There’s plenty of evidence to illustrate the point that the best actors aren’t always the biggest movie stars, with a very clear distinction having been drawn between the marquee names who put butts in seats, and those who select roles based entirely on being able to dive deep into a character and give the best performance.
Daniel Day-Lewis might be one of the best to ever do it, but his name isn’t going to draw in casual audiences in the same way as Vin Diesel does. Does that mean the latter is a more talented thespian? Absolutely not, but star power and natural charisma is still the preferred method of bringing in the widest audience possible.
With that in mind, film fans on Reddit have been sounding off on those they deem to be fairly terrible at their day jobs, but still get a pass based on how entertaining their output has been. Things get spicy in short order, though, especially when some beloved names begin getting dragged into the mix.
It’s no surprise that Dwayne Johnson and Keanu Reeves would stake their claim at the head of the pack early on, while Ryan Reynolds essentially playing himself in every one of his projects for the last decade has generated no shortage of scorn. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a generation-defining icon that headlined some of the most iconic actioners ever made, but he doesn’t have a pair of Academy Award nominations for his onscreen oeuvre under his belt like old rival-turned-friend Sylvester Stallone.
Jim Carrey, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, and George Clooney are also mentioned, but each of those aforementioned names has at least one Golden Globe or Oscar under their belts, so you can see why things have become so heated so quickly.