Ryan Reynolds

Deadpool was the worst thing to ever happen to Ryan Reynolds. Sure, it’s done wonders for his bank balance and popularity, but for his actual ability as an actor, it’s been a total death sentence.

The problem with the success of the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ is that the Canadian now plays him in every single other movie he’s in. Regardless of the setting or plot, Reynolds plays a sarcastic, disconnected a-hole with a penchant for one-liners. Detective Pikachu, Red Notice, The Adam Project, IF: they’re the same ship for him. With the recent success of Deadpool vs Wolverine, don’t expect this to change anytime soon, either.

Giancarlo Esposito

When Giancarlo Esposito found fame as Gus Fring, the sadistic, well-groomed antagonist of Breaking Bad, there were loads of reasons to be happy. This was the culmination of decades of hard work, a well-deserved reward for a supremely talented, yet oft-overlooked star. Unfortunately, it was also the beginning of his decline.

Since Breaking Bad wrapped up, Esposito has seemingly just followed the money. Choose any big-budget project or recognisable franchise, and the chances are he’ll be there, playing the same diluted version of Fring. He’s earned his sellout years, but that doesn’t make them any easier to watch.

Mark Wahlberg

Boogie Nights sure feels like a long time ago, doesn’t it? Even Mark Wahlberg’s spirited performances in The Departed and The Fighter feel like a lifetime ago, considering what the Boston native is up to these days.

The former frontman of the Funky Bunch is now a parody of himself. If he’s not playing some generic tough guy, he’s playing the meathead comic relief. In Flight Risk, he’s some weird combination of both. While he still has his defenders, the days of ‘Marky Mark’ doing interesting things with his career seem very much over.

Helen Mirren

It feels blasphemous to slander the good name of Dame Helen Mirren, considering she is literally acting royalty, but the past decade or so has not been kind to her image. A trailblazer in her youth, her Mirrenship seems content to take pretty much any part she’s offered nowadays. Maybe she needs a new kitchen extension, or something.

Between Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the Fast and Furious franchise, and the upcoming Thursday Murder Club adaptation, Mirren is easing her way into retirement with some incredibly soft roles. She’s essentially been confined to an acting retirement community, and that just feels wrong.

Jeff Goldblum

Oh boy, this is going to upset some people. Look, Jeff Goldblum is great. He’s a walking meme and he knows it, something he has exploited to great effect. But come on, do we really need another film where he’s a charming, yet bumbling oaf?

The ‘Goldblumification’ period really kicked off with Thor: Ragnarok, and has carried on through movies like Jurassic World Dominion, The Boss Baby: Family Business, and Wicked. The Jeff we get on talk shows is very entertaining, but that’s where he should stay. Was anybody really calling out for him to play the Wizard of Oz? Really?

Emilia Clarke

This entry is more about the cast of Game of Thrones in general. Since that series ended, so many of its key players have gone on to embarrass themselves. Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Gwendoline Christie: none of these former household names have achieved much of note since their time in Westeros. 

Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in the career of Emilia Clarke. Arguably the main character of the show, the wide-eyed dragon mother has made some appalling choices since her rise to fame. Dodgy rom-coms, bland action films, franchise leftovers—she has left a trail of mediocrity in her wake. Did we really have to lose King’s Landing for this?

Reese Witherspoon

It’s easy to forget, but Reese Witherspoon is an Academy Award winner. For her performance as June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, she was showered with praise and prizes. She was nominated at the Oscars again for 2015’s Wild and has been in countless other movies that became critical darlings.

These days, while she is excelling on TV with projects like The Morning Show and Little Fires Everywhere, her film career is in dire straits. It’s mostly unenthusiastic romcoms, most recently the Amazon Prime vehicle You’re Cordially Invited. Maybe she’s more interested in TV these days or just fancies an easy job, but we all know she can do much better on the big screen.

Michael Caine

To be incredibly fair to Michael Caine, he is astronomically old. The British legend recently celebrated his 92nd birthday and has enjoyed a lengthy stint on top that would put almost every other actor who’s ever lived in the shade. That being said, he has been a little guilty of phoning it in.

A lot of his final pre-retirement roles essentially boiled down to a ‘man who is old but can still do things’. Be it Zach Braff’s Going in Style or Oliver Parker’s The Great Escaper, he found himself typecast as a reluctant senior. There probably isn’t much else he could have done at his age, but even so.

Christopher Walken

Once again, this is a case of an actor focusing all their efforts on the small screen. Christopher Walken is brilliant in the Apple TV+ hit Severance, forming the unexpected romantic core of the series with John Turturro. Alas, while his TV career has flourished, his movie career has come to a sad end. 

Walken was by far and away the worst part of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two. Instead of conveying the almighty power of Emperor Shaddam IV, he looked like he’d wandered out of his hospital ward on the way to the toilet. This might have had more to do with Villeneuve’s direction, but on the surface, Walken looked like he’d rather have been anywhere else.

Marlon Brando

If there were a Mount Rushmore of great actors not giving a toss, then Marlon Brando’s face would be on there four times. Regularly cited as one of the most talented performers to ever grace the screen, the Godfather star had a long and turbulent history of refusing to put in even the most basic level of effort.

The most infamous case of this is The Island of Dr Moreau, one of his final films. The double Oscar winner literally stopped trying upon hearing of the death of his daughter, throwing an already troubled production into total chaos. That tale is legendary; part of a much larger web woven by a stubborn master.