Poll: Worst Movie Accent Ever!

[FlashHarry]

This has been a pet peeve of mine forever! There are so many great actors out there--why not cast a Brit to play a Brit or a Yank to play a Yank???

[DrWeird]

1. Kevin Costner-Robin Hood

nt

[Bossy Monkey]

4. Maybe it doesn't count if he doesn't even bother to try (n/t either)

[CBHagman]

20. The last thing I would ever do is defend Kevin Costner, but...

...in the 12th and 13th centuries English didn't resemble what we hear today. Therefore, Kevin Costner's accent doesn't matter, because they would have all been speaking Norman French, Middle English, or whatever.

And may I say here how utterly annoying I find the conceit of characters speaking English with an accent when the story is set in a non-English-speaking region? It's different when they're playing a non-native speaker in an English-speaking area. In that case, it's realism. But Oskar Schindler didn't walk around speaking English with a German accent, he spoke German! Do it all or don't bother with the accents.

[supernova]

24. You'd sound like

The Canterbury Tales or you'd be Norman French.

As for Kevin as Robin Hood, just a minute: ....mmmmmm...mmmmmm, ok accent doesn't matter.

[Enraged_Ape]

71. In further defense of Kevin Costner...

He was told they would loop the dialogue (and the British accent) in post-production. So while they shot, he talked any old way he wanted to. And then they decided not to do it.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

91. When he started talking...

...I thought the movie was going to be a comedy. I was attending one of those test-market audience sneak previews so I had no idea what the movie was about.

[papau]

28. That was my "other" vote :-)

:-)

[4_Legs_Good]

46. Ditto

And whether or not the actual accent matters - he should be responsible for holding the accent that is chosen through the entire movie, not dropping it whenever it's convenient.

Same deal in 13 days. The only movie he ever held a reasonable accent for, just happens to be the best movie of all time, "JFK".

david

[arwalden]

60. Costner's Amazing Disappearing Accent...

It just magically fades away.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Nick Nolte in Lorenzo's Oil

[GOPisEvil]

10. Oh God, was that horrible!!!

[supernova]

13. Oh Please!

I'm gonna have a nightmare now! :scared: Nick Nolte scares me anyway.

[stanwyck]

69. You're cruel

Really. He sounded like a pizza commercial cartoon. Yikes!

[Enraged_Ape]

72. Mama-mia, my son-a gotta pulmonary disease!!

Ah, I remember it well...

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. Most actors who try to replicate the Boston accent

with the exception of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck-who aah from heyah!

[FlashHarry]

5. Oh God. You're right. Ever see Costner in '13 Days?'

He was awful! Although, the movie itself was pretty damn good.

[elcondor]

61. LOL I agree!

Movie: Great; Costner's accent: Pretty pathetic.

But, as far as this poll goes, I'd say Van Dyke for Mary Poppins.

[Bossy Monkey]

8. Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can-- I thought he was still stuck on

Louisiana. But maybe he was just being subtle.

[DrBB]

70. Not to mention DiCaprio

The guy's supposed to be from New York City f'r cripesake; how come HE keeps picking up this fake Bostonian from Hanks???

On t'other hand, I actually thought that movie was a lot of fun, even though I'm not especially fond of hanks and far less so of DiCaprio.

[JohnKleeb]

19. funny you should mention that

We watched a clip from Good Will Hunting and we saw the part where Damon, Affleck, and their buds go in to the Harvard bar. BTW my teacher for that class is from Springfield, MA. Worst accent ever in a movie you ask? hmmmmmm thats tough but I can tell you one of the best, Daminen damnit I forgot his last name as Major Richard Winters in Band of Brothers, Damien is a brit his character Dick Winters is an American.

[NashVegas]

30. I Thought He Did Just Fine

The BoB guy, that is. I didn't look him up until the series was almost over and was surprised to find out he was a Brit.

Regardless of what anyone was speaking, Kevin Costner's Robin Hood accent was horrible.

On that same era, Robin Wright's Buttercup English wasn't so great, but she was such a great Buttercup I forgave her.

I've got a friend who grew up in Wisconsin who was raving-pissed at the accents in Fargo.

[JohnKleeb]

33. Lewis! Damien Lewis thats his name

I heard he was brit.

