Tropescilloscope: Bad "Bad Acting"

Bad actors in a Show Within a Show don't resemble what actual bad actors are like. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

More Tropes Mad Scientist Even Evil Has Standards Retirony Cool Old Lady Overly Long Gag BFG Blatant Lies Bland-Name Product Demonic Possession Fate Worse than Death Bar Brawl All There in the Manual Make It Look Like an Accident Riddle for the Ages Rated M for Manly Due to the Dead Put on a Bus Punch-Clock Villain The Sociopath folderlabel The Dreaded A God Am I Worthy Opponent No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Black and Gray Morality Reality Has No Subtitles Epic Fail Those Two Bad Guys Adults Are Useless Male Frontal Nudity No OSHA Compliance Didn't Think This Through A.I. Is a Crapshoot Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Ambiguously Gay Agony of the Feet Dissonant Serenity Cold-Blooded Torture Sports Stories You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Dual Wielding Humans Are Bastards Getting Crap Past the Radar Bad "Bad Acting" Kill 'em All Fan Disservice Pragmatic Villainy The Stinger Badass Bookworm Biopic A Date with Rosie Palms The Load Improbable Aiming Skills Dark Action Girl Unwitting Instigator of Doom Combat Pragmatist 20 Minutes into the Future Disappeared Dad Victoria's Secret Compartment Public Domain Feature Films Affectionate Parody Title Drop Insane Troll Logic Bald of Evil Killed Mid-Sentence Hoist by His Own Petard Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Undying Loyalty Broken Aesop My God, What Have I Done? Catch-Phrase Call-Forward Trailers Always Spoil Once More, with Clarity! Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Bloodless Carnage Chekhov's Gunman Evil Counterpart The Ghost Ax-Crazy Bloodier and Gorier Bury Your Gays Beware the Nice Ones Yandere Closed Circle Horror Comedy Early Installment Weirdness The Un-Reveal Hero Antagonist Creator Cameo Arch-Enemy Heel–Face Turn Those Two Guys Reckless Gun Usage Vacation Films Self-Deprecation Faking the Dead The Mafia Posthumous Character Amusing Injuries Logo Joke Race Lift Eureka Moment Television Movie Index You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Shower Scene Deal with the Devil Dressing as the Enemy Homage Badass Grandpa Bait-and-Switch Insult Backfire Soundtrack Dissonance The Stoic Crucified Hero Shot Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer NO INDOOR VOICE Famous Last Words Nothing Is Scarier Only in It for the Money Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Stepford Smiler An Arm and a Leg Recycled IN SPACE! The Cavalry The Alleged Car Gainax Ending Shout-Out Jerkass Has a Point Fish out of Water Cloudcuckoolander Author Avatar Slasher Smile Re-Cut Gorn I'm a Humanitarian Irony Spiteful Spit French Films Fantastic Racism Darkest Hour Butt-Monkey Deus ex Machina Reality Ensues Heroic Sacrifice Gold Digger Adaptational Villainy "Shaggy Dog" Story What the Hell, Hero? Mugging the Monster Bilingual Bonus Freeze-Frame Bonus Berserk Button Animal Motifs Scary Black Man Corrupt Corporate Executive Obstructive Bureaucrat Your Cheating Heart Interrupted Suicide Chekhov's Gun Video Credits Pretty Little Headshots Conspicuous CG Taking You with Me Word of God Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Mind Screw Captain Obvious Four-Temperament Ensemble Not Using the "Z" Word Horror Films Adorkable Comically Missing the Point Mercy Kill Composite Character Face–Heel Turn Femme Fatale Rich Bitch Would Hit a Girl Hollywood Law Smug Snake The Alcoholic True Companions Mama Bear Actor Allusion Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Obviously Evil Death Seeker Villain Protagonist Straight Gay Chiaroscuro Creepy Child Disproportionate Retribution Drives Like Crazy Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Line-of-Sight Name Only One Name Defrosting Ice Queen Alas, Poor Villain Fainting Auto Erotica Time Skip Grey and Gray Morality Knight Templar As the Good Book Says... Credits Gag Thriller Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Death by Sex Adaptation Name Change Frame-Up Ship Tease Dark and Troubled Past Disguised in Drag Serial Killer The X of Y Precision F-Strike Adaptational Attractiveness Breaking the Fourth Wall Never Trust a Trailer Action Survivor Dramedy Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism He Knows Too Much Fiery Redhead More Dakka Hooker with a Heart of Gold Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Oh, Crap! Plot Hole Works Set in World War II Made of Iron Establishing Character Moment The Great Depression Dramatic