The 21 worst movies of the 21st century
Naming the best and worst movies of any given year is, in some ways, a fruitless endeavour considering that cinema is a subjective artistic medium. Despite this, there are always those movies that seize the attention of the contemporary zeitgeist better than others, with such films as Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite being considered some of the greatest modern releases.
Equally, many other films have grabbed the attention of modern audiences for all the wrong reasons, rousing so much hatred during their time in theatres that by the end of their run, cinephiles have sullied the director’s name and actors involved. Many such critical and commercial failures simply come and go as audience interest hops from one film to the next, like the attention of a dog chasing a ball, then a stick, then a young child.
So, whilst Miller, Bong Joon-ho, Jenkins and the like may be responsible for cinematic mastery, there are several other filmmakers whose names do not deserve the same level of respect. Over the course of 23 (and counting) years of the 21st century, cinema has experienced a commercial revolution, with social media, merchandising and streaming services being important considerations in the release of any film.
Such has led to many cynical commercial ventures, ill-thought remakes, and simply insulting comedy flicks which we have neatly packaged in our list of the twenty-one worst movies of the 21st century. Taking into account box-office numbers, pop-culture legacy and general cinematic integrity, let’s dive into the creative sewage.
The 21 worst movies of the 21st century:
21. Morbius (Daniel Espinosa, 2022)
Who do we thank for the mad influx of superhero movies? Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies? Bryan Singer’s X-Men trilogy? That dastardly President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige? We need someone to hold account for 2022s Morbius, a disaster of a superhero flick that starred Jared Leto as a lame biochemist who tries to cure himself of a rare disease, only to mistakenly turn himself into a vampire.
His curse soon turns into something of a dark blessing, however, taking on his newfound powers with rageful enthusiasm. Awfully boring and terribly acted, Morbius thinks it’s the cat’s pyjamas, but it clings onto the coattails of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with pathetic desperation, boasting the worst post-credits scene of all time as a result.
20. Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (Tom Brady, 2011)
Directed by Tom Brady (no, not that Tom Brady) and starring Nick Swardson, Adam Sandler and Don Johnson, 2011s Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is one of the worst comedies to have come out of Hollywood in quite some time. Telling the story of a young man from the American midwest who moves to LA to follow in his parent’s footsteps and become a famous porn star, Bucky Larson is an embarrassing excuse for a comedy.
The kind of puerile concept you’d come up with during a childhood sleepover, only to wake up and discard the concept as sugar-induced gobbledygook, Bucky Larson is a shocking film with an embarrassing approach to filmmaking.
19. Elektra (Rob Bowman, 2005)
Rob Bowman’s Elektra is a tad worse than its fellow Marvel balls-up Catwoman, failing to be endearing in almost any way at all, and that’s saying something. A spin-off of the far superior Daredevil movie from 2003 starring Ben Affleck, Elektra stars Jennifer Garner as the titular superhero, an assassin-for-hire who is tasked with protecting a single father from a group of supernatural beings.
Released in a time when superhero movies were not respected like they are today, Garner herself calls Elektra “awful”, and it’s not hard to see why. Utterly boring and borderline offensive to female heroines, the character has never been seen again in the franchise.
18. Alone in the Dark (Uwe Boll, 2005)
Movie adaptations of video games have finally found creative mileage in recent years, with such projects as The Last of Us, Sonic the Hedgehog and The Super Mario Bros finding success on the big and small screens. Back in the mid-2000s, however, such adaptations were known as the worst of the worst Hollywood movies, with the German filmmaker Uwe Boll being responsible for a large majority of these.
Creating House of the Dead, Postal and Far Cry, which were all terrible, none of these adaptations was quite as bad as 2005s Alone in the Dark starring Christian Slater, a boring tale of a detective who slowly unravels a dark paranormal case.
17. The Fog (Rupert Wainwright, 2005)
Remakes of classic properties are often frowned upon, though despite this, the practice was prevalent throughout the early parts of the 21st century. Sure, remakes still happen, but they don’t feel quite as frequent as earlier in the decade, with Rupert Wainwright’s awful update of John Carpenter’s 1980 movie The Fog being an utter travesty of cinematic integrity, totally spoiling the source material with a lame reimagining.
‘Not scary’ is an understatement for this terribly-executed movie that failed to recapture the magic of the original whilst offering nothing at all in terms of a new vision. Watching it now feels like experiencing an awful episode of Doctor Who.
16. Transformers: The Last Knight (Michael Bay, 2017)
There’s no secret in saying that Michael Bay is one of the most publicly mocked directors of modern cinema, even if this label is a little unfair, to say the least. Creating a number of decent movies, including The Rock and Bad Boys II, it was instead the Transformers flicks that both made and broke Bay’s career. Big, noisy cash grabs, the Transformers movies became symbolic of everything wrong with big-budget cinema in the 2010s.
