10 Embarrassing Times Movie Actors Tried To Be Badass

For the first act of Green Street, the former Frodo Baggins equips himself well. He’s a Harvard student framed for drug possession, who goes to visit his sister in England. There, he falls into the world of football hooliganism, which he observes with a mixture of fear and fascination.

Then, the funniest thing happens: it transpires that this diminutive Hobbit is actually proper tasty when it comes to street brawling. Wood’s Matt effortlessly infiltrates the Green Street Elite firm, and before long is throwing punches and concocting schemes to get the upper hand in rumbles with the best of them.

It’s explained away briefly that Matt is a former martial artist, but Wood’s presence as a handy fighter is even less believable than Charlie Hunham’s utterly baffling accent. Wood is perfectly fine in the dramatic scenes and shines among a cast of one dimensional thugs, but the action sequences - the selling point of this deeply troubling film - are made even less believable by the presence of The Shire’s finest at their core.

We’re expected to accept Wood as a fighter with not just heart but genuine skill in a jarringly swift turnaround. Many elements of Green Street are totally stupid, but this is about its silliest element.