Register  |   Log In  |  
Sign up to our weekly newsletter    
Follow us on   
Search   
Forum Home Register for Free! Log In Moderator Tickets FAQ Users Online

Worst British Accents Ever

  		Logged in as: Guest
  Printable Version
All Forums >> [Feedback] >> Empire Online >> Worst British Accents Ever Page: [1] 2 3   next >   >>
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
Worst British Accents Ever - 27/8/2009 6:55:07 PM   
Empire Admin

 

Posts: 26526
Joined: 29/6/2005
Post your comments on this article
Post #: 1
worst Irish accents in Movies - 27/8/2009 6:55:07 PM   
darabrady8

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 24/2/2008
The Irish accent has been butchered by Hollywood over the years, for example, Richard Gere in the Jackal. Just awful. Although Brad Pitt redeemed himself in Snatch after the ceili singing attempt in the Devil's Own.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 2
Accents - 27/8/2009 8:55:00 PM   
robbie harr

 

Posts: 2
Joined: 3/3/2009
I didnt think Portman in V For Vendetta was bad at all. I do, however, think that Captain Jack Sparrow sounds more Australian then British to be honest, although i do love Johnny Depp. On the subject of Irish accents, Leonardo DiCaprio in Gangs of New York was really pretty poor...

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 3
- 27/8/2009 10:07:58 PM   
philglasgow

 

Posts: 10
Joined: 15/1/2009
"Mike Myers can do a good Scottish accent. A very good Scottish accent, in fact, as seen in 1993's So I Married An Axe Murderer, and it's not really that surprising considering his Scottish heritage and rampant Anglophilia."

Seriously? I think using the word 'anglophilia' in connection with a man's fascination with all things Scottish is a bit dumb.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 4
Don Cheadle - 27/8/2009 10:44:38 PM   
bobthegrinch

 

Posts: 109
Joined: 21/11/2007
The Don Cheadle clip was a poor choice. He doesn't have enough dialogue in the clip you selected to really highlight how truly awful he was at being British (why anyway? couldn't they cast a brit or have Don Cheadle be American?). In fact that clip almost gives the impression he did an 'arf decent job guv'nor.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 5
- 27/8/2009 10:57:41 PM   
freemantle_uk

 

Posts: 70
Joined: 29/2/2008
What about Mel Gibson in the God-awful Braveheart or Charlie Hunnam in Green Street?

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 6
HOW DID YOU MISS THIS ONE????? - 27/8/2009 11:00:57 PM   
Romelllo

 

Posts: 1
Joined: 24/3/2007
From: 17
 Come on! Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors. That has to be the absolute worst british accent in a movie ever! I couldn't take that movie seriously after her first line of dialogue, I would just giggle every time she spoke.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 7
Get Over It - 28/8/2009 1:16:50 AM   
jswindle

 

Posts: 3
Joined: 15/3/2007
You Brits take your accents much too seriously. I loathe how most of the English laugh and laugh all the time about American actors trying to pull off British accents yet are just as bad at trying to pull off the opposite. I mean, have you seen The Ugly Truth? It was hard enough watching that train wreck of movie without having to listen to Gerard Butler strain his Scottish jaw into an American accent...pure horror.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 8
Get Over It - 28/8/2009 1:19:27 AM   
jswindle

 

Posts: 3
Joined: 15/3/2007
You Brits take your accents much too seriously. I loathe how most of the English laugh and laugh all the time about American actors trying to pull off British accents yet are just as bad at trying to pull off the opposite. I mean, have you seen The Ugly Truth? It was hard enough watching that train wreck of movie without having to listen to Gerard Butler strain his Scottish jaw into an American accent...pure horror.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 9
Get Over It - 28/8/2009 1:19:30 AM   
jswindle

 

Posts: 3
Joined: 15/3/2007
You Brits take your accents much too seriously. I loathe how most of the English laugh and laugh all the time about American actors trying to pull off British accents yet are just as bad at trying to pull off the opposite. I mean, have you seen The Ugly Truth? It was hard enough watching that train wreck of movie without having to listen to Gerard Butler strain his Scottish jaw into an American accent...pure horror.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 10
- 28/8/2009 1:50:36 AM   
Agent69


Posts: 57
Joined: 18/12/2006
Please do best British accents too.
(Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors has a brilliant accent).

