10 Actors Who Reclaimed Some Dignity In 2017

Where It All Went Wrong: Cloud Atlas, The Rewrite, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

The Redeeming Movie(s): Paddington 2

Hugh Grant isn't everyone's cup of tea, and in recent years he has made the transition from leading man/heart-throb in good romantic comedies to, well, the opposite of that, really. His output of late, though sparse, has been quite sad.

But it has to be said: Hugh Grant outright steals the show in the recent sequel Paddington 2, to the extent that - whatever you thought about him before you saw the movie - it now feels entirely compulsory that you like Hugh Grant.

Most people will be shocked that Paddington 2 is any good at all, though you could easily argue it's a stronger film (how often does that happen?) than the original. Grant is a big part of why that's true, playing a self-obsessed theatre actor called Phoenix Buchanan whose levels of arrogance are downright delicious to watch. And Grant's work here could genuinely be the funniest of his career, especially since the role gives him the chance to ham it up to genuinely insane levels.

It's a hilarious turn that, after all these years, could have even the biggest Grant haters reevaluating the man's entire body of work, to the effect of thinking that they've had him wrong the whole time (except for in Cloud Atlas: that was bad).