From 'Wicked' to 'The Substance,' these are some of the best rated movies of the year
While it made money, 'Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous' (to give the movie its full title) was panned by critics as a sequel that simply didn't need to be made. When asked by Metro if a third installment was a possibility, Sandra Bullock was adamant: "God no! No, no. Two shouldn't have been done."
According to the Los Angles Times, making 'Justice League' was an "awful" affair for Ben Affleck. The actor explained during an interview with the paper that because of a confluence of things in his own life, including a divorce, being away from home too much, competing agendas, and the death of director Zack Synder's daughter, "it was just the worst experience."
'Superman IV: The Quest for Peace' represented not just a career low for Christopher Reeve, but a bottoming out of the Superman franchise. The fourth and final movie in the series starring Reeve, it proved one sequel too many, receiving the ignominious honor of appearing on the list of 'The 50 Worst Movies Ever' by readers of Empire magazine.
Adam Sandler at perhaps his unfunniest, 'Jack and Jill' was panned by critics, the movie sweeping the Golden Raspberry Awards and taking home, among other dubious accolades, Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Actor/Actress for Sandler, who plays both the male and female lead roles. Even a cameo by Al Pacino couldn't salvage the picture, with Pacino himself picking up the award for Worst Supporting Actor.
At the time one of the biggest box-office bombs, recuperating just US$7 million from a $100-million budget, 'The Adventures of Pluto Nash' did nothing for Eddie Murphy's reputation. Even director Ron Underwood admitted in an understatement that "the film was not very good."
Johnny Depp had to weather some of the worst critical barbs of his career after the release of 'Mortdecai.' Despite boasting support from Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, and Paul Bettany, the film, described by USA Today as a "forgettable piece of bargain-basement low art," was a sensational box-office flop.
A double whammy for both George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell, 'Batman & Robin' is considered one of the worst superhero films ever made. It proved to be O'Donnell's last big screen role, while Clooney later admitted to Vanity Fair that one of his biggest cinematic regrets was taking on the role of Batman, which included wearing a costume complete with artificial nipples!
Emma Stone became embroiled in whitewashing backlash after appearing in 'Aloha' as a character who is of one quarter Chinese and one quarter Hawaiian descent. Cameron Crowe, the movie's director, later apologized through his blog for casting white actor Emma Stone as a "part-Asian" Hawaiian. Stone later said she regretted letting herself be inaccurately ethnically cast, and acknowledged whitewashing as a widespread problem in Hollywood.
'Nine' garnered mixed reviews from critics. Unfortunately, those leveled at Daniel Day-Lewis helped stain an otherwise unblemished career. A critical and commercial failure, 'Nine' required Day-Lewis to sing. However, the audience ended up whistling to a different tune.
You have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince, or so the saying goes. Scarlett Johansson endured this teen comedy while on a path to greater things. 'The Perfect Score' was described variously as an "MTV film" and "'The Breakfast Club' meets 'Mission: Impossible.'"
Far removed from his turn as Ken in 2023's megahit 'Barbie,' Ryan Gosling was an up-and-coming star when 'Stay' was released. As is often the case, today's A-listers ended up in some pretty dire productions while on their way to greatness and Gosling was guilty by association after the Village Voice remarked: "In [director] Marc Forster's humorless thriller, going insane is an exciting, luxurious affair."
This real-life story about Jackie Kallen, the first successful female boxing promoter, had so much promise but failed to deliver a knockout blow. A box-office lightweight, Meg Ryan's performance was described as "barely adequate" by Roger Ebert.
Similarly, the pirate-themed 'Cutthroat Island' lost so much money it sank its production company, Carolco Pictures. Joining it was Geena Davis and her hard-earned reputation. The movie's failure significantly reduced the bankability and Hollywood production of pirate-themed films, that is until 2003's 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.'
This George Clooney-directed black comedy co-written by the Coen brothers bombed big time at the box office, with Matt Damon's career suffering a rare misfire as a result. It didn't do Clooney much good either.
All eyes were on Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in 'Gigli,' both of whom were romantically involved at the time. But this romantic comedy is one of the most expensive box-office bombs in history, with everyone's career taking a hit, including Al Pacino's, who appeared completely disinterested with all around him.
Variously described as "stupefyingly unfunny," and "shrill and unfunny," 'Hot Pursuit' ran for nearly 90 minutes chasing laughs but ended up with just an 8% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Reese Witherspoon hit the ground running but quickly ran out of gas.
