Best/Worst accent you've ever heard in a movie?

The_D_Man

I thought DiCaprio's South African accent in Blood Diamond was excellent(T.I.A:"Dis is Efrica").
The worst is definitely Daniel Craig's jewish acent in Defiance, sometimes he doesnt even bother attempting it and blurts out sentences in his English accent!

krudler

Tom Cruise in Far and Away,awful,awful,awful.

fluke

Liam Neeson's accent in the A-team managed to be lazy and awful.

The_D_Man

fluke wrote: »

Liam Neeson's accent in the A-team managed to be lazy and awful.

just rememberd that there.Terrible accent. Brendan Gleeson's American accent in Greenzone as well is woeful

Valmont

Best: Brad Pitt in Snatch. Not only did he pull it off but it was Brad Pitt playing a pikey! You won't find an actor stepping more out of their shoes for a role.

Also Best: Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond. I have a rhodesian friend and he sounds just like him.

Worst: Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal. Eugh.

sky88

worst preety much any actor doing an irish accent is terrible

The_D_Man

sky88 wrote: »

worst preety much any actor doing an irish accent is terrible

With Gerard Butler's in PS I Love You being by far the worst. Oh ya, Marlon Brando in the Godfather...what an accent.

bnt

sky88 wrote: »

worst preety much any actor doing an irish accent is terrible

I agree - even when the actor is Irish. :pac: If anyone's looking for more suggestions, see the previous thread on this topic, here. Plus at least two other threads on dodgy Irish accents.

I haven't seen Blood Diamond, but from the trailer I was OK with DiCaprio's Sarf Efrican. I lived in SA for years and can attempt one myself: it's easy to approximate, but not easy to get right.

One accent that really bugs me, though, is Hugo Weaving's accent as Agent Smith in The Matrix and sequels. What is that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fosG7tmWTZ8

bnt

bnt wrote: »

I agree - even when the actor is Irish. :pac: If anyone's looking for more suggestions, see the previous thread on this topic, here. Plus at least two other threads on dodgy Irish accents.

I haven't seen Blood Diamond, but from the trailer I was OK with DiCaprio's Sarf Efrican. I lived in SA for years and can attempt one myself: it's easy to approximate, but not easy to get right.

One accent that really bugs me, though, is Hugo Weaving's accent as Agent Smith in The Matrix and sequels. What is that?

lol I think agent smith's accent is brilliant

Wolflikeme

Surprised Colm Meaney's accent in Con Air hasn't been mentioned. Shocking. ''It was Muyda!''

Also Tommy Lee Jones' Northern Irish accent in 'Blown Away'. Truly laughable! ''You're mine Geraghty!''

drunkmonkey

Watch it at your pearl, you'll probably cringe at every accent.



I'd be very surprised if this isn't banned in Ireland

Vic Vinegar

Richard Gere in The Jackal.

Horrendous!

gizmo

Brad Pitt in The Devil's Own too.

thebullkf

best= DD lewis in Gangs of new york.

worst......hmmmm.... any irish cop pre 1990's programme's/

The_D_Man

The Matrix has reminded me of Keanu Reeves accent in Dracula, what the hell is that!?

PeterIanStaker

John Voight in The General was not bad, I thought. Harrison Fords Russian accent in K-19 was pretty dismal.

Cantona's Collars

The nanny in Sex and the City 2 -awful oirish accent and worse movie.

The_D_Man

Oh ya, Al Pacino in Scarface...excellent accent

Dempsey

Best/Favourite: Brad Pitt's pikey accent was excellent.

Alot of attempt as Irish accents are woeful, this "top of the mornin' to ya" style that Hollywood tries to portray Irish people is probably what riles the Irish the most.

I havent seen it but Colin Farrell's accent in Ondine sounds horrendus and I heard him talk about the effort he put into it.

A-Trak

Sean Connerys Irish accent in the Untouchables is pretty memorable.

But Pierce Brosnans "Irish," accent in Evelyn is bar far the worst I've had the pleasure of though.

PhiloCypher

I thought Thomas Jane's south african accent in stander was pretty decent , worst was Tom Cruises in Far and away by a country mile.

gandalf

Tom Cruise in Far and Away (the worst movie ever made!).

726courtown

John Wayne, as the Roman centurion standing at the foot of Jesus' cross, in "The Greatest story ever told" has to be the most inappropriate accent. A roman with a texan drawl!

indough

sean connery in the hunt for red october is worse than any of these because he didnt even try

gandalf

indough wrote: »

sean connery in the hunt for red october is worse than any of these because he didnt even try

Yeah but Sean Connery and Michael Caine never try to sound different in any films they are in.

Ridley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fo7T6Jj6KQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RGPc4Lpr-A

razorblunt

+1 on Brad Pitt in Snatch, that was absolutely outstanding, it will only ever be appreciated by Irish and British though!
Not a movie bit Idris Elba in The Wire, never knew he was English could justify it by saying The Losers I suppose

Sean Connery and Liam Neeson could probably be considered for every role considering they have really strong natural accents.

James Cromwell in LA Confidential really irked me!

Vinny-Chase

Can't think of his name, and too lazy to look it up.

English actor who played Cillian Murphy's da in Perrier's Bounty. WOEFUL!

M.J.M.C

The_D_Man wrote: »

Brendan Gleeson's American accent in Greenzone as well is woeful

BY FAR THE WINNER

Vinny-Chase

I think any Irish accent with a strong regional accent i.e. Brendan Gleeson's northside accent will struggle with American or English accent's with possibly the exception of RP.

I think the opposite is also true. English/ American actors will struggle with the Irish accent. Even simple things like the "th" pronunciation. As the majority of us pronounce it like a D. "The" becomes deh, "these" becomes deese. They usually just seem to put some sort of lilt into the Irish accent and think that'll cut it.

