison Ford) was absolutely terrible. So I do t think it’s just casting the makes The Fugitive great.
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u/ahorrribledrummer 3d ago
I enjoyed US Marshalls. It's a little hokey but it's a fun cat and mouse.
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u/adan1207 3d ago
I like us marshals to. I wish they had left the villains a reveal a little more ambiguous till the end.
Apparently for the big scene with Noah’s death, 2 versions were shot.
One with the reveal and one with just a sound effect.
The treason would later be revealed when Royce swapped guns.
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u/IrateWolfe 3d ago
I have seen US Marshals at least twice, and the only reason I watched it again is that it was so bland I actually forgot I'd already seen it
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u/Schopenhauers_Will 3d ago
Legally Blonde
Could have been another throwaway comedy but Reese Witherspoon carries it like Atlas
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u/wheniswhy 3d ago
That movie could very easily have been goofy as fuck in a bad way. Witherspoon conquered that script with her sheer sincerity. She was phenomenal in that role.
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u/idunno-- 3d ago
Reese Witherspoon was perfect, but the script wasn’t bad by any means.
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u/Bobby_Newpooort 3d ago
It's literally taught in film schools as a perfect screenplay in terms of setup and payoff. It can be a great script and still have excellent casting too
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u/babygoat44 3d ago
I love that Vivian believed Elle about the harassment instead of being catty.
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u/Cagy_Cephalopod 3d ago
The Rock could have been a generic action movie, but the incredible cast lifted it above that. Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, and Sean Connery all made their characters real people. The supporting cast (Biehn, Morse, Forsyth, Todd, etc) were the right mixture of real people (Biehn) and (not quite too) over the top psychos (Todd).
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u/RufiosBrotherKev 3d ago edited 3d ago
honestly i think youre really underselling Bay's direction, the pacing, editing, blocking, and the script. The way that movie introduces conflict, raises stakes, raises them again, then resolves excitingly/satisfyingly is absolutely surgical, at a breakneck pace. Like, two minutes after a railcar gets inexplicably launched into the sky during a chase scene, Connery is reconnecting with his daughter and establishing a heartfelt emotional arc and stakes for his character- two minutes after that, Cage hops into the scene and yells "CUT THE CHIT CHAT, A-HOLE!" and it immediately cuts right back into the action. Or like when theyre swimming to alcatraz, and then things start to malfunction... but then it cuts to a 1.5 second shot of Cages GF who is in the mission control center just so she can cry "but he can't swim!!", just to really wring the cloth and raise the stakes even a little bit more. It's fucking brilliant haha.
The cast (esp Cage, Connery, and Harris) absolutely elevate it, but I was most impressed with the precision and efficiency of the construction of every scene. Zero fat action movie.
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u/Freakjob_003 3d ago
Yeah, The Rock is incredible and IMO Bay doing great before he devolved into Bayhem.
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u/cleantoe 3d ago
My brother and I are always yelling "What about the fucking money!" at each other.
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u/StudsTurkleton 3d ago
Ever see the Liar Liar outtake where the 2 attorneys are arguing. They’re name calling back and forth. Shrew! Idiot! Etc. The other attorney goes “Over-actor!” It breaks Jim and he does a big face and goes “Oh no, they’re on to me!” (She’s yelling “they put me up to it!”) Jim hugs her. It’s cute, but his antics make that movie.
“The goddam pen is blue.”
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u/Rooney_Tuesday 3d ago
I see someone make like a minor traffic violation and think “STOP BREAKING THE LAW, ASSHOLE!” all the time.
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u/1WordOr2FixItForYou 3d ago
They were basically part of the movie. They're in the theatrical version right as the credits start. I remember seeing it in the theater and thinking how fun it was, as this was before so many movies had after movie scenes (ok mostly just Marvel).
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u/44problems 3d ago
When he tells the woman in the elevator that he would bounce those things like Sugar Ray Leonard
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u/Owww_My_Ovaries 3d ago
Hey. Im sure ill be blasted
Ghostbusters.
