10 Movies That Actually Benefited From Bad Acting

Starship Troopers' wooden cast only elevated its satire.

[rmhartman]

you really need to learn to distinguish between genuinely bad acting and acting (or directing) choices.

[josephoswald]

Keanue Reeves "lack of emotion " worked PERFECTLY in The Day The Earth Stood Still

[zanethomas]

M. Night Shyamalan's The Village is a good example of intentional bad acting. The elders are actually trying to live 100 years in the past when they think things were "simpler." But you can see moments where Sigourney Weaver's character rolls her eyes. And William Hurt sucks badly but he's trying so hard to sound like someone from the 19th Century.

[outandaboutintheworl]

The Wachowski's weren't "smart enough to appreciate Reeve's stoicism". It was a $60m major studio production, the Wachowskis weren't free to cast whoever they wanted for the lead. They were being given the a-list movie star that the studio decided the project needed. And the studio originally wanted Will Smith, who turned it down for Wild Wild West. It was only then that the studio offered it to Reeves.

Sometimes you just get lucky, and The Matrix is a classic case of a lot of things falling neatly in to place.

[Doofwarrior]

I love in starship troopers that the main casts always have perfect hair every time they take their helmets off

[bobbobobbington]

It annoys me a little that people call Arnold a bad actor. I always thought he played every character he was casted as perfectly. He was always a joy.

[zanethomas]

Laura Linney in The Truman Show is brilliant. She sucks in the role. But "Meryl" is played by a bad actress who's supposed to be a former child actor. And many child actors have a hard time transitioning to adult roles. It's one thing to suck in a role. It's another to play a character named after a good actress who is supposed to be a horrible actress.

[patriciafenwick]

On her Majesty's Secret Service is one of my favourite James Bond (I'll probably get criticised for this) because he was vulnerable, he falls in love, gets married. A different James Bond, which gets referenced in A spy who loved me (another one of my faves).

[waldowallace]

Gal as Wonder Woman was awesome! Pairing her with Lucy Davis was perfect casting. Her flow gratly complimented Gals more reserved style.
Killed every scene they were in.

[theunwelcome]

most of the main character actors in Clerks were local theater kids, ok not Hollywood actors but not completely green amateurs either

[longyear]

The Terminator's eyebrows were burned off in an explosion. His model originally had them.

And Wonder Woman isn't an alien. She was born and raised on Earth, just on an island of Amazons. Even as an metaphor, calling her an "alien" is nonsensical. She had friends and family growing up.

[zanethomas]

Give Arnold credit. He taught himself how to quickly change a magazine clip in a hand gun without even glancing down for a second. He knew a machine would be programmed to do so easily.

[iscariom]

I don't necessarily think keanu reeves is a good actor but he's always in good movies. I think his best movie is constantine. He was really good in it.

[madahab]

I would add Carnival of Souls. It is full of bad acting but it adds to the strange and otherworldly quality of the story. Since the entire film turns out to be "a dream" all of these performances fit the tone of the story. Once you adjust yourself to this style it becomes a lot of fun.

[markalexander]

Sleepaway Camp! Especially the acting in the first 5 minutes. It lowers your expectations SO MUCH that the twist feels like a masterpiece

[greghaus]

Showgirls is a film that in retrospect benefitted from bad acting. Gina Gershon was the only performer who understood just how gloriously awful the script was and went for it, while the cluelessness of the other actors made the experience far more enjoyable. It is a camp classic that nobody would care about 30 years later if not for the truly terrible acting. I'd put it #1 on this list for sure and would have omitted The Matrix. You could also include any John Waters film released before Hairspray (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, etc.)

[Aussie_Stitch]

The Wicker Man's most famous scene is the "Not the bees" scene and it's not even in the theatrical release of the film. I watched it with friends during a Halloween movie marathon (we put this on to make fun of it) and were so disappointed when that scene was missing

[bobbobobbington]

Keanu Reeves works PERFECTLY as an office worker/hacker in Matrix. He's made for that role. Born to play that part.

[_NoDrinkTheBleach]

I don't know what the deal is with Shyamalan's directing, but he almost always has his actors give exposition like day players at a community theater. They could be academy award winning actors, but they still look awkward and confused.

[ksjazzguitaryt]

Yeah, I think Lazenby and OHMSS are underrated. I think he did a great job giving us a vulnerable Bond before we were ready. We weren't ready until Skyfall.