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A great film can be ruined by a single bad performance, but what happens when the opposite is true? We're exploring 15 surprising instances where awkward, robotic, or amateur acting accidentally made the film or TV show even better.
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00:00So, even the best writing and tightest direction can be undone by a bad performance or two,
00:06where a miscast actor or downright shambolic performance fatally distracts the audience from
00:11the story and indeed the characters. And so, with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars on
00:16the line, as well as their own artistic reputations, filmmakers tend to invest a lot of time and
00:21energy into ensuring that they've got the right actors for the job. But there are some rare
00:26occasions where an actor gives a bad performance that's actually to the movie's overall merit,
00:31but whatever the case, we're here to chat about them today as this is WhatCulture.com Clerks.
00:35Kevin Smith's Clerks is one of the most iconic and beloved independent films of the 1990s,
00:40a testament to how an inspired vision can compensate for a lack of budget or indeed quality actors.
00:46Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson star as slacker protagonist Dante and Randall,
00:51and given that neither of them had acted before, it wasn't terribly surprising that the amateur
00:55quality of their performances has been consistently noted by viewers ever since. In countless scenes,
01:00the pair are kind of robotically just speeding through their dialogue in a way that seems
01:04completely unnatural and unconvincing, and yet this lends a certain charm to the overall product.
01:10That stilted quality accentuates the film's generally thrown-together kitchen-sink feel,
01:15and while it might seem to initially undermine the realism, it also reminds the audience that we're
01:20effectively watching real people rather than movie stars. Now, Kevin Smith's movies have rarely been
01:25about their acting prowess or technical filmmaking. He's a dialogue guy, and that's never been more
01:30abundantly clear than in this career-making debut. The pair certainly improved by the time the sequel
01:36came around, but their lack of acting experience was actually a weird and unexpected net positive for
01:41the original. Look, movie fan to movie fan, we've all been there. Sat on the couch, doing the scroll of
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02:53Mad Men. Though Mad Men boasted one of the most immaculate ensemble casts in the history of
02:58television, there was one short outlier in the pack, and that was in the form of January Jones,
03:02who portrayed Don Draper's distant wife Betty. Despite receiving Golden Globe and SAG nominations
03:07for her performance on the show, Jones is generally accepted amongst the fanbase to be the weakest link,
03:13trailing the rest of the main cast by a large margin. And yet, Jones' icy lack of effect throughout
03:18the series, defined by a wooden delivery that borders on robotic at times, is ultimately perfect
03:23for the role of a dissatisfied 1960s housewife. The creative minds behind the show clearly appreciated
03:29that Jones' stiff performance would be perfect for the part of the repressed and rather shallow Betty,
03:34though Jones' post-Mad Men work, including a shambolic performance in X-Men First Class,
03:39hasn't exactly shown much improvement. While a different actress might have gone to lengths to add
03:43more life and different dimensions to Betty, Jones' surface-level work was unintentionally quite brilliant
03:49in its own way.
03:50The Terminator
03:51James Cameron's 1984 sci-fi horror is the movie that put both the director and the star on the map,
03:58and in selecting Schwarzenegger to play the titular murderer cyborg, Cameron made arguably one of the
04:03shrewdest casting choices in cinema history. There's no mistaking the distracting awkwardness
04:09of Arnie's acting throughout this film, yet that robotic quality is ultimately quite perfect for the
04:14role of a killing machine that is impersonating a human. There's something totally off about the
04:20inexperienced Schwarzenegger's performances that only makes his infiltrator cyborg that much more
04:25unnerving to observe. Combined with some of the makeup department's most inspired choices,
04:30such as spraying his face with Vaseline to give an off-puttingly fake sheen and then later shaving
04:34his eyebrows, Schwarzenegger's clunky performance is moulded in just the right way by Cameron,
04:40and the rest, of course, is history.
04:42Twin Peaks
04:43David Lynch's Twin Peaks certainly boasted its fair share of excellent acting, but also some
04:49performances that, to be blunt, were ultimately just quite laughable. By far the two biggest culprits are
04:54James Marshall and Lara Flynn Boyle, who play young lovers James Hurley and Donna Hayward.
