I just don't like you

[Snake Plissken]

Mention of Bill Murray in another thread inspired this one.

Actors or actresses who, no matter their talent level and even if they are playing the hero, you just don't like watching. The point is that they aren't crap - often completely the opposite - and even possibly tremendously nice people who save drowning kitten in their spare time but even when they are playing the good guy and they appear on a screen, you just, I dunno, roll your eyes or something.

The aforementioned Mr Murray, who is an excellent actor. However, most of the time, he just seems to be this close to staring straight into the camera and saying "this entire thing is stupid and so are you for paying money to see it". He just comes across as either "cannot be arsed" or "well, I'm doing what the hell I want so if it pisses the audience off then good".

I was re-watching Red Heat and I remembered it was during that inexplicable phase where James Belushi was being pushed as some kind of leading man. I get that his schtick was he was supposed to be a bit of a jerk, but there never seemed to be any redeeming qualities to any of his heroic characters, apart from not shouting for two minutes.

Jason Lee. Apparently My Name Is Earl is very good. But he's in it.

Ben Stiller. Vince Vaughan. Dodgeball is infinitely better when these two aren't on the screen.

[ad hoc]

Tom Hanks - by all accounts a smashing bloke, obviously respected for his acting by his peers (who know more about these things than I do), but I just don't like him. Not every film he's been in is awful, but many are, and often because of his presence (to be fair, no-one could have rescued the appalling shite bollocks that is Forrest Gump)

[RobW]

I got a bit fed up of Murray's schtick with Broken Flowers. You do wonder how much influence the director has on how Murray plays the main character, if any.

I can't stand Sean Penn.

[blameless]

I was re-watching Red Heat and I remembered it was during that inexplicable phase where James Belushi was being pushed as some kind of leading man. I get that his schtick was he was supposed to be a bit of a jerk, but there never seemed to be any redeeming qualities to any of his heroic characters, apart from not shouting for two minutes.

His schtick is that he's the still-living brother of a much funnier actor who died young.

Back to your original point, Benedict Cumberbatch for me. He's an excellent actor in the right roles (particularly Shakesperean ones), but far too often gets parts he's not suited for based on his fame and his pushy agent. And there was a spell about 10 years ago when you simply couldn't escape him, he was bloody everywhere.

[tee rex]

Vince Vaughan seconded, though that may be influenced by his off-screen unlikeability too.

Johnny Depp and Eddie Redmayne constantly annoy me, which limits my enjoyment of some pretty good films.

[wishis]

His schtick is that he's the still-living brother of a much funnier actor who died young.

Back to your original point, Benedict Cumberbatch for me. He's an excellent actor in the right roles (particularly Shakesperean ones), but far too often gets parts he's not suited for based on his fame and his pushy agent. And there was a spell about 10 years ago when you simply couldn't escape him, he was bloody everywhere.

But works well in Cabin Pressure

[blameless]

I can't stand Sean Penn.

Sean Penn's a woman-beater and a general-purpose utter arsehole, it's perfectly acceptable to dislike him.

[Simon G]

Seth Rogen. Can't stand anything he's in as a main character.

[Lang Spoon]

Daniel Day Lewis.

Ewan McGregor.

Nicole Kidman.

Colin Firth.

Daniel Craig.

David Jason.

Judi Dench.

seconded on Cumberface, Depp, Penn and Redmayne.

[Patrick Thistle]

It's not that I don't like him, but Mrs Thistle has expressed my feelings for me by sighing loudly when Martin Freeman has tipped up in something. He is almost as ubiquitous as Cumberbatch. Although he was quite good as Arthur Dent.

I've mentioned before my negative feelings about Ricky Gervais. He has one character and he acts it in everything, to the point where I think he might actually be that person.

[Sits]

This can be skewed by over-exposure, and I’m getting it with both the leads of Staged, Michael Sheen and David Tennant. Tennant seems to have been in an endless succession of relentlessly grim dramas, with the exception of the excellent The A Word. As for Sheen, he started out really well e.g. The Damned United but now plays Michael Sheen in everything. Staged put me further off them both. I’m sure I have others.

Mrs. S has the same Hanks issue as ad hoc, even though she knows he’s good and suspects she’s a nice bloke.

[3 Colours Red]

Noel Fielding.

By all accounts a decent enough bloke but fucking hell, his "I'm so kooky, me" schtick is incredibly grating to the point I want to destroy my TV. It's certainly not funny which is kind of a drawback for a comedian.

There'a whole series of Taskmaster that doesn't exist to me.

[andrew7610]

Taron Egerton. Absolutely no reason why, I just don't like him.

[Benjm]

Gerard Butler has always been a viewing deal breaker for me but I warmed to him a little in lighthouse-keeping-goes-bad drama The Vanishing. It helped that the film was fairly grim and his character had a particularly terrible time, so the scope for arrogant arseholery was limited.

[Lang Spoon]

Adrien Brody is a fuckin disgrace.

[ad hoc]

I'm going to save Lang Spoon a lot of time by providing him with this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_actors

[Lang Spoon]

Well, I like Tom Hanks.

[delicatemoth]

Leonardo di Caprio's face makes me feel a bit sick, so him.

[elguapo4]

And we haven't even got to Aiden Gillen yet.

[Discordant Resonance]

Not an actor, but Angela Scanlan makes my flesh creep for reasons inexplicable.

[San Bernardhinault]

I really struggle with Meryl Streep, even in films which are decent. She'll make a good film average, and an average film pretty much essential to avoid. Although she often picks films which are bad, too. When she is "doing an accent" particularly (for example, Thatcher or Julia Childs) she does the same dreadful pinchy round mouth thing that drives me crazy. I just can't understand why she is so widely loved. And she has managed to get worse over the course of her career.

Tom Hanks is the other way round. I used to find him pretty much unwatchable up until, maybe, Charlie Wilson's War. But since then he's actually taken a bunch of non-hateful roles and played them pretty well.

I think it goes without saying that Adam Sandler is unwatchable. That's not particularly controversial. It's hard to separate his dreadful acting and comedy schtick from his dreadful films and often some very dodgy content on mental health, race and sex.

And it turns out that I only thought Will Ferrell was watchable because of Anchorman.

[Lang Spoon]

Ach he's brilliant in The Other Guys.

[Lang Spoon]

Not an actor, but Angela Scanlan makes my flesh creep for reasons inexplicable.

Her twitchy presenting style makes me think she shares nosebag contacts with fuckin Tubs.

[Sits]

Adam Driver

[RobW]

Sean Penn's a woman-beater and a general-purpose utter arsehole, it's perfectly acceptable to dislike him.

I'm aware of his off-screen behaviour. Putting that to one side and focusing simply on his work, I find him a terrible actor.