I love language, and accents and dialects so I thought it'd be fun to come up with the worst and best movie accents out there.

I'll start.

THE WORST:

Groundskeeper Willie – Scottish (the Simpsons)
Richard Gere – Irish (The Jackal)
Natalie Portman – A bit harsh perhaps, but she couldn’t make up her mind which English dialect she was doing (V for vendetta)
Mel Gibson – Scottish (Braveheart)
Keanu Reeves – Deep South (The Devil’s Advocate)

Keanu Reeves ties with Keanu Reeves in any movie where he’s doing an English accent.

Plus all of the American actors in "On the Beach" who tried to do an Australian accent.

Also I think it’d only be fair to mention a Brit who can’t do an American accent, but I can’t find a really great example out there. Clive Owen in Sin City, perhaps?

THE BEST:

The two at the top of my list are those I know best, so I can definitely vouch for those. the others I’m not experts in, but they convinced and impressed me.

1.     Meryl Streep - Danish (out of Africa)
2.     Sarah Polley – Actually supposed to be Norwegian but ends up doing Danish because the people playing Norwegians in the film are Danish – still very admirable (the Weight of Water)
3.     Cate Blanchett – Deep South (The Gift)
4.     Cate Blanchett – Irish (Veronica Guerin)
5.     Frances McDormand – Minnesota (Fargo)

Honorable mentions:

Anthony LaPaglia – well he lost his Aussie accent but but I think he does a pretty good cockney thing, doesn’t he?

I like Kate Hudson in About Adam as well, but I know some Irish people think it’s a dreadful accent, and claim she speaks Scouse (Liverpool) so they should probably know.

Jamie Bamber on Battlestar Galactica hides his English accent extremely well too.

Also Toni Collette always does an awesome job with her accents, IMO.


If I got something wrong, native speakers of that dialect feel free to put me in my place.

I really liked Kate Winslet's accent in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

From the previews, Freddie Highmore sounds like he has a pretty good accent in August Ruth.

Any one trying to do a Boston accent is nearly always wrong, with the obvious exception of the Departed, in which case only Madolyn was unbearable, everyone else...spot on.

Gandolfini in The Sopranos. Not exactly a movie, but he found a great sound for Tony Soprano. And Gandolfini sounds nothing like that.


Matt.

We all forgetting the worst?!? "Robbin hood prince of thieves"!!! Keven Costner did a horrible British accent!

The worst:

Kevin Kline as a Frenchman in "French Kiss"

and

Jean Reno as Elvis in "Godzilla" (lol)



Michel

The Best:

Hugh Jackman's American accent in "X-Men or Swordfish"
Hank Azaria's Guatamalan accent in "The Birdcage"
Samuel L. Jackson's *I think* Jamacian accent in "Resurrecting The Champ."
Don Cheadle's English accent in "Ocean's 11 - 13"

The Worst:

Cam Clarke's British accent in "Twin Snakes"
Alex Boldstens Jewish accent in "Family Guy"

Quoted from Kamran Nikhad Alex Boldstens Jewish accent in "Family Guy"

Maybe it's because Lois Griffin is a Protestant character.


Phil

Quoted from dogglebe Maybe it's because Lois Griffin is a Protestant character. Phil

That could have something to do with it.

Quoted from Kamran Nikhad The Best: Hugh Jackman's American accent in "X-Men or Swordfish" Hank Azaria's Guatamalan accent in "The Birdcage" Samuel L. Jackson's *I think* Jamacian accent in "Resurrecting The Champ." Don Cheadle's English accent in "Ocean's 11 - 13" The Worst: Cam Clarke's British accent in "Twin Snakes" Alex Boldstens Jewish accent in "Family Guy"

Ooh. I actually think Don Cheadle's cockney is rather unconvincing. It's more of a good impersonation. He still pronounces his O's like an American if my memory serves me right.

Can we get a ruling from some Brits (Englishmen actually)?

Quoted from Death Monkey Ooh. I actually think Don Cheadle's cockney is rather unconvincing. It's more of a good impersonation. He still pronounces his O's like an American if my memory serves me right. Can we get a ruling from some Brits (Englishmen actually)?

I think he over does the accent, it's too cockney for its own good.  It's a bit too cliched is what I'm trying to say.  I'm not from London so someone else might know better but, I would imagine that yes cockney rhyming slag is used but he over uses in my opinion.