[maveric]

106. Johnny Depp did a decent Boston accent in "Blow".

Pretty good for a guy from Kentucky.

[DealsGapRider]

6. Harrison Ford in K-19

[Cosmic_Latte]

94. Yup yup!

n/t

[Guaranteed]

112. BINGO! Worst...accent...ever! n/t

[MaineDem]

7. Almost everyone in "Perfect Storm"

Just awful!!!

[Kolesar]

29. that movie reminded me of Beavis and Butthead

When they were surfing the big waves and whooping and hollering like fools.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

36. Yes! Mark Wahlberg was the only one w/ Propah Boston

'cause he's from here.

My friends all make fun of the accents. Diane Lane's was appalling.

[MaineDem]

42. Exactly!

She's the one I remember as being horrid!

[TrogL]

9. Ahr_nuld in anything

I know the accent is real, but why bother.

[Blaukraut]

11. Any fake german accent

They sound exaggerated and ridiculous.

[mojowork_n]

12. Inspector Clouseau

Peter Seller's nasal whine in all those Pink Panther movies. I think Alan Arkin copied that exact same accent in at least one other film (did Alan Arkin ever do a Panther re-make?) but I can't remember.

[trof]

23. Without that crummy, over-the-top accent

it just wouldn't be funny.
"Duze yewr dug bate?"
OK, no cigar.

[FlashHarry]

57. A lahsahnss for your shampanzeh minkee?

What? Are you blind?

Well, yes!

[Enraged_Ape]

73. That accent was what made the character so funny

Of course it was ridiculous. I can't imagine that Clouseau would be even half as funny without it.

[Bridget Burke]

14. Julia Roberts in "Michael Collins"

She played his fiance Kitty with no trace of an Irish accent. Otherwise, she didn't seem to know what she was doing. (Thanks, Peter Jackson, for not making her Arwen.)

Aidan Quinn did better but his accent still sounded pretty Irish-American.

[SiobhanClancy]

32. Exactly what I was thinking..

They couldn't find an Irish actress to play Kitty Kiernan? I have heard that she was really supportive of the project and did it for very little money,but STILL...

[smirkymonkey]

41. Ugh! Yes - She totally ruined the film...

(which I otherwise really loved, probably because I had a crush on everyone in it - except Julia Roberts, of course.) It really bummed me out.

Also, special mention for Sarah Wynter in Bride of the Wind (she played the Austrian Alma Schindler Mahler - awful - I lived in Austria for a time - she wasn't even close!) However, I know that nobody saw that film. Bad accents are sooooo distracting.

[supernova]

15. Vivian Leigh in GWTW

I know, she made a great Scarlet otherwise, but DAYUM, No one in the South talks like that! x(

[GOPisEvil]

16. Oh fiddle dee dee...whatevah ah yew speaking uhv?

Of course all southern women talk like that. :eyes:

[supernova]

21. ARRGGG!

Ah swea-ah Ah will nevah go hungryah, ahgin!

Make it stop, Daddy! Please make it stop!

[trof]

38. Mah momma did!

Yawl doan be tawkin bowt mah momma.

[LSdemocrat]

17. Kevin Costner - Thirteen Days

One negative aspect of an otherwise good movie.

[LynneSin]

18. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson in "Dead Again"

I think they are both fabulous actors and should never EVER again attempt making a movie that doesn't require them to use their natural English accents.

Dead Again has Branagh as a Los Angeles investigator trying to figure out the identity of a woman (Thompson) who was a mute amnesiac (although she regain her voice part way through the movie.

Who knows what accent Branagh was trying to do, it was kinda New York, Boston, Pennsylvania Dutch all melded into one. Thompson's was ok, I've heard better.

The thing is, the movie really did have a great plot and twist, but that horrible accent just ruined the whole movie. I think if they had other actors playing the role or just set the whole plot in England instead of Los Angeles, it could have been a great movie

[FlashHarry]

55. That's funny. I remember Brahagh's being pretty good...

Maybe I need to see it again. As a US/UK dual citizen and a writer/producer, I'm usually hyper-sensitive to this!

[FlashHarry]

56. The Highlander!!!

Lambert (a Frenchman) playing a Scot and Connery (a Scot) playing a Spaniard! Go figure!

