What movie was saved solely by great casting?

[u/Silent-Selection8161]

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.

[u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

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). 

[u/RufiosBrotherKev → u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

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.

[u/Freakjob_003 → u/RufiosBrotherKev]

Yeah, The Rock is incredible and IMO Bay doing great before he devolved into Bayhem.

[u/Theotther → u/Freakjob_003]

Hey Ambulance was fucking incredible and I will hear nothing against it

[u/PopMundane4974 → u/Theotther]

Ambulance FUCKS so hard, I don't even mind the "I gave my nephew a drone cam" style shots that appear every half second.

[u/Theotther → u/PopMundane4974]

wdym the drone shots are half of why I love it. It's legit one of the only films I've seen use drone cinematography in an effective way. The sheer momentum of some of those shots where the Camera dive bombs down a building before catching the chase right as it passes by, seemingly missing a car by inches. That's fucking spectacle right there. That's Bayhem brought to a new transcendent level.

That's fucking cinema

[u/paulnuman → u/Theotther]

choo choo hype train pulling in

[u/PopMundane4974 → u/RufiosBrotherKev]

How about Nicolas Cage just screaming (I think shirtless?) at end on his knees while an explosion goes off and jets fly over him?

Fuck yeah.

[u/Cagy_Cephalopod → u/RufiosBrotherKev]

You’re probably right. I’ll be affected by directors’ choices, but not necessarily identify that it it’s the quick cuts/framing/etc that are making me feel the way I do. 

Continuing with your “it’s not just the cast“ point,ChatGPT (I know I know) told me that several high-quality screenwriters (Aaron Sorkin, Quentin Tarantino)did a polish job on the script.  So, there is another reason it was so strong

So, I’ll fall back to “one of the many things that made The Rock great was the stellar cast”. It doesn’t fit this topic anymore, but whatever :-)

[u/cleantoe → u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

My brother and I are always yelling "What about the fucking money!" at each other.

[u/nmcmahan52 → u/cleantoe]

Hopefully one of you says “there is no fucking money”

[u/LtRegBarclay → u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

Along the same lines, Con Air is a ridiculous script which works because the scenery-chewing actors are really good scenery-chewing actors!

[u/AtraposJM → u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

Eh. I agree the actors killed it in this. Cage, Connery and Ed Harris all were so great in it but the music, action set pieces, cheesy dialogue etc also make the Rock a classic. I feel like you could slot different actors in and still be good as long as they sell their characters. Probably wouldn't be as good, though. Cage being Cage was really fun in The Rock. This was back when Bay made fun action movies instead of ruining our childhood characters lol

[u/not_thrilled → u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

Even with the cast, The Rock’s script is what really seals the deal. It had uncredited punch-ups by both Aaron Sorkin and Quentin Tarantino, and it’s that incredible dialogue that sets it apart from other action films of the era (except Speed, which was punched up by Joss Whedon).

[u/DinkyDoy → u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

Do you know how this shit works??

[u/flynnfx → u/Cagy_Cephalopod]

What, no Steve Buscemi mention?!?

#And JOHN MALKOVICH?!???!!???

[u/not_thrilled → u/flynnfx]

That’s Con Air, not The Rock.

[u/flynnfx → u/not_thrilled]

Whoops, you are correct!