The snarky statisticians over at online magazine Slate have named Jennifer Love Hewitt the worst actress since 1985. Action star Chuck Norris was named the worst actor.
The editors chose from 2,700 directors and actors who have made ten or more films in the last 26 years. Why did they choose 1985 as the cut-off? The explanation is rather lengthy, but basically defines their era for modern films.
Using Rotten Tomatoes' infamous "Tomatometer" rating system (where reviewers assign movies a numerical rating, with higher numbers being "fresh" and lower numbers being "rotten"), they calculated Love Hewitt as the worst actress. Her 18.9% overall rating comes from such "rotten" films as "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit" (7% rating), "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" (7% rating), and both "Garfield" movies (15% and 11%, respectively).
The best actors? French actor Daniel Auteuil (86% overall rating) and Armenian-Canadian actress Arsinée Khanjian (84.7% overall rating). Haven't heard of them? Neither have we. The top American actors are John Ratzenberger (76.1% overall rating), thanks to the popular (and well-reviewed) Pixar films like "Up" and "The Incredibles," and Amy Madigan ("Gone Baby Gone" and "Field of Dreams").
The Slate study showed that actors tend to hover around a 50% rating throughout their careers, while directors actually go up. The highest-rated American director? Ethan Coen, with an 84.3% overall rating for films like "Fargo" and "True Grit." For more of the Slate study, click here.
To be fair, Love Hewitt recently ended a very long and successful run on "The Ghost Whisperer." She actually received a Golden Globe nomination this year for her role in the television special "The Client List," in which she portrayed a housewife-turned-hooker. She's also rumored to be replacing Mariska Hargety on "Law & Order: SVU," a critically acclaimed show.
In response to the study, Hewitt released a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “Clearly, I need to learn French and go to Paris to make some French films, since those seem to be the favorites of critics," the actress responded, referring to Auteuil's high rating. "And do they give trophies for this?”
Do you think Jennifer Love Hewitt is the worst actress since 1985? Or does another (here's looking at you, Jessica Alba and January Jones) deserve that "honor"? Sound off in the comments below!