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 11
Wrong country! - 28/8/2009 8:03:48 AM   
almeyer

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 11/4/2006
What about Mrs Doubtfire - she's supposedly english but speaks with a scottish accent.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 12
Dodgy accents.... - 28/8/2009 8:24:55 AM   
Rustyfourbears

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 28/10/2006
How can this list not contain....
Brion James in Tango & Cash
or
Robert Englund in the Adventures of Ford Fairlane "Ello ello ello"

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 13
I Love Accents - 28/8/2009 8:32:03 AM   
YoungMovieStar

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 11/10/2005
From: Nottingham
 Changing my voice to become someone from somewhere else is something I can do. Don't know how or why, it just is. Listening to actors attempt accents is sometimes painful. Rene Zellweger in Bridget Jones, Ewan MacGregor as Alec Guinness, sorry, Obi-Wan, and the ones mentioned above. I don't see why you can't cast the correct nationality for the role, or simply change the nationality to suit the actor. Why did Gerard Butler have to be "Oirish" in PS I Love You? He could have easily been a Scottish character. And Sean Connery ALWAYS sounds the same - I didn't even recognise that Malone in The Untouchables was meant to be Irish (although the name gives it away). Anyway, accents, unless better than amazing, should be left to the native speakers...

YMS x

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 14
Fair point - 28/8/2009 9:23:28 AM   
chris wootton

 

Posts: 385
Joined: 15/9/2006
Regarding Brits who can't do American accents (James Mcavoy in wanted for one). I just can't stand bad accents whoever does them, its totally distracting from the film, Mike Myers in Inglorious Basterds has been the worst for a while. Although my favorite has to be Richard Gere in the Jackal.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 15
worst Irish accents in Movies - 28/8/2009 10:47:56 AM   
Rushey

 

Posts: 1
Joined: 19/6/2009
Have to agree , the Irish accents have to be the worst. Some of the worst examples are Billy Connolly's attempt in The Last Samurai (why?) or Tom Cruise in Far and Away. But the hands down worst accent that I have ever heard has to be Dominic West in Punisher: War Zone as some kind of mafioso. Wow.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 16
RE: worst Irish accents in Movies - 28/8/2009 11:42:53 AM   
fletch666


Posts: 30
Joined: 9/11/2005
quote:

ORIGINAL: Rushey

Have to agree , the Irish accents have to be the worst. Some of the worst examples are Billy Connolly's attempt in The Last Samurai (why?) or Tom Cruise in Far and Away. But the hands down worst accent that I have ever heard has to be Dominic West in Punisher: War Zone as some kind of mafioso. Wow.


Dominic West's accent in the punisher was hilarious, one of the hammiest performances ever in such an unintentionally piss funny film. Its watchable purely for the fact that him and the guy that plays his brother (eugene toombs in the x-files), seem to be trying to outdo each other in how ridicolously OTT there acting can be

(in reply to Rushey)
Post #: 17
Lest we forget - 28/8/2009 11:48:49 AM   
JurgenKlinsmann

 

Posts: 9
Joined: 23/11/2005
Charlie Hunnam in green street, a geordie doing cockney about as bad as it can get

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 18
- 28/8/2009 1:08:16 PM   
BabsyBuck


Posts: 277
Joined: 5/2/2008
From: Brighton.
 I thought Fat Bastard was a terrific accent!

AS FOR MISCHA BARTON. PAH!

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 19
HUH - 28/8/2009 1:28:36 PM   
FoxDhoj


Posts: 89
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Winchester, Hants
 Hasn't anyone mentioned Sean Connery's accent in The Untouchables?! SO BAD!
Also, whoever was moaning about Brits doing American accents, I admit we find it difficult to differentiate the regional accents, but we're still pretty good, I mean, just watch The Wire. Then get back to me.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 20
Four words - 28/8/2009 5:25:11 PM   
CobaltBlue

 

Posts: 2
Joined: 16/3/2007
Josh Hartnett. Blow Dry.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 21
- 28/8/2009 5:28:52 PM   
InvisibleDuncan

 

Posts: 4
Joined: 23/4/2008
It's when they do it off-the-cuff that really annoys me. How many times have you seen a big Hollywood star come over here to do a chat show, and then, for no reason other than, presumably, to be offensive, they repeat what the interviewer says in some Godawful mangled facsimile of the interviewer's accent? I don't know whether they think we'll find them endearing, but really, we don't.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 22
Four words - 28/8/2009 5:37:29 PM   
CobaltBlue

 

Posts: 2
Joined: 16/3/2007
Josh Hartnett. Blow Dry.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 23
irish accents in moves - 28/8/2009 5:38:06 PM   
shaunoc

 

Posts: 26
Joined: 2/4/2007
Dominic West did have a dreadful Irish accent in punisher, and the fact they gave him the surname "McGinty". I mean that has to be racist or something

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 24
Fuck Me! - 28/8/2009 5:57:47 PM   
jimoakley666


Posts: 578
Joined: 26/5/2006
From: Wales
 Cringe cringe mother fuckin' cringe. Shoot the bastards, one and all. There are tonnes of British actors out there who are better than the majority of them and could probably do their yanks accents better than they could themselves to boot!

