Great Movies Almost Ruined By A Single Performance (2 Viewers)

[Jeffrey D]

Any movie with Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, or Ben Stiller is automatically ruined for me.

I loved Vaughn in Swingers. Great Indy film written and co-produced by Jon Favreau.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I think all those comedian-types can be all over the map depending on what exactly they're asked/needed to do (and how they're handled) in whichever particular films. You can include Robin Williams for instance... though most do love his particular antics enough most of the time... and he can certainly be great in straight roles (while some just either never get good, straight roles or just can't actually play them at all).

I also used to think I probably wouldn't/couldn't stand Will Ferrell (or Jim Carrey amongst some others) in films, but I did warm up to (a fair amount of) his works when I gave him some real chance(s). The same might happen w/ Adam Sandler I guess.

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Heck! I know some can't stand Tom Cruise at all -- maybe it's his signature grin that might grate on some, LOL!

_Man_

 

[Christian D66]

Christopher Jones in Ryan’s Daughter.

My God, his performance was stiffer and dragged more than his characters right leg.

I've always been fascinated by Jones and this part. He could definitely act as shown in WILD IN THE STREETS doing one of the best James Deans ever (and Shelly Winters worked with him at the actor's studio) but Lean thinking his dubbed role in THE LOOKING GLASS WAR was him makes me laugh. He looks GREAT on film but Lean had to dub him over as well. Jones seemed incredibly mercurial and not fit for the business. Even Tarantino couldn't talk him into PULP FICTION.

 

[Christian D66]

FTR, they reach the island in about 50 minutes and Kong shows up at 70 minutes in the 187 minute film.

Thats about a third of the way into the film as opposed to the orginal Kong who showed up 47 minutes into the 104 minute 1933 film.

It felt like two hours getting to the island. Jack Black is not Robert Armstrong. And Black is fine in the role just miscast and not memorable. Even Charles Grodin had more flair as a sleazier Denham.

 

[Christian D66]

I'm OK with Jack Black in the film - though Jackson could have made a better choice. But that ice skating scene royally stinks and causes the film to drag. Whenever I watch this one, which is not very often, I fast forward through that scene. I've often wondered if it were there as a concession/bathroom break scene.

In the theater I almost groaned. Kong just killed dozens of people but let's have this warm ice-skating bonding scene! Lo and behold!

 

[Christian D66]

an aside - Have you seen Sandler in the Safdie Bros. film Uncut Gems ? It's really good. Very 70s cinema vibe.

I'd like to dislike Sandler more (I once saw Albert Brooks rip apart his comedy at a WGA event) but he can be good with a good director. I find PUNCH DRUNK LOVE overrated since opening day (the movie felt like a nerd fanboy trying to make a hip intellectual Sandler comedy) but he's great in UNCUT GEMS. And my guilty pleasure is HAPPY GILMORE. Ben Stiller is hilarious in his few moments.

 

[mskaye]

I'd like to dislike Sandler more (I once saw Albert Brooks rip apart his comedy at a WGA event) but he can be good with a good director. I find PUNCH DRUNK LOVE overrated since opening day (the movie felt like a nerd fanboy trying to make a hip intellectual Sandler comedy) but he's great in UNCUT GEMS. And my guilty pleasure is HAPPY GILMORE. Ben Stiller is hilarious in his few moments.

Robert will be unhappy that we've hijacked this thread but I just want to say that my Sandler guilty pleasure is the remake of The Longest Yard.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Vince Vaughn is legitimately good in the criminally underrated second season of True Detective and he's funny in recent seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Apparently, when you get that dude on HBO, he's good.

I was just about to write that, I hold TD S2 as the best, so far, although that is stiff competition.

 

[SD_Brian]

I find PUNCH DRUNK LOVE overrated since opening day (the movie felt like a nerd fanboy trying to make a hip intellectual Sandler comedy) but he's great in UNCUT GEMS.