[laconicsax]

83. It got my vote, but in Lambert's defense

I read on a Highlander site once that Lambert worked with a speech coach to get an accent that sounded 'foreign' but not from anywhere specific to coinside with the line when he was being interrogated (you talk funny Nash, where are you from?)

It doesn't make the accent any less horrible.

Connery may have had a Spanish name, but he did say that he was Egyptian. So in the movie, he was an Egyptian playing a Spaniard.

[VermontDem2004]

22. Kevin Costner in A Perfect World

Horrible accent imo.

[Wickerman]

25. Kevin Costner in Fandango!

and thats funny, cuz it were a Texas accent and he was a student at UT at the time if I 'member correctly. Gee, maybe he jes can't act??

:shrug:

[supernova]

27. I see a theme developing...

hmmm....Kevin as the no-accent guy.

[WilliamPitt]

26. Kevin Costner's wretched Boston accent in '13 Days'

Great, great film. Incredibly bad accent.

[supernova]

31. Possibly the male version

of Vivian Leigh in GWTW, above.

[DifferentStrokes]

34. Jessica Lange in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Gets my vote for all time most horrible attempt at a Southern accent. A severe asthma attack alternates with a high pitched screech.

[Aristus]

35. Jane Seymour is a terrific actress, and gorgeous as the

day is long, but her American accent (in War and Remembrance) bit the big one!

[Samuraimad]

37. Enemy at the gates

no accents that matched whatsoever!
Jude Law and Rachel Weisz were both sporting the british version of russina. And Ed HArris, jebus christ!! A german colonel with a Des Moines accent!I liked the movie, but the accents were non-existant.

[JohnKleeb]

49. Kruschev was played by Hoskins a Brit

Actually Harris was a Major, and I dont know a Des Moines accent. I liked the movie too but youre right the accents blew, or therefore lack of.

[Samuraimad]

62. lol

I dont know a Des Moines accent either, but it couldnt have been more American than Harri's.

[JohnKleeb]

66. Yeah and also

I liked it too.

[jonnyblitz]

39. Maine accents in EVERY Stephen King movie that takes place in ME.

Somebody has posted this topic before because I can remember posting this response..(Maine Mary where are you? back me up on this one like before..LOL)

[maxanne]

53. right on jonnyblitz

Every Maine accent ever - bad, real bad. The worst may have been Dolores Claiborne. Everyone in that movie should have been beaten with an old trout.

Julia Roberts in Michael Collins - a total miscast, and a ridiculous accent.

[jonnyblitz]

54. hey maxanne!! that is THE movie I had in mind too!!

Kathy Bates talking "down east" ..bad bad bad!! :hi:

[maxanne]

58. hee hee hee

I went to see it in California, with a guy from southern Indiana, who's never been to New England. After the movie, he said - "Those Maine accents were really terrible, weren't they?" I asked - "How would you know - you've never even been to Maine?"

He said every time Tom Bosley opened his mouth I winced. And then he said he funniest thing, "Besides, not one of them said "wicked" even one time." Made me realize how often I must have said it!!

I was homesick - and the movie looked right - until they opened their mouths.

[Lisa]

102. the townsfolk in "Storm of the Century" ...

I'm from Southern Ontario, and even I worked out that something was seriously wrong there! (Of course the darned thing was filmed in Toronto ... with artificial snow ...)

[tridim]

Every character in Forrest Gump

Especially the young and old Jenny.

[Yupster]

81. Funny

my first choice was the little girl in Gods and Generals. It seems young actresses shouldn't try to fake southern accents.

[dofus]

40. Tony Curtis

in some movie from the 50s where he famously makes no effort to disguise his native Brooklyn accent: "Yonda lies duh pallass of my faddah de Caliph."

[catpower2000]

43. The classic: "Yondah lies tha castle of my faddah"..name that film nt

[supernova]

44. Spartacus?

Having a hard time locating a pic of TC in it.

[trof]

45. OK, it was Bernie Schwartzkopf

Tony Curtis
Some medieval epic I can't remember.

[supernova]

47. The Black Shield of Falworth

1954 - only mideaval pic I found.

[trof]

48. The Vikings?

and it was Bernard Schwartz.