The first movie in the franchise, released in 2007, might have been pretty good, but the fifth instalment, Transformers: The Last Knight, was a complete mess. Making no sense at all whilst boring its audience with endless, busy CGI sequences, The Last Knight is beyond tedious.
15. Movie 43 (Various directors, 2013)
Sold as the most provocative comedy since Team America: World Police, Movie 43 turned out to be as ‘crazy’ and as ‘cool’ as a travelling theatre production visiting local schools to talk about the dangers of fizzy pop. Roping in an insane ensemble cast, who only really joined the project as a favour of contract obligation, the film was a messy anthology comedy helmed by 13 directors with 16 total storylines.
Starring the likes of Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, Seth MacFarlane, Richard Gere, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts and Chris Pratt, pretty much each and every actor regrets taking on this project, and it’s not hard to see why.
14. The Last Airbender (M. Night Shyamalan, 2010)
Well known to be one of the most disappointing movies of all time, the M. Night Shyamalan adaptation of the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender is a 21st-century travesty. A difficult adaptation to accept for fans of the beloved series, this confusing mess of a movie failed to capture the vivid imagination of the original show, being merely an awful imitation that clearly didn’t understand its source material.
Without any considerable on-screen talent to pick up the pieces and fuel the film onwards, The Last Airbender plods to its conclusion with its head in its hands, knowing that it has disappointed legions of global fans.
13. The Haunting of Sharon Tate (Daniel Farrands, 2019)
With some movies on this list, you really have to watch them to understand their lack of quality, but with Daniel Farrands’ The Haunting of Sharon Tate, it merely takes reading the film’s title to appreciate just how offensive it is. Taking the true story of the horrific murder of Sharon Tate at the hands of the sinister Manson Family cult, Farrands sculpts a paranormal narrative that suggests the victim was plagued by supernatural demons before she met her demise.
Exploiting a dark tragedy, Farrand’s movie is terribly distasteful and utterly boring in the process. Highlighting everything wrong with modern horror, The Haunting of Sharon Tate is as lazy as they come and just so happens to be very offensive too.
12. The Master of Disguise (Perry Andelin Blake, 2002)
Comedies are notorious for ageing badly, but Perry Andelin Blake’s Master of Disguise was outdated the moment it was released. Starring Dana Carvey of Wayne’s World fame, the peculiar movie tells the story of an Italian waiter who fights off a maniacal criminal with his absurd number of strange disguises. The result is something bizarre and borderline offensive that fails to hit any comedy notes.
Alongside Carvey is a total lack of supporting talent, including Jennifer Esposito, James Brolin and Harold Gould, each of whom is unable to elevate this awful comedy that stupendously crumbles on all fronts.
11. Saving Christmas (Darren Doane, 2014)
Cobbled together as if it was literally edited in about an hour, Darren Doane’s Christmas movie is supposed to inspire fellow Christians to properly embrace the ‘true meaning’ of the festive period. The result is something that merely preaches to its audience and one that preaches badly, too, shouting in the face of the viewer, criticising you for not being as pure as the writers and director.
Hilariously bad, yet not truly enjoyable in the slightest, Saving Christmas is one of the least cool movies ever made that plays out like a satirical PSA designed by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.
10. Cats (Tom Hooper, 2019)
The first entry in our top ten is the bizarre adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats, directed by the Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper. A total mess of visual and narrative storytelling, the film became a laughing stock upon its release. It has quickly become considered a failure of grand proportions, demonstrating that some stories simply shouldn’t be adapted for cinema.
Despite a glittering cast that includes the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, James Corden, Rebel Wilson and Jason Derulo, the film remains a laughable, pretentious effort to create art in a story that is inherently absurd.
9. The Wicker Man (Neil LaBute, 2006)
If Neil LaBute’s remake of The Wicker Man had been an original movie, it is likely that it would have never found its way onto our list of the worst movies of the century. The fact that the film is based on Robin Hardy’s iconic 1973 folk horror tale makes LaBute’s effort simply embarrassing in comparison. Not quite sure whether it’s a thriller or a horror tale; the remake fails to create any sense of mystery or intrigue, being utterly ridiculous from the very start.
Much of this has to come down to LaBute’s sensationally bad screenplay, with Nicolas Cage’s bizarre performance being the surprising saving grace of this otherwise dull tale.
8. Battlefield Earth (Roger Christian, 2000)
Roger Christian’s camp sci-fi flick might be ‘so bad, it’s good’, but for our money, it’s just really bad. Based on the novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the movie stars John Travolta as Terl, an alien ‘Psychlo’ whose race has enslaved humanity thousands of years in the future in a land that no longer resembles the green vistas of planet earth. Utterly stupid and absurd, the film plays out like a piece of fiction conjured by a schoolboy.
