NO - WIRE - HANGERS !!! (Examples of extreme overacting)

[Skittles]

While flipping channels I caught part of The Amityville Horror. Without exception, EVERYONE in that movie OVERACTS to the EXTREME. And the scene where James Brolin parades around in his tighty whities - SHEESH. :O

[soleft]

1. John Lithgow in EVERYTHING

But the worst is in a Brian Depalma flick called Raising Cain.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Charlton Heston in anything.

"Oh...my...GOD!!! You blew it up! GODDAMN YOU!"

[Shakespeare]

3. THEY TOOK MY THUMB!!!

Eric Roberts chewing up scenery in The Pope of Greenwich Village. Actually, a very good movie, and a blast to watch Rourke and Roberts play off each other.

[MinnFats]

4. Charleton Heston, king of overacting: "You DID IT! YOU REALLY DID IT!

OHHHHHW, GODDAMN YOU ALL TO HELL! YOU DID IT!"

and

"Soylent Green is PEOPLE!"


and

"BEHOLD HIS MIGHTY POWER!"



at the other end of the spectrum we have the somnambulent Keanu Reeves, to another candidate for worst actor of all time, Patrick Swayze:
"I....am gonna take you ...down."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. An oldie

Lew Ayres in the otherwise fine movie All Quiet on the Western Front. He recites his lines as if he's reading to a kindergarten class.

[VelmaD]

6. Three words...

William Shatner

Kaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!

[devilgrrl]

7. Tom Cruise in EVERYTHING!!!!!!

n/t

[eileen_d]

8. Any disaster epic - think "Airport"

Of course Heston was in Airport '75, so that sealed it. But the original "Airport" (guy with bomb) and "Airport '77" (hijackers crash plane in ocean) have several prime examples.

And my all-time favorite in the so-bad-its-good category: THE SWARM.

"Bees! Millions of them!"

[ForrestGump]

9. Colin Powell at the United Nations

Most consistent extreme overacting: tie bewteen John Ashcroft (in the role of Evil Wacko #1) and Donald Rumsfeld (in the role of Evil Wacko #2).

Most chronic under-acting: George W. Bush

[ForrestGump]

10. Al Pacino in quite a few things, now that I think about it

I haven't wqatched The Scent of a Woman in years (haven't smelled it in years, either, but I digress) because - though on one level I loved his performance - all that yelling just wears me down. What an angry little man he plays in so many films. I did enjoy SimOne, though, recently (airplane movie).

[BurtWorm]

13. "I'm out of order?! YOU'RE OUT OF ORDER!!"

He came to my mind too.

[Ready4Change]

11. "KHAN!!!!!"

by William Shatner in "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan." To that's the definition of overacting.

[RandomKoolzip]

12. Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys.

Man, talk about chewing the scenery! "I'm insaneI'mtalkingreallyfast I'm YELLING TOO, and then...I,I,I,I stutterstut...stut stutter, then...I.....become.......cat...a.........ton....ic...ANDTHEN I YELLREALLYFASTTTTTthen Italkrealfastsomemore I'm insane I'm Insane!!!!" Very unintentionally funny. Any of the actors in "Manos: THe Hands of Fate" could convey schizophrenia with more nuance and credibilty than Monseuir Pitt. Like a rather dull fifth grader imitating Dennis Hopper in "Apocalypse Now."


Some more off the top of my head:

Angelina Jolie in "Girl, Interrupted." The director must have told her: "Okay, act like Courtney Love...ACTION!"

Any local production of any Shakespeare play. Watch for any random Prospero to bust a bloodvessel as HE AAACTTTTTSSS!

Val Kilmer in "The Doors". Icky. Maggotty.

[mitchum]

14. any performance by Dennis Hopper...

he's just awful

Gary Oldman (when he's in a bad movie) How could he ever rise above bad material when he's so enthusiastically chewing it up?

of course, Heston

[Skittles]

17. omg

Gary Oldman in The Scarlet Letter. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

[BurtWorm]

18. Gary Oldman in Dracula.

I wonder if he meant to conjure up the Pope... (It's possible.)

[alphafemale]

20. I loved that though. Dracula is hardly a role that calls for subtle.

:D

[montana_hazeleyes]

15. I hate to say it because I love him,

but there were times when Sidney Portier (sp?) did some major over-acting
And the WHOLE cast of the 1950"s "Bad Seed" movie over-acted big time,but again I loved that movie.
Writing this I'm starting to wonder,maybe I like over-acting?

[MrScorpio]

16. Kenneth Brannaugh is Shakespeare on Speed

"ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, DEAR FRIENDS....ONCE MORE!!!"

[Booberdawg]

19. I thought this was going to be an abortion thread

Wire hangers .....