10 Movies That Actually Benefited From Bad Acting

You can get away with a lot of undisciplined acting in a satire, and Paul Verhoeven proves that beyond any doubt in his terrific sci-fi war film Starship Troopers.

Verhoeven's film is lauded today for its political satire with regard to American foreign policy and the monstrous military-industrial complex, with the use of hilariously unsubtle propaganda videos within the movie to hammer home its mockery of a fascistic, warmongering global government.

Nevertheless, Starship Troopers is often criticised for the performances of its lead actors, especially Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, and Jake Busey, who many have suggested were cast more for their looks than their rather lackluster acting abilities.

And that's exactly the point. Verhoeven himself admitted that he cast the lead actors based on physical appearance over acting skill, in an attempt to approximate the style of a Nazi propaganda film, where the main actors are typically impossibly attractive examples of the allegedly "superior" race.

And so, it makes sense that a film about humanity exerting its will over aliens is led by beautiful young people who are, ultimately, empty vessels where acting is concerned. Verhoeven said:

"I took them because I wanted them to look like the people you see in Leni Riefenstahl's movie The Triumph of the Will. So it was a ploy, but more based on a visual aspect... I probably was looking too much to the streamlined bodies and sculpted faces... and perhaps paid not enough attention to all the acting stuff... I mean, I don't know, in retrospect you could also say that was the right way to do it, because it should be these kinds of people."

Comparing the performances of Van Dien, Richards, and Busey to the more seasoned actors in the cast such as Michael Ironside, Neil Patrick Harris, and Clancy Brown, and it's no contest.

And yet, the vapid, wooden quality of their work here is absolutely perfect for their characters and how they're contextualised within the story.