Released in 2000, the visuals have aged like sour milk in 23 years, and the costumes looked unsuitable for the film even upon its release. Travolta and his co-stars Forest Whitaker, Barry Pepper and Kelly Preston would rather entirely forget its existence.
7. Jack and Jill (Dennis Dugan, 2011)
Adam Sandler is often unfairly judged for being a bad actor, but if films like Punch-Drunk Love and Uncut Gems are anything to go by, the truth is far different. Unfortunately, it’s films like 2011s Jack and Jill that make people think he is not worthy of acclaim, and it’s not hard to realise why. Playing both title characters in Dennis Dugan’s ‘comedy’, Sandler helps to create one of the most cringe-inducing movies of all time.
Made about 20 years too late, Jack and Jill is a strange comedy that is too silly for adults and laden with too many strange references for kids to enjoy. Put simply, it’s a barrel-scraping exercise from Sandler.
6. Fantastic Four (Josh Trank, 2015)
Superhero movies most certainly define the identity of contemporary cinema, changing the landscape of the industry with a playbook of how to make, distribute and merchandise a franchise. This has led to a large number of cinematic turkeys, with Josh Trank’s disastrous Fantastic Four reboot being the worst of the bunch, containing everything that is wrong with poor-quality superhero filmmaking.
Awfully realised by Trank and his co-writers Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg, Fantastic Four is a visual and narrative mess, sullying a beloved property whilst being dull and totally uninspiring in the process.
5. Disaster Movie (Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer, 2008)
Spoof movies weren’t always the lazy cinematic punt that they are considered to be today, with Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs still being seen as classics many decades after their release. Still, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer’s Disaster Movie represent the very worst of the modern spoof genre, piggybacking off of several iconic franchises to perform a lazy exercise in comedy.
Featuring sketches inspired by countless movies of the past five years or so, the main joke of Disaster Movie is: ‘We just mentioned Alvin and the Chipmunks in a film that isn’t Alvin and the Chipmunks’. It’s just bad.
4. Space Jam: A New Legacy (Malcolm D. Lee, 2021)
Thanks to the new ‘multi-verse’ trend in modern cinema, as well as the success of other kid’s films such as The Lego Movie, contemporary producers think they can just toss our favourite characters together into one big movie mashup. Such led to the horrible commercial exercise of Space Jam: A New Legacy in 2021, which served not to act as a sequel to the beloved 1996 animation hybrid but instead to big up the intellectual properties of Warner Bros.
Bitterly cynical, Malcolm D. Lee’s film is a sad return to the Looney Tunes characters. No longer are they beloved comedy stars. Instead, they are pawns in Warner Bros’ battle for popularity.
3. The Hottie & the Nottie (Tom Putnam, 2008)
Some films are bad because of their technical quality, screenplay or overarching message, but Tom Putnam’s The Hottie & the Nottie is bad in each and every area, with its insulting themes being the most memorable area of concern. Telling the story of a woman who agrees to go on a date with a man, but only if he finds her a suitor for her unattractive best friend, Putnam’s film is controversial, to say the least.
Suggesting that beauty is entirely surface level, with the protagonist finding the ‘ugly’ girl attractive only once she has sorted out her hair and applied a face full of makeup, The Hottie & the Nottie is a genuinely disgusting piece of fiction.
2. The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) (Tom Six, 2015)
The original Human Centipede movie of 2009 may have caused outrage online and in the media, but the first film in the hideous trilogy was pretty tame horror pulp compared to its successors. Whilst the sequel was filthy, to say the least, The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) was created with a nasty tone that pervaded your retinas like an airborne infection, dishing out disgusting visual sights and a vile tone.
No fun to watch, review or discuss, the third film is a pretentious piece of cinematic garbage that adds nothing to its genre nor the happiness and fulfilment of the viewer.
1. The Emoji Movie (Tony Leondis, 2017)
Tony Leondis’ Emoji Movie may seem an obvious choice to be ‘the worst movie of the 21st century’, but the film truly encapsulates everything wrong with modern movie making. As we’ve previously discussed throughout the list, though, particularly when covering Space Jam: A New Legacy, contemporary cinema has grown cynical, dropping the facade of ‘art’ to release instead just products that don’t even hide their intentions anymore.
Based on the small pictures you can send to your friends on social media platforms, The Emoji Movie is a truly vacant movie that takes place across several different apps, including Candy Crush, Just Dance Now, Dropbox, Spotify and Facebook. At its best, it’s a bad animated movie made with no heart and imagination, but at its worst, it is a piece of toxic capitalist propaganda that regurgitates contents onto the faces of its impressionable young viewers.
