2. Michael Cera
People love to hate Michael Cera and the reason for that hatred seems to be almost completely down to the way that he essentially plays the same character in all of his films. So what if he does? Most actors play what is essentially a version of themselves in everything. The ones that don't are usually character actors, confined to supporting roles in comedies. Take Jack Nicholson for instance - he's a wonderful actor with many wonderful films under his belt. How many of his performances can you honestly say aren't just variations of himself? His Joker in Tim Burton's Batman is just himself, but in makeup. His performance in The Shining is just himself in a bad mood. I'm not saying that he never breaks away from this mould (he absolutely does), but it's a rare occurrence. Actors rarely step away from playing themselves and that's because the real art of acting usually comes down to the ability to portray yourself in different situations as though they were happening to you, as opposed to transforming yourself into someone else altogether. There are very few Daniel Day-Lewises out there. Perhaps Michael's role as the living blue-prints for Jesse Eisenberg, an actor who started similarly but has since gone on to play a far more diverse pool of characters, has magnified the strength of this complaint. It certainly makes Michael look worse by comparison, but it's not his fault if someone else is more talented than him, is it? I'd argue that Kubrick was a better director than Scorcese, but that sure as hell doesn't make Scorcese anything less than a genius. Michael Cera has given perfectly adequate performances in every film I've seen him in to date, and a lot of those films are very good. Plus, he does
this a lot and I find it funny.