Quoted from alffy I think he over does the accent, it's too cockney for its own good.  It's a bit too cliched is what I'm trying to say.  I'm not from London so someone else might know better but, I would imagine that yes cockney rhyming slag is used but he over uses in my opinion.

Well one problem with that is when you are trying to pull a different accent, that you kind of have to base it with over exaggeration in some cases since the actor isn't native British, or English, or Irish or Scottish, etc.

Exageration is actually a trademark of a mediocre accent, IMO. If anybody's still wtaching Heroes, then you'll know they've got two terrible Irish accents by Americans on that show. The irish accent is famously mutilated by Americans, from the Jackal to The Devil's Own.

But then look at Cate Blanchett for Veronica Guerin. Well, look at Cate Blanchett for pretty much any accent. She masters subtlety of dialect and doesn't exaggerate, which is why it becomes more than an impersonation. She doesn't sound like some one doing an accent, she sounds like someone having one.

At least to me.

I'll nominate every British actor who ever played an Australian in TV’s MASH. Sorry guys, your accents weren’t even close.

Quoted from Takeshi I'll nominate every British actor who ever played an Australian in TV’s MASH. Sorry guys, your accents weren’t even close.

Have you seen On the Beach?

Quoted from Death Monkey Have you seen On the Beach?

    
  

No, but Ava Gardner was quoted as saying “I couldn't imagine a better place [Australia] for making a film on the end of the world.”

Obviously she wasn't overly impressed with my fair country.  

But who could blame her? It would've been a cultural backwater in 1959.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Americans cast as Australians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIHa8Mb_bL8

Fast forward to 2:10 an listen to their conversation. Donna Anderson and Anthony Perkins are both playing Australians.

But Ava Gardner is worse.

I just saw Talladega Nights and I have to say Sacha Baron Cohen's French accent was pretty horrendous. There's a good chance it was intentional but it was horrendous either way. There was also too much British in Clive Owen's American accent in Sin City.

As for the good, I thought Christian Bale's American accent in American Psycho was fantastic and was so flamboyant, it made everything he said funnier (yes, I thought American Psycho was funny; it's one of the best satires out there).

Those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Honestly, it's hard for me to say which accents are good and which ones are bad considering I can't mimic accents on my life. Even the bad ones are better than anything I could try and pull off.

Quoted from Death Monkey I was thinking more along the lines of the Americans cast as Australians. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIHa8Mb_bL8 Fast forward to 2:10 an listen to their conversation. Donna Anderson and Anthony Perkins are both playing Australians. But Ava Gardner is worse.

Yeah. They sound like Brits.

Quoted from Takeshi Yeah. They sound like Brits.

I'd go so far as saying they sound like Americans trying to sound like Brits.

They still got the retroflex American R-thing going, and notice Donna Anderson's line "they must be giving you a ship of your own". The O in Own is American. And she pronounces the post-vocalic R in "ill oR something" which isn't pronounced in most English dialects. Maybe if you're from Bristol or something.

But her tone is definitely trying to emulate Englishness.

It's just a mess.  

Quoted from Death Monkey I'd go so far as saying they sound like Americans trying to sound like Brits. They still got the retroflex American R-thing going, and notice Donna Anderson's line "they must be giving you a ship of your own". The O in Own is American. And she pronounces the post-vocalic R in "ill oR something" which isn't pronounced in most English dialects. Maybe if you're from Bristol or something. But her tone is definitely trying to emulate Englishness. It's just a mess.

Yeah. It was ordinary. But if the American audiences didn't notice the studio wouldn't have cared.

I think back then people didn't care much about authentic accents. Dick van Dyke and Clark Gable could play brits and speak comepletely American.

Today, a good accent could win you an Oscar nomination.

Yeah. Leonardo DiCaprio did a great South African accent in Blood Diamond.

I'll probably get flamed by a South African now.  

And don't forget Sean Connery in Highlander and Hunt for Red October.


Phil

I was gonna say.  Dick Van Dyke's "English" accent in Mary Poppins is the biggest disaster since, uh, the Gorn fight in Star Trek.

Also Nicolas Cage in Con Air.  Makes the movie more fun but uh, not working.  Oh and Nicolas Cage  again in Vampire's Kiss.  If you can find that one, it's worth renting just to hear that freaking accent.

Al Pacino in Revolution, the movie so bad that he quit acting for four years.

As for good, hmm...that's no fun.  I'd prefer to pick on people.