2. Max California - 8MM
Without a doubt the low point of his early career, even Phoenix's talents and ambitions couldn't save this Joel Schumacher-directed stinker. Phoenix plays a heavily tattooed, spiky-haired Goth; a seedy video store owner named Max California who helps Nicolas Cage's detective discover the truth about a snuff film found by a wealthy widow among the belongings of her recently deceased husband. Cage and Schumacher, of course, are no strangers to this sort of ham-fisted, over-the-top pulpy material, but Phoenix feels squarely out of place in their presence. He is clearly trying to have fun with the role, but he can't quite match the commitment to utter insanity that Cage brings to the table, and consequently, his performance feels a little lackluster. Additionally, it doesn't help that the screenplays is one of the absolute worst and most ridiculous ever produced as a high-budget feature film. Luckily, Phoenix followed this film up with the one-two punch of The Yards and Gladiator, which pretty much sealed his career from then on out. But 8MM was a slippery slope, and he almost didn't make it out in one piece. Nicolas Cage, for example, couldn't resist, and has continued to make movies just as bad and even worse than 8MM in his subsequent career.