I always wondered about this.

The Brits still complain about Dick Van Dyke's "cockney" accent in Mary Poppins. Or Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula. On the flip side, Stephen Dorff's scouse accent in the little-seen Backbeat still draws praise.

It seems to me that some British actors have pretty terrible American accents (Dominic West in the first season of The Wire, for instance). And yet they somehow seem to get away with it. Unfair, really.

A fair question... For me personally, the answer is "No"... unless the accent so dreadfully tears down the storyline by making the actor spouting it unintelligible. (I can't recall a specific incidence of this personally, but perhaps other Slaters know of a few?)

Then of course there are the films where an accent is needed but is sadly absent. I was not put off by Kevin Costner's lack of Brit in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", or young Cody in "The Rescuers Down Under" (odd that his mum spoke with an accent, living in the outback like she does, yet Cody sounds like he's from Iowa...)

If the story is good, and the effects are reasonably believable, then an accent (good, bad or missing) should not be that big a stretch. .

YES! Bad fake accents make me crazy, I don't care where they are originally from and it doesn't really matter what accent they are trying to do, if it's bad, I would rather they just not try. It's distracting when every single word sounds like a painful caricature or when they can't keep it going the whole time so it seems to fade in and out. Really, it's not that hard to find someone who either can do the accent properly or is from the country/region in question. And if you're so attached to the actor, give them a silly backstory if you must (that makes me crazy too, but less so). Regarding American accents specifically, I don't often hear too many egregiously awful 'standard' bland, midwest fake accents (although sometimes Brits in particular sound like overly bland news anchors), but save me from anyone, including Americans, trying to do a southern accent. I can't remember what I was watching, but there a Brit playing an American southerner and it sounded like he was doing his best imitation of an old south, Gone with the Wind style southern accent. It was quite absurd.

He was masterful as Agent Smith with his exaggerated imitation of the midwestern American accent. I loved his characture of how we speak.

Now I think about it, American aren't always bad at British accents. A top 10 of good ones:

1) James Cromwell. I honestly would not have suspected he wasn't British, either in LA Confidential or The Queen (an awesome Prince Phillip)

2) Stephen Dorff. Backbeat.

3) Johnny Depp. Did a good Scottish accent in Finding Neverland, a tough one to pull off.

4) Forest Whitaker. Surprisingly strong in The Crying Game.

5) Gynweth Paltrow. Pretty accurate, if a bit "posh".

6) Seth McFarlane. I've never heard anyone talk quite like Stewey Griffin, but still strangely accurate.

7) Mel Gibson. Hamlet, though being raised Australian helped.

8) Anne Hathaway.

9) Spike in "Buffy". Not bad, though went a bit weird and Bowie sometimes.

10) Joaquin Phoenix.

To me, it seems like every british actor can do a perfect American accent, but no american can do british. I'm constantly surprised to hear that certain people are actually british. Like Christian Bale. I never really tuned in to that. I certainly didn't notice, and his american accent sounds much cooler than my voice.

Terrible American Accents:

Claire Forlani

Sienna Miller

Johnny Lee Miller (even though I adore him)

I am sure there are many more, these were just the ones that came to the top of my head.

jeneria:

Terrible American Accents:

Claire Forlani

Sienna Miller

Johnny Lee Miller (even though I adore him)

I am sure there are many more, these were just the ones that came to the top of my head.

And while he's Australian, there have been times where Hugh Jackman's attempt at American has gone horribly wrong.