- 1 week ago
Some actor comebacks get us cheering while others make us cringe. From Winona Ryder’s beloved “Stranger Things” to Mike Myers’ “The Love Guru” fiasco, this video dives into performances that either reignited or extinguished careers. Watch as we explore the highs and lows of Hollywood’s attempt to bring stars back into the spotlight!
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00:00We'll make a comeback. They're waiting for something huge. We'll give it to them.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo. And today, we're looking at film and TV performances that were marketed as
00:10an actor's big return, based on whether the project reinvigorated or finished off their
00:14career. Who do you think I'm gonna kill next? Hmm?
00:19Fail. Mike Myers, the love guru.
00:22I'd like to thank the Academy. Wow. These things are heavy. Yeah.
00:27Put me down, a-hole.
00:28Okay. From the heights of Saturday Night Live and hit movies, Mike Myers fell into a creative rut.
00:34His reputation for difficulty further limited opportunities outside of multiple franchises
00:39that were declining by the mid-2000s. So he manufactured his own reinvention as co-writer,
00:45co-producer, and star of the irreverent satire about a celebrity spiritual guide.
00:51Have you read my book on the grieving process? It's called What's This? I did one of these.
00:56The immediately controversial The Love Guru was ultimately not just a commercial disaster,
01:02but widely panned as one of the worst movies of its era. Myers retreated almost entirely from
01:07public view for a decade, then crawled back on supporting roles and nostalgia. His gradual
01:13comeback would feel more triumphant if The Love Guru weren't a permanent warning about pushing the
01:18boundaries of vanity projects and taste.
01:21I can explain.
01:22Okay, go ahead.
01:23I can't explain.
01:24I should go.
01:25No, Jane, wait.
01:26I... Jane!
01:28Jane!
01:29Success.
01:30Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl.
01:33Pop culture had for too long underestimated model turned actress Pamela Anderson.
01:37I just can't win. I mean, God, this is what women have to deal with. You know, all the time
01:43people
01:43are told, they're told you have to do this, you have to do that, and they'll do the thing that
01:47you
01:47didn't want to do, take the road that you should have taken.
01:50Scandals and typecasting slowly eroded the 90s icon into a cautionary tale about how the
01:55entertainment industry perceives women. This was the main theme of The Last Showgirl,
01:59which follows a Las Vegas starlet's midlife quest for respect.
02:03You didn't like it?
02:04Not what we're looking for.
02:07What are you looking for?
02:11Just a different kind of vibe.
02:13Hey, well, like what? I actually have a very versatile background.
02:17Audiences had nothing but respect for Anderson's Golden Globe-nominated performance,
02:21quickly followed by a hilarious team-up with Liam Neeson in 2025's The Naked Gun.
02:26This was part of a carefully mounted return that empowered the public with Anderson's intellectual,
02:32artistic, and entrepreneurial range.
02:34Being Glamour Magazine's 2024 pick for Woman of the Year was just the beginning of her stunning next chapter.
02:40This has just been my year to strip it all back, see what's underneath it all, and, you know,
02:44you always have to keep that little fire burning within you, and you never know when opportunity comes.
02:48In my case, it took a couple decades.
02:52My name is Pierce Hawthorne, and yes, that is Hawthorne, as in Hawthorne wipes the award-winning moist towelette.
02:58I was just going to ask.
02:59I'm also a Toastmaster, so perhaps I should do the introduction.
03:02Decades of being one of the biggest names in Hollywood comedy didn't count for much with Chevy Chase's reputation for
03:08volatility.
03:08The 2000s was a decade of bit parts until he owned the toxic brand as the lovably difficult Pierce Hawthorne
03:15on NBC's community.
03:16You know how crazy and paranoid he can get?
03:18Aha! Crazy? Paranoid? Impotent?
03:21Cellular.
03:22I knew you'd run to Jeff and turn him against me.
03:25Mitosis.
03:25For most screen legends, stealing the show on one of the most acclaimed sitcoms of a generation would ignite a
03:32triumphant career upswing.
03:33For Chase, it was co-stars speaking out about his continued habit of disruptive on-set antics and often cruel
03:39button-pushing.
03:40He just did Marc Maron's podcast, and it made all these headlines because he was like,
03:43I didn't find the show funny and didn't want to be there.
03:46And then my response was like, yeah, well, feelings mutual about your attitude, and you didn't have to be there.
03:52He was thus fired from Community after Season 4, more uncastable than ever.
03:58Chase goes to show that talent is only half of what gets people to work with you.
