Movie musicals are often a hard sell for general audiences. Musicals require the audience to suspend their disbelief that people could sporadically burst out into song and dance numbers. Movie musicals have a harder time with that, as several key elements of musicals are hard to transfer well into film.
This struggle is made even worse when the actors just can't sing.
For whatever reason, Hollywood insists on making the same mistake of casting big-name actors in movie musicals, even if their singing voices aren't up to snuff. This habit has led to otherwise capable actors giving horrible performances, all because they were tasked with a role they couldn't do justice. Today, we are gonna look at five of the worst performances to ever be featured in a movie musical:
5. Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast 2017)
Most of the actors for this live-action remake of the beloved Disney classic hold up pretty well in the singing department. The same cannot be said for Emma Watson as Belle. The auto-tune is painfully apparent every time she's given a song number. Simply put, Paige O'Hara Emma Watson isn't.
4. Pierce Brosnan (Mamma Mia!)
Pierce Brosnan rose to fame in the 1990's through his turn as cinema's most famous spy, James Bond. Surprisingly (sarcasm), this role did not prepare him to perform in a movie musical. This film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical is by no means good, but Brosnan's awful performance takes the cake. Don't worry though, he's coming back for the sequel later this year.
3. Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera)
Talk about casting the exact wrong person for the role. While Gerard Butler is perfectly fine as an action star, he had absolutely no business playing the titular Phantom of the Opera. Nothing about Butler, especially his singing voice, makes you think that he is some master musician. Admittedly, Butler's singing isn't the worst, but this is a role meant for an actor with serious pipes. Suffice to say, Butler was simply not talented enough for the role.
2. Michael Caine (Muppet Christmas Carol)
It's Alfred from the Dark Knight trilogy singing. That's all.
1. Russell Crowe (Les Miserables)
Don't act like you didn't know this was coming. Russell Crowe's remarkably awful performance in this adaptation of the beloved musical has gone down as arguably the worst performance in a movie musical ever. It is absolutely puzzling how a film that features Anne Hathaway's masterful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" also features this regrettable performance. If Prisoner 24601 was smart, he would quickly forget Crowe's monotone singing style.
