People Name Movies So Bad They Couldn’t Finish Them
Going to the movies has become more and more expensive over the years. When every ticket costs us $10 and a tub of popcorn a whopping $7, we hope the cinematic experience justifies all the money spent. There are certain movies we know we want to see on the big screen, but we tend to save this experience for special occasions. But sometimes we misjudge and all of it ends up being a waste of time and cash. When reading through this list, take our advice and save yourself the hassle. These ones aren’t worth leaving the house for. As Alfred Hitchcock famously said: “ a good film is when the price of the dinner, the theater admission, and the babysitter were worth it.’’
The movies on this list were so bad that audiences gave up before the credits rolled.
Napoleon Dynamite
This odd cult favorite is not everyone’s cup of tea. The way it’s written and the acting is very intentionally cringy and awkward. The humor is based on secondhand embarrassment, which makes some people genuinely uncomfortable. So if you can’t enjoy this sort of ironic vibe, you would find this movie insufferable.
The whole storyline also feels pretty low-stakes and pointless, so it doesn’t make it engaging whatsoever. Napoleon Dynamite is not personable in any way and his weirdness makes him unrelatable as a protagonist. Additionally, the other central characters are also unlikeable. It’s no surprise someone couldn’t make it past the first 20 minutes.
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy from the 90s and early 2000s is notoriously disliked by the fans. People hated the overall story, some casting decisions, the goofy jokes, and one of the characters. Even though he already appeared in the first installment, Jar Jar Binks has to be one of the most passionately hated characters in cinema, and he’s not even an antagonist.
Canadian actor Hayden Christensen was also very unpopular in his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker. One of the biggest complaints about this film is that it was very boring. The most heated discussion Star Wars fans have about this movie is about which one was worse: this one or the previous installment Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Gangs of New York
We have an incredibly hard time accepting the fact that none other than Martin Scorsese made this movie, heard the Irish accents, and said to himself ‘’yes, that’ll do.’’ Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz especially sounded like the accent did not come naturally to them in the slightest. It’s hard to take these characters seriously when they sound so ridiculous.
Not to mention this movie was almost three hours long, which was completely unnecessary. We also once again see an unsurprisingly meager representation of women. Scorsese tends to have one female character in his films who barely has any lines. So here his female character finally had some, but they all sounded horrible because of the underdeveloped accent… great.
The First Two Harry Potter Movies
The Harry Potter series is one of the most successful franchises in the world, with seven books, eight movies, and several spin-off projects. But in the early 2000s when the first movies were coming out, not everyone had read the books yet and it was still a new phenomenon. The first two movies were directed by Chris Columbus and scored by John Williams, who also made the Home Alone movies together.
So like those movies, the first two Harry Potter movies still had a childlike innocence to them, which was not interesting to some. Many agree that the third installment Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by the brilliant Alfonso Cuarón suddenly raised the bar immensely and took the franchise to a way more serious place.
Gigli
Oh, an early 2000s rom-com… what a sign of the times. Some were iconic, but there were a few that got away with murder because so many of these films were being made. One of the ones that never should’ve seen the light of day was Gigli. Some movies are so bad they can be entertaining in a specific way, but this movie is simply an awkwardly written mess.
It has a 2.6 rating on IMDB for a reason. It’s also way too long considering the type of movie, with a runtime of over two hours. It’s okay though, both Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez got better movie opportunities soon after this trainwreck.
Marriage Story
Noah Baumbach’s divorce drama starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver got a lot of critical acclaims. But as we know, this does not guarantee a movie will be pleasant to watch. This movie mainly consists of the two main characters being cold to each other and fighting constantly, which can get a bit tiring.
For many people who experienced divorce themselves or watched their parents go through it, it can hit very close to home. Some people got respect for the accurate portrayal of the subject, but for others, it was difficult to get through. To put it simply, this isn’t a movie someone would put on for fun.
A Wrinkle In Time
This movie was a pretty shocking flop, considering the insanely talented cast, consisting of Mindy Kaling, Reese Witherspoon, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris Pine, and the one and only Oprah. It’s hard to imagine all of these brilliant actors would have signed on to a sub-par project, but everybody makes mistakes. Apparently, it was based on a book, and many didn’t think it was going to work as a movie adaptation.
