10 Movies That Actually Benefited From Bad Acting

M. Night Shyamalan's Old was undeniably one of the most divisive films of last year - the filmmaker's latest Twilight Zone-esque genre romp that entertained as many as it irritated.

Even those who enjoyed the film will surely have to concede that the performances of its central cast are, to be polite, "eccentric."

Talented actors with proven track records like Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Ken Leung, and Eliza Scanlen are bizarrely unconvincing throughout Old, playing strangers trapped on a beach which is rapidly aging them.

Right from the film's very first scene, the performances feel distractingly tone-deaf, with the actors struggling to make sense of Shyamalan's characteristically obtuse, unnatural dialogue.

While a charitable reading of the film would say that Shyamalan directed his actors to give intentionally stilted performances in the same way that Yorgos Lanthimos does for his movies, it seems far too inconsistent for that.

One never gets the impression that the actors aren't trying to give earnest performances in the service of Shyamalan's off-kilter script, and yet the offputting result of these efforts is a parade of weird acting that only accentuates the disturbing nature of the movie.

The iffy performances enhance Old's appeal as a strange, campy homage to classic B-movies, and it's just as well. Otherwise, there's little explaining so many skilled actors turning in such ropey work.