Brendan Fraser will be in two big mother movies this year, Journey to the Center of the Earth (opening Friday) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. He belongs to a curious list of actors in Hollywood who keep showing up in big movies, despite the fact that they’ve never really made good on the promise of becoming good actors.

It goes like this: A young actor, in his/her first or second movie, shows so much promise they’re touted as The Next [insert famous actor name]. “Despite being only 19 years old, Brendan Fraser has exploded on the scene in School Ties blah, blah…” Then, in spite of of a string of movies like Blast From the Past, every single summer these actors show up in another overly hyped movie.

Below are five top call actors that inexplicably keep starring in big movies. In making this list I noticed a couple hallmarks to spot actors who fit the criteria. One, if they weren’t reading lines when we see them onscreen, you get the sense they’d sound dumb. Also, think about roles they’re famous for, then switch out–say–Ben Affleck as oil-driller-turned-astronaut in Armageddon with Brendan Fraser. Would the movie have really changed? At all?

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