The Worst Movies Of The Decade

An adaptation of just the first season of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon, M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender hit theaters right at the start of the decade, immediately setting a pretty poor standard for summer blockbusters to come thereafter. With Dev Patel in a leading role fresh off of the Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire and Shyamalan at the helm, The Last Airbender probably seemed like a surefire hit, but ultimately, it was a disastrous effort for everyone involved.

The film was absolutely panned, earning a horrifying score of 5 percent on Rotten Tomatoes thanks to its insanely convoluted plot, terrible performances, and haphazard direction. Even the creators of the original show, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, have said that they simply wish the movie didn't exist. The movie wound up winning several Razzie Awards and earning the distinction of becoming one of the worst Hollywood adaptations of anime ever, which was bad news for Shyamalan, as he was hoping to make an entire live-action franchise.

Kevin James committed plenty of cinematic sins during the second decade of the 21st century, one of which was definitely his 2011 effort Zookeeper. The film finds Griffin Keyes (James) unlucky in love after his girlfriend (Leslie Bibb) leaves him over his zookeeping job, though that particular blow is softened by the fact that he discovers he can speak to the animals he cares for. When the animals try to help Griffin win Stephanie back — despite repeated advances from Kate (Rosario Dawson), the zoo's inexplicably beautiful veterinarian — hijinks predictably ensue, including a scene where Kevin James puts a gorilla (voiced by Nick Nolte) in a designer shirt and brings him to T.G.I. Friday's. Plus, there's the weird subplot where that gorilla is apparently being abused by a different zookeeper. In the end, Griffin ends up with Kate instead of Stephanie and happily working at the zoo, providing closure for anyone who actually made it through the movie.

Ultimately, it comes as no surprise that Zookeeper earned terrible reviews from critics, though it did (somehow) perform fairly well at the box office. James would go on to make more terrible movies during the coming decade, but clearly, he was off to a strong start with Zookeeper.

In the hall of cinematic shame, Movie 43 is one of the most egregious examples of bad filmmaking, squandering a star-studded cast in a series of grotesque, unfunny vignettes which are all part of a pitch by an unsuccessful filmmaker (Dennis Quaid) to a studio executive (Greg Kinnear). From misplaced body parts and intercom snafus to straight-up poop jokes, it's clear that Kinnear isn't buying what Quaid is selling, leading to a horrifying, incredibly uncomfortable standoff and sexual assault which results in Quaid killing his manager, who's played by Common.

Incredibly, the cast includes names like Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Chris Pratt, Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, and Kate Winslet, among others. (Many of the stars were guilted into starring in the film with one of the most bizarre Hollywood deals ever.) Several members of the cast and crew mocked the movie in its aftermath. For example, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who wrote and directed a segment, claims he's never even seen it. And others, like Richard Gere, tried to back out. And then there were the stars like George Clooney who said "no way" and never made it anywhere near the film. 

Clearly, the people involved with Movie 43 would rather forget about it entirely, and critics and fans obviously felt the same way upon the film's release, as evidenced by its terrible Rotten Tomatoes ratings and bleak box office returns.

Was anybody clamoring for a sequel to 2009's Paul Blart: Mall Cop? Unbelievably, the answer seems to be yes, considering that Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 hit theaters in 2015. Following the continued adventures of Paul Blart — played by repeat offender Kevin James, an actor who only has one good movie — the story finds Paul struggling with his divorce and trying to be a good father to his daughter, Maya (Raini Rodriguez), despite the difficulties involved. In the meantime, Paul must also fight against an undercover criminal at a high-end security officer's convention in Las Vegas (which definitely sounds like a real thing).

Unsurprisingly, Paul Blart's second cinematic outing fared about as well as its first, which only earned a sequel thanks to a surprisingly good haul at the box office. Paul's second go-around did fairly well at the box office too, but critics couldn't stand it. The movie has a lousy 5 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics saying the film suffers from "lazy writing," "fat-shaming humor," and that it's "bathed in flop sweat." In other words, it's clear that we didn't need a second look at Paul Blart and his struggles as a mall cop.

