MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Name a mediocre movie with a GREAT cast

Name a mediocre movie with a GREAT cast


What's a film that wastes a wonderful cast, in your opinion.

I just rewatched How Do You Know (2010) for the first time since it came out & it's still one of the dullest films I've ever watched.

It's not bad, it's just uninteresting. Which is a shame cause it's from the director of Terms of Endearment (1983), Broadcast News (1987) and As Good as it Gets (1997). 3 really good films imo.

And it stars Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Kathryn Hahn & Jack Nicholson (in his last role I believe)

And for a "comedy", it just falls flat.

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"Mr. Magoo" (1997). Leslie Nielsen, Kelly Lynch, Stephen Tobolowski, Jennifer Garner, Malcolm McDowell, Ernie Hudson, Miguel Ferrer, et.al. I never did see it in the theater, but it was on TV (probably more than 20 years ago now...man, does time fly!) and I watched it. I am not one to be overly critical of movies...but it just wasn't very good, IMO. I watched it that one time and haven't seen it since (I loved Leslie Nielsen...RIP).

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I saw that last year. I couldn't believe how bad it was. I only saw it for Leslie Nielsen, but he was absolutely terrible in it.

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You know a comedy is terrible when even the wonderful Leslie Nielsen can't 'save it'

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Even as a kid, I thought that was a terrible movie. Painfully unfunny

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I'd put "Black Swan" into that category, it just didn't live up to the hype, imo...

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I saw that in the theater. Just a bit bizarre.

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"Black Swan" haters unite! This is the film where I felt Aronofsky went downhill. I liked "The Whale" though.

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I don't think I would quite say I 'hated' it, but it had such buzz I was expecting to like it a heluva lot more than I did! I've only seen it the once, perhaps I should give it another try...

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Really? I thought that film was amazing, and contrary to samoanjoes, it's the point I started to become a big Aronofsky fan, having regarded him as talented but unexceptional beforehand.

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I really liked Black Swan, it had a fine cast and the story was very good…’What is the cost of perfection?’

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There was a lot of hype around the film at the time, I saw it and thought it was ordinary at best. I can't recall anything about it now, I think it had a lesbian scene and a ballet setting?

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Valentine's Day (2010)

I watched it once and felt slightly underwhelmed. I think it was trying too hard to be the Valentine's Day version of Love Actually. Typing the cast list made me laugh thinking about the pitch meeting saying something like "Let's cram together a bunch of romantic vignettes starring just about every star in Hollywood. Oh, and we should call Shirley Maclaine's and Taylor Swift's agents to see if they'd be interested!"

Jessica Alba
Kathy Bates
Jessica Biel
Bradley Cooper
Eric Dane
Patrick Dempsey
Hector Elizondo
Jamie Foxx
Jennifer Garner
Topher Grace
Anne Hathaway
Ashton Kutcher
Queen Latifah
Taylor Lautner
George Lopez
Shirley Maclaine
Emma Roberts
Julia Roberts
Taylor Swift

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Holy shit, I remember that one. The director actually made a "holiday trilogy." With the next ones being New Year's Eve (2011) & Mother's Day (2016)

All of 'em had A-list cast, all of 'em terrible

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I think I saw that one and yep, it was bad.

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The Monuments Men

George Clooney
Matt Damon
Bill Murray
Cate Blanchett
John Goodman
Jean Dujardin
Bob Balaban
Hugh Bonneville

The premise was really interesting to me and the cast was great, but sadly the movie was rather boring.

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Seen that one. Massive waste of everyone involved

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I remember Daniel Craig was supposed to be in Monuments Men. It's assumed Matt Damon took the role instead.

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I don't think this movie belongs in this category, because most of the roles were miscast. Sure, all the actors had done great work elsewhere, but they were ALL 2 or 3 times the age of the real people. I suppose that most of the Monuments Men team were played by actors in their sixties or seventies to make Clooney and Damon look "young", but the real people who had been recovering art treasures from the Nazis had been in their thirties or forties at the time, it had been a young man's war and the art unit was no exception.

I highly recommend the book, but the movie is an absolute waste of time.

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I suppose that most of the Monuments Men team were played by actors in their sixties or seventies to make Clooney and Damon look "young", but the real people who had been recovering art treasures from the Nazis had been in their thirties or forties at the time, it had been a young man's war and the art unit was no exception.

Excellent point about the ages! I have the book on my Kindle. You've given me the nudge to move it close to the top of the must read stack.

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It's a good book, and as is true 99.9% of the time, FAR better than the movie.

Book recommended. Movie not so.

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George Clooney is always a red flag for me. He makes very pretentious films.

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I really like him, but it's been a while since he has made a movie I actually thought was great.

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I wasn't bored, but I thought the script was very clichéd. I ended up reading the book to find out what really happened which was much better.

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"The Good Shepherd" (2006)

Matt Damon
Angelina Jolie
Robert De Niro
William Hurt
Joe Pesci
John Turturro
Eddie Redmayne

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Saw that one when it came out. Genuinely bored me

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Cloud Atlas

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Another film I unequivocally love (along with the already cited Black Swan).

Heck, I'm one of the few people who ever likes How Do You Know? (not that I'd put it in the same bracket as Black Swan and Cloud Atlas).

Honestly, I regard Cloud Atlas as one of the most underrated movies of all time.

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i don't think i made it 20 minutes into cloud atlas.

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I'd recommend you give it another chance, when you're in the right frame of mind.

It's not a casual watch. It's a very immersive, visceral experience.

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I saw the whole thing, and regret that I made the effort to see it through.

It's one of those movies where you can see what they're trying to do, and you can see them failing to do it.

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very much so.

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Out of the Furnace. 2nd part of the movie was awful.
American Hustle. Too ambigous.
The Specialist. Very fun and entertaining. But,also poorly written and acted.

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I've not seen The Specialist is like 2 decades. I was really letdown by that one

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Stallone,Stone,Woods,Roberts and Steiger.

Excellent cast. All of them were perfectly fit for their roles with great music.

But it was way poor written with no sense.

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The Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
- Albert Finney
- Lauren Bacall
- Ingrid Bergman
- Sean Connery
- John Gielgud
- Stuart Pearce... sorry, Anthony Perkins
- Vanessa Redgrave

Director - Sidney Lumet

Friends With Money (2006)
- Jennifer Aniston
- Frances McDormand
- Catherine Keener
- Joan Cusack
- Jason Isaacs

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Director - unknown David Yates

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I really love The Murder on the Orient Express. A great cast and while Albert Finney was a bit over the top it was all worth it if for no other reason than the expression on John Gielgud's face as he stabs Ratchett. A wonderful scene.

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I tried to imagine who was this old actress who was supposed to be Bergman, but couldn't associate her with her younger self.

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I love it too! Seen it about a billion times, it's just a delicious movie.

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