Most Overrated/Underrated Actors

[Remyo]

Am I the only one not big on DiCaprio? I liked him in Catch Me... but beyond that I just never get real 'into' him.

He and Jack Nicholson refreshed themselves in my opinion when they did the Departed. I liked that whole movie cast and all.

other actors/actresses I like in no particular order probably really long and contains some out of date actors:
Simon Pegg
Nick Frost
Jason Statham
Jim Carrey
Clive Owen
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Matt Damon
Mark Wahlberg
George Clooney
Edward Norton
Jake Gyllenhal
Geoffrey Rush
Daniel Craig
Sean Connery
Pierce Brosnan
Billy Bob
Brice Willis
Hugh Jackman
Patrick Stewart
Keira Knightley
Michelle Pfeiffer
Alan Alda
Sean Astin
Dan Akroyd
Bill Murray
Richard Attenborough
Steve McQueen
James Garner
Tom Hanks
Mel Gibson(idc if he hates jews)
Russel Crowe
Jessica Alba
Ashley Judd
Yul Brynner
Steve Buscimi
Harvey Kytel
Tim Roth
James Caan
John Cleese
Alan Cummings
Tony Curtis
James Garner
Tim Curry
Thandie Newton
Natalie Portman
Charlize Theron
Michael Keaton
Ralph Fiennes
NAomi Watts
Rachel Weisz
Liv Tyler
Laurence Fishburne
Morgan Freeman
Julia Stiles
John Wayne
Jimmy Stewart
Brendan Fraser
Jeremy Irons
John Malcovich
Tommy Lee Jones
Helena Bonham Carter
Ray Liotta
Ian McKellen
Viggo Mortenson
Kevin Spacey
Will Patton
Gabriel Byrne


Hate List
Antonio Banderas
Kevin Bacon
Kirstie Alley
Daryl Hannah
Uma Thurman
Jason BAteman
Gwyneth Paltrow
Susan Sarandon
Denzel Washington
Jude Law

[Orph]

Underrated - Gene Hackman

[Anyway]

Rounders? Departed? Good Will Hunting? Ocean's Eleven? Saving Private Ryan?

[Andarvi]

Am I the only one not big on DiCaprio? I liked him in Catch Me... but beyond that I just never get real 'into' him.

He and Jack Nicholson refreshed themselves in my opinion when they did the Departed. I liked that whole movie cast and all.

other actors/actresses I like in no particular order probably really long and contains some out of date actors:
Simon Pegg
Nick Frost
Jason Statham
Jim Carrey
Clive Owen
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Matt Damon
Mark Wahlberg
George Clooney
Edward Norton
Jake Gyllenhal
Geoffrey Rush
Daniel Craig
Sean Connery
Pierce Brosnan
Billy Bob
Brice Willis
Hugh Jackman
Patrick Stewart
Keira Knightley
Michelle Pfeiffer
Alan Alda
Sean Astin
Dan Akroyd
Bill Murray
Richard Attenborough
Steve McQueen
James Garner
Tom Hanks
Mel Gibson(idc if he hates jews)
Russel Crowe
Jessica Alba
Ashley Judd
Yul Brynner
Steve Buscimi
Harvey Kytel
Tim Roth
James Caan
John Cleese
Alan Cummings
Tony Curtis
James Garner
Tim Curry
Thandie Newton
Natalie Portman
Charlize Theron
Michael Keaton
Ralph Fiennes
NAomi Watts
Rachel Weisz
Liv Tyler
Laurence Fishburne
Morgan Freeman
Julia Stiles
John Wayne
Jimmy Stewart
Brendan Fraser
Jeremy Irons
John Malcovich
Tommy Lee Jones
Helena Bonham Carter
Ray Liotta
Ian McKellen
Viggo Mortenson
Kevin Spacey
Will Patton
Gabriel Byrne


Hate List
Antonio Banderas
Kevin Bacon
Kirstie Alley
Daryl Hannah
Uma Thurman
Jason BAteman
Gwyneth Paltrow
Susan Sarandon
Denzel Washington
Jude Law

I am interested as to how you like jessica alba's acting more than half the ones you hate, especially denzel. explain.

