7. Brandon Routh - Superman Returns
The culprit? Bryan Singer. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed
Superman Returns for what it was: a love letter to the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve films. But by relying too much on audiences' nostalgia for the material caused Brandon to basically impersonate Christopher Reeve and, well, it backfired. The performance just turned out to be a wooden-faced, facepalm-inducing headache. Which is sad, because the young man had a LOT of talent. I really enjoyed him in
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and he was a breakout on NBC's
Chuck. Sadly, he will fade into mediocrity, making films like
Dylan Dog and
Crooked Arrows, and TV shows like
Partners. I have far much more confidence in his successor though. Keeping up with comic book roles...