General Discussion

I originally wanted to make this a feature story, but it didn't quite come together. In my opinion, it's really tough for movie fans to judge whether or not a film accent is "bad" or not, simply because most of us probably pick up our knowledge of accents from other movies, so we're effectively working to distinguish fakery from fakery (excepting when people actually have an accent).

I don't even really know what I'm trying to say. I guess I just think that I always hear people talking about so-and-so actor's Boston accent as being really bad in a film, and realizing that I've seen so many Boston accents in movies that, having no close Boston friends, I really wouldn't be suitable to judge the accuracy of such an accent now, and that it's best left up to the Bostonites. A lot of the time when people complain about bad accents in films, I simply don't mind them, so long as they're not annoying and fairly consistent. Does that make sense at all?

I'd say the natives are qualified. I couldn't pick a bad English accent out of a lineup but after trying to watch The Wicker Tree recently, featuring some Brits attempting a southern American accent, man its really painful being on this side of the fence. It made that movie unwatchable. Some accents, when accurate, don't sound the way people expect them to sound. Tennessee southern really does sound as exaggerated as Forrest Gump, but would it be better for them to tone it back so he sounds less goofy? Maybe. Its a strange thing. I hear that's an issue for non-London English accents in the UK. There's perception and there's reality, Hollywood traditionally caters to perception. In which case, only about 6 accents exist. As opposed to the reality of several dozen English accents existing.

I agree. Most of my general knowledge of accents comes from movies unless they're British, so I can never really tell if it's inaccurate or bad unless it's completely obvious. Normally I'll only notice if an actor is using an accent if it's someone instantly recognisable, and even then I don't recall any that have ever put me off of a film, or their performance, because it's atrociously bad. I guess when people do British accents and it's only ever the posh "proper" kind or the Cockney kind, it can be a little irritating. Some diversity would be welcome, though I suppose the majority of British films only ever utilise those two ends of the spectrum as well, so you can't really blame them.

I guess you can only really judge an accent if you've grown up with the real thing. The only time I find time to complain is if they never even bother (like Sam Worthington in Man on a Ledge from the sound of things).

What the previous posters said. I'm from southern Louisiana (near New Orleans), and fake New Orleans accents always make me cringe. Hollywood would have people believe that a New Orleans accent sounds like a Savannah, Georgia accent. In reality the New Orleans accent sounds much like the accents of major port cities in the Northeast (New York, Boston, etc.).

I would say natives have a pretty good understanding of what sounds natural and what just sounds a little off. Being Australian I hear more than my fair share of horrific overacted accents from non Aussies. I am curious though how do Americans receive the Aussie actors who put an american accent on? Eric Bana in Black Hawk Down comes to mind as horrific but he was well accompanied by many poor English actors attempting accents in that film. Also Sam Worthington = Rubbish.

I agree that unless you've had some serious exposure to the authentic accent then it does make it hard to judge and I wouldn't want to come across as authoritative on the matter when I might not know best. I mean it's easy when it's so obviously horrendous like everything from Sean Connery that isn't his own.

@ElectricBoogaloo: Anne Hathaway's Yorkshire accent was mixed between half decent and half bad throughout One Day, but it didn't spoil the film for me really! Russell Crowe was equally patchy playing Robin Hood from Nottingham, but I would like more consideration given to other parts of the UK from American films. 51st State was pretty fun and I liked the Liverpool aspect of it.

The only time I really complain about a bad accent is when the actor isn't consistent with that accent. There are more than a few films I've seen where the actor sometimes has an accent and sometimes doesn't.

Oh, and I don't need to be English to know that Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent in Mary Poppins was rubbish, but I personally believe it adds to the charm of the film.

@theodacourt said:

I agree that unless you've had some serious exposure to the authentic accent then it does make it hard to judge and I wouldn't want to come across as authoritative on the matter when I might not know best. I mean it's easy when it's so obviously horrendous like everything from Sean Connery that isn't his own.

@ElectricBoogaloo: Anne Hathaway's Yorkshire accent was mixed between half decent and half bad throughout One Day, but it didn't spoil the film for me really! Russell Crowe was equally patchy playing Robin Hood from Nottingham, but I would like more consideration given to other parts of the UK from American films. 51st State was pretty fun and I liked the Liverpool aspect of it.

Forgot about Robin Hood (since it was so bad). Crowe's accent varies between three or four different regional dialects, and all of the other accents in that film are plucked from multiple locations around the country despite it all being in Nottingham. Unless everyone decided to move there it was pretty dumb.

Michael Caine's American accent in The Weatherman is the inverse of Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent in Mary Poppins.

An eye for an eye...

Well I'm Scottish, so I felt fully qualified to say that Sean Connerys Irish accent in the Untouchables was terrible - he was clearly just as Scottish as ever.

Sean Connery doesn't do accents. He's played Russians with a Scottish accent.

@JCHenderson said:

I would say natives have a pretty good understanding of what sounds natural and what just sounds a little off. Being Australian I hear more than my fair share of horrific overacted accents from non Aussies. I am curious though how do Americans receive the Aussie actors who put an american accent on? Eric Bana in Black Hawk Down comes to mind as horrific but he was well accompanied by many poor English actors attempting accents in that film. Also Sam Worthington = Rubbish.

I'll say that no foreign actor has ever pulled off a flawless Australian accent. Not even Meryl Streep could manage it. She came off as sounding like a Kiwi, as so many bad Aussie accents tend to do.

Oddly enough, still the best attempt I've seen is Kevin Kline in FIERCE CREATURES, where he plays a very broad caricature of a Rupert Murdoch-type.

Juliane Moore is the only person I feel comfortable saying never ever pulls off whatever the hell accent she's trying to do, even as someone who's never been to the places she's attempting. It always sounds like nonsense.

As previous posters have said, it's more a matter of consistency. I was recently forced to watch Captain Corelli's Mandolin in my Lit class and Nic Cage's accent seemed to go all around the world over the course of the film. When it's really bad it tends to be widely accepted though, I don't think I've ever seen anything that I thought was terrible and nobody else agreed with me.

I find most complaints about accents to be unwarranted. There are so many different kinds, and even if you're from the place the movie takes place, it's not like you've heard every variation possible or know the full background of the characters. It's especially weird when people complain about accents in fictional universes or movies that take place in the future.

I never forget Liam Neeson isn't American. That said, his Neesonamerican accent is consistently Neesonish, he doesn't ever say the same word twice with wildly different inflections. So its not distracting like Keanu Reaves saying "you" 10 different ways in Devil's Advocate.

Natives are probably the best suited to judge. I think that's what we have all agreed on. Being of Mexican descent, the worst accent I've seen was Willem Dafoe in Once Upon A Time In Mexico where he was supposed to be some native drug lord or something. He sounds like every other high school student when speaking Spanish and a little Speedy Gonzalez when speaking English with his "Mexican" accent. That said, I don't think it's his fault as I'm sure Robert Rodriguez didn't want to swing a bunch of money on a speech/accent coach or whatever they're called.

I am Irish and most Irish accents in films are terrible and nearly every county has a separate accent anyway. It's always annoying to see a Richard Gere in The Jackal accent make an appearance in a film because that is the single worst Irish accent ever. Apart for maybe seeing Sean Connery in The Untouchables or Billy Connelly in The Last Samurai. The thing is when Rorie did the Bestie for Ronin he said the Irish accents were bad, where as in my own opinion they were actually fairly decent Northern Irish accents which only fell down with certain words.