Incomplete Top 10: Hollywood Junk Collectors

Tracy Bennett/newline.wireimage.com

This weekend marks a minor miracle in Hollywood. The much-delayed and rewritten and reshot and retested Mr. Woodcock is finally hitting theaters. Poor Seann William Scott. Ever since he permanently dazzled audiences in American Pie, he's had a tough time finding that right post-Stifler project. Instead, he suffers in inadequate movies like Woodcock and The Dukes of Hazzard. Shiver.

Man, does it ache when perfectly photogenic and talented famous folks pop up in flat, dismal flicks, as if there were a secret society of junk collectors, and they're all vying for the presidency. So, it's time to count down the biggest offenders: otherwise good actors who keep showing up in bad movie after bad movie. And if one of your favorite actors has let you down more than all of these combined, cry out for your belief in the Comments section!

Buena Vista Pictures/Walt Disney Pictures

1. Cuba Gooding Jr.:  The man is an obvious choice for obvious reasons, like Snow Dogs, Daddy Day Camp, Rat Race and on and on. It's all well and good to want to entertain the kids, but Cuba can't use that excuse for odd and misguided clunkers like Radio and Boat Trip. Someday, I wish he would sit himself down and watch Boyz n the Hood on loop. Or maybe take Cameron Crowe and John Singleton to lunch.

Warner Bros. Entertainment

2. Robin Williams:  How can it be that Robin Williams, who used to make art like Dead Poets Society and Awakenings, can read the script for deadweight License to Wed and say, "I'm in!"? Same goes for RV, Man of the Year and Patch Adams. Naturally, a guy who can do deep and funny wants to go both ways, but he should hold off for a script that's actually, you know, funny.

Miramax / Universal Studios

3. Josh Hartnett:  It's a track record that's dauntingly bad: Resurrecting the Champ. The Black Dahlia. Wicker Park. 40 Days and 40 Nights. Man, does Hartnett have a nose for junk—and in multiple genres, to boot! Yet, we all keep waiting for him to show up in a movie that isn't goofy-bad and emerge as the next Harrison Ford. Ticktock, Josh.

Tracy Bennett/TriStar Pictures

4. Lindsay Lohan:  Once upon a time, Lindsay was also great at—what's it called? Oh, yeah: acting! And then came her broad, lazy work in Georgia Rule, her ridiculous I-will-make-this-movie-instead-of-getting-a-psychotherapist jaunt in the little-seen I Know Who Killed Me. Oh, Linds, Just My Luck was just plain stupid. She needs to stop letting mom or whomever read her scripts.

New Line Cinema

5. Ashton Kutcher:  You are huffing and puffing and calling for my resignation. Kutcher = good actor?! Alas, What Happens in Vegas could just move him into the good stratosphere. Maybe, gulp. He definitely has a lot to atone for, though: Guess Who, The Butterfly Effect, etc. This physical hottie should beg Will Ferrell to put him on Funny or Die. Actually, Ash should have done that a long time ago.

Warner Bros. Entertainment

6. Hilary Swank:  As one of the approximately 19 people in America who enjoyed The Reaping, it's hard to put Hilary on this list. Then again, I saw her other Oscar follow-ups: the dated and cheesy Freedom Writers and the cringe-inducing Black Dahlia. Hopefully, P.S., I Love You will mark the end of Swank's post-Million Dollar Baby junk spree. Knock on all the wood in the world.

Christine Loss/New Line Cinema

7. Jim Carrey:  The former box office god of Ace Venture: Pet Detective and other big funnies doesn't always have the magic touch. Sometimes, as with The Nuber 23, his touch is downright, um, Majestic. Jim's movies used to be special because of that low-budget feel, and now he's associated with bloated budgets. But hey, at least he wasn't in Evan Almighty!

Universal Pictures

8. Robert De Niro:  Yes, of course De Niro is one of the best living actors, one of the greatest of all time. But go with me here. He bit the Stardust bait, which felt like an unnecessary attempt at one-upping Pirate Johnny Depp. And he said yes to things like City by the Sea, Showtime and The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle. Bob, you're too good for this world. Which is why you need to say no sometimes.

Universal Pictures

9. Mandy Moore:  In a sea of be-yotchy girls without nerve endings, Mandy stands out as the genuinely sensitive hot chick. It's sad that she signs on for the good-on-paper schlock like Because I Said So, Dedication and American Dreamz. Mandy's films have great concepts and wretched follow-through. Directors of Hollywood, if you hire this girl, you owe it to her to get your act together.

10. You tell me!  Who'd I miss? Sound off in the Comments section.