MovieChat Forums > Ladyhawke (1985) Discussion > Broderick's English/American Accent is w...

Broderick's English/American Accent is worse than the music

posted 18 years ago by A_Minor_Blip
15 replies | jump to latest

Broderick seems as if he were a bratty eighties kid who went back in time. His acting is dated and lousy.

"faith is for nuns and amateurs" ham tyler

[–] t_foster6 16 years ago

I agree 100%

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CCCampedel 16 years ago

I thought Matthew was adorable in this movie. And he was really young at the time, after all.

Were they supposed to be in France? The whole movie has more of a fairy tale, not-anyplace-in-particular feel to it.

[–] Wannie_The_Sane 16 years ago

I got the impression this was France too. Everyone had a french name at least.

Anyway, this cake is great. It's so delicious and moist.

[–] harry-potter-3 16 years ago

I thought he was fine.
Cheesy acting but, that's typical from MB - it's HIS thing.
And, i think the acting in general was quite cheesy and a bit hammy. overall.
However, good or bad, this was quite common for this kind of film, in the 80's.

The only thing I would have wished for is, the director to be strict with MB about keeping one accent or the other - preferably the fake English accent.
Instead, he keeps forgetting and slips back into New Yorkian!

Michelle Pfeiffer - beautiful, in this film :)

[–] emp1966 14 years ago

The film DOES take place in France, the names Etian and Isabeau are obviously French. Matt was NOT trying to speak with an accent, he just used his own natural speech as did, McKern, Hauer and Pfeiffer. Why does everyone believe that just because a film takes place hundreds of years ago in a foreign country, that actors not from said country are using the appropriate country's accent. In some films yes they do, but not ALL films, and in Ladyhawke they don't.

[–] kraisins-1 14 years ago

It does make Dick Van Dyke's in Mary Poppins sound good.

But I thought he was effective in the roll. I never quite got why people felt he was miscast. I think the character himself was miscast in a way. Here is a run of the mill cutpurse who suddenly is in the middle of a magical situation. He's a fish out of water and I think MB did it very well.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Seymour-Pats 14 years ago

I thought he was great! He wasn't trying to do an accent. That's the way he actually talks. Watch him in Ferris Bueller - he sounds the same. He has a fairly formal US accent, like a US person who went to prep school, but it's not an uncommon type of accent at all (especially in the northeast).

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SpiltPersonality 10 years ago

I don't really understand these kinds of objections. Granted an English accent is the Lingua Franca of period settings, but modern English would be just as out of date as any other modern language. Just take it as it is and run with it.

[–] gobboling 10 years ago

I agree with you about his accent but saying he's a bad actor isn't very nice! Let's see you do a better job!

[–] guruatomik 10 years ago

I think it might just have been the way the character was written/directed. Broderick was JarJar Binksing his way through the first half of the movie and it was unpleasant to watch.

At least there was some character growth around the second act that made him less reprehensible.

[–] Seymour-Pats 9 years ago

He wasn't using an accent. That is his real accent. No one used fake accents in the film.