The Five Worst British Accents in Movies
Again, from CNN -
Dick Van Dyke as Bert
Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1964)
“‘Ello, Merri Pawpins!” Dick Van Dyke’s faux Cockney created a whole new accent, which he passed on to Bart Simpson et al. Thanks. No, really.
Kevin Costner as Robin Hood
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Kevin Reynolds, 1991)
His vowels were as mangled as the plot. At least Christian Slater had the grace not to try.
Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Peter Jackson, 2001-2003)
Astin’s faux-bucolic bumpkin starts out cute but swiftly becomes irritating. Consistent, yes — and also slappable.
Mike Myers as Shrek
Shrek (Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, 2001)
Why is Shrek Scottish? We haven’t a clue — but Myers’ strangled tones make even the most forgiving Glaswegian wince.
Tony Curtis as Antoninus
Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
The good guys speak American, the bad guys speak plum British. Fine — but Curtis’s Bronx drawl is truly jarring.
Filed under: entertainment | Tagged: british accents, Movies, worst
Accents are such funny things. I tend to adopt the accent of the person I’m speaking to. Irish to Irish, Scottish to Scottish, and especially American to American. Other than that, I have a refined Australian accent … have had since I took voice lessons in Primary school and got a good teacher who gave us the right basis for correct speech.
The one I find sooo annoying is when people try to speak Strine and fail miserably. Nothing worse than an American trying to flatten their vowels.
Keanu Reeves in the film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was pretty execrable, too.
Keanu Reeves’ British accent in Bram Stokers Dracula has to be the funniest thing man, excellent! *guitar burst*
And what about Moses wandering through the Sea and urging everyone to hurry up, speaking in a pure American accent and in American idiom! Or Ben Hur yelling in Americanese?
It is fun reading the responses to these lists - I have more