Every decade has its fair share of questionable movies. Indeed, each year a few howlers are released; but beauty is said to lie in the eye of the beholder and many movies, including the recent blockbuster Morbius - released in April 2022 - have had their critical detractors but still manage to drum up a considerable amount of fanfare all the same.
The 2000s, though, was a rare decade for many Redditors, as it produced some truly woeful movies in their eyes. Whilst these movies' more nuanced qualities were misunderstood by some, the general consensus amongst users on Reddit places them firmly in the 'objectively bad' category. However, that is not to say that even the worst of a bad bunch cannot have their admirers.
There was a time when the majority of superhero movies were not considered to be of a high standard. Arguably, the worst of all was the Halle Berry starring adaptation of Catwoman which received a total of seven 'Razzie' award nominations in 2004. Indeed, no film related to the DC canon has received as much critical ire as director Pitof's Catwoman.
Thankfully, there have been some more impressive reprisals of Catwoman on film since 2004, but Redditors earmark Pitof's vision as by far the worst iteration of the character. According to user BlogDog123, the movie is remarkably bad in more ways than just its acting, saying "I took a film editing class last year, and my professor showed us Catwoman as an example of how not to edit your movie."
M.Night Shyamalan is a love-him or hate-him kind of director and his ambitious movies, which often rely on a final act twist, can fall flat with many viewers. 2004's The Village was one of these movies, and despite its impressive cast of characters, including Joaquin Phoenix and Adrien Brody, it proved to be a polarising affair, to say the least.
The Reddit community is more forgiving of Shyamalan than perhaps some in the world of film criticism are, but many users still find The Village to be insufferable, even if it does have some redeeming qualities. User LegitmatelyWhat remarks of the film, "it's well-acted and well-shot...just really dumb and proud of itself."
Whilst Pitof's Catwoman is perhaps the most famously bad example of a superhero movie, Rob Bowman's 2005 adaptation of Elektra surely ran it close. The Jennifer Garner starring movie has an approval rating of just 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics largely dismissing the movie out of hand as a cinematic dud.
Elektra was a spin-off sequel to the Ben Affleck-starring 2003 adaptation of Daredevil, which was equally poorly received by critics, so it is anyone's guess why a follow-up was even commissioned in the first place. Redditors are unforgiving in their appraisal of both movies, but particularly of Bowman's film, with user DrPreppy saying "Elektra is depressingly bad."
Before Planet Of The Apes was given a much-needed franchise reboot - at the hands of The Batman director Matt Reeves among others no less - Hollywood's provocateur of the weird and wonderful, Tim Burton, tried his hand at remaking the popular 1963 novel of the same name. Unfortunately for film fans, Burton's movie was not the success it was anticipated to be.
Redditors, though, whilst admitting Burton's Planet Of The Apes fell short in many respects, highlight that one of its few redeeming features was the attention to detail shown by its makeup department, and specifically the work done by the legendary Rick Baker on the movie. User ggroover97 says "while Burton's Planet Of The Apes isn't good, I will say that the makeup by Rick Baker was amazing as expected."
When bad movies of the 2000s are mentioned in Reddit streams, one film that is used most frequently as an example of just how bad the decade was for bad movies, was the 2003 musical romance From Justin To Kelly. The movie was so unapologetically awful for some that it was even recognized by the 'Razzie' awards, scooping up the much-maligned award for 'Worst Musical' in 2003.
One Reddit user, in particular, is damning in their appraisal of From Justin To Kelly, saying "it is not even bad in a fun way, it is just bad in a way that is really unenjoyable. I'm not sure there is a single thing I would highlight as a positive. Might actually have the worst songs, and the worst singing I've ever seen in a musical."
The 2000s was not a particularly forgiving decade in the career of Ben Affleck. Alongside critical flops such as Daredevil and Gigli, the divisive Michael Bay Second World War romance movie, Pearl Harbor, made the decade largely one to forget for the actor.
Pearl Harbor is a misunderstood film for some, but for many Redditors, it is often cited as one of the '00s worst movies. The movie was even famously mocked in Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Team America, in the song 'The End of an Act' which included the lyrics: "Pearl Harbor sucked but I miss you." Reddit user ggroover97 says of Bay's film, "you can tell the studio wanted to replicate the success of Titanic but failed miserably."
There have been many great examples of sequels in recent times, with Top Gun: Maverick, in particular, proving to be a surprise critical success. Many sequels, such as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, have even bettered the first installment. But sadly for fans of the found footage masterpiece The Blair Witch Project, the trick would not be repeated with its sequel Book Of Shadows.
One of the great things about the original Blair Witch was its found-footage style. There were even questions raised over the movie's legitimacy as a fictional film, such as its terrifying realism. Curiously, the sequel does away with almost everything that made the original such a breathtaking experience, and Reddit user RedAllAboutIt7 regrets watching the film altogether, saying "still hate myself for paying to see that."
Milla Jovovich caused a sensation with her performance in the critically adored 1997 dystopian science-fiction movie The Fifth Element, but her return to the genre in Kurt Wimmer's Ultraviolet was universally panned by the film community. The movie has accrued only an 8% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes since its release in 2006.
Redditors are quick to mention Ultraviolet in any discussion about bad movies, regardless of the decade in which they were released, with one Redditor saying "any bad movie list that could include Ultraviolet needs to include Ultraviolet. I've never seen worse action scenes outside student films."
Before comic book franchises became commonplace in the world of cinema, satire spoof franchises were being produced left, right and center. The Scary Movie franchise was perhaps the most famous of these and was spawned in the wake of the popular Scream films.
For many Redditors the Scary Movie franchise was an unnecessary and unfunny enterprise, certainly considering that Scream itself is a worthwhile black comedy in its own right. User fzvw chooses to quote a line from the sitcom Community when reviewing Scary Movie, saying "There is a time and a place for subtlety, and that time was before Scary Movie."
M. Night Shyamalan bookended the 2000s with arguably two bad movies in The Village and The Happening, but the latter of these was perhaps the critical coup de grace to his legacy as a respected auteur. The movie scored a woeful 18% on the critical accumulator site Rotten Tomatoes, and it was hardly redeemed by viewers either.
Reddit users deride Shyamalan's films frequently, but the Mark Wahlberg starring The Happening does not fare well in discussions. User Jeeonta remarks unequivocally "The Happening is legit one of the worst movies I've ever seen." Appraisals don't get much more damning than that. Thankfully for fans of Shyamalan's earlier work, his 2021 movie Old was a return to form for the director.
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