04:59In Marshall's case, it didn't help that James is held by many fans to be the show's worst character,
05:04a corny, boring mope whose irritation is only elevated by pairing him with the obnoxious Donna,
05:09a hellish match if there ever was one. This all culminates in James' infamously,
05:13hilariously wretched rendition of the soft ballad Just You for Donna and Maddie Ferguson,
05:18which, over 30 years later, remains perhaps the show's single most ridiculed moment.
05:23Yet David Lynch is as exacting as filmmakers come and knew precisely what he was doing here.
05:29Lynch has never been particularly interested in realism, and with Twin Peaks existing as both an
05:34homage to and an example of a soap opera, he clearly leaned into the off-key overall performances
05:39of his cast at every moment. Marshall and Boyle certainly aren't the only wonky actors amongst the
05:44huge ensemble, but their hyper-dramatic work feels more perfectly attuned to the campy vibe that
05:50Lynch was definitely shooting for. It only enhances the feeling that this sleepy town and the people
05:55within it are very, very off.
05:58Old
05:58M. Night Shyamalan's old, even those who enjoyed the film would have surely had to have conceded
06:03that the performances of its central cast are, to be polite, eccentric. Talented actors with proven
06:08track records like Gail Garcia Bernal, Alex Wolff and Eliza Scanlon are bizarrely unconvincing
06:14throughout this film, in which they play strangers trapped on a beach which is rapidly aging them.
06:19Right from the film's very first scene, the performances feel distractingly tone-deaf,
06:24with the actors struggling to make sense of Shyamalan's characteristically obtuse and unnatural dialogue.
06:29While a charitable reading of the film would say that Shyamalan directed his actors to give
06:33intentionally stilted performances in the same way that Jorgos Lanthimas does for his movies,
06:38it does seem far too inconsistent for that. One never gets the impression that the actors aren't
06:44trying to give earnest performances in the service of Shyamalan's off-kilter script,
06:48and yet the off-putting result of these efforts is a parade of weird acting that only accentuates
06:53the disturbing nature of the movie.
06:56Master of None
06:57Aziz Ansari's dramedy series Master of None has been widely celebrated for its phenomenally
07:02perceptive writing, superbly sharp direction, and marvellous performances, though one of its
07:07major triumphs was a bit of a happy accident. Protagonist Dev's Indian immigrant parents make a few
07:12memorable appearances throughout the show, and best of all, they're played by Aziz Ansari's real-life
07:17parents. Yet the pair are not professional actors in any way, and it absolutely shows throughout the
07:22series. There's an untrained awkwardness to their delivery that makes it clear that they're reading
07:26lines rather than speaking from the heart, and yet there's a charm to that clumsiness which only
07:30makes their on-screen interactions with their real-life son that much more funny and poignant.
07:35That stilted quality makes them feel like real parents genuinely trying to have a heartfelt
07:39conversation with their son, but because they're not used to speaking in this form,
07:43they struggle to get the words out.
07:45Dazed and Confused
07:46Richard Linklater's legendary coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused is jam-packed with on-the-rise
07:52young actors who then went on to become stars in their own right, such as Ben Affleck, Mila
07:57Yonovich, Matthew McConaughey, Joey Lauren Adams, and Renee Zellweger. There's a laid-back naturalism to
08:02most of the performances on offer, and then there's Wiley Wiggins' toe-curling turn as awkward
08:07freshman Mitch Kramer. Wiggins was a non-actor who was discovered by Linklater during production,
08:13and without getting too mean to a 15-year-old unprofessional performer, it definitely shows.
08:18Wiggins' performance is often singled out for its cringeworthy affectations, namely the
08:22embarrassing sequence where he attempts to flirt with Sabrina and awkwardly touches his nose repeatedly
08:27in an attempt to seem, well, awkward. In recent years, the director blamed himself for letting
08:32Wiggins touch his nose so bloody much, and while it's basically infuriating to watch,
08:36it does feel strangely authentic for a goofy, nervy weirdo like Mitch.
08:41Orange is the New Black
08:42Taylor Schilling is a totally solid actress, and yet her performance as protagonist Piper
08:48in Netflix's hit prison drama Orange is the New Black has received wildly mixed responses
08:53ever since the show's premiere. There was much outcry after Schilling scored a lead actress Emmy
08:57nod for her work in the first season, many feeling that not only was Piper the most boring member of
09:02the series, but that by extension Schilling's performance was nothing to write home about.
