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What is Tom Hanks’ worst-rated movie?
Over the past three decades, Tom Hanks has become one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors and a staple presence in high-grossing productions. His big break came with 1988’s Big, a fantasy comedy directed by Penny Marsh, but it wasn’t until the early 1990s that he became the cream of the crop.
Appearing in Philadelphia opposite Denzel Washington in 1993 and Forrest Gump the following year saw the Californian actor win his only two Academy Awards to date, both for Best Actor. This career peak saw Hanks become only the second actor, behind Spencer Tracy, to have won two consecutive Best Actor Oscars.
After this apparent career peak, Hanks maintained near constant accolades over the years, appearing in a vast range of highly successful films from the Toy Story franchise to Saving Private Ryan to Captain Phillips. In fact, Hanks’ back catalogue is nothing short of staggering. Apart from perhaps Leonardo DiCaprio, Hanks’ consistency of successful film appearances since the early ‘90s has been unrivalled; but as with every actor, there have been a couple of buttons in the piggy bank.
Strangely, one of Hanks’ worst-rated movies came in 1990 when he was on the verge of super-stardom. The satirical black comedy The Bonfire of the Vanities was a promising project attracting a star-studded cast, including Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis, but sadly, it tanked at the box office and has aged just as badly with internet age critics on Rotten Tomatoes giving it 16 per cent while the audience were a little kinder, awarding it 26 per cent.
Despite these jarring stats, Hanks’ post-peak career has somehow pipped Bonfire of the Vanities to rock bottom. The Circle, released in 2017, sees Hanks in a lead role opposite British actress Emma Watson. The film is based on Dave Eggers’ 2013 novel of the same name and follows the dystopian story of a multi-billion dollar tech company strikingly similar to Google or Apple.
After an unemphatic premiere, some critics pointed out that the dystopia failed because most aspects looking to shock already exist in modern society. Critics and audiences agreed that it was worthy of little merit. With a 16 per cent critical score and a 21 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it currently stands as Hanks’ worst-rated film to date.
“Bland performances from talented actors, and boring direction from a very talented director,” one critic submitted. Another took aim at the film’s narrative angle: “[The Circle is] the sort of movie that’s convinced of its own urgency and importance, even as viewers only see something that’s obvious and overbearing.”
Despite the poor reviews, the film clawed $20,497,844 at the US box office, making it director James Ponsoldt’s highest-grossing film to date. Any film starring Hanks will likely garner initial attention and rake in a healthy sum at the box office, but as such occasions demonstrate, you can’t make a bad film with good actors, and you can’t make a good film with bad actors.