As fervor for ABC's Modern Family reached a high point, star Sofia Vergara earned well-deserved international fame and acclaim, but unfortunately, she squandered that star power on ill-advised cinematic outings like Hot Pursuit. This buddy comedy, which pairs Vergara with Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon (and is directed by Anne Fletcher, known for worthier projects like Step Up and The Proposal), focuses on police officer Rose Cooper (Witherspoon), who's demoted after a workplace incident and forced to provide a protective detail to Daniella Riva (Vergara), the wife of a man testifying against a cartel boss.

Thanks to a series of tone-deaf lesbian jokes, as well as an overly complicated plot, Hot Pursuit failed critically, wasting the obvious talents of its two leading women to a nearly criminal degree. Movies starring powerful women like Witherspoon and Vergara should be far more commonplace, but thanks to this film's dismal returns, it set an unexpectedly poor standard for female-led films in 2015.

Cashing in audience's childhood nostalgia can be a pretty effective tactic for big studios, but unfortunately, 2015's Jem and the Holograms was one of the worst possible examples of this phenomenon. Helmed by Jon M. Chu — who would eventually go on to make much more successful adaptations like the Hollywood-changing Crazy Rich Asians — the film starred Audrey Peeples as Jem, the title character and frontwoman of her family band, as well as Molly Ringwald, Juliette Lewis, Hayley Kiyoko, and more.

Jem and the Holograms was an immediate bomb, both critically and financially, but it might've been remembered as a more middling effort if not for its embarrassing legacy. After making under $2 million at the box office on a $5 million budget, Universal went so far as to pull it from 2,000 theaters in an entirely unprecedented move. Chu and his cast members eventually landed on their feet, but the hubbub surrounding Jem's poor performance has cemented its reputation as one of the absolute worst films ever produced.

Faced with the overwhelming critical and commercial success of Marvel's cinematic efforts, DC has been trying to replicate Marvel's magic formula for years with middling results, with one of their worst efforts being Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Directed by Zack Snyder, the film brings together Henry Cavill's Superman and Ben Affleck's Batman for a battle royale, accompanied by Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, Amy Adams' Lois Lane, Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor, and more. When Luthor, obsessed with Superman to an unnerving degree, manipulates Batman into fighting the Man of Steel, the two duke it out. But when they eventually team up to defeat Luthor's evil forces, it results in Superman's (temporary) death.

Between Ben Affleck's unpopular take on the Caped Crusader, Eisenberg's disastrous casting and bizarre performance, and a reliance on CGI rather than plot to tell the story, neither Batman nor Superman won over critics. And though the film earned quite a bit at the box office, it was considered a "disappointment" for failing to crack the billion dollar threshold. Its sequel, Justice League, only performed marginally better, proving that when it comes to superhero cash grabs, DC definitely didn't learn any lessons from Batman v Superman.

It's hard to know where to start with Nine Lives, with its insane concept, inane script, and now-disgraced star Kevin Spacey. In the film, Spacey plays Tom Brand, a high-powered executive with no time for family or friends and who constantly ignores his wife (Jennifer Garner) and daughter (Malina Weissman) in favor of work. When he buys a cat for his daughter's birthday to try and appease her, he later ends up struck by lightning and placed in the body of the cat (named Mr. Fuzzypants). Aided by the pet store owner, Felix — who, for whatever reason, is played by Christopher Walken — Tom must re-evaluate his priorities in order to return to his human body.

Thanks to a hackneyed, tired plot and bizarre performances, Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus reads "not meow, not ever," marking Nine Lives as a completely unnecessary and unwanted cinematic effort. Spacey's legacy is tarnished to begin with, and no bad film could ever compare to his other actions, but Nine Lives certainly isn't helping.

Based on Dave Eggers' novel by the same name, The Circle seemed to have all the makings of greatness. With a gripping story about a massive tech company with a sinister underbelly and a powerhouse cast that included Harry Potter's Emma Watson, Star Wars' John Boyega, and incredibly, Tom Hanks, the film certainly seemed like a timely release thanks to its take on modern technology. As for the plot, when Mae (Watson) gets a job at The Circle, a renowned social media and tech company, she ends up getting sucked into their ethos of "full transparency," ruining her personal relationships and even endangering those around her. In the end, Mae can't escape the watchful eye of Eamon Bailey (Hanks), The Circle's CEO.

