Last month saw the release of West-meets-East action movie No Escape; however, if you take any stock in the opinions of critics at all, you probably won’t be seeing it. Starring Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, and – oh yes – comedy star Owen Wilson, the film has been declared Rotten on arrival.
If No Escape is significant for anything, for one it’s that it marks Pierce Brosnan’s latest attempt to kill off any goodwill people still have left over for him for James Bond. More importantly, however, it marks a return to Serious Acting for Owen Wilson, the pretty permanently confused looking surfer dude who’s rarely found outside of comedy, and who hasn’t done this sort of thing – drama – for years.
According to the critics, Wilson’s unfortunately bet on the wrong horse, and some have even been so kind to single him out in particular as one of the film’s weak links. But he shouldn’t be too downhearted, as he’s not the only comedy regular who’s tried and failed to make a detour into serious performing.
Join us as we look at 9 actors who tried their hand at serious roles, and didn’t exactly fare too well.