2. Jim Carrey
Recent years have seen him perform in a few more serious-minded efforts; he shined in the likes of
Man on the Moon and
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the intensity of the latter role in particular reminded us that he has more to offer the world than manic faces and talking out of his butt. Though
The Number 23 was terrible, it also demonstrated that Carrey could play a convincing psychotic, even if the script itself was patchy, and the film went on to become one of the most-panned of 2007. Carrey has previously played crazy in Joel Schumacher's
Batman Forever as The Ridder, and while an underrated performance - and indeed, an underrated film - it played a little too safe and a little too close to zany; we don't want madness by way of Ace Ventura, but rather by way of Joel Barish. If the recent announcement that he is to play The Colonel in
Kick-Ass 2 demonstrates anything, it's that Carrey is certainly open-minded about the array of projects he takes on, so we can hope that one day he might do a Robin Williams and play an unadulterated mad-man completely free of comedy; if he is willing to challenge his audience, hopefully they will respond in accepting kind.