09:06In Schilling's defense, Piper isn't a particularly interesting character, though the actress plays
09:11her as so obnoxious as to erode all sympathy for her altogether. With so many wonderful actors in
09:17the ensemble bringing life to the excellent characters, Schilling's work definitely seems
09:21positively bland by comparison. Evidently, the show's creator realized this, as subsequent seasons
09:26edged away from Piper's story to rove around the infinitely more compelling supporting cast,
09:31which was ultimately an incredibly smart move to ensure the show's longevity.
09:35Had they kept focus on Piper and Schilling, it's tough to imagine Orange sticking it out
09:39for seven seasons.
09:41On Her Majesty's Secret Service
09:42When ranking the James Bond actors, the almost de facto last place is George Lazenby, who
09:49suited up to play 007 just once in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It's a criminally underrated entry
09:55into the Bond canon, in part because many fans weren't particularly taken with Lazenby's
10:00off-key performance. Lazenby, an Australian model and non-actor, was an unquestionably
10:05strange choice to take up the mantle from the legendary Sean Connery, and his unassured
10:09performance could only ever seem massively inferior by comparison. But, accepted on its own terms,
10:15Lazenby's lack of acting experience is actually basically perfect for the sort of James Bond
10:20this movie gave us, which is a more vulnerable, externalized spy. This is in large part because
10:26Lazenby's line readings and facial expressions are totally unsubtle, rendering his 007 as an
10:31open book compared to the more suave composed Man's Man played by Connery. Given that On Her
10:37Majesty's Secret Service gave audiences the most emotionally exposed and available Bond up until
10:42this point, Lazenby's over-earnest, skittish performance actually ends up working pretty damn
10:46well. Once Upon a Time ABC's hit fantasy series Once Upon a Time was a frothy good time both
10:53despite of and because it was full of questionable acting. Beyond the genuinely brilliant show-stealing
11:00performances from Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold slash Rumpelstiltskin, the majority of the cast were
11:05firmly in phoning it in territory, admittedly working with writing that could politely be called
11:10as not great. One takes no pleasure in singling out a child actor, but Jared S. Gilmore's performance
11:17as the interminably annoying Henry Mills caught a lot of flack in earlier seasons, even if he's
11:23simply the worst of an ensemble that's totally all over the place. And yet, the lack of consistency
11:27between the performances, with actors swinging for so many disparate tones, only enhanced the show's
11:32already pronounced guilty pleasure quality. It's basically a community theatre production with a
11:37budget, a fairy tale that is underlined by the flailing skittishness of the ensemble cast.
11:42It's not good acting, but it's way more fun to watch than a more serious, self-regarding version
11:47of the show, which it definitely could have been. Starship Troopers
11:50Now, you can get away with a lot of undisciplined acting in satire, and Paul Verhoeven proves that
11:55beyond any doubt in his terrific sci-fi war film Starship Troopers. Now, Verhoeven's film is lauded
12:01today for its political satire with regard to American foreign policy and the monstrous military-industrial
12:07complex, with the use of hilariously unsubtle propaganda videos within the movie to hammer
12:11home that it is a mockery of a fascist, warmongering global government. Nevertheless, Starship Troopers
12:18is often criticised for the performances of its lead actors, especially Caspar Van Deen,
12:22Denise Richards, and Jake Busey, who many have suggested were cast more for their looks than
12:26their rather lacklustre acting abilities. But that's exactly the point. Verhoeven himself admitted
12:31that he cast the lead actors based on physical appearance over acting skill, in an attempt to
12:37approximate the style of Nazi propaganda films, where the main actors were typically impossibly
12:41attractive examples of the allegedly superior race. And so, it makes sense that a film about
12:47humanity exerting its own will over aliens is led by beautiful young people who are, ultimately,
12:53empty vessels where acting is concerned.
