Al Pacino’s five worst performances of all time
Surrounded by a wealth of acting talent, including Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor Al Pacino was destined to become one of the most celebrated actors of the 20th century. Gruff, rough and all-around intense, Pacino’s performances in the films of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin Tarantino have made him an indelible Hollywood icon.
Like De Niro, however, in recent years, Pacino has been enticed by those shiny green dollar notes, taking on many projects that he would have never thought to appear in during his heyday. Has this damaged the actor’s reputation? Not quite. After all, nothing can touch the quality of such movies as The Godfather: Part II or Dog Day Afternoon.
Nevertheless, Pacino has built an unfortunate modern reputation of appearing in some truly awful guff, with his performances being as bad as the films themselves. So, let’s take a look at some of Al Pacino’s worst performances, tracking his career from his first days of stardom to modern cinema.
Al Pacino’s five worst performances:
5. Bobby Deerfield (Sydney Pollack, Alvin Sargent, 1977)
The start of Al Pacino’s career was extraordinary, appearing in The Panic in Needle Park, The Godfather, Serpico, The Godfather: Part II and Dog Day Afternoon, all in the space of four years. Shortly after this period of success, however, he took a role in the terrible Sydney Pollack and Alvin Sargent movie Bobby Deerfield, a melodrama that saw the actor play a Formula One auto racer.
Playing the role with a hilarious degree of overenthusiasm, Pacino turns Bobby Deerfield into something of a joke, even if the screenplay made it hard to take seriously in the first place.
4. The Merchant of Venice (Michael Radford, 2004)
Though somewhat celebrated by critics, The Merchant of Venice, based on the play by William Shakespeare, is a pretty weak film overall, following a merchant in 16th century Venice who becomes involved in a complicated and entangled deal that results in dark, gruesome results. Playing his role as Shylock with a total lack of subtlety, despite being a longtime lover of Shakespeare, Pacino is one of the worst things about this uninspired adaptation.
Bringing out each of his acting cliches from his history on screen, Pacino overacts the role and comes across as a bit of a fool in the process.
3. The Son Of No One (Dito Montiel, 2011)
If the cast is anything to go by, you’d think the 2011 movie The Son Of No One was a modern classic, with the likes of Channing Tatum, Juliette Binoche and the late Ray Liotta joining Pacino in Dito Montiel’s movie. Unfortunately, however, The Son Of No One proved to be just as bad as its title, ending up as a critical failure, with Pacino’s performance as a police detective doing nothing to elevate the movie.
An utter failure that made very little sense when you broke the story down, Pacino looks unbelievably bored as the story’s police detective, forcing us to treat his character and cause with complete apathy.
2. Gigli (Martin Brest, 2003)
Let’s be clear, no one came off well after the release of Gigli in 2003, with stars Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck being ridiculed for their film, which is often considered to be one of the worst of all time. Playing a mob boss in the movie, without any of the majesty and power of his previous roles in the films of Francis Ford Coppola, Pacino plays a cosplay version of himself in this 2003 failure.
A clumsy mess of a movie, Pacino’s poor performance was joined by Affleck, Lopez, Justin Bartha and Christopher Walken; it really wasn’t great.
1. Jack and Jill (Dennis Dugan, 2011)
We know that we previously stated that Pacino’s recent performances hadn’t damaged his broader career, but this one indeed came very, very close. In its own right, Dennis Dugan’s Jack and Jill, starring Adam Sandler, is considered one of the worst movies of all time, and that’s not just because it includes the worst Al Pacino scene on film. It’s not even a subjective opinion either.
Alongside some flagrant corporate placement, Pacino marches into Dunkin’ Donuts, where he performs the now notorious ‘Dunkaccino’ song to the misery of fans worldwide. Michael Corleone would roll in his grave.
