Hall of Shame: Ten Terrible Films by Good Actors

Orson Welles in 'Transformers: The Movie.' What, you didn't know the 'Citizen Kane' legend was in 'Transformers'? That's because you're not thinking of the 1986 animated version, which also starred Judd Nelson and Leonard Nimoy. Welles, who was infamous for his bulk at that stage of his career, aptly voices a mechanical planet called Unicron.


Cuba Gooding Jr. in 'Daddy Day Camp.' "Didn't this guy win an Oscar," was the comment from a man in the row behind me when this trailer first hit cinemas. Here, Gooding reprises a character first played by Eddie Murphy in 'Daddy Day Care,' a film whose terrible reviews seemed like plaudits compared to the dismal reception its sequel received.

Sean Connery in 'Zardoz.' In 1974, after a string of successful James Bond films, the Scottish hunk inexplicably donned a red halter-top diaper to play the hero of this surreal sci-fi adventure. The film is actually quite a trip, but unfortunately Connery's outfit is all anyone remembers.


Robin Williams in 'August Rush.' Mork has made a number of bad films to balance out his good ones, but none more mawk-ish than this sentimental clap-trap about a musical prodigy orphan trying to find his parents. (Who actually really love each other, but have been separated by fate -- until the orphan's music brings them all together!)

Ben Kingsley in 'BloodRayne.' With 1982's 'Ghandi,' the future Sir Ben looked like he was on course to become the greatest actor of his generation. We'll even forgive his campy-villain turn in 'Thunderbirds,' where at least he looked like he enjoyed the joke. But there's just no excuse for this 2005 vampire melodrama, or Kingsley's awful wig in it.

Robert De Niro in 'The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle.' Choosing this great actor's terrible work is as difficult as going to his IMDb.com page, closing your eyes and jabbing the screen at random, but let's pick this 2000 animated clunker, where he plays a character called "Fearless Leader." You'll wince during the trailer when he parodies his famous "You talkin' to me?" speech from 'Taxi Driver.'


Samuel L. Jackson in 'Snakes On A Plane.' Memorable catch-phrase (NSFW), brilliant Internet buzz and a fantastic theme-song (also NSFW, owing to the catch-phrase) couldn't save this airborne disaster. Maybe they should have cast Chesley Sullenberger instead?


Jeremy Irons in 'Dungeons and Dragons.' Hollywood has a mixed record with the sword-and-sandal fantasy genre, and this 2000 adaptation of the popular '80s role-playing game was probably 20 years too late. Putting the guy from 'Brideshead Revisited' in it didn't help!


Hugh Jackman in 'Van Helsing.' It's painful to put Jackman, that rare actor whose range stretches from a gay cabaret singer on Broadway to Wolverine himself, on this list. But the Aussie icon looked more like Inspector Gadget than a brooding nightspawn slayer in this Bram Stoker knock-off. It's the vampires who are supposed to suck, Hugh!

Michael Caine in 'Jaws 4: The Revenge.' Dude, 'Jaws 4'? Sir Michael actually couldn't accept the first of his two Oscars (for 'Hannah and Her Sisters') in person because he was on a boat somewhere filming this dreck. Needless to say, by the third sequel, you were rooting for the shark.

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