MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Worst Accent You've Heard In A Movie?

Worst Accent You've Heard In A Movie?

posted 4 years ago by spacecomedy (2051)
79 replies | jump to latest

If you've seen enough movies, you've probably heard your fair share of bad accents. British actors (Kate Winslet, Daniel Day-Lewis, Idris Elba) tend to do American accents much better than Americans do English/Irish/Scottish accents (Kevin Costner, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz).

The worst accent I've ever heard is Don Cheadle totally cocking up a Cockney accent in the Oceans series. Cheadle's normally a good actor, but his accent in these movies is atrocious. And it seems like even he agrees!
https://uproxx.com/peoplesparty/cockney-accent-cheadle-oceans-11/

Any other examples of terrible accents?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Jude Law in Contagion, trying to do an Australian accent.

It's just one of those accents that cannot be impersonated correctly unless you live in Australia and immerse yourself in it.

Most actors who try to do it either:

1) go between south african and cockney
2) sound like an Aussie stereotype from the 1970s, or
3) throw in the word 'crickey' (not widely used in Australia)

Jude seemed to hit all three here.

[–] spacecomedy (2051) 4 years ago

Speaking of Australians, on the other side of this discussion is Nicole Kidman who can seemingly master just about any accent. She is a wonder.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 4 years ago

Any of the southern accents in Forrest Gump, Baggar Vance or Cold Mountain

[–] jriley555 (8391) 4 years ago

or best...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnlIWpZSPXU

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

I know people have mentioned this many times but it bears mentioning again: nothing comes close to Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins. That's the kind of "bad" where you literally get secondhand embarrassment watching an actor and feel like crawling into a hole with him.

But to add to the list, Alec Guinness is pretty damned bad in Lawrence of Arabia. Listen to him carefully. Not only is his accent all over the place, sometimes he even sounds like a stereotypical Asian character out of a Mr. Moto movie.

[–] BillHicksFan (10662) 4 years ago

I know I'm forgetting many, but since yesterday, the only horrible accent I remember is Meryl Streep's "Italian" accent, which sounded NOTHING like an Italian. "Bridges of Madison County" - boring movie, despite Clint Eastwood.

[–] Roguemail (1619) 4 years ago

One that has not been mentioned, but its a real howler.

Brion James as one of the baddies in Tango and Cash. He tried to do a British Cockney accent, with a lot of swearing. You need to hear it to believe it.

Trust me, the words wanker and arsehole just don't sound the same or have the same impact in a different accent.

God knows whose idea it was to saddle James with this accent. The guy is a classic character actor, and thankfully will be better remembered as Leon tge replicant from Blade Runner.

[–] spacecomedy (2051) 4 years ago

Speaking of terrible Italian accents, your post reminded me of this one. I like Nic Cage in plenty of movies...Captain Corelli's Mandolin was not one of them.
https://hardcoreitalians.blog/2018/01/18/watch-does-nicolas-cage-do-the-worst-italian-accent-ever/

[–] BillHicksFan (10662) 4 years ago

and he's Italian!

I can't watch a movie with him in it... But "Leaving Las Vegas" was a role of a lifetime.

[–] ColumboKate (5731) 4 years ago

Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins !

[–] spacecomedy (2051) 4 years ago

Based on other responses, that does appear to be the consensus worst.

[–] russfro (115) 4 years ago

John Malkovich in Knockaround Guys

[–] tcrum (31760) 4 years ago

Colin Farrell in any movie doing an American accent, most recently I watched Solace and Dead Man Down.

I don't think it the worst I've ever heard, but it feels like he has to think about every word he says.