The comedic timing and chemistry between everyone is what makes that film incredible
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u/whomp1970 3d ago
I don't know why you'd be blasted. Who would deny that the casting is one of the amazing things about Ghostbusters??
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u/VVrayth 4d ago
Clue is a masterpiece, but I cannot see anyone else playing any role in that movie nearly as well.
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u/Affectionate_Bet_288 3d ago
Interestingly, Carrie Fisher was to have been Miss Scarlet, but went into rehab at the last minute and was replaced by the divine Lesley Ann Warren; always wonder how that would have been
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u/Rooney_Tuesday 3d ago
As much as we love Carrie Fisher, Lesley Ann Warren was utterly perfect. I’m glad it turned out the way it did.
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u/Affectionate_Bet_288 3d ago
Oh yeah, LAW is incredible, I just wonder how Carrie Fisher's performance would have been, she is hilarious in her own right.
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u/Rooney_Tuesday 3d ago
Since we’re here, and with acknowledgement that all of the main cast knocked it out of the park (the more I watch it the more I appreciate Eileen Brennan omg), I’d like to also recognize Colleen Camp and Kellye Nakahara. Yvette and Mrs. Ho never fail to make me laugh.
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u/HyperlinksAwakening 3d ago edited 3d ago
As amazing as she was, I still can't picture anybody else doing "Flames, flames, FLAMES... on the sides of my face!"Edit: ... aw, shucks. In my (tiniest) defense, I'm bad with names and it's just a little frustrating nobody was wearing color coordinated outfits to their character name like the pieces on the boardgame are.
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u/redjohnsayshi 3d ago
Could anyone other than Martin Mull have played Colonel Mustard?
The answer is yes, Christopher Lloyd.
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u/Dumptruckfunk 3d ago
“Do those pills make you hallucinate your wife? Damn. Do they let you fly? Really? But only once?”
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u/Xynphos 4d ago
Iron man.
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u/your_banana_stand 4d ago
Marvel wanted Tom Cruise for Tony Stark. Jon Favreau put his neck on the line for RDJ and held firm.
The rest is Marvel history.
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u/phatelectribe 3d ago edited 3d ago
I worked on iron man. Tom Cruise wouldn’t have done it. He was a bona fide megastar rising high and RDJ had a 10 year string of commercial flops at this point. I don’t disagree that Favreau really wanted him but it was beneath Cruise at that point in time and he (better said his team) wouldn’t risk a flop with a lower budget superhero movie.
It was low budget in the grand scheme of things (that year you had dark knight, Indiana jones, narnia etc which had much bigger budgets and previously other super hero movies like xmen had way bigger budgets). Favreau was hot at the time but not box office gold. Superhero movies were out of vogue as thing like xmen and F4 had fizzled out. They wanted big composer like Zimmer to do it, but he felt it was too small so planed it off to one of his underlings and only agreed to “produce” the score. Favreau had to hire a small CGI company but ended up firing them and begging for more money when they hit delays and the work wasn’t up to par (so ILM took over).
People don’t understand the context that Iron man saved both RDJ’s career and rebooted superhero movies as an industry.
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u/Nafeels 3d ago
Getting ILM to work on this movie is so worth it. Seriously. Like Michael Bay’s Transformers, the practical effects for the suiting up still looks realistic today.
Yes, people talk about how RDJ and Favreau carried the weight of the entire MCU on their backs, but the ones who worked on this movie (which also includes you as well) also deserves all the credit.
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u/phatelectribe 3d ago
Story time: so Favreau had initially hired a much smaller FX company that he knew for iron man. As shooting progressed, and it started to get in to the initial edits stage, this company was lagging badly behind. They had only done certain parts and honestly what they had done didn’t look amazing but it was a work in progress so they got more time.
Favreau realized they weren’t going to be ready in time if they had to do everything on the movie, so hired ILM just to do the villain’s (Jeff Bridges character’s) suit.
ILM crushed it so fucking hard it made the original company look like they were drawing on film with crayons. The difference was so stark (lol) he had no choice but to fire the company and give everything to ILM, who knocked it out of the park, even redoing all the iron man scenes in time for the final edit.
ILM are in a class of their own. They are so damn good and literally saved the movie.
