Jack Nicholson: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. President James Dale - Mars Attacks!

Jack Nicholson features as one member of a large ensemble cast in Tim Burton's daftly underrated sci-fi movie parody Mars Attacks!, which has him cast as the President of the United States, James Dale. For a part that doesn't really ask much of Jack except to play his usual schtick, it's strange to see that he goes through this movie almost like he's been drugged.

There's a strange, unknowing expression stuck on his face from beginning to end, as if he arrived on set, smoked a massive joint, and filmed his scenes. A wasted opportunity, perhaps? The rest of the cast, made up of actors such as Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, Jack Black, Glenn Close and Sarah Jessica Parker, are appropriately daffy in their own roles, and seem more aware to the kind of tone that Tim Burton is going for - especially as terrifying CG aliens arrive on the planet to annihilate human life as we know it.

So Nicholson isn't terrible, but he doesn't really seem like he wants to be involved - which isn't all that surprisingly, really, given that he was third choice for the role after Warren Beatty and Paul Newman dropped out.