The Most Memorable and Most Disappointing Performances of 2006

Aaron Eckhart delivered one of the most memorable performances of 2006 in Thank You for Smoking.

Eric

Most memorable performance:
In Thank You for Smoking Aaron Eckhart plays a Tobacco spin doctor who is so unconcerned with his products dangerous effects that he brags about how many people have died from using it. He convinces an entire class of students to start smoking. What could have come across as an evil villain, is played more as a charming manipulator. Sure he knows what he is doing but he makes no apologies. Eckhart makes Nick Naylor the most charming, entertaining character to appear onscreen last year.

Most disappointing performance:
I could easily write that John Cena made a below average film debut in The Marine. I could say that Matthew Broderick bored me to tears in Deck the Halls, but this is, wrestler, Cena's film debut and Broderick has not been good in a movie in over a decade. The most disappointing performance last year, for me, was Scarlett Johansson in Scoop. She has been so good in so many movie that I expected her to be great here as well. She was not! With this comedy, Johansson revealed that she needs to work on her comic timing.

Patrick

Most memorable performance:
Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls is a natural. The part is great and it fits her like a glove. And she gets to deliver one of the greatest 11 oclock numbers in Broadway history "And I am Telling You I'm not Going". She sings the hell out of that song. Showstopper! She's already got the Golden Globe and she has to be a favorite for the Oscar as well.

Most disappointing performance:
My pick is Jeremy Irons for his performance as Brom in Eragon. It's not really that he's bad in this part, only so dull that he's completely forgettable. In fact I can't think of a single line he delivered or any other detail that he brought to the role.

Scott

Most memorable performance:
To narrow it down to just one performance as the most memorable is tough. I think I'm going to have to go with Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. There were other performances that might have contained more drama, like Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal or Helen Mirren in The Queen, but will I ever watch those movies again? Maybe, but Craig's performance reinvigorated the Bond franchise and is likely going to be around for a long time to come.

Most disappointing performance:
Most disappointing is an odd choice of words. It implies that I had hopes that a performance would be good, but wasn't. Worst performance of the year is a more straightforward choice, I would probably go with Nicolas Cage in Wicker Man, but the problems with that movie go beyond his floundering, over-the-top acting. If I have to pick a performance where I expected greatness, but was disappointed, I have to chose (and Patrick will want to kill me for this) Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. It's not that she does a bad job (she doesn't), but simply that her performance had been built up so strongly that when I eventually saw it, I couldn't help but be disappointed when it failed to live up to the hype.