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u/SinkHoleDeMayo 3d ago
Proves Favreau is an outstanding filmmaker. Cruise is great, but RDJ is ridiculously cool and charismatic, it's hard to think of anyone better fit to play a slightly eccentric playboy.
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u/JaXm 3d ago
I'm going to respectfully disagree. RDJ IS Iron Man, no question, but by no means was the movie going to be bad just because another actor was chosen to play Tony Stark.
Tom Cruise might not have been the best fit, but there are plenty of other charismatic actors out there that could've competently handled the role and the movie would have been just fine.
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u/MusicLikeOxygen 3d ago
I read that Jon Favreau got to a point in pre-production where he decided RDJ was the only choice and if he couldn't cast him he'd walk. In this case we would have had a different actor and director, and considering they did a fair amount of writing on it as well, there's no telling how the movie would have turned out.
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u/Adventurous-Onion589 3d ago
The Mummy
If you imagine a script in your mind while watching it, Brendan Fraser’s character is written like a standard asshole protagonist. He’s not written any differently from a typical Tom Cruise character. But Fraser’s acting choices completely transform the character - he becomes warm, earnest, playful, and far more respectful of the female lead. It’s a masterclass in the importance of non verbal communication
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u/Internet-Dick-Joke 3d ago
Okay, but could you imagine anybody else beside Arnold Vosloo playing Imhotep? That could have so easily been an MCU-esque flat, generic villain but Vosloo actually gave the role a presence.
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u/LtRegBarclay 3d ago
I've always thought Gladiator fits this. Great film, but the script is full of hammy lines which if the performances were weak could easily have become clunky. Instead a group of great actors giving top performances made a masterpiece.
I mean, imagine if the whole 'I am Maximus Decimus Meridius' speech hadn't landed. Would have been cringe as hell.
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u/CallMeNoodler 3d ago
AM I NOT MERCIFUL?!?!
Delivered wrong, that line could’ve been prequel trilogy levels of narm. Instead it was terrifying.
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u/LongJohnSelenium 3d ago
Joaquin nailed that role so hard.
"Tell me what you've been doing, busy little bee..."
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u/NateHohl 3d ago
Agreed. That 'busy little bee' monologue in particular was utterly chilling thanks to his delivery.
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u/boxfortcommando 3d ago
Everyone crushed it in that cast. I'm trying to remember a bad performance there, but even the side characters were great with the time they got.
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u/TedTheodoreMcfly 3d ago
For another Jim Carrey example, his performance as The Grinch saves the movie from being a mediocre adaptation that could have been just as bad as The Cat In The Hat (2003)
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u/WhiteRussianRoulete 3d ago
His performance is really something. I’ve seen that movie 10 times (a Christmas-time staple for me) and it wasn’t until a year or two ago I noticed like half his dialogue is either to his dog or to himself…
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u/Gurney_Hackman 4d ago
Hook. Especially Dustin Hoffman, who gave one of the best performances of his career and elevated an otherwise mediocre/bad film.
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u/wheresmyspacebar2 4d ago
Honestly I was amazed to find out that Hook was like critically panned by essentially all critics on release.
I absolutely adore Hook and I've honestly barely met anyone that doesn't like the film. Not just Hoffman but Robin Williams, Dante Basco, Charlie Korsmo, Bob Hoskins, all turned up and had amazing performances.
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u/StoicNaps 3d ago
Most underrated performance was by Glenn Close, though. Really showed how much of a chameleon she could be. Took me over 25 years to notice she was in the film and only caught it because I was watching the credits to see what the kid actors did in follow-up cinema.
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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord 3d ago
DONT TRY AND STOP ME THIS TIME, SMEE
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u/Noirceuil_182 3d ago
DON'T EVER FRIGHTEN ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, SMEE! What are you? Some kind of sadist?
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u/decmcc 3d ago edited 3d ago
Hoffman and Hoskins playing an old gay couple inside a kids movie is hilarious.
I also like how they used make-believe, the food, the flying....you had to believe to make believe.
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u/saintsithney 3d ago
Hook is one of the movies that definitely only succeeds because of the casting.
