What was Brian Cranston doing in this film?

Missed hanging around Fuzz from Fox's "That 70's Show".

"She filled the blank with a tube of denture cream and a false sense of superiority."

Collecting a paycheck?

Have you not noticed??

Since Breaking Bad, he has only taken supporting roles.
Why would he go for another major role right now? He's Heisenberg!

Have you heard about the Cranston Project Assessment Scale? It's something like this:

"On the left he writes the offers in blue ballpoint. Along the top, five categories, listed in decreasing order of importance - Story, Script, Role, Director, Cast - each of which he gives a score to. There are bonus points (salary) and minus points (time away from family). And then he decides. Anything under 16, no way. Anything more than 25, you bet. Argo, directed by Ben Affleck, was a 28. Breaking Bad maxed it out."

Yes, he is THAT methodical.

I bet this movie scored quite well in Director (Bryan is best friends with Tom Hanks) and Story (is quite good, actually, even not being 'Breaking Bad' level).
The script had no big holes and inconsistencies, either. Could be worse. Julia Roberts and Hanks may have added some points to Cast, too, which is by the way the category who counts the less of the five (regarding amount of points).

As for the character, it was like the loser version of Walter White, he's so silly he could be Hal's cousin. But it's work, and what could an actor ask for more than that? A little vacation from an extenuating TV show.

Of course it's not definitive. He initially turned down Godzilla because it scored 20 points, but later accepted the role.

Man's got to eat, don't he?

It could be worse, he could be doing an Adam Sandler movie.ugggh

Cranston and Hanks go way back. Bryan had roles in movies/series that Hanks either starred produced or directed:

That Thing You Do
Saving Private Ryan
From the Earth to the Moon

he is comically bad in this movie

overrated actor