10 Good Actors Who Make Mostly Bad Movies

Unfortunate Playing for Keeps star Gerard Butler isn't the only Hollywood player who's figuratively killing himself.

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Complex Original

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Talent is such a terrible thing to waste. Especially in Hollywood, where hack directors and pretty-faced actors with robotic skills often succeed, rake in millions of dollars, and leave struggling yet well-endowed (not in that way, pervs) artists without any power whatsoever. The best example of someone who really knows how to preserve his gifts is Daniel Day-Lewis, an astounding actor who occasionally emerges out of personal seclusion to headline prestigious films like Steven Spielberg's hit Lincoln, never shallowly accepting quick paychecks from undeserving employees. Guys like him are the genuine article.

Dudes like the following 10 Good Actors Who Mostly Make Bad Movies, meanwhile, are prototypes for what not to do with big-screen skills. Take Gerard Butler, for example: Squandering all of the good will earned from the critically lauded 2007 smash 300, Butler continually misuses his abilities in generic, dismissible fluff like Playing for Keeps (which tells the story of a youth soccer coach juggling soccer moms and opens nationwide Friday, if you're into that sort of thing). He, like everyone else you'll read about here, needs to smarten up and conserve filmic aptitude.

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Review by Matt Barone (@MBarone)

Nicolas Cage

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Mickey Rourke

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Adam Sandler

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Robert Pattinson

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Gerard Butler

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Forest Whitaker

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Malcolm McDowell

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Ray Liotta

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Stephen Dorff

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Adrien Brody

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