"Sean Connery elevates everything he's in... Except like, you know, that one movie we don't talk about. And Zardoz, I guess." —The Spoony One, The Spoony Experiment (said movie is Highlander II the Quickening)[1]

A subtrope of the "Rule of Cool".

Sean Connery:
A = Movie's Awesomeness Factor without Sean Connery
B = Awesomeness Multiplier of Sean Connery = 100
C = Movie's Actual Awesomeness Factor
If Sean Connery is in the movie then C = BA = 100A, otherwise A=C.

Keanu Reeves:
A = Movie's Awesomeness Factor without Keanu Reeves
B = Awesomeness Multiplier of Keanu Reeves = -5
C = Movie's Actual Awesomeness Factor
If Keanu Reeves is in the movie then C = BA = -5A, otherwise A=C.

Nicolas Cage aka The Great Variable:
A = Movie's Awesomeness Factor without Nicolas Cage
B = Awesomeness Multiplier of Nicolas Cage = + /-5
C = Movie's Actual Awesomeness Factor
If Nicolas Cage is in the movie then C = BA = + /-5A, otherwise A=C

Connery Factors (YMMV, but only 1% of the time)

• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen... It may be In Name Only, but Sean Connery single-handedly raises it from an F to a C-.
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Sean Connery as Indiana Jones' dad? AWESOME! Ditching the series when it started to be about Crystal Skulls? Also a good move.
  • The Hunt for Red October.

Captain Ramius: We will pass through the American patrols, past their sonar nets, and lay off their largest city, and listen to their rock and roll... while we conduct missile drills. Captain Ramius: You're afraid of our fleet. Well, you should be. Personally, I'd give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?

