Talented actors and a great script don't always guarantee a film's success. Film history shows that even a strong cast can't save a movie. Notorious flops with big-name actors have failed to impress critics. Some films earn big box office numbers despite bad reviews, while others flop with both audiences and critics, proving the unpredictable nature of movies. Here are 14 critically bad movies with good actors - vote on the biggest disappointment.
About this list
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Wild Wild WestMoviesWill Smith peaked in the late 1990s, becoming a singer and actor. His steampunk western failed.Wild Wild WestWild Wild West flopped. Its poor box office, worsened by the high price, hurt it.The film earned a dismal 16% on Rotten Tomatoes.This adds insult to injury.
The film has a talented cast. Smith works with Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, and Salma Hayek. Even this group fails to lift the material. Special effects dazzle, but the jokes miss the mark. Given the genre and the actors, this is a shame. It shows big budgets and fancy CGI do not save a film from its own flaws.
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Movie 43MoviesMovie 43 features fourteen different storylines, each directed by a different person. The movie boasts great directors like Elizabeth Banks and Bob Odenkirk. Its huge cast includes Kristen Bell, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pratt, Emma Stone, and many others.Movie 43 features a unique concept: fourteen storylines, each directed by a different director. The movie has fine directorial talent, including Elizabeth Banks and Bob Odenkirk. Its huge cast includes Kristen Bell, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pratt, Emma Stone, and more.
This multi-director style is innovative. Yet, films rarely make them this way.The 4% Rotten Tomatoes score shows this clearly.Like many films, this assumes audiences accept endless scatological jokes. This ignores the talent in the cast.
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Nothing but TroubleMoviesDuring the 1980s and 1990s, stars became great comic actors. Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, and John Candy were top of their generation. Putting all three in one movie, with Aykroyd writing and directing, seemed like a perfect formula for hilarious comedy.
The result, however, was poor.Nothing But Trouble, Nothing But Trouble is not funny.Its 12% Rotten Tomatoes score proves this.Adding Demi Moore does not save this strange mix. The film follows yuppies arrested after running a stop sign. What should be a horror-comedy becomes boring. Even the talent cannot stop the film from being an expensive waste of time.
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Brian DePalma's film has an apt title.The Bonfire of the VanitiesThe film is based on Tom Wolfe's book. Its failure at the box office and with critics means it currently hasThe Bonfire of the Vanities scored a meager 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.The cast list for 'The Bonfire of the Vanities' features '80s and '90s stars like Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Morgan Freeman, and Kim Catrall.
A story about a bond trader (Hanks) and his lover (Griffith) running over a young African American man in the Bronx could have offered insight and irony, like the original book. The film fails to show these insights, partly because Tom Hanks seems poorly cast in the role.The Bonfire of the Vanities is on the list of 14 Critically Bad Movies With Good Actors.This film ends up being just a huge Hollywood mistake.
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All About SteveMoviesA is on the list of 14 Critically Bad Movies With Good Actors.The movie scored 6% on Rotten Tomatoes.This score is a distinction no movie actively seeks, and it is one of the few distinctions the romantic comedy possesses.All About Steve is on the list of 14 Critically Bad Movies With Good Actors.This surprises people because the film centers on Sandra Bullock as a crossword puzzle writer who pursues a charming news cameraman, Steve (Bradley Cooper).
The 2009 movie's failure to use Bullock's charm and the rom-com genre well is striking when you look at the rest of the cast. If a film cannot make a success with Bullock, Cooper, Thomas Haden Church, and Ken Jeong—all skilled in romance and comedy—then the screenplay has a serious problem.
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Zoolander 2MoviesThe first Zoolander 2 is on the list of 14 Critically Bad Movies With Good Actors.Zoolander is on the list of 14 Critically Bad Movies With Good Actors.The film was both funny and a satire on the excess and foolishness of the fashion industry. Because of this, the sequel seemed like it would be the same, especially given how well-cast it was. Besides Ben Stiller playing the main character, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor, Penelope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, and others were also present.
Unfortunately, the sequel shows how much good things can go wrong. Stiller's directing skills seem used up with the first movie. The second film is too inconsistent to succeed; it leans too much on cameos and not enough on strong acting or good writing. At the end of the day,The movie has a 22% Rotten Tomatoes score.This score is not something to brag about, especially compared to the first movie's 65%.Zoolander 2 has a 65% score..
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The CounselorMoviesThe Counselor is on the list of 14 Critically Bad Movies With Good Actors.This film looks like it has the parts of a great movie. Ridley Scott directed it, and he always makes entertaining films. Cormac McCarthy wrote the script. The all-star cast includes Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, and Javier Barden. Also, the story, which follows a lawyer (Fassbender) caught by drug cartels, seems perfect for a good drama.
