10 actors who instantly ruin any movie they appear in
Everybody has a list of actors that they just can’t stand. For some reason, they grate on your nerves, and you’re unable to put your finger on why. It isn’t your fault, it isn’t their fault, it’s just how the world works.
Sometimes, though, an actor will come along whose very presence makes everything worse for everybody. Whether they’re no good onscreen, off-screen, or both, having them in a film detracts from everything else and takes you right out of the moment.
We’ve tried to be as objective as possible with this list—if it were up to this writer, Seth Rogen would fill all ten spots—but as nobody has invented a ‘bad-o-meter’ yet, there is no definitive way to prove any of these statements. Still, based on general audience and critical consensus, we reckon we’ve done an alright job.
If this list has depressed you, then check out the alternative version for later. For now, let’s jump into this mess.
10 actors inspiring immediate distaste
James Corden
American audiences who may only know him as a talk show host might not be aware of James Corden’s acting roots. The British star first rose to prominence in his native land in the beloved sitcom Gavin & Stacey as Neil ‘Smithy’ Smith. For the most part, he did just fine. His movie career, on the other hand, well…
Corden is inherently irritating. He’s also extremely limited in the things he can do as an actor, which might explain why most of his films are utter garbage. The Peter Rabbit films, The Emoji Movie, the disastrous Camila Cabello version of Cinderella, and the reprehensible Lesbian Vampire Killers. Everything he touches turns to diarrhoea.
Kevin James
The two highest-rated Kevin James movies on Letterboxd are a documentary about a pro wrestler and a Sesame Street Christmas special. If that doesn’t say it all, then nothing will. The chief Adam Sandlerite is the cinematic equivalent of Japanese knotweed; incredibly hard to get rid of and no good to anyone.
James only has one mode, and it is irritating. OK, that’s not fair. He has two modes: irritating and loud. He only ever plays the same characters, and they are all terrible. It’s hard to look at or listen to him for longer than five minutes without suffering a migraine.
Jared Leto
The annoying thing about Jared Leto is that he can be good when he wants. The Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman gives good performances in the likes of American Psycho and Requiem for a Dream, but something changed after he won his Oscar in 2014.
Leto’s insistence on method acting, even when it put him in physical danger, has made him the scourge of Hollywood. This was particularly prevalent during the filming of Suicide Squad, when he took his role as Joker unacceptably seriously. Now, it’s a real buzzkill to watch him on screen, knowing what he probably got up to when the cameras weren’t rolling, especially when he’s doing a stupid Italian accent.
Cara Delevingne
Plenty of models have become successful actors. Cameron Diaz started out working for brands like Calvin Klein and Levi’s before she hit the big time, while Halle Berry and Channing Tatum also worked in the space. As for Cara Delevingne, that transition just never happened.
The British catwalk favourite has tried time and time again to make it as an actor, and it’s never worked. All actors are hired for their looks to a certain extent, but with Delevingne, that’s all there is, and it’s painfully transparent. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being very successful in one field, just as long as you know when to stay in your lane.
Pete Davidson
Part of the reason many people hate Pete Davidson is that he dates incredibly attractive women, and nobody can figure out why they fall for him. You were all thinking it, so it’s good to just get it out of the way. There’s also the small matter that, despite his lacklustre acting skills, Hollywood seems hellbent on making him the next big thing.
Davidson is following in a rich tradition of Saturday Night Live stars making the jump to feature films, but something just isn’t working. He plays one character—himself—over and over again and it gets less and less interesting every single time. People don’t appreciate having someone rammed down their throats, especially when they’re not great at what they do.
Gal Gadot
There are whole sets of very valid political reasons why people don’t like Gal Gadot. Those, however, are for another list. Instead, let’s focus on the fact that the star of some of the biggest movies of recent years cannot act to save her life.
The Wonder Woman leading lady is seemingly incapable of delivering any of her lines with the intended emotion. There is the issue of English not being her first language, which is fair, but other non-native speakers have come way further in way less time. Some of her attempts at ‘acting’ are just plain embarrassing and have been rightfully mocked by just about everyone.
Chris Pratt
Akin to Jared Leto, Chris Pratt can be good when he wants. He helped turn Guardians of the Galaxy from an obscure comic book property to one of the best parts of the MCU, but that’s also where things began to change for the worse.
Since becoming a household name, Pratt has shamelessly followed the money. Whether through voicing characters like Mario or Garfield or fronting Netflix’s preposterously expensive husk, The Electric State, he has made no effort to hide the fact that he is always thinking about his next paycheque. It shows in his performances, too, which have steadily worsened over time.
Rob Schneider
Another Adam Sandler pity hire, Rob Schneider occasionally does try to step out of his friend’s shadow, but it never ends well. The Deuce Bigalow films are nothing short of crimes against humanity, and then there’s the slew of low-budget, low-effort ‘comedians’ that send people to the hospital with eye rot instead of split sides.
Schneider’s juvenile, crass sense of humour might have held some water in the 1990s or early 2000s, but all his efforts from that time on have aged like a bucket of milk. The worst part is that he still tries to pull off the same stuff today. There’s also the fact that his own daughter doesn’t speak to him anymore, but that’s a whole other issue.
Shia LaBeouf
Shia LaBeouf has one of those faces that you’d just love to see get punched. There’s something about his smug features that makes him so perfectly hateable, both onscreen in dreadful movies like the Transformers series and in real life.
By all accounts, LaBeouf is a pretty horrible guy, which is what made it so astonishing when he turned up in Francis Ford Coppola’s doomed passion project, Megalopolis. Even without all the real-world context, he still stunk the picture up to high heaven. Although that wasn’t entirely his fault, Laurence Olivier couldn’t have saved that mess.
Kevin Hart
Comedy is incredibly subjective; the things that make you laugh are unique to you, and nobody has any right to tell you that you’re wrong to find something funny. That being said, enough people complain about Kevin Hart to justify his inclusion on this list.
Hart’s entire schtick boils down to a few basic points. He’s short, he’s got a high-pitched voice, and he complains a lot. That’s it. Even when he tries to be serious, it still doesn’t work, as anyone who saw the dreadful Borderlands movie can attest. He’s made a lot of money, so enough people clearly like him, but there are plenty more for whom he is an instant channel-changer.
