But Williams is just one of many actors who have portrayed iconic stars — some to universal acclaim, and others to widespread derision. Click through as we examine some of the most noteworthy examples.

Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest

Probably the most infamous instance of an actor playing another actor, Faye Dunaway tore up the screen as Joan Crawford in the 1981 film based on the memoir by Crawford’s daughter, Christina.

Critical reaction: In the ’70s, Dunaway had completed a decade of stellar acting work, culminating in an Oscar for her role in Network. Then she starred in Mommie Dearest, and her career all but skidded to a halt. For those not familiar with Dunaway’s hysterically campy portrayal of the Crawford, let Variety describe it for you: “Dunaway does not chew scenery. Dunaway starts neatly at each corner of the set in every scene and swallows it whole, costars and all.”
Physical resemblance: Dunaway molded her look to fit Joan Crawford’s appearance. She has her distinctive thick eyebrows, high cheekbones and, let’s face it, crazy eyes. At 5 foot 7, Dunaway is two inches taller than Crawford, but this added height made her seem even more imposing and frightening in the film.

Steve Carell at the 2006 Golden Globes

Most “wife jokes” are awful, but The Office comedian Steve Carell did it the right way by including his SNL-starring wife in his 2006 Golden Globes acceptance speech for Best Actor in a TV series. The 40-Year-Old Virgin actor read a note “written” by his wife Nancy. Cute and funny.

American Reunion

Like many people our age, we can’t deny the soft spot in our hearts for the American Pie movies — even including the first couple of sequels. (We’re not sticking up for those direct-to-video ones though. Those are indefensible.) The players were charismatic, the situations were frequently funny, and there was a charm to them the usually transcended the smutty subject matter. So we’ve been sort of hesitantly looking forward to American Reunion, but this trailer doesn’t do much more than tee up an easy set piece, and then execute it without much skill or imagination. Maybe the movie itself (written and directed by Harold & Kumar scribes John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg) will play out funnier than this. Here’s hoping.

Robert De Niro, Stardust

In 1990, Robert De Niro was offered the role of Dick Tracy, but, worried that he would be typecast as the tough guy he perfected in Taxi Driver, he politely declined. The part eventually went to Warren Beatty — after Jack Nicholson turned it down as well — but by then, De Niro had already been pegged as film’s favorite hard-ass…which is why it’s a little surprising that he played a cross-dressing pirate in the 2007 fantasy movie Stardust.

How could you combine three men as (granted, not always reliably) funny as these and not come up with a laugh riot? Quite easily, turns out. The recent cinema is all but littered with pictures that teamed up established comedic talents and thus sounded like sure-fire crowd pleasers, but which ended up tickling the funny bones of neither critics nor moviegoers. After the jump, we’ll run down ten comic combinations that misfired.

Father’s Day
THE MATCH-UP: Robin Williams and Billy Crystal
APART, THEY MADE: Good Morning Vietnam, The Fisher King, The Birdcage; When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, Throw Momma From the Train
TOGETHER, THEY MADE: “the disquieting sensation not of seeing two funny men but of watching two comedians from a distant age go through the motions of what they, all evidence to the contrary, still believe to be funny.” –Owen Gleberman, Entertainment Weekly
BY THE WAY: Though Williams and Crystal had co-hosted several “Comic Relief” benefits, they never appeared in a movie together — until 1997, when they did three: this one, Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry, and Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. But Father’s Day was the only one where they shared scenes. (And it was the only one that was terrible.)

This week on Go Fug Yourself, we took a walk down memory lane to revisit the past and current hotness of Ralph Fiennes. We wondered what was up with Robert Pattinson’s new, weird, haircut. We gazed longingly (?) at Robert Downey, Jr. — even if he is wearing something that looks like a test pattern. We checked in with Jennifer Aniston, and found her wearing seriously weird shoes. We talked about Christina Hendricks’ boobs (what else?) on the cover of Lucky. And, finally, we put J. Lo to work — look, she’s going through a divorce. She needs to keep busy.

Jack and Jill

What can you say about a trailer that announces “From the producers of Just Go With It and Grown-Ups” with pride, as though that weren’t something to be hidden shamefully from the movie-going public? Directed (to no one’s surprise) by Adam Sandler’s go-to guy Dennis Dugan, this looks less like a real movie than a fake one created for Funny People, in which the star takes up his old “Gap Girls” character to play his own twin sister. The results are, from what we can see here (and remember, these are what the marketing folks consider the best stuff in the picture) horrifying, surreal, disturbing, and — most importantly — not funny, not even a little bit, not for a second. And Al Pacino, whatever they paid you, it wasn’t enough; you’re a long way from Serpico here, buddy. We’re nearly as upset about this trailer as George C. Scott is.

David Duchovny on Californication

Though casting-wise, Duchovny’s rumored sex addiction probably made him the perfect choice to play Hank Moody, the sex-crazed author on Californication, the show’s influence seemed to hurt the actor, not help him. In 2008, after filming was completed for the second season of the Californication, Duchovny checked into a rehab facility for sex addiction. Well, it certainly made watching that season a lot more interesting.

