5 Great Performances By Infamously Bad Actors

1) Burt Reynolds In Boogie Nights

In some ways, Burt Reynolds is like the Nicolas Cage for the generation above him: For every good movie he’s in, there’re inevitably 5 or 6 bad ones to fill the space between them. But whilst many of Cage’s sorry shifts have been so over-the-top campy that they’re almost entertaining in their awfulness, Reynolds’ regularly woeful appearances have simply been dull, dreary and demoralizing.

After two largely dismal decades in the 1980’s and 90’s that featured embarrassing performances in Cannonball Run, Stroker Ace, and Cop and a Half, Reynolds’ career seemed all but dead in the ground. In 1997, however, he took a part in a little movie named Boogie Nights, and showed everyone in the world how good he really can be.

Reynolds strikes all the right notes as Jack Horner; a 1970’s pornography director looking to recruit promising youngster Dirk Diggler (Mark Whalberg) into the business. There’re a plethora of richly drawn characters in Paul Thomas Anderson’s drama, but you’re always fully aware of Horner as the ambitious, seedy filmmaker. Reynolds plays him in just the right way, managing to balance the director’s lofty ambitions without ever going overboard and stealing the scene.

It’s a restrained, pitch-perfect effort that still manages to stand out even in a movie packed with impressive performances, and remains to this day one of the best of Reynolds’ career.