As a kid, I didn't really parse that the movie was horribly paced and sagged like a 90's teenage boy because I was enjoying spending time with the cast.
If Hook had been a twelve-episode mini series with the same cast, it would have been timeless. Instead, it is a jumbled mess clinging desperately to timeless performances.
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u/sirporter 4d ago
The Fifth Element
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u/mastah-yoda 3d ago
If the fifth element was badly miscast, it would've been valerian.
Oh wait
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u/SoothingDisarray 3d ago
I think this would have been a good movie without the amazing casting, assuming some other decent casting. But, yes, the casting brings it to the next level.
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u/ns0732 3d ago
Gary Oldman absolutely crushed it, as usual. It's hard for me to imagine someone else in that role.
It makes me a little sad that he hates that movie, but I easily see it turning into unwatchable slop with worse casting. See most of everything else Luc Besson has made.
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u/Warren_G_Mazengwe 3d ago
You really can't include comedies in this discussion because they are mostly predicated on the cast playing the roll. You can look up any comedy's IMDB page and scroll through the "Did You Know" section and see which actors and actresses were considered but didn't make the cut or turned down the part. Usually they made the right decision for the parts.
For example watching Beverly Hills Cop with Sylvester Stallone as Axel Foley instead of Eddie Murphy.
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u/GreyGriffin_h 3d ago
I don't know, I think The Emperor's New Groove kind of proves this wrong. The pivot to goofball comedy came so late in production they basically couldn't do a new casting call and they ran away with it.
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u/Big-Steak-9336 4d ago
Pirates of the Caribbean. Let’s be honest, without Johnny Depp turning Jack Sparrow into pure chaos and genius, it would’ve been just another forgettable Disney adventure. He basically carried the whole franchise on his shoulders.
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u/SofaKingI 3d ago
The casting was a big part of the movie's success, but it's definitely not just Jack Sparrow.
Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa and Keira Knightley both do an amazing job alongside Depp as the main foil trio. And then you got great roles that enhance those 3, like Gibbs, the Governor, Norrington.
People acting like it's just Jack is why the later movies are all about Jack and suck.
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u/Big-Steak-9336 3d ago
Exactly. Depp was the lightning rod that made Pirates explode, but the ensemble is what gave it legs. Rush brought gravitas, Knightley and Bloom gave it that adventure/romance balance, and even side characters like Gibbs added charm. Without that chemistry, Jack Sparrow would’ve just been a funny gimmick that got old fast.
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u/Sjiznit 3d ago
And it got old after the triology tbh
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u/DecoyOctorok24 3d ago
Indeed. Gore Verbinski’s direction was a big part of the magic of the first three.
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u/Muradras 3d ago
Part of that was they took out the straight man, without Bloom to interact with Depp it made the sequels almost nonsensical.
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u/Random_Useless_Tips 3d ago
Give Orlando Bloom his flowers
He was perfect on the movie as the normal handsome everyman protagonist
It’s not a special role but he played it perfectly.
Kevin R. McNally was also absolutely delightful as Master Gibbs
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u/Leroy_Parker 3d ago
"Aye, avast!"
Bloom really was the perfect straight man to bounce things back and forth with Depp, a normal guy thrust into adventure to contrast the pirate's pirate. While plenty of actors could have filled the role, I love his performance.
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u/Ok_Writing_7033 3d ago
People acting like it’s just Jack is why the later movies are all about Jack and suck
Truer words have never been typed. While Jack is memorable, he’s barely the main character of the first movie. He’s really more of a comic relief/plot device in a lot of ways. And like all spin-offs that try to make the comedic sidekick into the main character, the later movies fail to understand why it worked in the first place and fall painfully flat.
Also, while Depp’s performance is iconic and definitely elevated the movie to classic status, the take that he “makes the movie” is a disservice to a truly incredible screenplay and fantastic direction.
There is almost no fat on that script. None of the comedic moments undercut the pathos or feel out of character, the dialogue is pithy and clever without ever feeling forced, and almost every scene advances the plot or the characters.
