Apparently it’s St Patrick’s day today, a day where people all over the world celebrate the man who introduced Christianity to Ireland. Paddy is famous for two things, 1. Driving all the snakes out of Ireland and 2. Introducing the religion that tore the country apart for the next 1600 years. Maybe it’s time we give the snakes another chance, they couldn’t make things any worse. I digress, this is a movie blog so to mark the day I’ve created another pointless list of obscure and sometimes interesting trivia for you to disagree with. Today it’s the worst Irish accents in cinema history. Remember I’m Irish so I get final say.
4. Richard Gere – The Jackal (1997)
The little seen thriller starring Bruce Willis as a top assassin is only remembered by me for the beautiful butchering of the Irish accent by Mr Gere. He plays an ex IRA terrorist who presumably planted a bomb under his accent coach’s car. In one scene he sounds welsh, in the next its Japanese, this performance is the benchmark for all bad Irish accents to match.
3. Tommy Lee Jones – Blown Away (1994)
Another ex IRA member (they really do appear to have a problem with staff retention), Jones could easily be playing an Al Qaeda terrorist instead and no one would know. Sounding like a South African who moved to Texas when he was 9 this is a beautiful example of an actor who found out his character was Irish the day before shooting. Thankfully Jones stuck to his own accent for the rest of his career.
2. Cameron Diaz – Gangs of New York (2002)
Where to start with this one? Diaz’s preparation consisted of ‘dye hair red, talk quickly’. Definitely a graduate of the ‘Tom Cruise in Far and Away‘ school of Irish accent, this one is more annoying than funny. Even Richard Gere would shake his head at it.
1. Gerard Butler – P.S I Love You (2007)
Director: ‘OK Gerard, the book says the guy is Irish but no one will care if you just make him Scottish.’
GB: ‘I think I can pull this off, how hard can it be? I managed a faithful ancient Spartan accent in 300 so this should be easy.’
Note to Scottish actors attempting Irish accents, take a leaf out of Sean Connery‘s book from The Untouchables, say you’re Irish but don’t even attempt an accent. Here endeth the lesson.
So what do you think? Do you know any Irish accents that are worse? Or should that be ‘oirish’? Pierce Brosnan doesn’t count as he achieves an awful irish accent while actually being Irish. Bring it on!
Screenkicker! 
hahah damn this is hilarious. i kind of want to see all of these movies just for the bad accents. esp. Blown Away, i’ve always wanted to hear a good Tommy Lee Jones’ accent butchering. . . hahah. good stuff.
LikeLike
Haha, yeah there’s a reason Tommy Lee Jones doesn’t do many accents and it’s this film!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Screenkicker! and commented:
Hey gang, it’s St Patricks Day today so in the grand Irish tradition I’m stubbornly clinging on to the bloody past and upsetting a whole nation by bringing you a classic Screenkicker post from the archives. Here are the worst Irish accents in film history.
LikeLike
Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ accent in Bend It Like Beckham is appalling. And he actually is Irish.
LikeLike
Ha, I should do a post about the worst Irish accents by Irish people in film. Rhys-meyers and Brosnan at the top!
LikeLike
Amazing stuff this mate, good work! Russell Crowe was just in a film called New York A Winters Tale and his Irish accent in that sounds horrible just from the trailer.
LikeLike
I saw that trailer and it’s soooooo bad! Although not as strange as his accent in Robin Hood
LikeLike
Haha yeah that’s terrible. I remember an interviewer asking him whether it was Irish and he flipped his lid!
LikeLike
Oh shit, don’t tell him I said anything!
LikeLike
Great list! I agree with them all, particularly Gerard Butler. It’s painful to watch. Every time he says “hi baby” I want to tear my ears off.
You’re right about Pierce Brosnan, it is woeful even though he is Irish. The same goes for Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Bend it Like Beckham. Even though he’s from Cork, it’s one of the worst Irish accents in a film!
LikeLike
Why didn’t he just speak with his Scottish accent? There was no need to try Irish!
I love when Pierce Brosnan is getting interviewed and someone mentions Ireland – his accent gets more ridiculous straight away!
LikeLike
I haven’t seen any of these. (I know – how have I not seen Gangs of New York?). So I got nothing on these movies.
Wasn’t Tom Cruise’s accent in Far and Away pretty awful?
LikeLike
Oh. And I love holidays wherein modern people celebrate historical figures that really don’t deserve celebration. I don’t know anything about St. Patrick, but it’s great to hear this might be another such holiday, ranking alongside the USA’s Christopher Columbus Day.
LikeLike
Actually St Patrick did some cool shit that would make a good film. He could control dogs and he threw all of the snakes out of Ireland! Plus he wasn’t Irish
LikeLike
He wasn’t Irish? That’s pretty funny.
LikeLike
Tom Cruise’s accent was horrendous but I thought it would be too obvious! I don’t think he’s attempted an accent since!
LikeLike
I certainly can’t remember one.
LikeLike
Excellent list! Gangs of New York is an awesome movie, but every scene with Cameron Diaz in it makes me cringe.
The worst movie accent of all time to me though, Irish or otherwise, has got to be Kevin Costner in Robin Hood. I mean, he barely even tried.
LikeLike
At least Costner knew he couldn’t do it so didn’t bother. Russell Crowe as Robin Hood changed his accent every fifteen minutes
LikeLike
I listened to a podcast a couple of weeks ago with some bad Irish accents….
LikeLike
Sounds shit. You should listen to my podcast instead 😉
LikeLike
Mwahahahaha!! I knew GB would make your list Mikey! I actually love P.S I Love You but yeah he always sounds Scottish no matter what 😀 He’s actually Irish descent too, tho his family migrated to Scotland, but man, what excuse does Pierce Brosnan have? Sheesh!!
LikeLike
LOOOOL! Oh well done! There are some bad ones on here, must agree there!
LikeLike
HA. This is wonderful. I feel like you could make an excellent drinking game out of movies with bad Irish accents…Maybe that’s how I’ll celebrate St. Patrick’s Day next year. 😉
LikeLike
Haha! Oh, were these bad? Us Americans have no idea.
LikeLike
I know what you mean. Before I moved to Scotland I thought Mel Gibson’s accent in Brave heart was amazing!
LikeLike
Too bad they didn’t have the luck of the blarney stone on their side.
LikeLike
Haha, Richard Gere and Tommy Lee Jones were pretty bad!
LikeLike
Glad you agree 🙂
LikeLike
[…] With thanks to Screenkicker movies […]
LikeLike