I absolutely despised Uncut Gems and Adam Sandler in it. In my yet-to-be-created fan edit of that movie, it would cut immediately from the opening

Spoiler

colonoscopy

scene to the moment when

Spoiler

his character is shot and killed

.

 

[Tino]

In the theater I almost groaned. Kong just killed dozens of people but let's have this warm ice-skating bonding scene! Lo and behold!

I thought it was a beautiful lyrical respite from the craziness going on with Kong. A sweet and powerful bonding scene between Ann and Kong. Loved it.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Robert will be unhappy that we've hijacked this thread but I just want to say that my Sandler guilty pleasure is the remake of The Longest Yard.

I still haven’t watched that one yet- a bit afraid to. I know I’ll be directly comparing it to the original, and will likely be hugely disappointed (I rate the Reynolds version as the best football movie, and right up there in best sports film).

 

[Walter Kittel]

I still haven’t watched that one yet- a bit afraid to. I know I’ll be directly comparing it to the original, and will likely be hugely disappointed (I rate the Reynolds version as the best football movie, and right up there in best sports film).

Not the biggest Sandler fan (although I did enjoy The Waterboy for its goofiness) but I have avoided the remake of The Longest Yard for the same reasons. The 1974 film is a favorite from that era. It is a fine sports film that really embodies a lot of the characteristics I associate with that time in cinema.

- Walter.

 

[dpippel]

We should get a mod to rename this thread "Great King Kong and Adam Sandler Movies Almost Ruined by a Single Performance."

 

[mskaye]

Not the biggest Sandler fan (although I did enjoy The Waterboy for its goofiness) but I have avoided the remake of The Longest Yard for the same reasons. The 1974 film is a favorite from that era. It is a fine sports film that really embodies a lot of the characteristics I associate with that time in cinema.

- Walter.

The original is total fave of mine and I even wrote a paper about it in film school. But Burt R being in it gives it credibility. It's also really funny. It plays way more than a remake than a typical "Adam Sandler comedy."

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The original is total fave of mine and I even wrote a paper about it in film school. But Burt R being in it gives it credibility. It's also really funny. It plays way more than a remake than a typical "Adam Sandler comedy."

IMO, Reynolds is nearly the only saving grace in the original "Longest Yard". As a movie, it's a mess, but Burt carries it.

 

[PMF]

I've always been fascinated by Jones and this part. He could definitely act as shown in WILD IN THE STREETS doing one of the best James Deans ever (and Shelly Winters worked with him at the actor's studio)

Shelley Winters worked with everyone, everybody and everywhere. Such a great career.

 

[BobO'Link]

Shelley Winters... Another that's always rubbed me the wrong way. She's always reminded me of an aunt who's 4 years older than me and lived with us a few years when I was a teenager - abrasive and annoying. I try to avoid anything in which she appears.

 

[KPmusmag]

I am not a big fan of Adam Sandler either, however I was impressed with his acting in Spanglish. Without question that movie fairly deserves some of the criticism leveled at it, but I truly believed his emotional pain and helplessness in not knowing how to help his family, his desire to escape, and his strength in not giving in to that temptation.

Back in the late 1990s, I was lucky enough to be on the Sony (old MGM) lot for a small job. I was in a golf cart with a studio employee, and we drove by a soundstage and there was Adam Sandler, standing around drinking a Coke with the crew. The supervisor told me that he was quite well-liked and generous with everyone on the set.

 

[WillG]

I am not a big fan of Adam Sandler either, however I was impressed with his acting in Spanglish. Without question that movie fairly deserves some of the criticism leveled at it, but I truly believed his emotional pain and helplessness in not knowing how to help his family, his desire to escape, and his strength in not giving in to that temptation.

Back in the late 1990s, I was lucky enough to be on the Sony (old MGM) lot for a small job. I was in a golf cart with a studio employee, and we drove by a soundstage and there was Adam Sandler, standing around drinking a Coke with the crew. The supervisor told me that he was quite well-liked and generous with everyone on the set.

I’ve never heard a single negative thing about Sandler as a person