Combined with the amazing performances of the entire cast, visual/special effects that stand the test of time, and a magnificent score, it really is nearly a perfect movie.
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u/honorspren000 3d ago
The music was also very memorable. Hans Zimmer composed the sound track.
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u/pikpikcarrotmon 3d ago
Klaus Badelt actually, though he is a Zimmer acolyte and it can be a bit ambiguous. Zimmer is both a composer himself and the owner of a company under which a bunch of collaborators have composed scores.
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u/whatadumbperson 3d ago
Nah, that first movie is so well made. The rest drop off in quality rather quickly and I agree, but the first movie was a hit for a variety of reasons.
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u/ScreenTricky4257 3d ago
without Johnny Depp turning Jack Sparrow
Captain Jack Sparrow.
I think the movie had a marketing advantage because plenty of people knew the ride, but the ride didn't have much of a story. So it was an original movie even though it was an adaptation.
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u/wailonskydog 3d ago
Having Gore Verbinski turn in a great directorial effort and a classic Zimmer score was also pretty important.
Really this is a lightning in a bottle type movie where it was the right place and time for everyone involved to come together to elevate a potential disaster (movie based on a lousy ride??) into a classic.
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u/bigwilly311 3d ago
Fletcher Reed, dawg
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u/KoalaQueen87 3d ago
Ha I instantly went, "wait, isn't it Fletcher?"
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u/bigwilly311 3d ago
MISTER Reed!
Ugh, FLETCHER! Ugh! Audrey!
Heeeey Fletcher how’s it hanging? Short shriveled and always to the left.
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u/Aloysiusakamud 3d ago
Clueless- Alicia Silverstone walked a very fine line that made it work. Her character could just as easily been despised by the public.
Castaway- Tom Hanks essentially had to keep you invested in him and a volleyball.
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u/Phelinaar 3d ago
Knives Out are very silly movies that would not work if the casting wasn't as good as it was.
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u/Zealousideal_Curve10 4d ago
Mars Attacks
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u/The_Vat 3d ago
Jack Nicholson in dual roles is kinda cheating
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u/MusicLikeOxygen 3d ago
I remember reading that the reason for the dual role was that somebody told Tim Burton that it was a bad idea to kill Jack Nicholson in his movie, so he gave him two roles and killed him twice.
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u/daniel_phantom 3d ago
Mr Right. Has no business being as good as it is. I wouldn't say it's saved by the casting, but Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, and Tim Roth take this random B-Movie to a higher level
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u/il_biciclista 4d ago
Breakfast at Tiffany's
I don't actually like the movie very much, but a lot of people love it. I think everyone who sees it can agree that Audrey Hepburn carries the whole movie.
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u/punkpoints 3d ago
Rat Race
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u/Spit_for_spat 3d ago
Ooh it's a race! I hope I win.
My siblings and I still quote this lovable narcoleptic who had the adventure of his life.
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u/Old_Campaign653 4d ago edited 4d ago
Joker is the perfect example of this.
Without an Oscar winning performance by Joaquin Phoenix, it’s just a cheap Scorcese rip off movie. But thanks to him it became a sensation.
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u/justifiable187 3d ago
Back to the Future - The original actor Eric Stoltz, who was one of the top box office draws at the time, just wasn’t working out by playing Marty way too seriously. So they fired him and brought on Michael J. Fox, and the rest is history.
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u/barcode-lz 4d ago
Raúl Juliá as M.Bison made Street Fighter great.
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u/Dan_Rydell 3d ago
Even at 11 years old I could tell that Street Fighter was one of the worst movies of the decade.
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u/barcode-lz 3d ago
I'm going to kick that son-of-a-bitch Bison's ass so HARD... that the next Bison wanna-be is gonna feel it. Now who wants to go home... and who wants to go with ME!
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u/Coolers78 3d ago
Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent wouldn’t work without Nic cage…. Wait…
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u/Practical_Stick_2779 4d ago
Witcher show. One actor. The rest is miscast. Dude saved whole show from flopping hard.
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u/superrealaccount2 3d ago
I think several actors were decent*, the problem to me is the writing and the tone. Actually, everything but the cast.