Unfortunately for all involved, The Circle flatlined. Critics were less than kind about its meandering, messy plot (as well as the fact that the company's evildoings are revealed so quickly), and it underperformed significantly at the box office upon its release. With plenty of art focusing on the potential dangers of social media, The Circle should've been a welcome addition to this budding genre, but it just couldn't hold its own.

Perhaps best known as either "the movie that made Jordan Peele quit acting" or "the movie that cast Sir Patrick Stewart as the poop emoji" — depending on which headlines you were reading during the film's release — The Emoji Movie is the very definition of a soulless, unnecessary cash grab, somehow using phone emoticons as a basis for an entire feature film. The first animated film to win multiple Razzie Awards (which is quite a distinction), The Emoji Movie stars former Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller as Gene, a "meh" emoji who can make multiple expressions. From there, the plot of the film is fairly incomprehensible as Gene tries to become a "normal" emoji that can only make one face, and the less said about it, the better.

In that vein, it should come as absolutely no surprise that critics and average filmgoers alike absolutely hated The Emoji Movie, which notably earned bad reviews before it even premiered. Thanks to ham-fisted product placement, a dismal script, and awful performances, just to name a few problems, The Emoji Movie is absolutely one of the worst examples of pandering to children and capitalism through animation, and as a result, it had one of the lowest Rotten Tomato scores of 2017. However, perhaps we have to thank The Emoji Movie for driving Jordan Peele behind the camera. In the midst of Get Out's success, he told reporters that The Emoji Movie was the final nail in his acting coffin, as he decided to quit when the filmmakers offered him the role of Poop. (Although, in fairness, he did come back for Toy Story 4).

As Martin Scorsese proved with The Irishman in 2019, gangster films never go out of style — that is, unless that gangster film is 2018's Gotti. With an aging John Travolta in the leading role as notorious, real-life mobster John Gotti (and Travolta's wife Kelly Preston as Gotti's wife, Victoria), the film clumsily attempts to tell Gotti's twisting, turning story and chronicle nearly 30 years of crime and intrigue in New York City. It certainly wasn't a good sign when the film's studio, Lionsgate, randomly pushed its release date back by two weeks just before it was supposed to hit theaters, and before long, critics and audiences saw why.

A multiple Razzie nominee, Gotti's problems are numerous, but they begin and end with a tired performance by Travolta, a performer arguably well past his prime. Add in a weirdly sympathetic bent to the film that paints Gotti as a pretty good guy despite his shady behavior, and you've got a bona fide dud on your hands, as evidenced by its incredible 0 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating. (The site's blurb is just one word: "Fuhgeddaboudit.") In the end, filmgoers made their feelings clear at the box office. Gotti made roughly $6 million against a budget of $10 million, proving that Travolta has a thing for picking really bad films. 

Just under the wire, a contender for the very worst movie of the entire decade arrived at the end of 2019 — Tom Hooper's Cats, released just in time for the holiday season. An adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's inexplicably popular stage musical (which itself is an adaptation of poetry by T.S. Eliot), this mind-bending musical is definitely best left on the stage. If you're not familiar with the story of London street cats trying to ascend to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn into new lives, the movie isn't going to help you one bit. Audience members are thrust into the "jellicle" action alongside Victoria (newcomer Francesca Hayward) and left to discover this bizarre and often horrifying world on their own, and the film that follows is mostly just introducing different cats, from Jason Derulo's unsettlingly salacious Rum Tum Tugger to Dame Judi Dench's Old Deuteronomy, until one of them — Jennifer Hudson's Grizabella, who sings the showstopper "Memory" — finally "ascends."

From the truly disturbing CGI cat-human hybrids to the film's utterly incomprehensible plot and direction, Hooper's goal of bringing Cats to the big screen clearly fell short with critics and audiences alike. Not only did it earn a paltry 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, it immediately lost money for Universal, had to be re-released to make the CGI less terrifying, and the studio pulled it from Academy Award consideration. Cats are said to have nine lives, but these kitties turned out to be dead on arrival.