Five beloved movie characters who are actually terrible people
There are some film characters who stole our hearts the first second they appeared on the screen, with an effortless charisma or sense of humour that charmed us and immediately entered the Hollywood hall of fame.
Whether it be Stanley Tucci’s character in The Devil Wears Prada or Dom from Looking, there are many made-up figures who feel so real simply because of the very tangible love we feel for them. It’s the sign of a writer doing their job very well, making us feel for somebody despite having never existed.
However, while there are some characters who are widely proclaimed as being some of the best, with audiences losing their minds every time they come onto the screen, there are others that are disguised as being good while actually being quite horrible, and somehow, we all still fell for it.
So, in order to shatter the bubble that exists around some of these characters, here are five beloved movie characters who are actually quite shit.
Five beloved characters who are terrible people
Marley – ‘Marley and Me’ (David Frankel, 2008)
Marley might be one of the most beloved dogs in film history, second only to Beethoven and Scooby Doo, but in my books, he is one of the most infuriatingly overrated canine characters of all time. The animal is a menace from day one, and while he might have captured some people’s attention through his chaotic antics, he certainly didn’t fool me.
Marley caused them misery from day dot, creating inconveniences at every moment and causing more hassle than he was worth. It might be endearing as a puppy, but as an adult, the dog is poorly trained, and everything he does is completely inappropriate and could be used as an argument for euthanasia.
Joe Bradley – ‘Roman Holiday’ (William Wyler, 1953)
Audrey Hepburn is simply delightful in Roman Holiday, playing a young princess who escapes her royal duties for the first time and explores the city of Rome with her newfound freedom. However, the same cannot be said for Gregory Peck’s character, who is, without a doubt, one of the most disgusting characters I have ever seen in a “romantic comedy”.
Peck plays desperate journalist Joe Bradley, who is intent on exposing the Princess’ identity and selling her whereabouts to the press. While romance blooms between them, Bradley continues trying to exploit her at every chance he gets, taking secret pictures of her and using them to advance his career. As well as this, it is implied that there is a hefty age gap between them as the Princess is not yet 18, with the character also attempting to exploit her sexually. All around, it’s not a love story I enjoy, and he is one of the most overrated love interests of all time.
Ferris Bueller – ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ (John Hughes, 1986)
Ferris is one of the most adored teenagers from John Hughes’ body of work, with the director often focusing on quirky characters in coming-of-age stories. While Ferris is certainly very entertaining, he is also a pretty shit friend, something that is continually demonstrated through his relationship with Cameron.
Cameron repeatedly tells him that he feels anxious about his antics, but Ferris ignores his friend every chance he gets, dragging him into more mess despite his continuous objections. Cameron is clearly a fragile soul and someone who is deeply struggling in life, and Ferris only uses him to have a hedonistic day out that is purely motivated by his own pleasures. He might be a funny guy, but there’s no denying that he’s a terrible friend, and Cameron deserved better.
Marianne Sheridan – ‘Normal People’ (Lenny Abrahamson, Hettie Macdonald, 2020)
After its release during the pandemic, Normal People sparked a huge fanbase through the on-and-off-again relationship between Marianne and Connell, with its appeal not fading for a single second as people continue to swoon over their undeniable connection. However, while their relationship might be sweet and complex, I found Marianne to be one of the most overrated characters on television, with her entire personality being based on her traumas and little else besides this.
She is the textbook definition of the quirky but not quirky and actually slightly fucked up female character that Sally Rooney tends to write, and while it might appeal to some people, I found her to be fairly insufferable.
Tashi Donaldson – ‘Challengers’ (Luca Guadagnino, 2024)
Challengers caused a huge stir and might be one of the most commercially successful films of Guadagnino’s career. The sexual tension mixed with the suspense of a well-played tennis match made for a thrilling love triangle that wasn’t really about the people involved in it but more about the game they were all so enthralled with.
However, despite being loved by many, Tashi was another character that I struggled to get on board with, something that was no doubt due to the script and poor exploration of her inner world. While she might have loved tennis, and that was her sole motivation behind everything he did, this only made her come across as a fairly two-dimensional person, and someone who isn’t all that great, given that she forces her ambitions onto the people around her.
While it is certainly thrilling and sometimes the best characters are the ones who aren’t very palatable, I still feel like there isn’t much about her that is redeemable, and she is sometimes quite hard to sympathise with due to her slightly cold nature.
