The Top Five One-Trick Ponies
Friday, August 22, 2008 at 12:04AM 5 - Paul Walker
4 - Jean-Claude Van Damme
3 - Jon Heder
2 - Rob Schneider
1 - Steven Seagal
This exercise gave us tons of nominations, and with very few exceptions, they were bad actors. First, the more surprising finds: William Shatner (not a great actor but a great personality), Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Anthony Hopkins (?), George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, John Wayne, and Mickey Rourke.
Now to the parade of the expected: Ashton Kutcher, Adam Sandler, Vin Diesel, Martin Lawrence, Robert Englund, Jet Li, Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack Black, Jennifer Aniston (ha!), Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, DMX, and Ryan Philippe.
Why no Keanu? And why no Jason Statham? Well, Statham came a lot closer to making this list than Reeves, because of his penchant for drive fast, take your shirt off, and wrestle with a bunch of guys in oil movies. But I don't think we're far enough along in his career - nor is he a big enough star, frankly - that he can qualify. Plus, Snatch and Lock, Stock are terrific, and The Bank Job was really good. He didn't drive nearly as fast in that one.
Keanu is the go-to pick, at least for people who don't bother to watch his movies. Is he a great actor? No. But he's taken very interesting films over the years, like Constantine and A Scanner Darkly, and even Street Kings was pretty effective. And while those characters certainly have some similarities, I wouldn't say he's repeating himself with his interpretations or with the tones of the movies. As for our offenders, there has to be room for Paul Walker on this list, right? He made two interesting movies in a row a couple of years ago, at least by his "standard," with Eight Below and Running Scared. Granted, the rest of the filmography doesn't say much for him, and he's so incredibly bad. He actually makes Chris Klein - who mysteriously was not mentioned by anyone - look marginally competent.
However, Walker - and probably half his movies - still can't compare with Jean-Claude Van Damme. I'd have him higher but he was found out pretty early. There were only about five legitimate Van Damme movies before they all started heading straight to video. At that point, the expectation is that you play the same character over and over, so it's kind of hard to fault him for that.
Jon Heder has some of the Van Damme argument: There's just not much to go on. However, he's probably the worst actor in show business, so considering that even in his limitations he's not any good, I have to include him here. Put it this way: When your debut performance is best characterized by being mistaken for intentionally bad acting, it might not be your thing.
I strongly considered Adam Sandler. Five years ago he would've made this list. In every movie he yells and hits something. But even in Click I thought he was slightly different from the Sandler of old and although I didn't love Reign Over Me, he was good. He was certainly not the same guy that we saw in Happy Gilmore. But Rob Schneider has played the same guy in Sandler movies, meaning he's a one-trick pony to someone else's one-trick pony. And unlike the other members of this shameful stable, he repeats the same line in all the movies, just to remind you how pitiful he is.
And finally, we get to Steven Seagal. I don't really need to say anything here, do I? Let's just back in this moment of ponytailed glory.











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