Irony Arc Words Bond Villain Stupidity Be Careful What You Wish For The Power of Love The '70s Epic Movie Dutch Angle Woman Scorned Lock and Load Montage Shipper on Deck Narrator Cassandra Truth Leaning on the Fourth Wall Car Fu Anti-Villain Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Red Eyes, Take Warning Military and Warfare Films Nice Guy Translation Convention Poor Communication Kills Not So Stoic Funny Foreigner After the End Dies Wide Open Meaningful Echo Australian Movies Gender Flip Flipping the Bird "Well Done, Son!" Guy Genre Shift Malevolent Masked Men Outrun the Fireball Ambiguous Disorder Expy Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Not Even Bothering with the Accent Peek-a-Boo Corpse Spared by the Adaptation Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Christmas Movies Index Room Full of Crazy Redemption Equals Death The Big Guy Cool Guns An Aesop Black Comedy Rape Badass Longcoat Offscreen Teleportation Married to the Job Stealth Hi/Bye Canadian Movies The Atoner Shut Up, Hannibal! Ass Shove Domestic Abuse The Lancer Animated Credits Opening Russian Films Bare Your Midriff Throwing Your Sword Always Works Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Heroic BSoD Black Best Friend Boom, Headshot! Mr. Fanservice Book-Ends Bullying a Dragon Naïve Newcomer Reality Is Unrealistic Driven to Suicide Sexy Discretion Shot Deadpan Snarker Psycho for Hire Empathic Environment Music Stories Broken Bird Morality Pet Extremely Short Timespan Mystery and Detective Films Bond One-Liner Sequel Hook Death by Irony Off-into-the-Distance Ending Badass Boast Training Montage Cool Car The Casanova Evil Brit Not Quite Dead Informed Ability Celebrity Paradox No Celebrities Were Harmed Kill It with Fire Belligerent Sexual Tension Better to Die than Be Killed Kids Are Cruel Vomit Indiscretion Shot Does This Remind You of Anything? Curse Cut Short Manly Tears Fake Shemp Artistic License – Geography Jump Scare Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Dumb Blonde How We Got Here Red Shirt Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Those Wacky Nazis Fantasy Films Meaningful Name Imagine Spot Developing Doomed Characters Non-Indicative Name Big "NO!" Wham Line Rousing Speech She Cleans Up Nicely Final Girl Cool Shades Faux Affably Evil Psychological Thriller Cat Fight Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Bittersweet Ending Attempted Rape Crazy-Prepared Leitmotif Truth in Television Unusual Euphemism The '60s Eldritch Abomination Hypocrite Wounded Gazelle Gambit Distracted by the Sexy The Lost Lenore "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Take That! Sacrificial Lion Batman Gambit Ms. Fanservice Not So Different Expository Hairstyle Change Foreshadowing Documentary Historical Hero Upgrade Fanservice Catapult Nightmare Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! All Men Are Perverts Corpsing Funny Background Event Red Herring Cluster F-Bomb Dark Reprise Ripped from the Headlines He Who Fights Monsters Big Fancy House Drill Sergeant Nasty Immune to Bullets Adapted Out Did Not Get the Girl Kick the Dog Manic Pixie Dream Girl Laser-Guided Karma Hero of Another Story Honor Before Reason Dwindling Party Setting Update Continuity Nod The Place Romantic Comedy Rasputinian Death Meaningful Background Event Creative Closing Credits Despair Event Horizon Brick Joke Every Car Is a Pinto Guns Akimbo Gory Discretion Shot Large Ham Kubrick Stare Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Adaptation Distillation Smoking Is Cool Intrepid Reporter Foregone Conclusion Depraved Bisexual Bad Boss Does Not Like Shoes May–December Romance Older Than They Look Missing Mom Mr. Exposition Sassy Black Woman Sci-Fi Horror Earn Your Happy Ending Japanese Films Anyone Can Die Unusually Uninteresting Sight Evil Plan Improbable Weapon User Costume Porn Shown Their Work What You Are in the Dark The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Pre-Mortem One-Liner Leave the Camera Running Ghost Fiction Dirty Cop Up to Eleven Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Antagonist Title Off with His Head! Rule of Funny The Chick Ironic Echo Blackmail Rule of Cool Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Parental Neglect Bottomless Magazines Evil vs. Evil Country Matters Happily Married N-Word Privileges Double-Meaning Title Important Haircut Exactly What It Says on the Tin Zombie Stories Covers Always Lie It Will Never Catch On Jitter Cam Police are Useless Blood Knight Suspiciously Similar Substitute Pyrrhic Victory Very Loosely Based on a True Story Refuge in Audacity Never