04:02Oh, right! So you're telling me they're not good at basketball?
04:05I have no questions, Your Honor.
04:06Success. Winona Ryder. Stranger Things.
04:09Donald, I've been here 10 years.
04:13Have I ever called in sick or missed a shift once?
04:18I've worked Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving.
04:22I don't know where my boy is.
04:24We'll never forget how Winona Ryder dominated Hollywood as the it girl of the late 80s and 90s,
04:30but it was looking like Hollywood would never forgive her shoplifting scandal in 2001,
04:34or the many duds and minor roles that followed.
04:37It was the former reputation that landed Ryder the role of Joyce Byers
04:41on Netflix's throwback to the golden age of Hollywood genre cinema.
04:45Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm out of my mind, but God help me, I will keep these lights up
04:50until the day I die if I think there's a chance that Will's still out there.
04:55For almost 10 years, her performance was singled out as the mature heart of Stranger Things.
05:00In the meantime, she won further praise for prestigious and nostalgic hits in both film and television.
05:06Stranger Things may have at long last ended, but Ryder's renaissance is only just beginning.
05:11This is what they want.
05:13This is what they want.
05:14We want and they want.
05:15We want.
05:16It's good to see you.
05:16I know.
05:17Who are they?
05:18Who are they?
05:19These days, yeah.
05:20They're people with good taste.
05:21Yeah, yeah.
05:23Fail.
05:24Lindsay Lohan.
05:25The Canyons.
05:26When's the last time you went to see a movie in a theater?
05:28You know, a movie that you really thought meant something to you.
05:32We went to the premiere last week.
05:34Not premieres.
05:35The premieres don't really count.
05:37I don't know.
05:38You know, I guess maybe it's just not my thing anymore.
05:40The wholesome facade that launched Lindsay Lohan's career was cracked by personal struggles.
05:45Her attempts at edgier projects like the 2007 thriller I Know Who Killed Me only further soured her reputation.
05:52But maverick writer-director Paul Schrader took a chance on Lohan by casting her as the lead in the erotic
05:58melodrama The Canyons.
05:59Yeah, I like to keep things loose, though.
06:02I mean, I love her.
06:05I bet she's gorgeous.
06:08But it's more fun to keep it a little complicated.
06:11Complicated?
06:14Christian, what are you doing?
06:16Where are you going with this?
06:17This move wouldn't just be regrettable for the film's critical and commercial failure, even with a minuscule budget.
06:22Reports of Lohan's unreliability during the production and promotion signaled a sort of professional rock bottom.
06:29So she stepped away to focus on her sobriety and emerged to reclaim her wholesome image with lighter movies.
06:35If Lohan has another edgy turn ahead, she can't sink much lower than The Canyons.
06:40Nod for me, baby.
06:47Nod for me.
06:49Okay, okay.
06:52That's a good girl.
06:53Success.
06:54Pam Greer, Jackie Brown.
06:56You had the chance, unemployed now, to walk away with a half million dollars.
07:03Would you take it?
07:04After the 70s blaxploitation era, even stars on the level of Pam Greer were relegated to supporting roles in TV
07:10guests.
07:10She went more than 20 years without top billing before Quentin Tarantino wrote Jackie Brown specifically with her in mind.
07:18I bet that except for possibly an afro, you look exactly the way you did at 29.
07:25Well, my ass ain't the same.
07:28Bigger.
07:30Yeah.
07:32Ain't nothing wrong with that.
07:34Much of the crime drama's immense acclaim was directed at Greer, who was nominated for a Golden Globe and a
07:40SAG Award.
07:40Her long-overdue reappraisal as a legendary talent commanded respect from then on.
07:46While her most steady work remained on the small screen, the principal role of Kit Porter on Showtime's The L
07:51Word solidified her new prestige.
07:53Now, there's no regard for Greer's stardom as anything other than timeless.
07:57If you hit, if you hit, if you hit me, girl, if you hit me, girl, if you hit me,
08:03girl, if you hit me, girl, if you hit me, what'd you hit me?
08:04Fail.
08:05Warren Beatty.
08:06Town and Country.
08:07Sir, can you explain who this man is?
08:09Can you explain any of this?
08:11Sir?
08:11Rigid perfectionism and a sporadic output had faded Warren Beatty's once glowing stardom by the 2000s.
08:18After a string of prestige projects the previous decade, the wannabe highbrow rom-com Town and Country aimed to renew
08:24his mainstream appeal.
08:25It instead brought out the worst of his need for creative control, resulting in years of retooling and rewrites.
