In covering the streaming space, as well as movies and TV shows more generally, I spend a lot of my time writing about new releases that are worth seeking out and that have excited both critics and fans alike. There is, of course, also a flip side to all that: TV shows and movies that no one should ever seek out. The movies I’m talking about are actually so bad that they rank among the worst ever made.
What you’ll find below is a quick rundown of 10 films that comprise one ranking of the worst movies of all time. This list is courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s compiled by simply identifying the worst-ever Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer scores — which is not hard to do in this case, since all of the movies below have a big, embarrassing 0% for that score.
1: Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)
Synopsis: In this action flick, Antonio Banderas plays a reclusive former spy still haunted by the death of his wife. He’s being blackmailed to come back into service to track down an ex-DIA operative played by Lucy Liu, who’s kidnapped the young son of some super-duper secret international security agency. Just whacky writing all around, and overall quite forgettable.
2: One Missed Call (2008)
Synopsis: Shannyn Sossamon plays a woman whose best friends both heard their final moments on their cell phones before they died. The story may be about “missed” calls, but you really need to just miss this brain-dead movie.
3: Left Behind (2014)
Synopsis: Based on a series of religious books about the end of the world, the fact that the cast here includes Nicholas Cage should tell you all you need to know. Unless you want to see unmanned vehicles crash and empty planes falling from the sky as part of a Rapture-like event that plunges the world into chaos … come on, you know what I’m going to say. Leave this one behind.
4: A Thousand Words (2012)
Synopsis: Here, Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) is a fast-talking literary agent who can close any deal. Some New Age guru warns him that he needs to change his ways. That’s basically the whole thing. A thousand words? All I need is just one word to sum this one up: Avoid.
5: Gotti (2018)
Synopsis: A dramatization of the life story of real-life Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, this is just a silly, B-movie version of what someone in Hollywood imagined a gangster’s life is like. And they stuck John Travolta, of all people, in the title role. Do yourself a favor: Avoid this one, and check out Netflix’s docuseries Get Gotti instead (I wrote more about it here).
6: Pinocchio (2002)
Synopsis: Come on, everyone knows the story. All I’ll say: It takes a special kind of stinker to turn one of the most beloved childhood stories into cinematic garbage. Absolutely no one needs to go near this dumpster fire of a creepy Pinocchio adaptation, starring Roberto Benigni.
7: Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
Synopsis: Here’s all you need to know about this bomb of a movie, courtesy of the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus summary. “A startling lack of taste pervades Superbabies, a sequel offering further proof that bad jokes still aren’t funny when coming from the mouths of babes.”
8: Gold Diggers (2003)
Synopsis: Two broke losers get arrested for trying to rob a pair of rich old ladies. The women drop the charges and invite the losers to live with them. The two guys figure they’ll wait until the ladies die and then just live off the money they leave behind. The ladies, meanwhile, are concealing financial troubles of their own. Verdict: There is absolutely no cinematic gold to be found among these gold diggers, folks.
9: The Last Days of American Crime (2020)
Synopsis: Two men and a woman plan one last heist before a government broadcast signal somehow wipes out crime forever. Of course, the real crime was simply that this illogical, idiotic Netflix movie exists at all.
10: Jaws The Revenge (1987)
Synopsis: The final title on this list of the worst movies of all time — again, per the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores — returns us to the Jaws franchise. Somebody clearly was more interested in squeezing a little more cash out of the franchise, rather than coming up with a logical story and paying for special effects that didn’t look like a high school audio-visual club from the 1960s put them together. Michael Caine was even somehow tricked into appearing in this one.
From the Rotten Tomatoes summary: “The family of widow Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary) has long been plagued by shark attacks, and this unfortunate association continues when her son is the victim of a massive great white. In mourning, Ellen goes to visit her other son, Michael (Lance Guest), in the Bahamas, where she meets the charming Hoagie Newcombe (Michael Caine). As Ellen and Hoagie begin a relationship, a huge shark appears off the coast of the island, and Ellen’s trouble with the great whites begins again.”