As its 34% Rotten Tomato score reveals, however,The CounselorThe Counselor fails to use its potential. It lacks thrill or suspense. It feels like a soulless copy of the film it aimed to be. The writer McCarthy is known for cynicism, but it does not work here.
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All The King's MenMoviesIt is based on Robert Penn Warren's book of the same name.All the King’s Men.Sean Penn plays Willie Stark starting his rise to political power in the Deep South. This effort failed at the box office and with critics. It keeps a...It got a dismal 12% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The cast includes big names from 2000s cinema. Besides Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, and James Gandolfini appear. They do their best with the material, but the screenplay remains too clunky. It lacks the sharp political insight that made the predecessor well-respected.
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The Love GuruMoviesMike Myers could create blockbusters with his big comedic characters, seen in Austin Powers and Wayne Campbell. Sometime in the 2000s, he lost his edge. Several of his films from that time are quite bad.The Love Guru.This is arguably the lowest point of his work, shown through...It has a 13% Rotten Tomato score..
This is a shame. The film wastes Myers's talent. It also does not know what to do with castmates Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Ben Kingsley, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert. Big names like Jessica Simpson, Mariska Hargitay, and Kanye West appear as themselves too. The film's vulgarity can be funny for some, but it seems to forget how to make viewers laugh instead of making them cringe.
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Strange WildernessMoviesThe bomb.Strange Wilderness.This film features many early-2000s comedy stars. Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill, Justin Long, and Seth Rogen appear, along with older acts like Ernest Borgnine and Harry Hamlin. The plot of a nature show cast launching an expedition to Ecuador for Bigfoot might seem funny, but the film fails to live up to its cast's potential, which explains...It gets a 2% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Strange Wilderness.The film relies too much on crude humor. Vulgarity has limits for making a movie entertaining. This film treats simple humor as the end, not the way to go. It never tries to do anything other than insult the viewer's intelligence.
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The Last FaceMoviesThe Last Face.The cast of this film is an embarrassment of riches, featuring some of Hollywood's most talented people. Charlize Theron, Javier Barden, and Jarred Harris appear. The story follows two doctors who fall in love while working in war-torn regions of Africa. The film's approach to the topic sounds tone-deaf; this is just the beginning of its problems.
Sean Penn's film pushes African characters into the background, which seems like a bad idea even for a better movie. This makes Sean Penn's work sound bad taste and lacking in romance.Rotten Tomatoes gave it a dismal 8%..
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Jack and JillMoviesAdam Sandler was a big box office draw then, thanks to his comedy genius and his time on Saturday Night Live.He was on Saturday Night Live.Still, Sandler had many flops in the 2000s and 2010s, including the poorly planned Jack and Jill.Jack and Jill.In this flop, Sandler plays the twins, and other stars appear, such as Al Pacino, Katie Holmes, Norm Macdonald, Tim Meadows, David Spade, and Dana Carvey.
At first glance,Jack and Jill.It seems like a bit of anSNL.This is an SNL reunion, but the film is too mean-spirited to be much fun. Al Pacino gives a good performance, even though heraps about Dunkin' Donuts.This is not enough to save the film from its other flaws.Jack and Jill.It more than earnsa 3% score.
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SliverMoviesThe 1990s produced some of the most recognizable and acclaimed erotic thrillers. For every Basic Instinct or Bound,Basic Instinct.or Bound.Bound.There is a film like Sliver.Sliver., Sliver currently has a 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes.. This flop follows Carly Norris (Sharon Stone). She moves into a high-rise and gets caught in dark, sinister events. It looks like a suspenseful film like many others from that decade at first glance.
The film wants to say something about surveillance culture. However, changes to Ira Levin's novel and weak performances from Stone and her co-stars (William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, and Polly Walker) mean nothing lands. The script falls flat, and the ending looks sloppy—partly because of major reshoots needed to avoid an NC-17 rating.reshoots that were required to avoid a rating of NC-17..
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RoboCop 3MoviesThe first film in theRoboCop.This action film features a brain, heavy violence, and a story that examines corporate power in Reagan's America. Hollywood often lets its own success ruin a film, and its sequels fail to match the original.
The third entry in the franchise is particularly vexing.Rotten Tomatoes currently gives it a 9% score.It recasts Robert Burke as the main character, who Peter Weller previously played. Production quality is noticeably shoddier, and the film clearly exploits the franchise's popularity. The stacked cast, including Nancy Allen, Rip Torn, Bradley Whitford, and Stephen Root, does not save it.RoboCop 3RoboCop 3 suffers from franchise fatigue.
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