10 Actors Who Tried Way Too Hard To Be Edgy
3. Elizabeth Berkley - Showgirls
A notorious critical and commercial failure, Paul Verhoeven's 1995 "erotic" drama Showgirls is known not only for being considered one of the worst films ever made, but possibly the most disastrous attempt by an actor to break out of their squeaky clean pigeonhole into more serious fare.
Elizabeth Berkley, a mainstay of the wildly successful sitcom Saved By The Bell, left the show to pursue a career in film instead. Winning the lead role in Showgirls must have seemed like a blessing at the time as it was the perfect opportunity to play the polar opposite of the teen idol she feared being typecast as.
Of course, this proved less of a talent showcase for Berkley but a career-ruining catastrophe. The film itself was lambasted as being garish, distasteful and thoroughly misogynistic, and Berkley's performance was no saving grace. She was unconvincing, irritating and totally unsuited to the role, and frequently felt more akin to a bratty high schooler than the "street smart drifter" that her character ostensibly was.