[trof]

50. Ha! "Son of Ali Baba".

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/2XWNQNW25IGBM/qid%3D1061715061/sr%3Dlmlf-8/ref%3Dbr%5Flmlf%5F%5F8/002-5372699-1727238

[catpower2000]

52. There ya go! nt

[FlashHarry]

59. Tony Speaks out on the 'quote!'

"I never ever said 'Yondah lies duh castle of my faddah'." That line has become part of the folklore... what I said was, clear as day, 'father'. See, I'm a Hungarian Jew from Brooklyn. So they thought I had to pronounce it faddah, because it fits the stereotype. But I didn't. Laurence Olivier was in the same picture, and nobody thinks he ever mispronounced anything in his whole fuckin' life."

[tom_paine]

51. Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood"

Ugh!

[opiate69]

63. Julia Roberts...

In that stupid, pathetic Jeckell and Hyde movie... what the hell was it called again??? Oh! Mary Rielly, or some such shit. She couldn't decide if her character was Irish, Cockney, Scottish or Upper-crust English.... horrible movie, and an even worse performance.

[Redbear]

64. She was also awful in Steel Magnolias

And it just made her look so much worse that all of the other actresses had it nailed.

[FloridaJudy]

65. Worst Movie Accent Ever?

Sorry to disappoint you, but it was a tie between two Brits:

Sir Lawrence Olivier in *Boys from Brazil*: Larry as a Jewish Nazi Hunter? Oy, vey!!!

Michael Caine as a Southern Aristocrat? We loved you in *Alfie* and *The Ipcress Files*. Quit while you're ahead!

On the other hand, Daniel Day Lewis can do no wrong! Cast the dude as whatever you want him to be: Criminal Irish Immigrant, Upper Class Brit, Striving Working Class Irish, London Punk, American Aristocrat, and he'll rise to the occassion.

The guy's an actor's actor. Nough Said

[ornotna]

67. Other - Warner Oland

In the Charlie Chan movies from the 1930's

B. Oct. 3, 1880 in Umea, Vesterbotten, Sweden
D. Aug.6, 1938 in Umea, Vesterbotten, Sweden


He was Swedish for crying out loud!



edit to add actor info

[dawgman]

68. Gotta go with brad pitt in that movie about the mountain climber in

tibet.

[regnaD kciN]

79. "Seven Years In Tibet"...

I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up.

[Rooktoven]

74. Affleck and Damon in Good Will Hunting... --nt

[FlashHarry]

76. Huh? I thought they were actually from South Boston

Or Cambridge, at least!

[WilliamPitt]

77. They're actually from Boston, and that's actually what we sound like

Go figure.

[maveric]

109. Most people I know out here in CA think that a Boston accent is like

Charles Emerson Winchester from M*A*S*H*.
We dont say BAHHstun!

[HEyHEY]

75. Shannon elizbeth or whatever

In AMerican Pie ..... Chezch?????

[T_i_B]

78. Thanks for putting Dick Van Dyke in there

Although I really must mention the appalling attempt at a cockney accent attempted by one of the actors in Ocean's Eleven.

[lazarus]

82. actually, I have a theory about that

The actor in question is Don Cheadle. Don Cheadle is a brilliant actor, and I have serious trouble accepting that he would do that atrocious a job. It was almost a parody of van Dyke, right?

So, here's the theory. The character, Basher, isn't a cockney at all. He's an American. But acting like a cockney is just his shtick, what makes him "different". His persona, as it were.

So, naturally, the accent is going to be horrid, right?

Yes, I came up with this because it's one of my all time favourite films, and I needed some justification. :D

[FlashHarry]

95. Interesting theory...

...it would have killed however, if he had 'revealed' it at the end of the flick, to which the other guys would have replied, "of course we knew you weren't a Brit! That accent was terrible!" Laughs all around.

[FlashHarry]

84. Damn! Yes! Don Cheadle's cockney was APPALLING!

In fact, it was so bad, I though it was supposed to be a joke--and that he would slip into his American accent at the end.

I still don't get why he did it--it had absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

[lazarus]

89. Harry

Check my post above for my favourite theory about this. :D

[Yupster]

80. In the Civil War Category

The little girl who befriended Stonewall Jackson in the recent flop "Gods and Generals," has now defeated Martin Sheen's embarrassing Robert E Lee from the former flop "Gettysburg."

