Who's the meanest movie character you've ever rooted for?

Bill Maplewood from Happiness

Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.

Especially Jason.

bill the butcher.. i mean its daniel day lewis, how could you not root for him

I second this motion.

Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood."

Such a greedy, disgusting slimeball character, but damn is Daniel Day Lewis good or what?! Such an excellent role.

Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange. For someone who brutalizes and rapes for the heck of it, there's something strangely likeable about him. It certainly helps that Malcolm McDowell did such a great job.

Michael Corleone.

i don't know. daniel plainview from there will be blood is strangely magnetic. his biggest purpose for the story is being somebody who cares only for himself. that combined with his ambition mean he ends up knowingly doing some terrible things. still, his biggest rival in the movie checks off a bunch of stuff on my "f*ck you" list so i can't help but root for him a little there. plus he does some good as well even if it is for his own gain.

i'm sure there are plenty more. pretty much any time a character becomes the focus of the film, there's some degree of empathy created and that includes mean spirited people.

michael myres.

Calvin Candie in Django was pretty bad ass and so masterfully portrayed, I couldn't help but root for him a little. As well as Doctor Horrible in Dr. Horrible's sing along blog.

Tommy Devito (Joe Pesci) in Goodfellas, as well as Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) in Training Day.

Johnny Lawrence from the Cobra Kai Dojo in The Karate Kid.

I wasn't necessarily rooting for him, but I couldn't help but feel bad for him when his former victims started turning the tables on him.

I still need to give that another go, but I agree that I found him incredibly likeable.

I'll add Pat Bateman from American Psycho

@xdude85: On a similar note, the lawn mower man.

Yeah, Bateman for sure. He was another amazing protagonist

I never root for bad guys.

The Grinch.

I have to agree with him - "Oh, the noise, noise noise noise.........", especially when my neighbors have a party into the wee hours of the morning.

Frank Booth in Blue Velvet.

Tuco in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Nicky Santoro from Casino.

Pretty much the only character I can think of outside Jason, Mike Myers, and freddy Kreuger...

Snape from the Harry Potter films

I'm not sure if Alex would fit into this category. You're really only sympathetic with him when he becomes the victim.

That's the main reason to feel sympathy for someone (something bad happening to them) This topic is about who you've rooted for, regardless.

No the topic was about rooting for someone even though they're doing terrible things throughout the movie. Alex for a large chunk of the movie can no longer do these things and a part of him does want to change for the better which is why you root for him.

Alright, cool.

He wasn't a bad guy/villian. He was a total freaking savior. Have you read the entire series?

The Joker from The Dark Knight; Bane from The Dark Knight Rises; and Sephiroth from Advent Children

Villain or not, he was still an asshole.

I have never rooted for a villain, but I have rooted against the main character several times.

For example in "All about steve!" (horrible movie) I was rooting against Sandra Bullock all the time, what the hell was I supposed to like about that obessessive crazy b*tch other than her body?.

And Bucky Larson Superstar (possibly the worst movie I've ever seen), I just wanted for a boulder to crush him since he showed up for the first time in the film.

Probably Voldermort. I have no real reason why. I just always wanted him to win in the movies, even though I had already read the books and knew how it would end.

The Joker

Obviously, the thread clearly states "who's the meanest movie character you've rooted for". Not the meanest villian/bad guy so I would advise you to read the thread title first before commenting. Snape is my favorite character in the series but it still doesn't change the fact that he acted like a complete tool in both the movies and the books.

Johnny from Naked he was a terrible person yet I was still hoping he would gain some direction in his life at the end. I know there's more but I can't remember

I watch the movie because of him. Batman almost seems as a secondary character meant to frame Joker's malevolent, chaotic insanity.

Clyde Shelton in Law Abiding Citizen

@foxhound_fox said:

I watch the movie because of him. Batman almost seems as a secondary character meant to frame Joker's malevolent, chaotic insanity.

I'll never understand the love for the joker, he really doesn't seem that great to me, it's your typical psychopath, I know he is pretty much THE FIRST psychopath in comics but still.

Ra's Al Ghul, he just wants society to start from scratch/clean slate