Madonna: what makes her a bad actress? (1 Viewer)

[Thik Nongyow]

To the sequel to what Sylvester Stallone thread, Madonna is considered one of the most controversial female recording artists ever, but she does have a reputation for being a bad actress? Like Stallone, Madonna had won several "Razzies" for her acting roles, and the question is what makes her a bad actress?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thik,
I hope this isn't going to be a trend with you about starting similar threads asking the same question about different actors?





Crawdaddy

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Next Up: What makes Battlefield Earth a bad movie?
~Edwin

 

[Bernhard]

What makes Madonna a bad actress? Well, her bad acting!
Sorry, couldn't resist... (but I gotta admit, I liked her in Evita)

 

[JasenP]

I would say it's bad roles in bad films, maybe there is a part more suited for her and a better film out there.

I really can't say she has been believable in a role since Desperately Seeking Susan.

She has had turkeys like Body Of Evidence, Shanghai Surprise, and Who's That Girl . These were just bad ideas to begin with.

 

[Paul_D]

Body Of Evidence

Bad film? It's one of the best comedies I've ever seen!

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Madonna is a celebrity whose personal life sometimes overshadows her career, which makes her ripe for picking in some of these off-color award shows. However, she is a very talented singer, songwriter and businesswoman. She redefined the music industry business and, unlike some of her peers, is one of the very few artists that has aged, matured and transformed very nicely along with her music and fans.

Her attempt to parlay this success into the film business has not been as successful as she would have liked.

After her better roles in Desperately Seeking Susan, Dick Tracy, A League of Their Own and Evita, maybe she’ll find that right role again that makes use of her talents.

~Edwin

 

[Patrick Sun]

She's probably best playing herself in films (Truth of Dare).

 

[Al B. C]

I thought she was very good in "Evita" and probably should have gotten at least an oscar nomination.

As for the rest of her films..........Oh well. She tries hard.

 

[Thik Nongyow]

After you mention this, no. I like to bring up the acting threads because I want people's opinions on what they think about Slyvester Stallone's (actor) and Madonna's (actress) acting. I could had a thread that asked what makes William Shatner, Demi Moore, Keanu Reeves, Bo Derrek, Adam Sandler, Kevin Costner, Sandra Bollock, and others "bad" actors.

Is there a rule about "starting similar threads asking the same question about different actors"?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Thik, we just don't like threads that end up being nothing more than actor-bashing marathons.

To answer your question, though: As Edwin notes, the woman needs the right role. She is not an actor, per se, though. That's not where her talents lie.

 

[MickeS]

She was good in "A league of their own" and "Dick Tracy", but she has a very limited range, and needs to stick to supporting roles, IMO.
"The next best thing" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, mostly thanks to her horrible performance.
WhY she's a bad actress? Probably for the same reason I'm a bad carpenter: lack of that talent.
/Mike

 

[RichardMA]

She reminds me of Canadian actors who stay in Canada
too long. They all seem to adopt a phony, Harvard-Brit
lilt to their voices that makes my skin crawl.
I can pinpoint them in 10 seconds after they hit a screen.
What Madonna needs is a role that can make use of her
talents. Unfortunately, there are no acting jobs I
know of that only require the ability to sing.
Maybe low-grade opera?

 

[Lew Crippen]

I don’t really want to get into Madonna bashing, but I think more reasonable way to look at this, is to ask, “why is Madonna (or anyone else) not a good actor?”

I don’t pretend to know the answer to this, but in part most of the actors with who I am familiar, spend a lot of time and effort at their craft. In this, acting is no different an art than music, dancing or writing. Musicians practice all the time. Dancers practice all the time. Writers, write; most of them in a disciplined, methodical manner, that is necessary to produce their novels, poems, screenplays, etc.

So what does this have to do with Madonna? Nothing perhaps, but I would suggest, that the effort she has put into this craft (as opposed as to the effort put into becoming famous), is minimal. Note that I do not know this to be the case, I only suggest as a possibility, given the (small) knowledge I have of her background.

This does not mean that untrained persons cannot become good actors. There are any number of films that testify that they can.

But I would suggest that Madonna is not good, because she has not tried to become good.

Or perhaps Paul is correct.

The inability to emote. Plain and simple.

 

[Rain]

"The next best thing" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, mostly thanks to her horrible performance.

To be fair, there are a plethora of things wrong with The Next Best Thing that go way beyond Madonna's admittedly poor performance.

(Disclaimer: I saw it only because some friends dragged me to it...a good old fashioned arm-twisting it was.)

 

[Brian W.]

Her extremely monotone voice. To a lesser extent, her inability to relax on camera. She's very tense and self-cosncious. Even in "Evita," in which I thought she was very good, she has problems relaxing and connecting with the other actors. Example: During "A New Argentina," when Peron is in jail, on the line, "Would I have done what I did if I hadn't thought, if I hadn't known, we would take the country?" She takes his hand and looks into his eyes...and blinks nervously, as if she has trouble forcing herself to gaze into the eyes of her fellow actor. She has this "nervous blinking" problem in most of the movies I've seen her in (which I'll admit are few), and it has to do with not being able to relax and just be focused in the scene.