• • James Bond
  • Finding Forrester: "You're the man now, dog!"
  • Dragonheart
  • The Untouchables. Let's face it, not even terrible or nonexistent accents can diminish his awesomeness multiplier. (See also The Hunt for Red October and Highlander.)
  • Highlander... and Highlander II the Quickening. If it existed.
  • Time Bandits! Agamemnon was never so freakin' awesome.
    • Word of God states that the script notes for Agamemnon called for a Sean Connery looking actor the production could afford. After reading the script Connery was so amused by the comment he agreed to do the role at a reduced rate.
  • Hell, even Zardoz.
  • A Bridge Too Far shows you what happens when you multiply Connery by Hopkins and raise it to the Hackman.
  • "Welcome to The Rock!" Also notable as having wildcard Nicolas Cage come out as a positive factor.
  • Sir Billi... is an exception.
• Humphrey Bogart actually rivals Connery for dominion over this trope if you go back and watch his less famous roles. Tokyo Joe, for example, is an absolutely horrible Casablanca retread with awful casting and a terrible script, yet Bogart somehow elevates it from "garbage" to "wow, that was pretty decent." The Two Mrs. Carrolls is another example, although even Bogie can only drag that wreck so far (though you still won't regret watching it). On a more positive note, he took The Caine Mutiny from a good-but-forgettable war movie to an Oscar nominated masterpiece, and he did it with what, twenty minutes of screen time? If that?
  • He got the part in The Petrified Forest because he'd played the role on Broadway, and was so good that leading man Leslie Howard wouldn't make the movie unless they cast Bogie. He of course nailed it so well that he immediately became the go-to guy to play tough villains in Hollywood until The Maltese Falcon bailed him out of his Typecasting.
  • Bogart wasn't named the Greatest Movie star of all time by the AFI for nothing. Even when he played supporting roles he elevated mostly forgettable films into must see viewing.
• Sean Bean, ladies and gentlemen. He can make even a Michael Bay movie good by his mere presence. To truly get an idea of his greatness, see this article.
  • Hey, Bay did one truly good movie, The Rock - though as mentioned above, it stars the trope namer, and is a good example of Nic Cage contributing positively.
• David Bowie, even if it's just for one scene.
• Michael Caine
• Robert De Niro
• Bruce Campbell "Hail to the king, baby."
• James Coburn He made High Risk, a subpar action/drug comedy, decent for the twenty minutes or so he's in it. Not to mention his roles in good movies like A Fistful of Dynamite, Duck You Sucker and Cross Of Iron.
• Russell Crowe
• Tim Curry
• Willem Dafoe, even in that ridiculous outfit.
  • And especially in that other ridiculous outfit.
  • And doubly so in that other ridiculous outfit.
• Harrison Ford
• Morgan Freeman, particularly his voice.
• Cary Grant
• Alec Guinness
• Anthony Hopkins
• Jason Isaacs
• Dustin Hoffman
• Johnny Depp
• Hugh Jackman
• Boris Karloff and/or Bela Lugosi although to some, YMMV in regards to Lugosi.
• The Rock
• Christopher Lee: Look no further than The Man with the Golden Gun and Howling II for evidence of how even total crap can be made awesome by his being there (to say nothing of his good movies, and disputed stuff such as the Star Wars prequels).
  • Also that he continued soldiering on through the Hammer Dracula films as they got worse and worse solely because of how many crew jobs the studio reminded him would be lost if they stopped making the films says something for this man's character. Not to mention that he tries his hardest to make each one of them worthwhile.
• Bill Murray
• Samuel L. Jackson is synonymous with awesomeness. Except in Coming to America and Jungle Fever.
• Ian McKellen
• Jack Nicholson: Even when he's essentially playing himself, he makes everything better.
• Laurence Olivier: considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time. Despite all the professional success and having the official knight title of Sir Laurence Olivier, he always insisted on being called "Larry"
• Ron Perlman
• Denzel Washington
• Vincent Price Mix carefully with Michael Jackson, and you get Thriller!
• Alan Rickman: Really, the only reason to see Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is him Chewing the Scenery as the Sheriff Of Nottingham. It's also another example for Sean Connery, who makes a uncredited cameo right at the end and steals the scene completely.
• Geoffrey Rush: Case in point, The Warrior's Way
• Patrick Stewart
• Laurence Fishburne
• Meryl Streep is singlehandedly capable of making any movie she is ever in awesome, by virtue of the fact that she is Meryl Frakking Streep.
  • AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) should just rename the Best Actress award into the Meryl Streep Award and call it a day. She won only 3 of 17 (!) nominations because it would be boring if she just took it every time. With 2 won Oscars she is severely undervalued, to the point where it's almost insulting.
• Christopher Walken, full stop.
  • On the same vein, Lance Henriksen.
• The English quartet of awesome:
  • Helen Mirren
  • Judi Dench
  • Emma Thompson
  • Maggie Smith
• Frank Langella
• Audrey Hepburn
• Katharine Hepburn: Was awesome both in movies and in real life.
• It doesn't seem to matter what Allison Janney is in: she sells it.
  • Except for Date Movie. But then, no one could have sold Date Movie.
• John Wayne. Notice that his movie awesomeness multiplier increases by a factor of 10 when it's also a Western- or if Maureen O'Hara is playing opposite him.
• As pointed by her page, Summer Glau.
• Brian Blessed is just SO hammy that any movie he is in is automatically awesome.
• Liam Neeson.
• Gary Oldman.
• David Thewlis.
• Julie Andrews.
• Hugo Weaving.
• Gene Hackman
• Marlon Brando. Even when he was behaving like a dick, demanding exorbitant salaries, or eulogizing about his own awesomeness, he delivered a whole new level of oomph to just about every film he was in.
  • Brando's standout example was his ten-minute scene in Apocalypse Now - for which he demanded $3.5 million dollars! He showed up to play the Authority Equals Asskicking warlord at the last minute at least a dozen pounds overweight and drunk as a fish - They had to have another actor play him for far-off shots. His scene was one long Closeup on Head. And he owns the movie!
    • So much that most of the added scenes in the Redux version feature him, including well-lit full body appearances!
• Maureen O'Hara Her synergy with John Wayne is noted above.
• Leonard Nimoy. Even Civilization IV improves from his presence!
• Vincent D'Onofrio. This Troper dares you to name just one bad performance he ever gave in any movie. Just. One.
• Michael Shannon, who is right up there with Christopher Walken and Orson Welles with his ability to steal a movie simply by showing up.
• Nathan Fillion
• Charles Bronson
• Arnold Schwarzenegger. Especially if you like a lot of Narm Charm in your films.
  • It's been said that only the Ham and Cheese performances by him and Uma Thurman put Batman and Robin into So Bad It's Good territory (plus Uma's Fan Service, of course).