08:32In the end, the initially modest picture cost over $100 million, received disastrous reviews, and grossed just over $10 million.
08:42You're sleeping in the office, she's talking about a restraining order.
08:45Porter, listen, as people get older, they become more who they are, and accepting that can be very freeing.
08:51It would be 15 years before Beatty returned to the screen as writer, director, co-producer, and star of Rules
08:57Don't Apply, another career-killing bomb.
09:00But Town and Country remains the standard rule among Hollywood flops that no screen icon could survive.
09:06I've caused pain to my dogs, and clearly, I must have been willing to sacrifice everything that meant anything at
09:12all to me in my life, and I have-
09:13Gordon, let's not go overboard, alright? So you're not the perfect person you thought you were.
09:21I have no idea who I thought I was.
09:23Success. Michael Keaton, Birdman.
09:26You could jump right back into that suit if you wanted to. We're not dead.
09:29Look at me. I mean, look at this. I look like a turkey with leukemia.
09:35There's a lot of risk in admitting to a professional slump the way Michael Keaton did in Alejandro González Iñárritu's
09:42Birdman.
09:42Riggan Thompson's attempt to reclaim prestige on the stage, after a hit superhero franchise and a drop in profile,
09:49was an obvious nod to his actor's real-life struggles.
09:52At least for Keaton, the risk more than paid off.
09:55You see, this is where you belong.
10:04Above them all.
10:06Birdman was a massive box office success that swept the Academy Awards, with particular praise aimed at the lead actor.
10:12His stardom continued to flourish through meta-casting, including a return as Batman in 2023's The Flash.
10:19And with more acclaimed prestige projects to match, Keaton has soared from comeback king to one of Hollywood's most exciting
10:25headliners.
10:26Do I like your character?
10:27Uh, you like him and you're, and you kind of, he's a bad guy and a good guy.
10:32Yeah.
10:32Yeah.
10:33Yeah.
10:33But he's bad.
10:34He's a badass.
10:35And he, you know, he's like, I looked at the script and I said, this is pretty good.
10:39I've never played this before.
10:40Not sure I can do it, but it's pretty cool.
10:42Fail.
10:43Sharon Stone.
10:44Basic Instinct 2.
10:46If I said I didn't, would you believe me?
10:53Depends.
10:54On what?
10:55The quality of my performance?
10:57Paul Verhoeven's erotic thriller Basic Instinct launched Sharon Stone as one of the premier leading ladies of the 90s.
11:04So when her status tragically dipped following a medical crisis in 2001, she hoped that Catherine Trammell would strike again.
11:11Maybe Stone should have followed her instincts after Verhoeven turned down Basic Instinct 2 because he loathed the script.
11:19This time you knew right from the start what I was.
11:24And you let it happen again, didn't you?
11:27Sure enough, the sequel was a historic commercial and critical failure, whose Golden Raspberry Awards included Worst Actress.
11:34Stone has since acted very sparingly and hardly ever in a main role.
11:38At least she's earned greater praise for her humanitarian work.
11:42But in the end, the femme fatale tropes that made her career wound up basically putting it down.
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12:01girls in school and us, WatchMojo.
12:04Boom.
12:05I can make an apology video.
12:06Oh, you so would.
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12:13Success, Brendan Fraser, The Whale
12:16Liz, I don't like it when you...
12:17Okay, okay, I just hate the thought of you being sealed up in this place when I'm not here.
12:22A series of professional missteps and personal hardships drove the lovable leading man Brendan Fraser underground by the late 2000s.
12:29The following decade saw a very slow return that included show-stealing TV roles on The Affair, Trust, and Doom
12:35Patrol.
12:36Finally, in 2022, Fraser took on the daunting lead role in The Whale.
12:41I need to know that I have done one day right with my life.
12:47His physical and emotional commitment to this Darren Aronofsky tragedy was widely covered all the way to his Best Actor
12:53win at the Academy Awards.
12:55Fraser has since lived up to the hype with acclaimed projects like Rental Family and 2026's Pressure.
13:01It's been called one of the great Hollywood comeback stories in recent memory,
13:04though it really reminds us to not completely count out such talented artists.
13:09But anyway, look, what we're going to do is saddle back up, go back to the locations.
13:15I should probably stop talking like this.
13:17Okay, all right, okay, yeah.
13:19However, I know that, please wish me luck.
13:22I'm doing my best to get this 57-year-old gear in shape.
13:26What are some other actor comeback attempts that you feel did or didn't work?
13:30Tell their stories in the comments below.
13:35tfeworrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr