Jeff Bridges: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

Some actors get started young. Drew Barrymore was rocketed to super stardom as a seven-year-old in ET, Jake Lloyd had the unenviable task of playing a nine-year-old Darth Vader in The Phantom Menace, and Janette Tough was a schoolgirl during her career as one half of the Krankies...wait, what? Seriously? That's weird. Ew. Anyway, the point is that one actor has all of them beat. And that actor is Jeff Bridges, who made his first on screen appearance in 1951's The Company She Keeps, when he was just a few months shy of his second birthday. We've never seen this RKO picture (and considering it made losses of $315,000, we're not sure many did at the time), but we imagine the young Bridges got across the sort of suave, relaxed energy he's become known for in the years since. We've seen plenty of his work since he grew out of shortpants, however, and we're big, big fans. In a career that, to date, has spanned six decades, Bridges has played some of the most iconic film roles going in Hollywood, elevating genre fare and headlining in serious business performances like Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate. Whatever the film, Bridges brings a deceptively relaxed demeanour and charm, along with some serious acting chops. Well, in most films, at least. Much as we consider speaking ill of The Dude tantamount to sacrilege, we all make mistakes. And c'mon, in six decades? You're gonna mess up a few times. That's just the law of averages. Or sod's law. Or Murphy's law? We're not sure. Anyway, for all the classics the actor has starred in over the years, he's hand his own share of turkeys as well. This weekend sees the release of The Giver, the adaptation of the young adult classic, where he continues to settle into his elder statesman status. In preparation, we thought we'd have a look through his filmography, and pick out five awesome Jeff Bridges performances...and, unfortunately, five that sucked.