1. Robert De Niro
Yes, it's true. C'mon, admit it. Robert De Niro. The man who gave us Travis Bickle, Jake La Motta, Al Capone, Paul Vitti etc etc was what every actor strived to be for over two decades. He made so many great movies that it was easy to overlook the not-so-great ones. He commanded respect and a good salary and he got it. His name alone guaranteed ticket sales and still does. He is a living legend and will go down as such... however, name one good movie he's carried in the last decade. He's been in nearly 2 dozen of them and all that we can muster is to think, "Hey, it's Robert De Niro," when he appears on screen.
So what happened? The year 2000 was an especially bad one for Bob. It was the last time he seriously worked his acting chops as Fearless Leader in the Rocky And Bullwinkle Movie. Then he mailed in the asshole racist Navy trainer in Men of Honor, sharing billing with Cuba Gooding Jr.. Sharing! Then to finish his trilogy of Shame (patent pending) he capped it all with the sadly humorous Meet the Parents where he played a caricature of himself. At the time we all thought it was brilliant and we laughed and said "Look, Robert De Niro has a sense of humor!" He did it so well that now, whenever we look at him we will always see Robert De Niro. Not Jake La Motta, not the Creature from Frankenstein or the freaky psycho in Cape Fear. Just Robert De Niro playing Robert De Niro.
Agree or disagree with these choices? Which other actors have lost that magic touch? Let us know in the comments section.