The most hated actor in cinema history, according to science
Science is pretty great, all things considered. After all, without medical science, we’d all be lucky to make it to 40, and without computer science, we’d feel like we were living in the stone age. However, one area in which science lets itself down is that it can’t account for opinions. The way we feel about things is entirely subjective and constantly at the whim of any number of emotional and experiential variables. For instance, ask any cinephile who the most hated actor in cinema history is, and you’ll get a ton of wildly different answers. Having said that, though, maybe we’re wrong, and there truly is a way to use our old buddy science to objectively name the most hated performer ever.
In March 2025, our old friend Daniel Parris at Stat Significant put his scientist hat on and devised a method to name the most hated actor—and the results were interesting, to say the least. To make his research fair, he defined a specific category of movie that would be used in the analysis.
Parris argued it’s no good to include films that received dismal one-star reviews but were subsequently forgotten by the public. These films might have been bad and starred some bad actors, but the fact they were quickly memory-holed by most of the population means they weren’t truly despised. Instead, to be included in this data set, a movie had to have received a large enough number of one-star reviews to prove that it was widely viewed by a vast audience and universally hated by them, which caused it to live long in the memory.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the movies with the highest proportion of one-star reviews were action flicks and comedies. This stands to reason because critics tend to be harsher on those “lowbrow” genres, especially if they’re not particularly stellar examples of the form. After crunching the numbers, Parris was left with a top ten of actors who have starred in the most films that suffered the ignominy of 20% of their reviews attaining only one star (or worse).
Jean-Claude Van Damme came in at number ten, with four movies making the cut: Street Fighter, Knock Off, Double Team, and Universal Soldier: The Return. Sylvester Stallone followed at number nine, with four films being one-star efforts: Driven, Escape Plan 2: Hades, Rocky V, and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. Amazingly, though, the rest of the list entirely comprised comedic actors, with the likes of Pauly Shore, Rob Schneider, Tom Arnold, Martin Lawrence, and Eddie Murphy making plays for the top spot.
However, only one man could emerge as the most hated actor in history according to science – and that man is Adam Sandler. According to Parris’ research, the ‘Sandman’ has made five movies in his career that qualified him for the dubious honour: The Ridiculous 6, Grown-Ups 2, Jack and Jill, Going Overboard, and Little Nicky.
Now, in theory, we shouldn’t be able to argue with science. Sandler has, of course, made a boatload of genuinely atrocious movies in his career. In fact, it’s surprising that only five received more than 20% one-star reviews when the likes of I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, That’s My Boy, and Hubie Halloween also exist.
Here’s the thing, though, and it’s why we sometimes have to question the bona fides of science. Sandler may be hated by a lot of audience members and critics, but he’s also the most beloved comedic actor in the world. The guy has been pocketing hundreds of millions from Netflix for over a decade making movies with his friends that millions of people watch, and when he’s not doing that, he occasionally proves his acting chops in critically acclaimed efforts like Uncut Gems, Punch-Drunk Love, and Hustle.
Hell, Sandler is also one of the most loved celebrities in the industry among his peers and executives alike. He regularly appears at prestigious award ceremonies and events to make everyone double over with laughter at his signature silly voice. Is this man really the most hated actor in history? If he is, there’s probably a line around the block to be just as hated as him.