The source material is so extensive, it should’ve been a limited series at least. The script was poor, the special effects were absolutely wacky and it’s hard to get past Reese Witherspoon turning into a lettuce creature.
Alice Through the Looking Glass
When Tim Burton first made a live-action adaptation of Alice In Wonderland, it was a massive box office success and because of this, it was inevitable Disney was going to make a sequel. Surprisingly they waited 6 years to do this so the hype around the first one had died down too much. The sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass was not directed by Burton, and it shows.
Many people found Johnny Depp insufferable in his role as the Mad Hatter in this film. There is also a consensus about the CGI being visually very unappealing. The film is full of whimsy and creativity, but many felt like it came across as very soulless.
Bird Box
When this movie got released on Netflix, it became an instant sensation. There were memes about it everywhere and countless parody sketches. Despite this bleak post-apocalyptic film’s streaming popularity, many couldn’t get through it. Many felt like the film was too long and what was supposed to be a tense story ended up feeling like a drag.
Most agreed Sandra Bullock held the film together, but some people also found her character to make annoying decisions. This is what really lost people’s interest. Of course, it’s easy to judge people’s debatable choices in horrific circumstances as if we would make any better judgments in the same situation.
Jack and Jill
What’s worse than a movie with one Adam Sandler character? A movie with two Adam Sandlers. In this Thanksgiving comedy, Sandler portrays the insufferable twin sister in addition to the protagonist. Also, like we’re used to in Sandler’s movies, his mediocre character somehow managed to land the beautiful Katie Holmes as his wife.
It’s probably as bad as it sounds, if not worse. Jill is an annoying and unfunny character. Whenever she was on screen, we found ourselves impatiently waiting for it to end. The one redeeming thing about this film is Al Pacino’s portrayal of himself, which is genuinely very funny.
Artemis Fowl
In yet another failed book adaptation, the brilliant Kenneth Branagh directed this Disney fantasy movie. He did not manage to make Artemis Fowl brilliant. Similarly to A Wrinkle In Time, it’s no easy task to take a meticulously set up world from a novel and try to have it make sense on screen in two hours. All while also telling a compelling story is virtually impossible.
The story takes place in Ireland, so naturally, there had to be awful attempts at Irish accents from non-Irish actors. Nearly everyone who has seen this movie unanimously agrees on how awful it is, and those who know the book seem even more offended by the wasted potential.
Cats
The moment this monstrosity premiered, everyone lost their minds. After recently being celebrated for directing the successful Les Miserables, The Danish Girl, and The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper shocked everyone with Cats. The musical it was based on has had an incredibly successful run on The West End and Broadway for decades. It even achieved iconic status, as well as the movie, but not in the same way.
The way these cat characters were animated is nightmare fuel. Despite the fact this movie is so bizarre, it manages to be boring at the same time. If we look back on what Hooper told Variety at the premiere, things make a lot more sense: “I finished it at 8 am yesterday after 36 hours in a row. I just put the finishing touches on it. So, I’m very happy to be here with it fully finished.”
Fifty Shades of Gray
In an odd series of events, a publisher told EL James to alter the names in her piece of fanfiction. This became the successful book trilogy, which ended up being made into movies. Let’s just say the source material didn’t get elevated very far from its origins. The love story is centered around the kinky side of the characters, which is not a very meaningful foundation for a romance.
Even the crazier stuff remains at a very timid minimum, considering it was so overhyped in the promotion of the movie. They still wanted to reach a wide audience, so they couldn’t go rogue. Overall it feels neither here nor there.
Suicide Squad
When Marvel movies such as The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy came out and were massive box office hits, DC took note. They noticed these fun and colorful comic book adaptations were really reshaping the genre. In contrast, the bleak and gray adaptations DC had been doing became outdated. This caused the studio to reshoot many scenes from it.
The way this was done as a marketing move after the initial film had already been shot, made it feel directionless. The end result was messy. Let’s not even get into Jared Leto’s behavior in real life and his supposed ‘method’ of preparation for the Joker.
Tiffany Haddish: She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood
Tiffany Haddish is an indispensable comedy actress in Hollywood right now. She makes appearances in movies all the time and she’s really funny. Her Netflix special was well-received and is probably the reason why she became so successful. But not everyone enjoys her standup. She is undeniably fun to watch on stage, and her stories about her life are compelling.
Except her jokes in this special didn’t really land. Maybe it is for the better that her main occupation is acting now and not a comedy. But who knows, it’s already been over five years since the special. Maybe if she did another one now, her material would be better.
Into The Woods
We’ve all watched a movie that made us go ‘nope, can’t do this now’ within the first five minutes. Musicals tend to have this effect on many people. It makes sense because you really have to be in a certain headspace to watch people singing and dancing for several hours. This adaptation was super star-studded, but not all the stars were equally popular.
People are starting to get sick of seeing James Cordon everywhere, especially after all the stories have come out about how rude he is as a person. People were very confused by the mere five minutes of screen time Johnny Depp got as the Wolf, considering he is such a big name. The film in general feels like they threw a bunch of big names at it and hoped for the best.
Tusk
This movie by Kevin Smith was a total flop. Unsurprisingly a film about a podcaster who gets kidnapped by a crazy guy who wants to surgically alter him to turn him into a walrus did not go over well. First of all, the story is really disturbing and depressing. It’s the kind of movie that’ll ruin your day. Secondly, it doesn’t really have anything to say. This makes it much more of a bummer.
It seems to exist solely to shock and appall the audience. Especially the part where Justin Long’s character actually gets modified into a walrus is absolutely horrifying. This is the type of thing you instantly wish you could unsee. Why would we put ourselves through this if there isn’t even a point to it all?
A Serbian Film
Life can be hard as is, so we don’t understand why some movies insist on showing the ugliest side of humanity. In the horror film A Serbian Film, a former porn star takes an offer to make one final role to financially support his family. However, it becomes a messed up situation of violent sexual and physical abuse both towards him and several innocent women.
When movies show this type of abuse so gratuitously, it becomes really hard to watch, as it should be. When it’s shown too often, we may get desensitized to it which is highly concerning. This movie is really difficult to watch and it comes across as if the people who made it enjoyed all the depictions of violence a bit too much.
Movie 43
This is essentially a collection of toilet humor (and worse) sketches. The sense of humor is really stupid and gross at times. The cast convinced us to watch it because it is an endless list of celebs, many of which are not even known to be comedic actors. But if anything, we feel secondhand embarrassment for them for appearing in this movie. It’s a massive waste of talent.
All the different sketches had various writers, and directors, and felt like a ‘too many chefs in the kitchen’ kind of thing. As a whole, the film feels pointless and is not funny enough to make up for it.
Holmes & Watson
Could you believe Will Ferrell was the smartest detective in the world? Our struggles already began there, so the rest was never bound to hold up. The jokes were not funny, and the story was weak. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have starred in way funnier things as a duo before, so it’s not only them.
The actors who starred beside this main duo also had so much potential. We can’t exactly comprehend what got into Ralph Fiennes to make him accept the role of James Moriarty in this movie. On the bright side, there are plenty of good Sherlock adaptations we can watch to forget this one.
The Last Airbender
The fact this movie holds the same name as the animated series feels like a disgrace. The TV show was a brilliantly written story with compelling characters, beautiful fantastical creatures, and high-stakes challenges. The movie went wrong on so many levels. Where to begin?
Not only were many of the casting decisions highly questionable but director M. Night Shyamalan also tried to cram this massive story into one movie. The impact could never have come close to the series. Fans were rightfully outraged at this adaptation which created such a mess of a movie out of a beautiful source of the material.
Elektra
This Daredevil spin-off was simply a badly made movie. Jennifer Garner did the most she could with a flat and poorly-written assassin. Other than her being badass, there’s not much to her in this role. The story itself is also excruciatingly slow, so staying engaged really feels like a challenge. We bet most would agree Marvel has come a long way since Elektra.
Thankfully the excellent 2015 Netflix Marvel series Daredevil gave the titular character and Elektra a proper second chance at capturing comic book fans’ hearts on the screen. We could see the original Elektra as a test run before portraying the character in 2015. This way we can feel like there was actually a point to this lackluster movie.
Morbius
When Morbius came out, it was so poorly received, people went to watch it ironically. We don’t understand why Jared Leto is in so many things. Don’t get us wrong – he’s not a bad actor. He had some great roles in Requiem For a Dream, American Psycho, and Fight Club. But lately, it feels like having Leto star in a movie is like placing a curse on it.