12:55Altered Carbon Netflix's prematurely cancelled Altered Carbon might be the textbook example of a style
13:01over substance TV show, beautifully shot, thematically rich, and yet ultimately failing
13:06to realise the full potential of its ambition. One of the chief complaints among critics and viewers
13:11alike, though, was the mediocre performances from the show's leads, Joel Kinnaman in the first season
13:16and Anthony Mackie in the second. Both Kinnaman and Mackie are talented actors, there's no question
13:21about that, and yet, as the re-sleeved host bodies for protagonist Takeshi Kovacs, each absolutely
13:27fails to convince. Kinnaman's hard-boiled take on Kovacs aimed for brooding, but ended up feeling dull
13:32and wooden. And though Mackie's subsequent portrayal felt more alive, it wasn't remotely
13:37consistent with the character that we were introduced to previously. And yet, this disconnect between the
13:42two performances ends up unintentionally playing into the show's central theme of identity. The notion
13:47that a guy being constantly swapped into different sleeves might seem inconsistent and off-kilter totally
13:52works. It's just a shame that Netflix cancelled the show before season three, which would have most
13:57likely featured Will Young Lee as the prime Kovacs and basically reconciled the three performances
14:02into one. The Wicker Man
14:04The 2006 remake of the classic horror film The Wicker Man is one of the strangest pieces of cinema you'll
14:09ever see. Panned by critics and audiences upon release, it additionally received five Razzie nominations,
14:15including a worst actor nod for Nicolas Cage. Cage's performance is definitely something for sure.
14:21It's as though he took one look at the script and just said, yeah, f*** it, delivering a bonkers
14:26madcap performance that completely uncouples the film from any sense of reality or genuine suspense.
14:31And yet, the Wicker Man remake is also a terrible movie that would have quickly been forgotten
14:36were it not for Cage's campy trainwreck of a performance. Instead, his cartoonish work has
14:42effectively allowed the film to live on as a trashy disaster piece and, indeed, a long-standing
14:47internet meme. Years later, Cage admitted that the film was absurd and claimed that his performance
14:52was intentionally over the top to that effect. Is it good acting? Not a chance, but to the same
14:58token, it's a performance that basically transcend traditional markers of quality acting and thus
15:04makes sure that we bloody well remembered it. Prison Break
15:07Throughout the mid-2000s, Prison Break was one of the most talked-about TV shows on the planet,
15:12a deliciously ridiculous, fiendishly addictive prison drama about a man named Michael attempting
15:17to break his brother Lincoln out of prison before he's executed for a crime he didn't commit.
15:22While there are a number of genuinely strong performers on the show, namely William Fichtner,
15:27Peter Stormer, and Wade Williams, the two leading roles are played by Wentworth Miller and Dominic
15:32Purcell, with a stoic reserve bordering on self-parody. Despite the immense turmoil the brothers
15:37experienced throughout, Miller and Purcell both underplay their parts to the point that it's
15:42easy to call them cardboard. By any measure, their work renders the show's two most important
15:46characters weirdly boring at times, and much like fellow prison show Orange is the New Black,
15:51the wider ensemble cast ended up surpassing them in popularity. Yet there's something to be said for
15:56their blank slate acting technique. For starters, it provides an entertaining contrast to the bigger
16:01performances of their fellow prisoners, and it also feels rather in step with the show's
16:05shamelessly trashy vibe. A little more emoting wouldn't have hurt either actor for sure,
16:09but hearing Miller unveil the next step of his wildly convoluted plan with a steely dramatic whisper
16:14was nothing if not highly amusing.
16:16Squid Game
16:17Netflix's Squid Game was the undeniable surprise TV hit, becoming the streamer's most-watched series
16:23ever and going on to win Golden Globe and SAG awards for the performances of its cast. Yet,
16:28as wonderful as the ensemble's performances are, there is one aspect of the show that made a lot of
16:32fans turn their noses up, and that was those damn VIPs. In the show's seventh episode,
16:37we're introduced to a group of American VIPs who are all wagering on the games,
16:41and many viewers noted the strangely stilted quality of their masked actors' performances,
16:46some even citing it as an example of distractingly bad acting. And while it was suggested that this
16:51was simply a result of the language barrier between the American cast members and Korean crew,
16:55it's also been claimed that the disjointed performances were entirely intentional,
16:59so as to create an intentional disconnect between them and the rest of the cast. Whether intended
17:04or not, the off-base performances are certainly effective in portraying the VIPs as stereotypically
17:10coarse, boneheaded American tourists, an amusing reversal of America's media tendency to portray
17:16Asian characters amid broad stereotypes. If the hammy acting made the gross VIPs even more
17:21off-putting, then good, you're not meant to like them.