    • He does seem to really be enjoying himself with it. Possibly making him the only one who realized how awful that movie was going to be. His performance of Mr. Freeze was on par with the villains of Adam West's Batman. Probably BETTER than the actual Mr. Freeze actor from the 60s (of which there were three - George Sanders, Otto Preminger^[2] and Eli Wallach).
    • He's also been delivering absurd zingers for years, so he knew how to pull it off.
• R. Lee Ermey
• Tina Fey. Even when its just her voice...
• Mr. T pities the foo' who doesn't include him on this list!
• Helena Bonham Carter.
• Jeff Bridges
  • "Yeah, well that's just, like, your opinion, man."
  • JEFF BRIDGES!
• Steve Buscemi.
  • Multiply by 10 if he's working with The Coen Brothers.
    • Or Quentin Tarantino
• Jean Reno. He even made parts of Godzilla bearable.
• Oliver Reed. The fact that he is in certain movies is often the most—or even only—notable thing about them.
• Tom Hanks. Used in-universe in The Simpsons Movie, during a tourist attraction ad: "Hi, I'm Tom Hanks. The American Government has used up all its credibility so it's borrowing some of mine."
• Angelina Jolie. Her bad movies would be much worse without her.
• Neil Patrick Harris
• Crispin Freeman
• Bruce Willis
• Robert Downey, Jr.
• Christopher Lloyd the best character actor in Hollywood in whatever role he may fall into, whether it's a mad genius going through time or allowing someone else to do so or as a videogame devil or else as a mad man in a madhouse or a crazy bald uncle coming back from the Bermuda triangle or an eccentric librarian; whatever his role is, it's awesome thanks to him.
  • And particularly anything in which he was frozen today.
• Jim Carrey
• Bruce Lee
• Lee Marvin: To quote Homer Simpson: "He's ALWAYS drunk and violent!"
• Claudia Black: Even if it is just her voice.
• Jennifer Hale: Full stop. Has been called the Meryl Streep of video games if that's any indication.
• Jean-Claude Van Damme, who gives some entertainment to even the worst movies. However, many consider his performance as Guile to be a massive exception to this rule, indeed—many think that it's one of the (many, many, many) things wrong with the film.
• Peter Lorre was the master of wit, style, and vaguely sinister Eastern European accents. Inspired a song by Tom Smith.
• Vladimir Vysotsky was this for the Soviet Sinema.
• David Warner. He was in both the fifth Star Trek film and the second Ninja Turtles film, and he is arguably the best thing in both films.
  • End of line.
• Christoph Waltz
• Holly Hunter
• Ricardo Montalban
• Cate Blanchett
• Christian Bale, no one could have been a better Bateman or a better Batman.
  • YMMV heavily in this case. Many otherwise admirers of The Dark Knight think little of his acting as Batman, particularly voice-wise.
  • Such admirers never consider Bale's physical performance. Bale captures the grace and fluidity of movement that Batman has, in comparison to the stiff, robotic Burton/Schumacher interpretations. If one wants an awesome Batman voice, one would look to:
• Kevin Conroy, so good he's played Batman more times than any other actor living or otherwise.
• Kevin Spacey
• Raul Julia, whose performance in the notoriously awful Street Fighter movie is widely regarded as the only part of the movie which is truly good (as opposed to merely So Bad It's Good).
  • His virtuoso turn as Gomez Addams is beyond reproach; he didn't make a bad film good, he took what could have been a rough film and polished it to a high sheen.
• Idris Elba, who from a guest shot on the American version of The Office to Luther to Heimdall, and everything in between, will always raise the quality of anything he is in.
  • Though he will always be Stringer Bell to us.
• John Candy, the man who reeks of comic gold and silvery awesomeness.
  • Volunteers, especially his interrogation by the Thailand Commies before he's brainwashed. ("That will be a challenge.")
  • Splash.
  • Spaceballs.
  • Summer Rental. ("I'd take those over a power tool any day.")
  • Uncle Buck. Oh god, Uncle Buck.
    • "Nyi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi ... ever heard of a ritual killing" (beat) "nyi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi."
    • The cordless drill break-in, with the most epic lighting and camera angles ever seen in a John Hughes movie. Then Buck realizes his mistake. But he keeps going. And all without dialogue, carried by John Candy's impeccably-timed facial expressions.
  • JFK, even though he's a bad guy. ("I was on drugs at the hospital.")
  • Those aren't PILLOWS!!!!!!!!!!11111111oneoneoneone
• Nick Nolte.
• Philip Seymour Hoffman
• John Goodman The same rule under Steve Buscemi also applies to Mr. Goodman.
• Clint Eastwood
• Arguably, The Beatles, either solo or as individuals. Often an appearance or starring role by Ringo Starr or John Lennon is the best part of many films.
  • Not to mention music-wise, of course. Featuring Paul McCartney and George Harrison in your song is always an advantage!
• Keith David. And his voice even more.
• Bill Nighy. The best part of many a bad film.
• Ellen Page. Not a lot of people liked X-Men: The Last Stand, but they did like Kitty Pryde taking down the Juggernaut.
• Pierce Brosnan, widely considered the definitive James Bond after the trope namer. Even if the Bond movies he did after GoldenEye weren't that well written, Brosnan in the very least made them watchable, if not more so. And then there's his other work.
• Voice actor Logan Cunningham.
• Martin Sheen
• Sam Neill
• How about Betty White???
• Roger Ebert has what's called the "Stanton-Walsh Rule" which states that nothing featuring Harry Dean Stanton (Alien, Paris, Texas, Repo Man and TV's Big Love) or M. Emmett Walsh (Blood Simple, The Jerk, Blade Runner) in a supporting role can be altogether bad. However when Wild Wild West (Walsh) and Dream A Little Dream (Stanton) came out Ebert had to recant.
• Al Pacino
• Amanda Tapping
  • Or, for that matter, her Stargate SG-1 co-star Richard Dean Anderson. Stargate series aside, there's also a voice-acting turn as himself on The Simpsons, a stint in soap operas, and of course his other most famous role, MacGyver.
• Joe Pesci - Friend George Carlin claimed that he prayed to Joe because he looked like a man that 'could get things done'. If that doesn't say anything about how convincing he is, nothing will.
• Jason Statham
• Zeljko Ivanek - Falls under Hey, It's That Guy!!, but usually steals the show.
• Mark Hamill
• Jackie Earle Haley in everything he's made since his 2006 comeback.
• Jeffrey Combs
• Jeremy Irons: Even in the godawful Dungeons and Dragons, he was the one redeeming factor.
• Peter Weller: The man was cool before it was cool. He worked with some rough material; some more easier to get away with, some harder. Your Mileage May Vary, of course.
• Orson Welles: Enough said.
• James Earl Jones: The voice.
• Reese Witherspoon: She was in Freeway and Election. She will forever be awesome!
• George Clooney (except on Batman and Robin, where his Batman is - unfortunately, as he even looks like Bruce Wayne - a negative factor)
• Will Smith, to many people.
• Tilda Swinton who is a goddess that can do no wrong. It's the exact reason she's become obligated to appear in every one of the Narnia movies despite her character only being present in two of the books!
• Paul Giamatti
• Tom Wilkinson
• Alfred Molina

