Ralph Fiennes: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Chris Marshall - Maid In Manhattan (2002)

Whether it was his own sense of experimentation or if it was a case of a little studio arm-twisting, after 2002's Maid In Manhattan it was clear to everyone that Ralph Fiennes was never designed to play simple roles. And while she was still a bankable romcom pull, you couldn't have gone much simpler than being cast as the romantic lead opposite Jennifer Lopez. Playing an ambitious American politician who can also break into terrible French and instantly fall in love with Lopez' hotel maid, Fiennes looks, acts and feels completely out of place. Watching him fumble awkwardly around and delivering one of his flattest performances ever is made even more painful considering that the same year saw some of his most complex portrayals in Spider and Red Dragon.The kind of romance for Ralph Fiennes' caliber is the stuff of The English Patient, The End Of The Affair and The Constant Gardner; deep, dark, and filled with genuine pathos. The way he looks at Lopez in this movie is similar to how he'd probably look at a busted pipe under his bathroom sink; a trivial inconvenience that's been forced upon him. For the sake of preserving his own dignity, Fiennes himself confessed that these types of roles are not his strength.