The 10 Worst Accents in Movie History- Page 2

[Jon]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:38am

DiCaprio was doing an "Africaaner" - white South African of Dutch descent - accent. It was good enough to get an Oscar nomination. It sounds strange - but that's really how they talk.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:39am

Liam Neeson's attempts at an American dialect--especially in LEAP OF FAITH--have been flops.

[peach]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:40am

I think Leo in Blood Diamond was supposed to be a South African accent. He tried but didn't quite get it (at least I didn't think so). I work with a lot of South Africans and their accent is similar, but Leo's is off.

Actually, Robin Williams' accent wasn't as bad as some others because it was more subtle, thus realistic. I think Tom Hanks was going for the Kennedy accent (which pretty much only Kennedys have, by the way) and it was pretty bad!

Brad Pitt's Irish accent - I can hear it, but I can't remember the movie -darn it! This is going to bug me until I figure it out.

ETA: Jon already answered the Leo question before I finished typing - thanks Jon!


Updated On: 3/22/07 at 11:40 AM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:45am

Williams accent wasn't "subtle", it was "I don't want to bother, but I'll drop an R here and there, just to make it look as if I'm good."

Anyone who tries for the Kennedy accent (and Hyde Pierce does it a bit in CURTAINS) is not very educated on dialects, as no one has that dialect BUT the Kennedys.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:46am

Devil's Own? Not seen it. So Brad's done an Irish accent twice?

[ABSteel]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:47am

I'm missing something. What exactly is the Kennedy accent?

[circusliz]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:47am

Interesing site where you can hear accents from around the world. http://accent.gmu.edu/

[erikaamato]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:47am

Actually, I answered the Leo question before either of you. :-P (Maybe you've got me blocked?)

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:48am

That accent that all the Kennedys use. It's particular to that family.

[circusliz]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 11:57am

If you watch The Simpsons at all, Mayor Quimby's accent is a good parody of the Kennedy accent.

Listen and watch JFK's innagural speech here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm

[chicolini]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 12:01pm

Devils Own was actually Brad's attempt at N. Irish, which was pretty bad.

I never saw SNATCH (insert joke here), so I just assumed we were talking about that one.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 12:08pm

Acctually it's been years since I watched Snatch, the movie, and I'm not sure off the top of my head if it was irish or some regional british/cockney accent. Guess I'll have to stop by blockbuster on the way home.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 12:10pm

Right. "Devil's Own" was the one I was remembering. It was a pretty dreary movie overall, accent issues aside, if I recall.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 12:35pm

Most actors doing southern accents are HORRIBLE. Instead of sounding like a real southerner, they sound like a mix between a back-woods redneck and a 1870's plantation owning Georgia woman.

[peach]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 1:15pm

Weird - I missed a whole mess of posts between page 1 and page 2!

So by the time I posted, all questions had been answered (thanks erika! And, I would never have you blocked, silly!!)


ABSteel- for a taste of the Kennedy accent, the site which must not be named has some of JFKs speeches. The entire family has that accent (and hardly anyone else in Massachusetts does).

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 1:34pm

Can we talk about Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula (one of my favorite movies ever)? He tried to do British and since he can barely do his own accent, it doesn't turn out so well. A friend of mine used to do this impression of him: "Dude! These chicks were totally sucking my blood, dude!"

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 2:14pm

Leo's accent in Blood Diamond is pretty spot on. It sounds just like a guy I know who is from South Africa. Peach, it's possible the people you know come from a different area.

I'll add Michael Caine in Cider House Rules. And he won an Oscar for it, too.

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 2:21pm

The accent question in regards to awards is interesting. For example, Jane Krakowski had a pretty poor Italian accent in NINE (What the f*ck's a SEEM-POLE??). But She was so entrancing and heartbreaking that I had no problem with her winning the Tony.

Robin Williams accent, or lack thereof, never once bothered me in GOOD WILL HUNTING. Actually...a very slight dipping into an accent seemed very appropriate for a blue collar guy who ended up with an Ivy League education.

[peach]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 2:21pm

Jerby - good point; that's entirely possible. The people I know are South African of Dutch descent, but four of them are from the same town (as each other, not as Leo's character necessarily). So that could explain it!

[hannahshule]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 3:53pm

Jessica Biel- The Illusionist.
WTF, it was a pseudo British/Austrian/American mess that alomost ruined the movie for me.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 4:58pm

I also don't get the Dick Van Dyke thing. He's superb in the film. Who the hell cares about the accent? As if anyone would want to actually listen to a real cockney accent anyway. I always thought Audrey Hepburn's proper English accent was horrible, in MY FAIR LADY. I never felt she would have fooled anyone.

[Jilani]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 5:09pm

The discussion of the Kennedys and bad Boston accents reminded me of another example: Kevin Costner in Thirteen Days. Laughably, distractingly bad attempt at that kind of accent. I can't remember whether the actors playing the Kennedy brothers were any good, but I don't remember them being terrible.

[LoringsGuy]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:34pm

Christina Ricci in SLEEPY HOLLOW and Alison Eastwood in MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD & EVIL were both terrible.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 11:45pm

Ugh Jessica Biel AND Edward Norton in The Illusionist, though I agree that Jessica Biel's was more distracting.

Also, Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta. It started out fine, but definitely phased in and out.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 12:02am

Any film with an American doing a British accent.

There are like 6 Americans who've done it on film right. All the rest have royally ruined it for all of us. Now they don't let us even try.