17 cases when the acting was better than the resulting film (18 photos)
These are those cases when the actors were great and gave excellent performances, but the film with their participation as a whole clearly left much to be desired. 
Here are films from the series “worth watching just for the sake of...” and then the name of one actor who (most often alone) carried the film on his shoulders from the abyss of passers-by. You may like many of the films on our list, but their ratings are very average, that is, they are not appreciated by the mass audience as a whole.
But what definitely shouldn’t be doubted is the first-class performance given by some actors who were not hindered by a weak plot or direction. For some, the role in such a film became the brightest point in their career, while others simply glanced for a few minutes at an average project and turned out to be the most noticeable part of it.
1. Jim Carrey in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) 
Just as the secondary character played by Kerry, according to the plot of the film, drew the attention of the public from the main characters, so the actor himself turned out to be the only bright spot in a rather unremarkable comedy.
2. Adam Driver in the movie Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Sunrise" (2019) 
The latest Star Wars trilogy received very average reviews overall, and the final film was a complete flop. However, it is difficult not to note the performance of Adam Driver, for whom the role of Kylo Ren became the starting point for getting leading roles in big films.
3. Margot Robbie in the film “Suicide Squad” (2016) 
The actress managed to play the most important role in her career in one of the most vociferously criticized films of the 10s. However, the public liked her character Harley Quinn so much that Robbie played her in two more films. Including in the sequel to Suicide Squad.
4. Tom Hardy in the movie “Venom” (2018) 
Another Marvel comics movie that was a box office success but not an artistic success. When Tom Hardy was in the picture, and not his CGI version of Venom, everything was great, but the film was let down by the script and the main villain in particular. By the way, the sequel to “Venom” is also coming out this year, only in September.
5. James McAvoy in Split (2016) 
It’s unlikely that anyone could do a better job of playing a man in whom 23 personalities coexist than James McAvoy. However, the performance of the Scottish actor does not remove from “Split” all the illogicalities of the plot and its protractedness.
6. Octavia Spencer in Ma (2019) 
Casting an Oscar-winning actress as the lead in a typical horror movie doesn't make that horror movie a good movie.
Reviewed by "Ma" and Octavia Spencer.
7. Ben Affleck as Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017) 
DC Comics films directed by Zack Snyder have left a mixed impression on audiences and can hardly compete with Tim Burton's two Batman films from the 90s and Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.
However, the choice of Ben Affleck to play Bruce Wayne was an unexpected and very successful casting decision. On the Internet, his performance is seriously compared to the acting of Christian Bale and Michael Keaton - and this is well deserved.
8. Jennifer Lawrence in Joy (2015) 
The film about the inventor of the miracle mop did not become a particularly entertaining spectacle for moviegoers, but Jennifer Lawrence received a Golden Globe for her performance in the title role, because she was really good in this film.
9. Johnny Depp in the film “Alice in Wonderland” (2010) 
Tim Burton's visually impressive film reimagining the works of Lewis Carroll turned out to be quite strange and not always in a good way. But Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter is definitely one of the most memorable characters in the actor's career.
10. Renee Zellweger in the film “Judy” (2019) 
The absolutely unrecognizable Renée Zellweger won an Oscar for her performance in the dramatic role of singer and actress Judy Garland, but few people were interested in the film itself and few people liked it.
11. Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz in Big Eyes (2015) 
That rare case when both leading actors do an excellent job, but the plot and direction drag them down. Still, the latest films of director Tim Burton (including “Alice in Wonderland”) are noticeably inferior to his early works.
12. Jennifer Aniston in the movie “Cake” (2014) 
By far the best dramatic role in Jennifer Aniston's film career (that is, not counting the series "The Morning Show"), where she suddenly does not appear in the image of Rachel from "Friends", fell on a not very successful film. However, the actress received several prestigious nominations, since she is simply unrecognizable here.
13. Michael Fassbender in Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017) 
The same thing is happening with the latest Alien films as with the latest Terminators - viewers all over the world are asking their creators to stop making new parts! But the way Michael Fassbender plays the roles of several androids at once still attracts attention and interest.
14. Tim Roth in Planet of the Apes (2001) 
The remake, which received low ratings and three Golden Raspberry nominations, still gave the world a unique role by Tim Roth, who was good even under many layers of makeup.
15. Charlize Theron in the film “Snow White and the Huntsman” (2012) 
This is the same case when a top actress played her roles as a villain superbly, but everyone else didn’t bother to follow her example.
16. Raul Julia in the film “Street Fighter” (1994) 
One of the first attempts to make a video game movie was a complete failure, and this picture has the worst ratings on our entire list (even despite the presence of Jean-Claude Van Damme). But the overall failure of the project had one “but” - the villain Bison played by Raul Julius, who made his way through the terrible script with his acting as best he could.
17. Tim Curry in It (1990) 
The public loves the new film adaptation of this novel by Stephen King with Bill Skarsgart in the role of Pennywise. But Tim Curry, in a made-for-TV movie with a much smaller budget, had a more difficult task - he had to carry the entire film on himself. And as a result, his image of a creepy clown is still remembered and praised.