Released to critical and commercial failure, 'Battlefield Earth' was universally panned and quickly swallowed up by a black hole of negative criticism. John Travolta's career suffered a serious misfire as a result of the widespread derision aimed at the movie, ignominy further heightened by the fact that production company Franchise Pictures went into freefall soon afterwards.
Such was the financial and critical disaster of 'Town & Country' that its star, Warren Beatty, didn't appear on screen again for 15 years.
The reviews for 'Snow Dogs' were colder than the filming location, accused as it was of being filled with clichéd dialogue and tired one-liners. Cuba Gooding Jr.'s foray into the Alaskan wilderness was a lesson learned the hard way.
Met with largely negative reviews, 'Breakfast of Champions' turned out more like a dinner for losers, the box-office bomb withdrawn from theaters before going into wide release. Fortunately, Bruce Willis redeemed himself with his next picture, 'The Sixth Sense.'
So disgusted was Claire Danes with 'It's All About Love' that apparently the actress burst into tears upon seeing the end result. Both her and co-star Joaquin Phoenix were befuddled by the film, variously described by critics as a plodding, uninteresting bore.
So rare is it for Clint Eastwood to make a bad movie that when he does, critics are genuinely surprised. A comedy of sorts, 'Pink Cadillac' quickly shifted into low gear. No surprise, then, that this remains the actor's last stab at making a comedy.
Tom Cruise was billed third in this war drama, under Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. But apparently this was no excuse as far as one critic was concerned for turning in a performance that made "the eyelids droop." In fairness, the journalist leveled the same barbed comment at Streep and Redford, who incidentally also directed the film.
Nicolas Cage stands accused of making some truly awful pictures, but 'Outcast' was considered so bad it didn't even benefit from a theatrical release in the United States. Some critics remarked that the picture marked a shift in the actor's career towards its "sad phase."
What prompted Michael Caine into appearing in 'Jaws: The Revenge' remains one of Hollywood's great mysteries. This is one of the few films to achieve a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a picture so bad that the only possible explanation for Caine's presence was the promise of a decent paycheck and the Bahamian location!
Pulled from theaters shortly after its release having earned just US$4 million from a $30-million budget, 'Man Trouble' saw its star, Jack Nicholson, put in a lackluster performance that critics quickly picked up on, believing audiences had been "cheated."
After lukewarm reviews, Angelina Jolie decided not to return to the screen for a third time as the highly intelligent and athletic archaeologist Lara Croft. While better than the first film, 'The Cradle of Life' didn't achieve enough in terms of her own performance to lure Jolie into a follow-up.
Sources: (Metro) (Vanity Fair) (Los Angeles Times) (Rotten Tomatoes) (The New Yorker) (Empire) (Village Voice) (The Hollywood Reporter) (The Independent)
See also: The worst movie sequels of all time
'The Postman' failed to deliver its post-apocalyptic message, losing money along the way and seeing Kevin Costner heavily criticized for casting himself in the lead role. Needless to say, the film's three-hour running time lacked any kind of stamp of approval.
Halle Berry did her best to ignore the numerous catcalls from unimpressed critics after the release of this superhero yawn. As well as failing to recuperate its US$100-million budget, the film was slated, among other failures, for s****lizing its star rather than remaining true to source material and the connection with Batman.
The usually reliable Robert De Niro was savaged by critics for "wasting classic talent" by appearing in this comedy. In fact, many thought it was his worst film. But hey, 'Dirty Grandpa' collected a cool US$105 million from a budget of $25 million.
Madonna's foray into cinema is nowhere near as successful as her singing career, and this remake of Lina Wertmüller's 1974 Italian film of the same name is another reason why. Reworked by Madonna's then-husband Guy Ritchie, 'Swept Away' ended up in a riptide of savage criticism, with Rotten Tomatoes insisting it "offered further proof that Madonna can't act."
Even the best publicized films starring the most celebrated actors can flop. A wayward script, bad direction, poor production values, or simply a miscast lineup can all conspire to ruin a picture. But as well as incurring huge financial losses, a misfired movie can sink a star's reputation overnight. So, what are the most infamous movies made that created career lows for some of cinema's finest actors?
Click through for a selection of ruinous reruns!
The career lows of some of cinema's finest actors
The performances even the best actors want to forget
MOVIES Cinema
Even the best publicized films starring the most celebrated actors can flop. A wayward script, bad direction, poor production values, or simply a miscast lineup can all conspire to ruin a picture. But as well as incurring huge financial losses, a misfired movie can sink a star's reputation overnight. So, what are the most infamous movies made that created career lows for some of cinema's finest actors?
Click through for a selection of ruinous reruns!