I would also like to add Tim Robbins to my list of underrated simply because of his role in Shawshank. He and Morgan Freeman delivered the performances of their lifetimes. Top three favorite movie of all time for me.

Also underrated in America: Ken Watanabe, Zhang ziyi, and Michelle Yeoh (not just from their Memoirs peformances).

[Anyway]

I refuse to believe there's someone on earth who could find Denzel to be overrated. Not even being sarcastic for once.

[Correction]

I refuse to believe there's someone on earth who could find Denzel to be overrated. Not even being sarcastic for once.

I think Remy0 misunderstood the OP and thought 'hey I'll just dump a half-baked list of things I hate and love on the internet!'

I'm as baffled about the hate for Denzel as I am for Sarandon/Law/Kevin Bacon. They're all phenomenal actors. Couldn't really call any of them underrated, either.

[Remyo]

I understood the OP but still made a love/hate list (more of I can't really stand to watch these people) not real big on calling celebrities "underrated" just because they haven't won an award. I :nikkei: me some Alba. I think Denzel is too full of himself and the only movie I liked of his that wasn't because of the rest of the cast is Man on Fire, though Christopher Walken may have been the reason.

I did like Jude Law in Enemy at the Gates though, and Bacon in Apollo 13 and Mystic River. the ratio of good to terrible is too high.

[Andarvi]

I understood the OP but still made a love/hate list (more of I can't really stand to watch these people) not real big on calling celebrities "underrated" just because they haven't won an award. I :nikkei: me some Alba. I think Denzel is too full of himself and the only movie I liked of his that wasn't because of the rest of the cast is Man on Fire, though Christopher Walken may have been the reason.

We all love us some Alba, she is, well, Jessica Alba. I dare you to name one acting role she was in that would be considered a "good" performance. I cannot think of one.

As far as Denzel, not only is he a phenomenal actor alone, but he has that Steve Nash factor where he makes others around him better. To name a few,
Antwone Fisher (Derek Luke was amazing in this as well),
Remember the Titans (many good actors in it),
Philadelphia (Tom Hanks),
Courage Under Fire (Hackman was a beast in this),
Malcom X (if you read the book, I cannot see any other actor playing Malcom even close to as good as Denzel did).

He was even really good in American Gangster, and definately made Crowe better. Lastly, I did not even mention his oscar performance in Training Day because, while it was good, I felt it wasnt his best and they just felt it was his time to get one. Not my favorite Denzel movie. I didnt see the Great Debators but that got good reviews as well.

[Lockecole7]

He, and everyone around him was mindblowingly amazing in Man on Fire. Such a fucking good movie. Little cliched, but so well done you didn't care.

[Jefe]

Under: Clive Owen, Christian Bale, Tim Robbins, there are too many for both sides.

[blister1]

Cheadle, Terrance Howard, Bale, and Norton don't get a whole lot of attention although Bale is probably a lot more noticeable with the Batman shindig. Mos Def was also extremely good in 16 Blocks.

As for my overrated list, I can't think of many other than Jack Black. Dude comes off as trying way too hard to be remotely funny in most of his flicks.

Edit: Remy, you can kindly die in a fire for the Denzel hate.

[Xavier]

I thought the Truman Show may have been the single greatest acting performance I've ever seen. It was (i think) the first non-comedic performance he done in a lead role, and I can recall people wondering if he could pull it off, and he fucking knocked it out of the ballpark. It really was amazing. Who won the oscar that year? Was it Spacey for American Beauty that year? Carrey was still robbed

The real crime was Carrey not even being nominated for best actor at the Oscars, despite winning it at the Golden Globes.

-----------------------------------------

For me, if you know their name and aren't some sort of Entertainment Weekly freak, they probably aren't that underrated.

