The 10 Most Unlikable Characters in Movie History

Every movie has a cast of characters who are vital to the story. Some are likable and some are not. I have no problem listing the characters I’ve connected with over the years – the ones you just can’t help but like. I could go on for days with that list (but I won’t).

In contrast, I decided to make a list of characters that are unlikable. I got the idea for this article when I wrote about Ordinary People in my post called “9 Great Movies Worth Watching Once.”

The following characters just make me want to throw something at the screen because they are so vile. I know movies need conflict, which usually manifests as villains whose purpose is to oppose the heroes, but some are simply more unpleasant than necessary. Here they are, listed alphabetically by title:

Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

I’ve only seen this movie once, but only because I couldn’t bring myself to watch Meryl Streep in it again. Don’t get me wrong, the movie itself wasn’t bad – but her character has zero likable qualities. Streep gives a great performance (as she always does) and I’m sure she achieved what director David Frankel was hoping for. Streep plays Miranda Priestly, who runs a fashion magazine and is constantly cold and bitter to everyone around her. I do remember Priestly attaining some sort of redemption toward the end, but then going back to her usual self. I guess some characters aren’t meant to have an arc as much as we would want them to.

Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison), The Green Mile (1999)

I could watch The Green Mile once a day if I wanted to because it is such a great film. It is one of the best film adaptations of a Stephen King novel. But the character Percy Wetmore is a total jerk. Doug Hutchison plays the character very well…a little too well if you ask me. I remember not liking the character when I read the book, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

Percy is a prison guard in the death row unit during the Depression and he always treats others like garbage. He also thinks he is better than his superiors because he is the nephew of the state governor. Percy is particularly cruel and abusive to prisoner Eduard Delacroix. Just writing about him makes my skin crawl.

Beth Jarrett (Mary Tyler Moore), Ordinary People (1980)

Beth, on the other hand, is cold towards Conrad – it is implied that his dead brother was her favorite child. Beth constantly shields her emotions and affections in an attempt to regain a sense of normalcy in their family. I wish she would just grieve for her lost son, as I’m sure anyone else would have.

Side note: I understand that everyone grieves differently. This may simply have been Beth’s way of grieving and coping with her loss, no matter how unhealthy her choice was. It still makes her unlikable to the viewer, though, so my point stands.

Captain Vidal (Sergi López), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Pan’s Labyrinth is a beautifully made film that mixes fantasy with troubled times in 1944 Spain. Ofelia is a young girl who has no choice but to live with her stepfather, Captain Vidal. Vidal is a ruthless soldier who does what he can to torture and/or kill any rebels from the Spanish Marquis. Vidal’s tactics and actions are unpleasant to watch in an otherwise great film. SPOILER I think I enjoyed it a little too much watching Vidal get what he deserved at the end of the film.

Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro), Raging Bull (1980)

If the real Jake LaMotta was anything like Robert De Niro’s performance in Raging Bull, I wouldn’t have touched him with a ten-foot pole. In the film, LaMotta is a boxer whose constant anger and jealousy fuels his performance in the ring. He is particularly jealous of his girlfriend Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), who is constantly flirting with other men.

LaMotta has his reasons for jealousy, but any level-minded man would have just let her go, rather than holding onto her like some prize. LaMotta’s other actions in the film are disturbing and unnecessary. He even goes as far as attacking his brother right in front of their unsuspecting family. After a prison sentence, LaMotta is a changed man and makes amends with his brother, but I think he needed to do more than just that.

Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), Schindler’s List (1993)

Amon Goeth is the epitome of evil in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (and being “the epitome of evil” when we’re talking about Nazis…enough said). Goeth has no empathy, compassion, or any sense of decency for the human race. He is a German SS commander who arrives in Poland during the Holocaust to oversee the construction of a concentration camp. Goeth not only despises Jews, but he kills them whenever he feels like it. The scenes involving his interactions with the Jews are beyond unpleasant to watch, especially in the liquidation scene when the Jews are cast out and sent to the camp. Despite how hard it is to watch (or perhaps because it is so hard to watch), Schindler’s List should be on everyone’s list.

Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton), The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

This is my absolute favorite movie of all time. I enjoy it for many reasons, and one of them is because of the characters. The friendship between Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) and Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman) is always a treat to watch. However, there are a few other characters that are on the opposite end of the likability spectrum. One of them is the prison warden, Samuel Norton. Norton starts as strict, but fair. His only demand is that his prisoners do not take the Lord’s name in vain.

Norton may seem like a God-fearing man, but as the film progresses, it is obvious that this is just a guise. He starts to scheme his way into a small fortune through bribery and cheap labor. He even uses Andy as an accomplice to money laundering, since Andy was a banker before he became a prisoner. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Norton shows his cruel nature when Andy approaches him with the possibility of being released. Norton devolves into a cheat and a hypocrite. Nevertheless, the film has a fabulous ending and you’ll just have to watch to see if Norton gets his comeuppance or not.

Sack Lodge (Bradley Cooper), Wedding Crashers (2005)

This was my first introduction to Bradley Cooper, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see him in anything else. I’m glad I gave him another chance because I now rank him as one of my favorite current actors. That gives you an idea of how good he is onscreen, even if he’s playing a despicable character.

In Wedding Crashers, he plays Sack Lodge, who will go down in jerk history as the best…but that’s why he’s on this list. He pretends to be a good and caring boyfriend to Claire (Rachel McAdams), but he is unfaithful and selfish behind her back. When Sack notices that Claire and John (Owen Wilson) have developed a good rapport, he is jealous and pulls out all the stops to find out what John and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) are up to. Even though John and Jeremy are the titular wedding crashers (who aren’t exactly squeaky clean either), the audience begins to root for them over Sack. Sack even goes as far as tackling Jeremy during a supposedly friendly touch football game, leaving Jeremy struggling to breathe. muttering Sack is a real sack of something all right.

Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), Whiplash (2014)

J.K. Simmons normally plays likable characters. I loved him in Juno (2007) as the father of a pregnant teenager – he had several entertaining lines. He is also a caring father who delivers one of the most heartfelt messages I’ve seen a father gives to his daughter (onscreen or off).

In Whiplash, though, he is the opposite of that. He plays Terence Fletcher, an abusive music teacher who doesn’t think (or care) about the consequences of his actions. He emotionally, verbally, and even physically abuses his students to make them see things his way. In one hard-to-watch scene, he makes Andrew (Miles Teller) drum as hard as he can, all while slapping Andrew in the face. Andrew is even bleeding on the drums, but Mr. Fletcher doesn’t care. Talk about a sociopath!

Kyle Clayton (Daryl Sabara), World’s Greatest Dad (2009)

Kyle is the quintessential brat – he is way more contentious than your average pre-teen. He is exceedingly negative toward others and is constantly throwing shade at his father (Robin Williams). And his language! George Carlin himself would blush to listen to this kid talk! I remember liking World’s Greatest Dad to a certain extent but was mainly relieved that Kyle didn’t stick around for the whole film. If he were my kid, he’d be sent off to boarding school…on the other side of the country! Maybe a different continent.

I typically end my posts with “Happy watching!” But I’m not sure how applicable that is with this list. So, um…you’ve been warned?