Everybody on The Sopranos

Okay, so just three people. But that’s a lot! In 2001, Robert Iler, the actor who played mobster Tony Soprano’s son on the show, was arrested for armed robbery and possession, acting out his Baby Bing alias by mugging a couple of teenage tourists with his friends. He also let himself get caught in a 2005 underground poker club raid, just for good measure. Next up, Lillo Brancato Jr, who played Matthew Bevilaqua, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was involved in a burglary that left an off-duty police officer dead. And lastly, Tony Darrow, who played mob captain Larry Boy Barese (and also had a small role in Goodfellas), recently pled guilty to a 2009 charge of extortion conspiracy. Apparently, he collaborated with the Gambino crime family to beat up a guy who owed money to a loan shark. Some people never learn.

Robert Downey Jr. in Less Than Zero

Robert Downey Jr. is notorious for having started with drugs at a very young age, something that is not wholly unusual for actors. But after his role as the disaffected rich-kid druggie in the 1987 adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero, he spiraled into years of addiction, rehab and relapse. He told the Guardian, “Until that movie, I took my drugs after work and on the weekends. Maybe I’d turn up hungover on the set, but no more so than the stuntman. That changed on Less Than Zero. I was playing this junkie-faggot guy and, for me, the role was like the ghost of Christmas future. The character was an exaggeration of myself. Then things changed and, in some ways, I became an exaggeration of the character. That lasted far longer than it needed to last.”

Colin Firth in Love Actually

In Love Actually, Colin Firth plays Jaime Bennett, who falls for his Portugese housekeeper Aurélia despite their inability to speak the other’s language. In the end, he wins her and her family over by learning Portugese and proposing to her in her own language. Adorably, she has also learnt English, “just in cases.” Aw. But Firth went through something similar in his real life while courting Livia Giuggioli, the Italian director and producer who is now his wife. Her parents were initially against the match, but after he learned Italian to impress them, they warmed up. We know, in this case, it’s more like art imitating life, since Colin Firth married Livia Giuggioli about five years before the Love Actually was made, but it’s just all so cute that we couldn’t help it.

Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side

Bullock won as Oscar for her performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy, who adopts a black son, 17-year-old Michael Oher, in the semi-biographical film. During her Oscar acceptance speech, she thanked mothers “who take care of their children and their babies no matter where they come from.” Soon after, she adopted her own black son, a baby from New Orleans. Regardless of race, saving a baby’s life is worth an award all on its own.

Charlie Sheen on Two and A Half Men

Even though we’re so sick of Charlie Sheen that even mentioning him makes our heads hurt a little, he does (sorry, did) play a hedonistic, abrasive, semi-crazy alcoholic named Charlie on Two and A Half Men, and he seems to be playing one in his life right now too. Not only that, but check out this mashup of indicative fictional moments from his entire career.

2. Still need proof that the British version is better? MTV is worried that upcoming episodes of Skins may violate federal child pornography statutes, and as a result, executives have ordered the show’s producers to make changes to tone down some of the most explicit content. [via NYT]

3. Andrew W.K. is hosting a “party” at 4chan. The live Q&A on the site is scheduled for February 13 at 7 pm. [via NYO]

4. Robert Downey Jr. has dropped out of Oz, the Great and Powerful, Disney’s upcoming prequel to The Wizard of Oz that Sam Raimi is set to direct. The studio is in discussions with Johnny Depp to replace him. [via Heat Vision]

5. Will Smith wants to do a remake of Annie with Willow Smith in the starring role. The Karate Kid reboot made more than $350 million worldwide; we bet this one will perform even better given the fact that Jay-Z is in talks to work on the music for the film. [via Variety]

Bonus link: Winona Ryder Finally Agrees To Sleep With Generation X

“James.” Tobey Maguire’s morose creative writing student is named James. Most of his scenes are shared with Michael Douglas’s free-falling professor character, Grady Tripp. And seemingly every line that Douglas directs at Maguire includes the younger character’s name. “You’re not like my other students, James.” “Jesus, James, you make it sound like we’re in a Tennessee Williams play.” “Trust me, James, when the family pet’s been assassinated, the owner doesn’t want to hear one of her students was the trigger man.” And so on. The Wonder Boys “James” drinking game puts the “Hi, Bob!” drinking game to shame.

Why do filmmakers make this basic mistake so very, very often? It’s just not how people talk. Don’t believe us? Try this little experiment: during your next conversation with a good friend, drop their name into every sentence you say to them. See how long it takes them to give you the stink-eye and start to question your sanity. When you know who someone is, you don’t have to keep saying their name all the time.

All of this leads us to today’s video of the day, in which Dan Nixon, having been alerted to the rather ridiculous number of times that Jason Patric’s Lost Boys character of “Michael” is name-checked in the course of the film, edits the movie down to one minute and thirty-nine seconds of “Michael.” Enjoy.