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 25
This is our shot at gloorrrrry lads - 28/8/2009 6:52:27 PM   
fraserm

 

Posts: 8
Joined: 4/3/2006
Surely Robert Duvall's turn as the manager in A Shot At Glory deserves a place? About as convincing as Ally McCoist as a Celtic player!

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 26
RE: This is our shot at gloorrrrry lads - 28/8/2009 8:27:52 PM   
The Prodigy

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 15/11/2008
There are quite a few British actors who did such good American accents that a lot of Americans didn't realise they weren't American e.g. Hugh Laurie in 'House', Dominic West and Idris Elba in 'The Wire', etc. That reminds me, Dominic West does a bloody awful English accent in one episode of 'The Wire'. Now that's acting. An English actor playing an American who accurately portrays American's terrible attempts at an English accent.

There are more different accents in Britain than there are different American accents. When Americans try to do British accents they always do Mockney (speaking in 50% rhyming slang) or a posh accent that makes the Queen sound common.

< Message edited by The Prodigy -- 28/8/2009 8:35:04 PM >

(in reply to fraserm)
Post #: 27
This shows my taste in movies... - 28/8/2009 11:00:39 PM   
YearOfTheHorse

 

Posts: 1
Joined: 17/11/2008
Lindsay Lohan in the Parent Trap was hilarious. One of the only reasons I remember the movie, to be honest. She tried a bit too much, I think.

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 28
How About A Little Perspective? - 29/8/2009 3:46:48 AM   
benskelly


Posts: 221
Joined: 28/8/2007
From: To Your Immediate Left
 I love you, Brits, really. But the earlier poster is right.

If you think that this is a one-way street then you are sadly deluded. There has been many a terrible American accent from British actors - even the late great Laurence Olivier had a couple dodgy ones. You flatten vowels into pancakes and talk through your nose like you have a cold; sometimes you sound like you're in a 1930's movie, sometimes a cartoon. And you seem as blissfully unaware of the subtlety of localisms (Chicago is not Boston, etc) as we are of yours. Despite her other Oscar-winning performance from the same year, Kate Winslet has a terrible accent in Revolutionary Road. Very painful on the ears. Hugh Laurie sounds like no American I have ever heard in my life in House...that is a completely bizarre, alien accent. Bob Hoskins, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham-Carter, Ewan McGregor (check out the new trailer on the front page), Emma Thompson, James McAvoy, the list goes on.   Why do you think we started hiring Aussies and Kiwis to play us? LOL.

But, truth be told, I could also make a list with Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale and Rachel Weisz on it about those Brits that do it so well you don't even think about it.   

The point is not everybody is Meryl Streep.  Oh wait, nix that, she's American...

In the States, we just don't get as hung up on accents as you do, we accept Sean Connery as an Irish cop and a Russian sub captain. Or Tom Wilkinson as an Italian gangster or a Southern Secretary Of State.  (Trust me, neither were "accurate", but they were lots of fun).  Surely the totality of the whole performance and personality is what matters in the end. We also rarely mention it when they get it wrong.

If you're always waiting for and expecting failure from every Yank who dares play a Brit, then I think you are being pedantic and sapping the joy out of whatever each actor brings to the table. Al Pacino's Cuban accent in Scarface is probably all wrong, but who gives a shit? It's a wonderful outsized performance I wouldn't change for anything.

Oh and for god's sake let Dick Van Dyke die in peace, will ya'?  Jesus.  Statute of limitations??  

< Message edited by benskelly -- 29/8/2009 3:58:46 AM >

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 29
You should definitely do one for Irish accents... - 29/8/2009 6:26:28 AM   
hobbes

 

Posts: 14
Joined: 1/2/2006
From: Hong Kong
 There are much worse cases of that happening in films than people butchering the American or English accents!!

< Message edited by hobbes -- 29/8/2009 6:27:02 AM >

(in reply to Empire Admin)
Post #: 30
Page:   [1] 2 3   next >   >>
All Forums >> [Feedback] >> Empire Online >> Worst British Accents Ever Page: [1] 2 3   next >   >>
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts


 
Movie News  |  Empire Blog  |  Movie Reviews  |  Future Films  |  Features  |  Video Interviews  |  Image Gallery  |  Competitions  |  Forum  |  Magazine  |  Resources
 
Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI

0.109