The Three John Cusack Movies With 0% Scores On Rotten Tomatoes
You might be hard-pressed to find any other actor quite as beloved by an entire generation of moviegoers as John Cusack. That's largely because Cusack fronted some of the best films of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s (see: "Better Off Dead," "Say Anything," "Grosse Point Blank," "Being John Malkovich," and "High Fidelity," among others). Even with such an impressive big screen legacy, Cusack's fiercely devoted fans have, more often than not of late, found themselves scratching their heads at some of the projects he's involved himself in. And even as he still occasionally delivers the goods in a film (i.e. 2014's "Love & Mercy"), Cusack's list of straight-to-video fare is, sorry to say, growing by the year.
In fact, some of the movies Cusack has been churning out since in the last decade-plus have been legit critical embarrassments that've earned the beloved actor some of the worst reviews of his career. And according to a recent Rotten Tomatoes ranking of the actor's entire cinematic oeuvre, three of Cusack's films were so bad they earned the dreaded 0% Fresh rating from the review aggregate site, which is no easy feat. Here's which ones earned that dubious honor.
The Contract was an unexpected misfire from Cusack
Logic might dictate that some of the bigger misses spotting John Cusack's resume had the look of "stinker" before he ever boarded the project. That was arguably not the case with this action thriller from 2006. While "The Contract" surely never had the look of prestige cinema, the film certainly didn't bare the markings of a 0% critical miss either as it headed into production. In fact, on paper "The Contract" still looks like a winner, fronting the on-camera talents of Cusack, Morgan Freeman, and Alice Krige, and boasting a one-time Oscar best director nominee behind the camera in "Tender Mercies" and "Driving Miss Daisy" helmer Bruce Beresford.
In truth, it's tough to say exactly what went wrong with "The Contract" given the talent involved. But of the six Rotten Tomatoes certified critics who did bother to review the film, the common theme seems to be that "The Contract" was little more than a clumsily assembled collection of action movie cliches which viewers have seen in dozens of other flicks before. And given that even fans of Freeman's and Cusack's work likely don't even know this movie exists, we're betting those assessments are accurate enough.
The star power of Cusack and Bruce Willis couldn't save The Prince
Like John Cusack, Bruce Willis has spent the better part of the past couple of decades splitting time between intriguing big screen projects like "Looper," and "Motherless Brooklyn," and cookie-cutter action fare that tended to skip a theatrical release altogether. We have, of course, recently learned the now retired Willis had his reasons for taking that career track. But when Willis and Cusack teamed up for "The Prince" in 2014, critics and fans alike were undoubtedly baffled by the fact that the collaboration between two iconic actors of their caliber didn't deliver a better product.
And much like "The Contract," most critics indeed deemed "The Prince" a boorish action flick riddled with predictable twists and tough guy cliches. In his own scathing review for Variety, critic Andrew Barker even went so far as to label "The Prince" a project Willis and Cusack may have opted to appear in purely for the paycheck. If you've seen "The Prince," you know it's hard to argue that take, as neither actor brings much to the mix in this "Taken"-inspired snoozer. And if you haven't seen "The Prince" — which probably goes for most people out there — it seems you might be better off keeping it that way.
Reclaim was a mystery thriller fronting little of either according to critics
While 2014 found Cusack delivering two of his better late-career performances in David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars," and the Brian Wilson biopic "Love & Mercy," it also found him delivering two of his worst. And no, "The Prince" was not the only 0% dud released in 2014 baring Cusack's name. The other was "Reclaim," a would-be action thriller that wholly wastes a surprisingly solid supporting cast including well-established players like Ryan Philipe, Jackie Weaver, Luis Guzmán, and Rachel Lafevre.
Per the film's brutal critical response, "Reclaim" is also proof positive that all the on-screen talent in the world cannot save a project that has little else going for it. And per Dennis Harvey's Variety review, that's just the case here, with the critic writing of "Reclaim" that "Alan White's polished but pedestrian pic mines little real suspense and few surprises from a formulaic script."
As for Cusack, his work in "Reclaim" is of the giddily over-the-top sort. So, if you're into that side of his acting, you might actually enjoy parts of the otherwise forgettable "Reclaim." If not, you'll absolutely want to heed that 0% Rotten Tomatoes rating.