The worst performances of 2024

It is possible to enjoy a good bad film, but it is impossible to watch a good actor give a bad performance and not wonder, "What they were thinking?" It’s one thing for an actor to be enjoyably hammy like Jeremy Irons hamming it up in the Jason Statham vehicle, “The Beekeeper,” early this year, but it is another thing for the once promising Jason Patric to appear as a cop in the recent human trafficking drama, “City of Dreams.” But these are not bad performances, just talent being squandered. 01 Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf and Jon Voight in “Megalopolis” Adam Driver in "Megalopolis" Several of the men in Francis Ford Coppola’s crazy fever dream of a film can’t quite rise to the material perhaps because it is overly ambitious.. As Cesar Catilina, the creator of Megalon, which can stop time, perennial listee Adam Driver can’t stop viewers from laughing when he breaks into a Shakespearean soliloquy or spouts pretentious dialogue like, “Don’t let the now destroy the forever,” or instructs Julia to, “Go back to the cluuuuub!” Driver, however, is marginally better than Shia LaBeouf who plays Cesar’s cousin, Clodio Pulcher. 05 Henry Cavill in “Argylle” Henry Cavill in “Argylle” While many of the cast members get to play double roles in Matthew Vaughn’s joyless action comedy “Argylle,” Henry Cavill gets double-crossed, As the title spy, a fictional figment of writer Elly Conway’s imagination, Cavill does not get much to do — and he does nothing much. 06 Ed Skrein in “Rebel Moon” Ed Skrein in “Rebel Moon” If a film is only as good as its villain, Ed Skrein is one big reason why Zack Snyder’s space opera is so awful.