From Suicide Squad to House of Gucci, we feel like he both picks bad projects and somehow also makes them worse. But besides him, all the other characters in this film also felt very empty, the story was incoherent and even the CGI was mediocre. Considering it’s Marvel, it really didn’t hold up.
Aquaman
There are only so many types of characters Jason Momoa can play. Let’s be honest he doesn’t have quite the range. So when we watched him play Aquaman, we saw Jason Momoa in a costume, and there wasn’t much more to it. Not to mention DC has been in this awkward place of unsuccessfully trying to get into Marvel.
Also, can we talk about Amber Heard’s red wig? We’ve seen children trick or treating during Halloween with more natural-looking hairpieces. Would it have killed them to style it a little bit? Besides this, the story felt so convoluted we didn’t really care about the outcome because everything fell flat.
The Lion King
Before there’s any confusion, let’s get this straight: we’re talking about the live-action remake from 2019. We would never even consider adding Disney’s original masterpiece version to this list. And it’s also the reason why the new one sucked so much. It didn’t bring anything new to the table. Disney spent around 260 million dollars to remake a perfect movie.
They took the impossible task upon themselves of making it look realistic. It’s lions acting out Hamlet, for Christ’s sake. All the expressions the cartoon characters had which made them feel lifelike, were completely erased. It ended up looking like a wacky nature documentary. Even Beyoncé couldn’t save this one.
Aloha
There was a fair share of controversy around this movie, specifically the casting choice to have Emma Stone portray a character who was meant to be Hawaiian and a quarter Chinese. Her skin somehow didn’t manage to justify this choice. Putting this controversy aside, it’s not like this movie had much going for it in the first place.
The plot is a combination of many things that don’t work together. We and many others were very disappointed to see this movie coming from Cameron Crowe, who made Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, and Elizabethtown, among others. It was made up of some great actors who were already very successful. Why on earth did they agree to star in this mediocre film?
Tenet
Christopher Nolan loves his complicated concepts surrounding time. He’s done creative things with this idea in Memento, Inception, Interstellar, and even Dunkirk. In Tenet, he tried out his most ambitious attempt so far. This is the type of movie you can only stomach if you’re energized, well-rested, and ready to focus.
The amount of concentration this movie requires is insane. Nolan has some high hopes for his audience with this one. We aspire to be that person who can casually watch Tenet and instantly understand everything the first time. We also aren’t sure if this kind of person exists. If you want to relax and put on a movie, this one is not for you.
Jupiter Ascending
The immensely talented Wachowski sisters who made The Matrix, one of the most successful sci-fi franchises of all time, disappointed many when they released this odd movie in the same genre. We never quite expected to see Channing Tatum in pointy ears, and this film confirmed that we didn’t need to. The world in this movie didn’t make much sense, and the flashy costumes and sets didn’t help either.
Once again we found ourselves wondering why a legend such as Sean Bean would sign up for a movie like this. The wacky-looking characters lacked personality and we never understood why they made any of the decisions they did.
Black Adam
Once again, a DC movie with a lead actor who always plays the same character in every movie. Dwayne ‘The Rock Johnson’ has mastered playing the big muscular, yet likable lead in an action movie. But there is a limit to how many times we can watch the same performance from one man. Pretty much all the other characters are more interesting than the main, which is a problem.
It wasn’t only his performance. Nothing about Black Adam surprised us. Considering the abundance of superheroes in our time, we needed some aspect of unpredictability, but we were left hanging. How many flat one-liners can we stomach before we walk out of the cinema and go back?
Wonder Woman 1984
When DC gave the role of Wonder Woman to Gal Gadot, at least they did something exciting. They cast a relatively unknown actress and gave the role some meaning. The first movie had mixed reviews, but it’s hard to deny some good decisions were definitely made. There was even a painful sacrifice when Chris Pine’s character died at the end.
Then they made a sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, and they entirely undid all their hard work. When superhero movies do this sort of thing repeatedly, it starts to make every shocking moment feel low stake. His character aside, the pacing was really slow and the poster made us expect this fun neon-filled 80s spectacle, but unfortunately, it also fell short visually.