10 Movies With the Worst Accents, According to Reddit (original) (raw)

Published Jun 26, 2023, 10:00 PM EDT

Luc Haasbroek is a writer and videographer from Durban, South Africa. He has been writing professionally about pop culture for eight years. Luc's areas of interest are broad: he's just as passionate about psychology and history as he is about movies and TV. He's especially drawn to the places where these topics overlap.

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Few things take the viewer out of a movie faster than a bad accent. It shatters the suspension of disbelief and reminds you that you're watching actors, not real people. With this in mind, Redditors recently got together on r/movies, the largest film subreddit, to discuss which on-screen accents are the worst of all.

Plenty of contenders range from silly (Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained) to irredeemable (Don Cheadle in Ocean's Eleven). Admittedly, pulling off a convincing accent is no easy feat, but these actors fail so spectacularly that it can't be overlooked.

10 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' (1992)

Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) talking to Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) in 'Bram Stoker's Dracula'

Image via Columbia Pictures

Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula is one of the most interesting interpretations of the iconic story. The costume and set design is creative and atmospheric, and Gary Oldman excels in the title role. However, despite the film's many merits, Redditors were united in their disdain for Keanu Reeves's accent.

Reeves plays the Englishman Jonathan Harker, whose fiancée Mina (Winona Ryder) is targeted by Dracula. "Not only is [his accent] bad, it comes, goes, changes, or is non-existent. It's just a mess," said Redditor Infinispace. "Beyond it not sounding right, you can tell that it's causing him so much effort to focus on trying to pronounce words that his acting gets even stiffer," added user Iluewhyn.

9 'Black Mass' (2015)

Johnny Depp transformed for his starring role in Black Mass as real-life mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. Set in 1970s South Boston, Bulger forms an unholy alliance with FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), who turns a blind eye to Bulger's criminal activities in exchange for information on the mafia.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Whitey's brother William, a local politician. Cumberbatch is a great actor, but several Redditors felt that his accent Boston accent didn't sound authentic. "The accent was abysmal," said Redditor Im-on-a-rolla-gay. "Benedict sounded like he was doing a bad imitation of the Kennedys' 'Boston' accent," added user NoddlesrTuff1256.

8 'Django Unchained' (2012)

Django Unchained is a revisionist Western masterpiece, no doubt about it. It's jam-packed with killer set pieces and bravura directing. However, Quentin Tarantino's cameo as an Australian cowboy is something of a head-scratcher.

There's a kind of goofy charm to seeing QT on screen, but the scene is still a little jarring. He's not believable in the role, which does break the immersion somewhat. Redditor valomorn called Tarantino's accent simply "godawful." "According to rumor, [it] was somehow a vast improvement on the southern American accent he initially tried," they added.

7 'The Son' (2017-2019)

The Son is actually a TV series, but Pierce Brosnan's accent in it is so egregious that it deserves mention. Brosnan stars as Eli McCullough, a cutthroat cattle baron who oversees a sprawling business empire. He received harsh reviews for his singing in Mamma Mia!, but this is worse.

"Pierce Brosnan plays a Texas rancher, and whatever the hell his accent was supposed to be was HORRIBLE. My brother and I still watch the trailer on YouTube and laugh our asses off to this day," said user in a deleted comment.

6 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' (1991)

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves follows Robin of Locksley (Kevin Costner) as he returns to England from the Crusades, only to find his homeland oppressed by the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman). Robin forms a band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest to take on the wicked lawman.

"Apparently, [Costner] began filming with some accent, but it dropped as filming went on. I think you can hear his honest attempt in the opening scenes," said Redditor NFLinPDX. "Christian Slater in the same movie. He doesn't bother at all until the line 'Finish what you've started' and goes so f---ing hard on that last word it's hilarious to hear," added user CentralSaltServices.

5 'Seven Years in Tibet' (1997)

This historical drama centers on Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer (Brad Pitt) as he embarks on an expedition to climb the Himalayas in 1939. However, when World War II breaks out, Harrer and his fellow climber Peter Aufschnaiter (David Thewlis) are captured and held in a prisoner-of-war camp in India.

Pitt received a Stinker Award nomination for Most Annoying Fake Accent. "It was so bad that about a third of the way through the movie, I noticed he just stopped doing it completely. I imagine he was coached by the director: 'About that Austrian accent Brad, yeah, let’s just not…'" said user paulrin.

4 'The Jackal' (1997)

In The Jackal, Richard Gere plays an imprisoned IRA sniper who is offered his freedom in exchange for killing a mysterious assassin (Bruce Willis). This leads to a deadly game of cat-and-mouse across multiple countries. It's a loose remake of 1973's The Day of the Jackal but falls far short of that movie.

"I feel like the only reason nobody's pointed out Richard Gere's Irish accent in The Jackal is because nobody's watched the movie for more than 20 years," said Redditor blearghhh_two. "That was a terrible attempt, though in fairness most attempts at an Irish accent are awful," replied user CormacN.

3 'Anaconda' (1997)

Anaconda follows a documentary film crew led by Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) on a mission to capture footage of a legendary giant anaconda. However, their expedition takes a sinister turn when they encounter a snake-hunting poacher named Paul Sarone (Jon Voight) with his own agenda.

Voight delivers the campiest performance of his career, with a truly bizarre accent to boot. "They probably figured that nobody knows what a Paraguayan accent sounds like, so who would really care?" said Redditor Blueman9966.

2 'Ocean's Eleven' (2001)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

In Ocean's Eleven, Steven Soderbergh's delightful heist caper, Don Cheadle plays British explosives expert Basher Tarr. His accent is notoriously atrocious, to the point that some critics have ranked it among the worst screen accents ever. "My agent said it was fine," Cheadle has explained. "Even though everyone laughs at me. So I sacked her, of course."

"Weirdly, it actually adds to my enjoyment of Ocean's Eleven. The movie is fun as f---, so hearing Cheadle do whatever that accent is meant to be (because it definitely isn't [Cockney]) just adds to the comedy," said user SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS.

1 'Mary Poppins' (1964)

Mary Poppins is a true classic that has enchanted generations of viewers. Dick Van Dyke plays Mary's friend Bert, a lovable jack-of-all-trades. His acting is good, but his attempt at a Cockney accent is wince-inducing. "Van Dyke explained that they gave him a dialect coach, and the actor just did as he was told. Nobody on the production, which was full of Brits, ever told him it was so bad," said user tibbles1.

In 2017, when Van Dyke received a BAFTA award, he jokingly said, "I appreciate this opportunity to apologize to the members of BAFTA for inflicting on them the most atrocious Cockney accent in the history of cinema."

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