Yep. The difficulty is that in America we tend to be rather specific about which particular aspect of character or appearance we want to attack: how trustworthy, useful, ugly, foolish, stupid, etc..

You couldn't trust him to hold his mother's purse.
He is as useful as tits on a boar hog.
She is as foolish as the day is long.
He is as dumb as a bucket of rocks.
Etc..