Taking on accents other than your own when playing a role is second nature to actors around the world, but some do it better than others. Now, a list of films with the worst fake accents has been compiled – and a big film tops the list.
House of Gucci – the film based on the real-life fashion family, which starred Lady Gaga and Adam Driver – has topped the list of films with the worst fake accents, which was compiled by Preply.
Language experts at Preply analyzed more than 234,000 reviews of the most popular movies on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes spanning multiple decades and genres to come up with the list.
Released in 2021, House of Gucci, received 1,123 negative reviews with 27.8% (312) targeting the actors’ abilities to perform Italian accents. After three years since premiering, House of Gucci still receives an average of 860 online searches each month for “House of Gucci bad accents” and related terms.
Runner-up in the list was historical drama Alexander. This film received a total of 2,144 negative reviews, 14.5% of which were directed toward the fake accents. Colin Farrell starred alongside his American co-star Angelina Jolie, who played Olympia using a Greek accent which confused viewers, who noted that the accent had a closer likeness to a Russian accent.
Thriller Red Sparrow came third, which starred American actress Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian intelligence officer. Red Sparrow received 1,228 negative reviews, with 15.2% of the negative reviews mentioning the accuracy of the accents performed.
It was followed by romance drama one day, which starred US actress Anne Hathaway attempting a Yorkshire, England accent. This accounted for 16.1% (186) of the 1,156 negative reviews.
Rounding out the top five was Elvis, the 2022 biopic of Elvis Presley. Here, it wasn’t Austin Butler’s version of Elvis’ famous drawl that caused angst for audiences, but Tom Hanks’ attempt at a Dutch accent in his role of Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker. The film received 1,052 negative reviews, with 12.5% (131) comments on the performance of fake accents.
Rounding out the top 10 were adventure film Seven Years in Tibet in sixth place, followed by action thriller The Devil’s Own, adventure/romance Far and Away, comedy drama The Hustle and action movie Green Street.
It seems British and Irish accents are the trickiest to pull off – five of the top 10 most complained about films contained actors trying – and failing – to nail those accents.