Reeves Factors (Your Mileage May Vary on the following)

• Keanu Reeves in pretty much anything not called Speed, Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure, The Matrix or A Scanner Darkly.
  • He actually does a pretty good job in Constantine, as long as you're not familiar with the comics (but inaccuracies to the comic are not the man's fault, take that up with the writers).
  • People are rather divided on whether his involvement in a Hollywood Cowboy Bebop will help or harm it, though it's somewhat hard to tell the difference between hate for Reeves and standard hate for an American movie adaption of an anime.
  • Point Break, Bram Stokers Dracula, The Devil's Advocate...
    • Parenthood was a good film.
    • And so were River's Edge, Dangerous Liaisons, and My Own Private Idaho.
    • No love for Much Ado About Nothing?
    • Chain Reaction was also quite good, as he tends to drop his usual 'monotone aloof man' in that movie. It also helps he plays opposite of Morgan Freeman, who carries the Connery Effect as noted above.
• Rob Schneider: If this man is in your movie for more than five minutes with more than one line, your movie automatically sucks, and requires either serious funny or serious star power to salvage it.
• Pauly Shore, who is basically Rob Schneider with a stoner tilt. When one considers the fact he made a movie about him faking his own death to revitalize his career and shortly thereafter fell right back out of the public eye anyway... it speaks volumes about how genuinely unfunny, unmemorable, and just generally bad he is, doesn't it?
• Shia LaBeouf. Nobody ever walks out of a film regretting that this guy wasn't in it.
  • With the exception of the Saw movies and possibly Holes and the second Wall Street movie.
  • "No, no, no, nonononono, NO! NO!!!"
• Kevin James. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Paul Blart: Mall Cop plain sucked. Grown Ups has the double suck factor of starring Rob Schneider also.
• Director examples: M. Night Shyamalan, Uwe Boll, Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg.

