16. 50 Cent
Curtis “Fitty” Jackson exploded onto the scene in 2002 after Eminem discovered his album Guess Who’s Back? The album posits a fair question, as Jackson was shot nine times while working as a street dealer in Queens. 50 got into the acting game as fast as he could with the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Samuel L. Jackson turned down a role, claiming he didn’t want to work with such an “unproven” actor, a nice way of saying the man just doesn’t know what he’s doing. 50’s role here is flat, then overwrought, then flat once again. All he seems to have mastered is his glare. He repeated the same kind of routine in the abysmal Pacino/De Niro team up Righteous Kill.
Jackson has had more success behind the camera, creating and producing the show Power. Still, the man’s ego created a role for himself, free to suck the oxygen out of any scene. Currently, he is developing an original superhero show. We can only hope he realizes it’s his great responsibility not to play the lead.
15. Weird Al Yankovic
After years of parodying other people’s songs, 1989 was the time for Weird Al Yankovic to make the leap to film. UHF exists today as an under-appreciated cult classic that’s part-Kentucky Fried Movie, part-straight romantic comedy. Not every joke lands, but they rarely do in a film assembled from so many parts. Many of them inspired, reminding the audience that though his parodies often go for the easy joke, some of his originals are clever, intelligent satire. They’re also a great litmus test for what struck chords with Americans at that time in history.
The film’s downfall, however, is Yankovic’s casting of himself as a simple straight man. They call him “Weird” for a reason, and his everyman persona doesn’t jibe with what fans expected to see, nor can he do it very well. He left all the loud, brassy comedy to castmate/latent racist Michael Richards.
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