[FlashHarry]

85. James Coburn in 'The Great Escape' (Australian???)

"Knuckles, eh?" :puke:

[eauclaireliberal]

86. Other:

Johnny Depp in "From Hell"


I like some of Depp's stuff, but he's terrible at trying to speak in an English accent...what made it a good movie is the story, and that
Ian Holm was in it (Bilbo Biggins, LOTR).

[FlashHarry]

87. I almost put him in the poll

I chose Heather Graham instead, because hers was more egregious. Funny, though... Depp does a far better job (though not perfect) in Pirates of the Carribean. Maybe because he was channelling Keith Richards.

[tsakshaug]

88. Most all accents

one of my few talents is being able to pick up accents (not pronounce them but hear them) quickly. I can tell the different neighborhood Boston accents for example put me in a room with people from southie and C-town and I can tell them apart. The various southern accents (esp. NC) are interesting to figure out, the mountians (more nasel) piedmont (drawn out vowels) coastal plain (slower less enunciation) coast (some old english)
anyway any of these done by actors drives me nuts-(why does that mountian person sound like they belong in the faculty club in Chapel Hill?)
I am now learning the varioius upstate new york accents, having had some success with midwest accents.
If I keep moving I may have this country figured out.

So anyway most southern accents and Boston accents in movies drive me nuts

[FlaGranny]

90. Jimmy Stewart

You've all missed the worst one of all time. Jimmy Stewart playing a Chinese character. I've forgotten the name of the movie, but it goes down in history as the worst miscasting of all time (pretty bad movie too). He was all done up in makeup to look Chinese and he sounded like . . . . . Jimmy Stewart.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

92. On a related note...

How about Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's?" What in the hell were they thinking?

[Skittles]

93. Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs

very irritating

[theHandpuppet]

96. Audrey Hepburn...

as the Texas hick-girl turned ambitious (if fraudulent) society glam in "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Someone HAD to be kidding.

[WillParkinson]

97. John Wayne....

Playing Ghengis Khan.

[FloridaJudy]

105. Possibly apocryphal

There was a story going around about the filming of some Biblical epic, in which Wayne played a Roman centurion. It seems Wayne's character was there at the crucifixion, and delivered the line: "Surely this is the Son of God!". The Duke kept doing it in his usual flat monotone, and the director began tearing his hair exclaiming "No, John. You're supposed to say that with *awe*!".

Wayne nodded, and tried again. "Aw, surely this is the Son of God".

It has all the ear marks of Urban Legend, but even Snopes didn't have it in its extensive list.

Got to agree with you on *The Conqueror*: serious stinkeroo. Almost worth watching just for Wayne's line "Thou art beautiful in thy wrath, Tartar Wench!" Maybe the MST3000 crew should tackle that film.

[philosophie_en_rose]

98. Tom Cruise

in Far and Away?

[FlashHarry]

100. Ooh. Good one.

:puke:

Add Mickey Rourke in that IRA movie with Bob Hoskins. I saw it in Switzerland, where it was called 'L'Irlandais.' I don't know what the US title was.

[VOX]

110. Yes. Very bad.

Awful, in fact.

[KeepItReal]

99. Jean-Claude van Damme as a Cajun...in Hard Target

Oh the humanity!!!

x(

Special effects were cool, though. This was the first movie I saw in THX Surround Sound...

[GregW]

101. Meryl Streep: "A Cry in the Dark"

"The dingo's got my baby!"

[FlashHarry]

103. Was it bad?

I seem to remeber it wasn't all that bad...

Better than James Coburn's 'Australian' accent in "The Great Escape."

[FloridaJudy]

104. Sir Lawrence Olivier in *Boys from Brazil*

Attmpting a Yiddish accent. Oy, vey!

[maveric]

108. It wasnt that bad. Olivier was jewish and I thought that he nailed it.

n/t

[maveric]

107. Dennis Quaid in "Great Balls of Fire". The absolute worst.

He sounded like Foghorn Leghorn. An awful accentnfrom a truly awful film.

[ronzo]

111. Dennis Quaid in The Big Easy (Yat)

the worst!

[JanMichael]

113. William Hurt in "Gorky Park".

The worst fudged up Russian/English (Renglish? Engssian?) gobblygook ever. Interesting story though...