My Fault Redshirt Army Diabolus ex Machina Damsel in Distress Market-Based Title Badass in a Nice Suit Have a Gay Old Time Cowboy Cop Anti-Hero From Nobody to Nightmare The Smart Guy For the Evulz Mythology Gag Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Early-Bird Cameo O.O.C. Is Serious Business No Antagonist Aluminum Christmas Trees Science Fiction Films Rule of Symbolism Extreme Doormat Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Everyone Has Standards Real Life Villain Ball Never Found the Body Star-Crossed Lovers Big-Bad Ensemble Punny Name Fun with Acronyms Genre Throwback Beta Couple Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Artistic License – Military All There in the Script Daylight Horror Serious Business The '50s The Oner Animal Title Index Determinator aka: The Determinator Parental Incest Loads and Loads of Characters Dramatic Gun Cock Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Names to Run Away from Really Fast As Long as It Sounds Foreign Woman in White Evil Is Petty Big Damn Heroes Flashback Protagonist Title Manipulative Bastard Shirtless Scene Evil-Detecting Dog Cain and Abel Taking the Bullet Bring My Brown Pants The Chessmaster Action Girl Babies Ever After Green-Eyed Monster Big Eater Pretty in Mink Chase Scene Anachronic Order Crazy Jealous Guy Sinister Minister Sir Swears-a-Lot Big Bad Duumvirate Hope Spot The Ditz Stalker with a Crush One-Word Title Death Glare No-Sell Parental Substitute Gilligan Cut Roaring Rampage of Revenge Rape as Drama Whole Plot Reference Department of Redundancy Department One Steve Limit You Have Failed Me Took a Level in Jerkass Film Noir La Résistance Central Theme Nice Hat Plucky Comic Relief Downer Ending Politically Incorrect Villain Mistaken for Gay Stylistic Suck Half the Man He Used to Be Film Noir Index Destination Defenestration German Films Adaptational Badass Paper-Thin Disguise Cruel and Unusual Death Calling the Old Man Out Rewatch Bonus Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Asshole Victim Abhorrent Admirer Award-Bait Song Really Gets Around Back from the Dead Daddy's Girl Shoot the Shaggy Dog Twist Ending Last-Name Basis Index of Film Westerns The Cameo Disney Death Sequel Escalation Affably Evil As You Know Our Zombies Are Different Your Head A-Splode Parental Abandonment Mundane Made Awesome Artistic License – History It Can Think Villain Opening Scene Artistic License – Gun Safety Obfuscating Stupidity Accidental Murder Chekhov's Skill Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas The Dragon British Films Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Guile Hero One-Man Army You Killed My Father Moment Killer All for Nothing Match Cut Pimped-Out Dress Wretched Hive Big Bad Instant Death Bullet Betty and Veronica My Beloved Smother Awesome, but Impractical Air-Vent Passageway Sadistic Choice Cool Old Guy Heel Realization Artistic License – Biology Well-Intentioned Extremist Adult Fear Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Heroes Want Redheads Eye Scream A Minor Kidroduction Jerkass The Ace Ungrateful Bastard Jerk Jock Love at First Sight Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Shell-Shocked Veteran Lampshade Hanging Wrong Genre Savvy Dull Surprise Camp Gay Arranged Marriage Storming the Castle Film Series Apocalypse How For Want of a Nail Brother–Sister Incest Toplessness from the Back Retcon Properly Paranoid Enemy Mine Beauty Is Never Tarnished Blood from the Mouth Bowdlerise Age Lift Stealth Pun Bolivian Army Ending Deconstruction Break the Cutie Camera Abuse Scenery Porn Naked People Are Funny Amoral Attorney Pay Evil unto Evil Danny Peary Cult Movies List Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Eyepatch of Power An Axe to Grind Facial Horror The Faceless Kick the Son of a Bitch The Stoner Authority Equals Asskicking Badass Normal Historical-Domain Character The '90s Unspoken Plan Guarantee Mooks Let's Get Dangerous! Mood Whiplash MacGuffin Double Entendre Heterosexual Life-Partners As Himself Man on Fire Fatal Flaw The Film of the Book Fanservice Extra Italian Films Black Dude Dies First Slap-Slap-Kiss It's All About Me Wicked Cultured Big Brother Instinct Defiant to the End Hidden Depths From Bad to Worse The Reveal Implacable Man Hair-Trigger Temper Spiritual Successor Made of Explodium She's Got Legs Neck Snap Slasher Movie The Vamp There Is No Kill Like Overkill Captain Ersatz Say My Name Easily Forgiven Bunny-Ears Lawyer Jerk with a Heart of Gold Crapsack World Psychopathic Manchild Villainous Breakdown The Hero Dies Loophole Abuse The Dog Bites Back The Hero Eagleland