The turning point

Tracey has a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic post up: When bad actors go good. The premise is easy -- list actors who you previously didn't like, but had some kind of turning point that made you like them.

She lists 10, I can barely think of any. I try not to hold grudges, but there are some actors I just don't like and usually don't get over that. It would be far easier for me to list actors that I used to like but have gone and done something that I really thought sucked. But, in keeping with her criteria, here is my short list of actors that I didn't think much of and later learned to like.

George Clooney in From Dusk 'til Dawn: I know, I know, I know ... it's George freakin' Clooney. But man, I hated him in ER. Seriously. He made me hate the show. I still can't stand the show. I remember the first time I saw Clooney, in Return of the Killer Tomatoes (a movie I love) and I found it so funny that this guy who got his start in an effing B-movie franchise film was playing this smug dude on ER.

But I changed my mind when I saw From Dusk 'til Dawn -- one of my all-time favorite movies. I think the reason I like him so much in this is that the movie doesn't require him to do too much in the way of really reaching any emotional depths and actually requires him to play his character just on the border of cheese. And the smugness fits in perfectly with the character. Love the movie, love the character, and pretty much, after this, have really grown to appreciate Clooney.

Ben Affleck in Jersey Girl: I know that most people don't like this movie. Further, Affleck quickly jumped right back on my list of actors I couldn't care less about, but the span of this brief flick is his turning point for me. Everything I don't like about him in every other movie is made bearable in this because it's all shoved through the filter of him being the daddy to an adorable little girl. And George Carlin helps smooth out the other rough edges.

I'm a Kevin Smith fan and that helps. I'm a fan of almost everyone else in the movie, and that helps. I don't know, Affleck just clicks in this movie in ways I hadn't seen before and haven't seen since.

Julia Styles: No, there's been no turning point. I just didn't want to pass up this opportunity to state that I still don't like her.

Alicia Silverston in Blast From the Past: It's not so much that I didn't like Alicia Silverstone as much as she just didn't really do much for me. I just lumped her into the a category of forgettable actors. I didn't get Clueless -- I mean, I get it, I just don't understand what was any good about it. And she went on to earn my dislike when she picked up the Batgirl mantle. By this point in the Batfranchise, anyone associated kinda earned my disfavor so it was more guilt by association than anything.

Blast From the Past was a breath of fresh air about her persona. I finally understood what other people saw in her. She just melded with everything that was going on in that fantastic and highly underrated movie. The scene where Brendan Fraser is talking about the musical tension in a Perry Como song -- priceless. But that's another post for another day. Anywho, she endeared herself to me since then and I haven't seen anything that's made me change my mind.

Well, that's my list. If I think of anyone else, I'll add them later. But make certain you hit Tracey's list as her post is phenomenal.