10 Actors Everybody Thinks Can Act… But Can’t

7. Tom Cruise

Yes, Tom Cruise is a walking charisma machine, with a demeanour that suggests he was produced from some kind of Movie Star Machine, but can he actually act? Not really, as it turns out. Every movie that Cruise stars in is just some variation on his own persona, with different outfits and various modulations in fear and bravery. Is there anything that separates the characters of Ethan Hunt and Jack Reacher? Or Maverick and Cole Trickle? Each of his roles is simply Tom Cruise, with a minor spin on it. Interview with the Vampire is "Tom Cruise as a vampire". The Last Samurai is "Tom Cruise as a Samurai". Valkyrie is "Tom Cruise as a Nazi with a heart of gold and an eyepatch". You get the idea. Even roles which would require any other actor to fully step outside themselves, like Frank T.J. Mackey in Magnolia, is just some amped-up version of Cruise's - admittedly, already intense - personality. As an actor, is he entertaining? Yes. Is he worthy of critical acclaim? Perhaps not.