Cage Factors (Your Mileage May Vary)

• Nicolas Cage can elevate films like Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation, and Kick-Ass, but when it comes to Ghost Rider or The Wicker Man, well, he brings it down.
  • Nicolas Cage is best described as good in good movies, and hilarious in bad movies.
    • So much that The Wicker Man can be a GREAT movie as long as you view it as a comedy. I mean, how else are you supposed to view him punching a woman out while dressed in a bear costume, or the infamous "Not the bees"?
    • Cage is the only reason anyone should EVER willingly watch the movie Deadfall. But good god he makes every second of his screen time a joy to watch.
• Tom Cruise has played several roles that were seemingly made for him, and many others where anyone else would have been a much better choice.
  • Definitely a +5 (at the very least) for playing a certain role in a certain movie.
• Jack Black. His Large Ham can be positive (Kung Fu Panda), and he can even be subdued and rather sweet (The Holiday, Shallow Hal). But other times is just plain annoying (Orange County) or irrelevant (King Kong).
• Sylvester Stallone, who despite Rocky and Rambo under his belt, has taken home more Razzie Awards than anyone due to many unsalvageable films.
• Ben Stiller has certainly become this if he wasn't this already. In most of the Kafka Komedy flicks he works in he could be easily replaced. On other hand, Stiller helps A Night At The Museum and Tower Heist, and when he's directing himself in a film like Tropic Thunder or is starring in an art house film like The Royal Tenenbaums he's more successful.
  • Consider the irony given that his dad Jerry Stiller certainly follows Rule of Sean Connery as far as his role and delivery in Seinfeld is concerned.
• Sandra Bullock is the only actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress (for The Blind Side) and a Razzie for Worst Actress (for All About Steve) in the same year. She even attended the 2010 Razzie ceremony to collect her "award".
• Michael Cera: As this trope applies only to film, Arrested Development will be disregarded here (as will Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for the time being).
  • What about Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist?
  • And Juno! Surely his effect is trumped by Ellen Page?
  • What, no love for Superbad?
  • Year One is the only true stinker. The man has one trick, but he does it well. At worst B = 0.9
  • When it comes to Cera there are two types of viewers: Those who like Michael Cera Hipster flicks (who still hate Year One), and those who hate Michael Cera Hipster flicks (who will still enjoy Scott Pilgrim).
• Jackie Chan may have some amazing fight scenes, but his acting ability and insistence on being family friendly trumps any Badass factor he may have had.
  • Jackie is aware of this and actually tried to remedy it with Shinjuku Incident.
  • Nah, there's actually just two movies of his that are unwatchable: The Tuxedo and The Spy Next Door.
• With the possible exception of Cage, the thing these actors have in common is playing every role the same way. When it works, it really works. When it doesn't, it can ruin the picture.
  • Another thing these actors have in common is that their hits are usually films where their abilities are put to best use, for example if one considers Tom Cruise 'good' in Rain Man, it's because his acting style is minimalistic and doesn't clash with Dustin Hoffman's more extravagant performance.
• Matthew Broderick, depending on whether he's in Simba mode or "That's a lot of fish" mode.
• Kevin Costner. He makes great westerns, and helps films such as JFK. However, he made Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves painful at times, Waterworld much more forgettable than it should have been, and The Postman bad enough to sink his career.
• Jennifer Aniston has an acting range that stretches all the way from A to B, but sometimes (Friends, The Good Girl) is helpful to what she's working on.
  • Horrible Bosses where she plays against type. It works.
• Owen Wilson

... and let's not forget he who works in any work he's in, namely Chuck Norris.