The Role: Rick, a screenwriter living in Los Angeles who immerses himself in the decadence of Hollywood in order to make sense of his troubled existence. Why It's So Awful: Granted, Bale only shoulder a portion of the blame here, because writer-director Terrence Malick's filmmaking approach is so opaque: Bale reportedly wasn't given a script to work from, and Malick "torpedoed" him by surprising him with unexpected appearances from other actors while filming Bale's naturalistic reactions. Even so, the end product sees Bale barely reacting to anything at all beyond staring blankly into the distance and very occasionally mumbling something in a soft whisper. It's not totally his fault, but like many actors who work on Malick's films, it seems like the filmmaking process didn't mesh very well with Bale's own method. And then there's the scene where Malick convinced him to suck Natalie Portman's toes, so there you go...