Exact Words Superhero The Voiceless Tap on the Head Suspiciously Specific Denial Overprotective Dad Mighty Whitey B-Movie Suddenly SHOUTING! Sealed Evil in a Can Becoming the Mask Too Dumb to Live World of Ham Neck Lift Annoying Younger Sibling Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Brainless Beauty Canon Foreigner Improvised Weapon Silent Movie Historical Villain Upgrade Alpha Bitch The Bad Guy Wins Super Strength Greater-Scope Villain Vitriolic Best Buds Stock Footage Major Injury Underreaction Vampire Fiction Idiot Ball Motor Mouth timeperiod Novelization Foil Token Minority The Starscream Black Comedy Spanner in the Works Intergenerational Friendship Show Within a Show The Smurfette Principle Adaptation Expansion Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Together in Death Eiffel Tower Effect Would Hurt a Child Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Contrived Coincidence Action Genre I Did What I Had to Do Hypocritical Humor Curb-Stomp Battle Only a Flesh Wound Children Are Innocent War Is Hell Pet the Dog Skewed Priorities In Name Only Big Applesauce Dark Is Not Evil Manchild Disney Villain Death Revenge Bound and Gagged What Happened to the Mouse? Tempting Fate Papa Wolf The Quiet One Henpecked Husband Bi the Way In Medias Res Male Gaze "The Reason You Suck" Speech Villain with Good Publicity Needs Wiki Magic Love Ambiguous Ending Advertised Extra Race Against the Clock Unresolved Sexual Tension Ominous Latin Chanting The '80s Vomit Discretion Shot Chewing the Scenery Action Prologue Only Sane Man Dropped a Bridge on Him Artistic License – Physics Humiliation Conga Running Gag Only Known by Their Nickname Lighter and Softer Unreliable Narrator Dirty Old Man Mexican Standoff Real Life Writes the Plot Cat Scare Tagline Gratuitous English Fatal Family Photo Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Stuff Blowing Up Darker and Edgier Playing Gertrude Hong Kong Films Men Are the Expendable Gender Karmic Death Police Brutality Abusive Parents Casting Gag Alliterative Name Romantic False Lead Sanity Slippage Insistent Terminology Deliberately Monochrome Artistic License – Law Madness Mantra Good Is Not Nice Dying Moment of Awesome Genre Savvy Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Almost Kiss Light Is Not Good Small Name, Big Ego Slashed Throat Evil Laugh Product Placement Determinator Decoy Protagonist Maybe Ever After Deliberate Values Dissonance Martial Arts Movie Silence Is Golden Face Death with Dignity Five-Man Band Love Triangle The Musical Groin Attack Evil Sounds Deep And Starring This Is Gonna Suck The Brute Rule of Three I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Drowning My Sorrows No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Soft Glass The End... Or Is It? Fire-Forged Friends Monumental Damage Offscreen Moment of Awesome The Remake Even Evil Has Loved Ones I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Hell Is That Noise I Need a Freaking Drink Bavarian Fire Drill Anguished Declaration of Love Fourth Date Marriage Karma Houdini Take a Third Option No Name Given Not So Above It All Spell My Name with an "S" "Awesome McCool" Name It's Personal The Mole Scare Chord Ascended Extra Drugs Are Bad In the Back Same Language Dub The Bully Character Development Pragmatic Adaptation Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Adaptation Dye-Job No Ending Broken Pedestal Red Right Hand Aside Glance Card-Carrying Villain Call-Back Scenery Gorn Adaptational Heroism A Father to His Men Dirty Coward Grievous Bottley Harm Failed a Spot Check Not What It Looks Like My Greatest Failure Anachronism Stew Break the Haughty Death of a Child Here We Go Again! Totally Radical Fingore Took a Level in Badass I Have Your Wife '80s Hair Retired Badass Hollywood Darkness Fat Bastard Historical In-Joke Bloody Hilarious Our Vampires Are Different Tranquil Fury Framing Device Laughing Mad Visual Pun Gone Horribly Right Dogged Nice Guy Beard of Evil Left the Background Music On Death by Adaptation Handicapped Badass Wham Shot Coming-of-Age Story Author Appeal Demoted to Extra Villain Song Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Get Out! All Just a Dream Hate Sink Actually Pretty Funny Body Horror Accidental Misnaming Freudian Excuse Armor-Piercing Question Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! And the Adventure Continues Brutal Honesty Noodle Incident Knife Nut And I Must Scream Reasonable Authority Figure Red Oni, Blue Oni Random Events Plot Meet Cute Based on a True Story All Girls Want Bad Boys Evil Is Hammy Sole Survivor Friend to All Children