Unlikeable main characters

bazzabear said:
And of course the obvious - although it's entirely deliberate - the Wolf of Wall Street. A film which is basically all about a complete and utter tossbag boasting about what a complete and utter tossbag he was, and how he completely got away with it.
This one I watched and enjoyed, but hated at the same time.
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WOWS is a good example of the actor overtaking the character - hard to hate as it's DiCaprio doing another great performance, however Jordan is utter scum who you should wish the worst end for.

Negan off TWD is an example of this, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is such a likeable actor, he could never portray Negan and generate the dislike a character like that should have.

More recently, Kevin Costner as John Dutton in Yellowstone, he's an absolute piece of ****, murderer, bad father, uses all those around him until nothing is left but as he's played by Costner, he's hard to hate.
 
Yea, when I read the thread title I immediately thought of intentionally unlikeable main characters and my first thought was David Thewlis' character Johnny in Mike Leighs Naked. Such a thoroughly unlikeable anti-hero, who you still can't help liking in the film.

Unintentionally dislikeable characters is a bit more subjective and can come down to just not liking the actor.
 
Ross in friends,
The wife in breaking bad (I have to admit i fast forwarded every scene she was in)
Any jerk scientist in a movie then is some kind of narcissistic fool, but ended up being the smartest man in the room
Megan Boon in the blacklist.
 
@n111ck I agree Andor is unlikeable but I think that is part of showing his character growth and journey. He is a selfish grifter with skills and charm but finds a meaning beyond himself. In that sense I don't think his unlikability is problematic. Captain Marvel on the other hand is unlikeable has no growth she's always perfect and nothing is beyond her and she's rude, a really badly written hero in my opinion.
 
I'm surprised no-one has said Succession yet. I know the point of the show is that they're all just serving their own self interests but it ends up being boring IMO as I didn't care who "won".
 
I found half the characters of New BSG really annoyed me - Every time things start going well and there's only one absurd thing that could spoil them, one of the characters (often Adama) would get all arrogant and self-important, and actually do the one thing that then ***** everything up all over again, as if swallowing a moment of pride was suddenly impossible for them.
This happens a lot in other programmes, and the like of Love Island/Big Brother seem founded on such bellendery, but BSG was the first non-reality show that really hit me with it. Breaking Bad started going the same way.
 
Honestly, I don't habitually watch EastEnders, I promise, but I do on occasion happen to see the odd episode, and although I definitely do not watch it, I have obliquely picked up on the story with Janine and the literal car crash which seems to have been dragged out over multiple months, culminating over Christmas. Now I know full well that the character of Janine is meant to be utterly hated in every way possible, and always has been, but this is an example of the character written to be so irredeemably unlikeable, that the fact the viewer is forced to see the story play out over such a long time it reaches unstainable levels of aggravation watching it, when all you want as a viewer is for Janine to be thrown into a vat of sulphuric acid five minutes after her first appearance on her return the show, rather than 6 months later, and even then for it to be just another car crash.

Of course, of course, this is exactly what the BBC want, because if it wasn't for this desire to see Janine literally hanged, I would have had no interest in EastEnders whatsoever, so they know what they are doing obviously. File this one under intentionally unlikable.

edit: Is Newt in Aliens a "main" character? I can barely watch Aliens because this this kid. Surely an example of the producers thinking, surely *everyone* is going to like having a kid having to be dragged along, getting into Alien based scrapes and having to be constantly worried about. No one could possibly watch that and not immediately want the kid to be literally fed to the nearest alien, are they?
 
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STD - Burnham
Cobra Kai - Daniel (never liked him, a busybody, devious little troublemaker)
Royle Family - Denise. Her epic laziness annoyed the **** out of me

Police Academy - Mahoney. Smarmy, smug git who had literally disappeared up his own arse
Goodfellas - Tommy. Just an awful vile individual. I was actually happy when he copped it.
 
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Bubo said:
edit: Is Newt in Aliens a "main" character? I can barely watch Aliens because this this kid. Surely an example of the producers thinking, surely *everyone* is going to like having a kid having to be dragged along, getting into Alien based scrapes and having to be constantly worried about. No one could possibly watch that and not immediately want the kid to be literally fed to the nearest alien, are they?
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Newt was actually doing just fine until the marines arrived ;)
 
Surprised not to see Rey or Kylo Ren mentioned yet.

I should expand: KR is a villain, I get that, but was an irritating one, especially in 8... There's a way to do evil and menacing and the opening 10 minutes if episode 7 set a tone that just didn't seem to return. Whereas Rey just grated, waiting for the next thing she'd master in an instant.
 
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AJ from Sopranos. I get that means he played his role to perfection but my god at some points you're just begging for Tony to spark him :cry:

Also Daniels, Bunk and Clay Davies from The Wire... "sheeeeeee*t"
 
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SixTwoSix said:
Gonna be divisive but The Last Kingdom - Uhtred, just comes across as entitled, spoilt and up his own ass the entire time, to the point I got so sick of him I can't get past the mid point of S2. Should have made Brida the lead, even with her limited screen time she's a far more interesting character.
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That's exactly how it is the books ;) the whole point is, it is an old Uhtred narrating his life and constantly pointing out what an absolute arse he was when he was younger.


Two stand out programs for me.

Ray in Everybody Loves Raymond

Frasier in Frasier
 
robfosters said:
I didn’t like Alexei Sayle in that. Found him totally unfunny and annoying
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that's just Alexei Sayle summed up - totally unfunny and annoying lol
Bubo said:
And another 80's sitcom for you. Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses. He wasn't fit to wipe the screen of Grandads second telly, when OFAH was actually still funny overall.
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Uncle Albert unlikeable?! you need to have a word with yourself dude :p
 
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