1. Woodrow Snider - National Lampoon's Holiday Reunion (2003)
The rule of diminishing returns probably counts doubly for anything with National Lampoon's at the start of its title, and though this holiday farce, which was thankfully made for TV in 2003 (while Cranston was already turning heads in Malcolm In The Middle) wouldn't have been as widely seen as any of the earlier, Chevy Chase driven comedies, it remains an unfortunately blot on Cranston's copy book. The premise is a familiar familial holiday clash scenario with a straight-laced square (Judge Reinhold) finding out he has a hippie cousin (Cranston) and shenanigans swiftly following, without so much as a smile raised with gas along the way. It's little wonder looking at it now that the film rather naughtily decided to release a poster so terrible that it made Reinhold look like Chevy Chase, since that sort of misrepresentation is exactly on-brand with calling the film a comedy in the first place... Seriously, Reinhold doesn't even have that hairstyle in the movie. The central "comedic" premise is that Cranston's off-kilter cousin is an idiot, derided and mocked, who is committed to an agenda of free love (including sharing a harrowing shower scene with his cousin) and it is genuinely disturbing to see an actor of Cranston's current profile debasing himself so obviously for a pay-check. Which are your favourite and least favourite Bryan Cranston performances? Share your own picks below in the comments thread.