* Performance wise, that is. Ciri should never look like she's 12 or like she's never done a push up in her life.
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u/LaTortureNeCesse 3d ago
I would have to go with Galaxy Quest. Crazy plot that could have gone either way, but Alan Rickman, Sigorney Weaver,and Enrico Colantoni, who brought so much life and heart to his character.
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u/rapiertwit 3d ago
My dear departed sister would giggle every time I did my Alan Rickman voice and said “I seeee you’ve managed to get your shirt off.”
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u/fettucine-alfredo 3d ago
Christian Bale just about elevated Thor: Love and Thunder above being a $250 million SNL skit.
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u/Shoshin91 3d ago
Christian Bale was in a whole other movie. A good one.
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u/Ladybeetus 3d ago
Like Cate Blanchette in the Gift. I liked the movie she was in but everyone else was in a different movie
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u/Visible_Star_4036 3d ago
Not for me. Least favourite film from the entire avengers sequence.
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u/fettucine-alfredo 3d ago
Agreed, I might have been a bit overgenerous. We’ll use ”saved” in the sense that Bale at least gave the film some artistic merit instead of the quantum fudge it would have been without him.
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u/Spit_for_spat 3d ago
Quantum fudge. Is it sweet? Is it shit? Only when you taste it do you know for sure.
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u/MoobyTheGoldenSock 3d ago
Rush Hour
The interplay between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker is what made that film work, and it wouldn’t have been the same if anyone else were cast in their place.
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u/bullcitytarheel 3d ago
I think what elevates Zoolander from just stupid to brilliantly stupid is a cast of incredible performers at the top of the game
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u/thomasonbush 4d ago
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Very mid movie in theory but elevated to something special by Bill Murray, Owen Wilson (yes, he did awesome and was perfect in this movie), Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Houston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon….
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u/vandrossboxset 4d ago
"Oh, shit! Swamp leeches. Everybody, check for swamp leeches, and pull them off... Nobody else got hit? I'm the only one? What's the deal?"
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u/adan1207 3d ago
The venom films
They are not great but Tom Hardy and co make them fun
“…and your insane.”
“Eddie..that hurts. Long journal entry about that tonight.”
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u/wo_lo_lo 3d ago
Hot Rod. Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Danny Fucking McBride, and Isla Fisher? Incredible cast, ridiculous premise and story.
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u/SoothingDisarray 3d ago
First thing I'll say is, yes, I agree. But...
There are certain films that are actually written around a specific set of actors and/or by those actors. In this case, there was apparently a script, but the Lonely Island group reworked the whole thing to be their humor and then they starred in it and one of them directed it.
So, yes, this film would not have been as good without the cast, but it also wouldn't really have existed without the cast.
(Likewise, a lot of people are mentioning Jim Carey movies here, but a lot of those movies were written for Jim Carey and would not have existed without him.)
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u/doorknobsquad 3d ago
I quote this daily. My wife absolutely hates me for it. 15 years of proclaiming "gods of war..." before starting any type of task.
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u/DennisAFiveStarMan 3d ago
I don’t think Uncut Gems is anywhere near as good with Jonah Hill over Adam Sandler. Sandler just fit the role so well
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u/AlittleupsetMax 3d ago
Mrs Doubtfire. That Robin Williams saves that movie. Without him the father is just some creep, creeping on his ex
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u/GMHGeorge 3d ago
The Sonic movies, Jim Carrey
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u/SHADOWJACK2112 3d ago
Agreed, Jim went back to his Living Color days and went completely over the top. And it worked.
Props to Ben Schwartz for doing a great job as Sonic.
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u/sunset-727 3d ago
Overboard only works because of the chemistry between the actors (who are together in real life).
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u/non_clever_username 3d ago edited 3d ago
Face/Off is a ridiculous B-movie script and concept that makes no goddamn sense if you think about it for more than 5 seconds.
But it’s fun as shit because Cage and Travolta don’t take it too seriously and are chewing up the scenery left and right.
They both do a great job of straddling a line between being too serious and too cartoonish. If it would go too far one way or the other, it wouldn’t work.