[Remyo]

I understood the OP but still made a love/hate list (more of I can't really stand to watch these people) not real big on calling celebrities "underrated" just because they haven't won an award. I :nikkei: me some Alba. I think Denzel is too full of himself and the only movie I liked of his that wasn't because of the rest of the cast is Man on Fire, though Christopher Walken may have been the reason.

We all love us some Alba, she is, well, Jessica Alba. I dare you to name one acting role she was in that would be considered a "good" performance. I cannot think of one.

As far as Denzel, not only is he a phenomenal actor alone, but he has that Steve Nash factor where he makes others around him better. To name a few,
Antwone Fisher (Derek Luke was amazing in this as well),
Remember the Titans (many good actors in it),
Philadelphia (Tom Hanks),
Courage Under Fire (Hackman was a beast in this),
Malcom X (if you read the book, I cannot see any other actor playing Malcom even close to as good as Denzel did).

He was even really good in American Gangster, and definately made Crowe better. Lastly, I did not even mention his oscar performance in Training Day because, while it was good, I felt it wasnt his best and they just felt it was his time to get one. Not my favorite Denzel movie. I didnt see the Great Debators but that got good reviews as well.

Sin City.


Not saying he's a terrible actor just saying I don't really like him and likely wouldn't see a movie just because he was in it.

[Lockecole7]

Not saying he's a terrible actor just saying I don't really like him and likely wouldn't see a movie just because he was in it.

That's weird, because he's one of the actors that I literally go to imdb, and watch just about every movie they're in. Him, Clive Owen, Daniel Day-Lewis among others. Really great way to find amazing performances. (My Left Foot by DDL being one of them.)

[Maxxthepenguin]

Terrence Howard pisses me off. He only seems to ever do black-centric movies and doesn't stray into meaty themes aside from racism against black people. Compare to Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington who do those kind of movies but also take much broader roles and tend to avoid just being 'that angry black dude.' Terrence Howard only ever does that kind of movie or movies where 99% of the cast is black. Will Ferrell experiments with more roles than Terrence.

[HAcoreRD]

Overrated: Sam Jackson, Ben Afflick, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, Tom Cruise, Russel Crowe

[Turambar]

I thought the Truman Show may have been the single greatest acting performance I've ever seen. It was (i think) the first non-comedic performance he done in a lead role, and I can recall people wondering if he could pull it off, and he fucking knocked it out of the ballpark. It really was amazing. Who won the oscar that year? Was it Spacey for American Beauty that year? Carrey was still robbed

I don't know that I'd agree it was the greatest performance ever, but yeah, Carrey was excellent in that one. I personally think his best work was in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is one of my picks for top-5 best movies ever.

[Beckwin]

Denzel and Morgan both have this thing going where they turn a lot of characters into archetypal Denzel and Morgan. Same vocal performance, same mannerisms, etc. I think what made Training Day stand out so much for Denzel is that he played a baaaad motherfucker, cursed like a sailor, and acted tough shit compared to the usual powerfully/elegantly spoken African-American hero. Only other movie I can recall off hand where he plays more of a bad mofo is the civil war one with Broderick and Freeman. Freeman always seems to have the mystical negro (to paraphrase chappelle) aspect to his characters anymore.

Not to say either are lacking range, but they tend to end up in roles kinda built toward certain personas they've come into as actors.

[archibaldcrane]

As far as Denzel, not only is he a phenomenal actor alone, but he has that Steve Nash factor where he makes others around him better. To name a few...
He was even really good in American Gangster, and definately made Crowe better.

He made Russell Crowe better, in what? The one scene they had together the whole movie? There was like two hours of movie there before they even saw each other - ...the idea that Denzel is helping Crowe in this movie is just foolish.

I find most actors who take solely "alpha male leading roles" in films to wear out their welcome in my consciousness rather quickly. Denzel is good at it, there's no denying that, but switching between "alpha-male leading good guy" to "alpha male leading bad guy" just kinda wears me out. I want more.

[Remyo]

bad mofo is the civil war one with Broderick and Freeman.

Glory