Cookie_Monster

Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider

VW 1

One of my favourites is Jimmy McNulty's character in The Wire, only found out afterwards that he is English, as is the actor playing Stringer Bell, both outstanding Baltimore accents, could never be differentiated from the rest of the characters. I believe the mayor in it is also Irish playing an American.

Love Leonardo in Blood Diamond, fantastic effort.

One of the hardest accents IMO to pull off is the Dutch accent, nigh on impossible to replicate! Anybody know of any decent performances of actors playing somebody with a Dutch character?

A memorable bad one for me is the actress who plays William Wallace's wife in Braveheart, for the time she is in the film most of it is ok, but in the scene where she tells William she would be impressed if he could speak French while doing a handstand she blurts out her response in what could not be a more English accent, would the editors/producers/director not notice and fix this!?

Anakin.S

Patsy Kensit's in lethal weapon 2 was pretty bad

Zadkiel

Best-
Di Caprio in Blood Diamond
Ben Kingsley in Ghandi


Worst-
Di Caprio in Gangs of New York

Andrea Corr's "Dublin" accent in the Commitments

Julia Roberts in Michael Collins

Julia Roberts in Michael Collins














And finally.....................Julia Roberts in Michael Collins.

Vinny-Chase

Zadkiel wrote: »

Worst-
Di Caprio in Gangs of New York

I used to think this was bad too. But I have a theory that growing up as a child in Ireland, gave him the Irish accent but then teenage & adult years in America gave him the mished mashed accent in the film.

Or...it could just be a shoite accent!

bnt

Zadkiel wrote: »

And finally.....................Julia Roberts in Michael Collins.

I beg to differ ... what about Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly (1996)? After that, I'm amazed she was ever cast to play another Irish character. (What's an "ailness"?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jb87JTGoMg

Another class accent, in my opinion, is Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. He modelled the accent and phrasing on the late John Huston. Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYMWkRrC7UY

Stercus Accidit

I don't know if he is Sarf Efrican or not, but "Fookin Praawns!" guy was awesome.

Funkfield

Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood

paddydriver

razorblunt wrote: »

Not a movie bit Idris Elba in The Wire, never knew he was English could justify it by saying The Losers I suppose

Have you heard McNulty in real life... total Toff!

Shoelaces

Anyone else think that Brad Pitts accent in Snatch was, well a little bit ****? Comedic but not proper pikey.

Im sure Germans are bemused by what we consider a good german accent. They must shudder at Alan Rickman in Die Hard but I wonder how they feel about Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth

Bog

VW 1 wrote: »

One of my favourites is Jimmy McNulty's character in The Wire, only found out afterwards that he is English, as is the actor playing Stringer Bell, both outstanding Baltimore accents, could never be differentiated from the rest of the characters. I believe the mayor in it is also Irish playing an American.

I completely agree though it did slip noticeable in this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg_3ZSeHL4g

VW 1

Another person who perhaps is a little overlooked when it comes to accents is Russell Crowe.

I don't recall seeing him playing a character where he uses his Aussie accent but you wouldn't notice he was putting on an American accent (or English in some films).

Really love some of the characters he plays, such a great range from the inspiring Maximus in Gladiator right through to the low key business man in The Insider and I saw Body of Lies last night for the first time and thought he was excellent. Also Cinderella Man springs to mind, maybe i should just start a Russell Crowe appreciation thread!!:pac::D

Vinny-Chase

Russell Crowe has that neutral kind of accent. Kind of like Anthony Hopkins.

helimachoptor

Zadkiel wrote: »

Andrea Corr's "Dublin" accent in the Commitments

She was in that film??

Colin Farrell in alexander.

Liam Neeson in Taken, but more for the fact he's pretending to be an french cop with an American whos actually Irish accent!

pickarooney

Vinny-Chase wrote: »

Russell Crowe has that neutral kind of accent. Kind of like Anthony Hopkins.

Hopkins has a lovely Welsh accent in some of his earlier films but I don't know whether he was putting it on there or if it' since faded as you don't really hear it much, even in interviews these days.

One of my favourite accents, though I can't testify to its accuracy, is De Niro's in This Boy's Life.

bonzer1again

Brad Pitt in "The Devil's Own"
IRA man that can't stop saying "Aye"....I had blood coming from my ears after him....

LittleBook

C'mon people!!

Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins wins hands down!

Closely followed by Mickey Rooney's cringeworthy performance in Breakfast at Tiffany's

And don't even get me started on Kevin Costner in Prince of Thieves

:pac:

K4t

razorblunt wrote: »

James Cromwell in LA Confidential really irked me!

Is that so, laddy?:pac:

Vinny-Chase wrote: »

I think the opposite is also true. English/ American actors will struggle with the Irish accent. Even simple things like the "th" pronunciation. As the majority of us pronounce it like a D. "The" becomes deh, "these" becomes deese. They usually just seem to put some sort of lilt into the Irish accent and think that'll cut it.

Maybe where you're from people can't talk properly. It's mainly just the 'Thr' pronunciation that I find most people slipping up on. e.g. 'Tree' instead of 'Three'

Anakin.S

LittleBook wrote: »

C'mon people!!

Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins wins hands down!

Closely followed by Mickey Rooney's cringeworthy performance in Breakfast at Tiffany's

And don't even get me started on Kevin Costner in Prince of Thieves

:pac:

http://movies.about.com/od/toppicks/tp/Worst-Movie-Accents.htm

Numbers 1, 3 & 8

mikemac

Gerard Butler, worst category for PS I love you, woeful attempt at an Irish accent

He is Scottish, I expected better

saintsaltynuts

Best Irish accent by an American was John Voight in The General.Worst was take your pick......