10 Blockbuster Leading Men So Boring They Almost Put Us To Sleep

8. Matthew Broderick

Boring Blockbusters: Godzilla (1998), Inspector Gadget (1999) Aaron Taylor-Johnson's flat performance in Gareth Edwards' 2014 reboot may have served as the inspiration for this article, but at least the young Englishman was marginally more interesting that Matthew Broderick's character in Roland Emmerich's widely-maligned Hollywood redo of the iconic Japanese kaiju. Broderick's Nick Tatopoulos is seemingly only given that name in the script for a series of poor jokes in which no-one can pronounce it correctly, which pretty much sums up the movie's lazy writing. Given the occupation of a scientist investigating the effects of radiation on wildlife also gives him the chance to recite some thoroughly awful dialogue with little conviction. Broderick can be a charismatic presence on-screen, but in Godzilla his performance never climbs above thunderously dull. The following year Broderick took the lead role in the $90m live-action adaptation of the popular animated series Inspector Gadget, but for the second year in a row his performance in a big-budget studio movie was hugely uninspired. Lacking any humor, wit or personality, Broderick acts as if he knows the movie is going to suck, which it does. Even at less than 80 minutes, Inspector Gadget sure drags in.
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