What's A Nice Actor Like You Doing In A Movie Like This?: The Ultimate Guide to the Most Embarrassing Movies in History, and the Celebrities Who Appeared In Them

by Dan Whitehead

What would Humphrey Bogart look like as a zombie mad scientist?Does Hugh Grant have what it takes to defeat a subterranean worm god?Can Brad Pitt’s precious face survive an attack by a power drill wielding madman?How did the fangs of a poisonous snake end up in Oliver Reed’s testicles?Why isn’t Catherine Zeta Jones wearing any clothes?These urgent questions, and many more, are answered in startling detail in…WHAT’S A NICE ACTOR LIKE YOU DOING IN A MOVIE LIKE THIS?The ultimate guide to the most embarrassing movies in history,and the celebrities who appeared in them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Humor

503 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 19, 2010

Reviews

[Zeljka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool and funny retellings of every ridiculous film in which each actor or actress mentioned in the book performed. Those films are mostly - that’s not really surprising - horror films, mostly made in time when special effects were downright silly and the stories for them equally, hilariously stupid. This book was really delightful read, I laughed occasionally really hard, and to be honest, with its detailed analyses it saved me time to explore these cinematic curiosities by myself.

[Tonya Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to skim

The book was well written. Thankfully, I only seen three or four of the many movies listed. Interesting to read

[Deren Kellogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun guide to roles in obscure or trashy films by actors and actresses who later became stars (or, in some cases, after their stars had faded). For instance, Jennifer Anniston played the female lead in the cheapjack horror film "Leprechaun" before "Friends" made her a star. Other performers had even more obscure beginnings. Despite the title, not all the films Whitehead covers are embarrassing: he admits that "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (1961), in which Michael Caine debuted in a very small part, is "one of the finest British films of its era". However, most of the films he covers were hilariously inept. If you like snarky reviews of terrible movies, as I do, you'll love this.

Whitehead gives fairly detailed plot synopses, discusses the role of the actor or actress he's profiling, and makes some comments on the quality of the movies. He also includes fascinating trivia on many of the films. The book (unlike many inexpensive books available for Kindle) is well-written and free of grammatical errors or typos. If you're interested in film trivia, it's well worth your money.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun read - the author knew his stuff and had context for what was going on in the actors' lives at the times of their horrible choices, which made the book seem more like laughing with them than at them - which made it much more fun in my opinion. A fun one to have on hand to pick up when you have a few minutes - or to read through all at once on a sick day or at the beach. :)

[Billy Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun rundown of the zany clunkers that the big stars have hiding in the depths of their filmographies. It's a quick and light read but relies way too much on plot synopses. Would have rather read more behind-the-scenes anecdotes or other reasearch-type info.

[Anne Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

Just the plots of the awful movies actors who were later big stars appeared in are funny enough, but his style of writing is hilarious. My favourite was Arnie in Hercules in New York.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little romp through Hollywood's top actors' most embarrassing moments. The weird and the cool and the wtf from A to Z.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny appreciation of bad and/or odd movies...

[m. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and weighty trawl through lesser-known films of famous actors, mostly pre-fame or post-fame horror low budget films.