Don’t hold your idols too high — they may disappoint you. Perhaps these celebrated actors were just dying to get out of the house, but the truth is, there are few actors who work frequently and don’t make some stinkers. Here are some of our favorite stars and the flicks they made that really aren’t worth watching, based on critic scores from Rotten Tomatoes.
Beloved Star: Michael B. Jordan
Critics Score: 44%
Since his child actor origins on “The Wire,” Michael B. Jordan has won audience hearts (and found his way to posters on more than a few walls) in such films as “Fruitvale Station,” “Black Panther,” and “Creed.” He kept his rep in this action thriller, but didn’t burnish it. “The seething physicality of his star power can't be faked, but the would-be franchise built around it sure can,” the AV Club grumbled.
Beloved Star: Chris Rock
Critics Score: 37%
Prestige horror has had a resurgence with films such as “Get Out,” but Chris Rock chose poorly. One of the greatest living stand-ups, Rock has made a name (or a voice) among kids as a voice star of celebrated animated films like “Madagascar” and wowed audiences with his leading role in the fourth season of the TV series “Fargo.” Here, though, he stars in a failed attempt to revive the “Saw” franchise. “It's Rock who's the victim here, and he does not escape unharmed,” said the Detroit News.
Beloved Star: Amy Adams
Critics Score: 26%
Amy Adams has impressive credentials, having been nominated for an Oscar six times. This turgid thriller probably won’t make for a seventh. “While everybody else is trying to act guilty or weird enough to be a possible murder suspect, Adams keeps her head down and plays everything for emotional honesty,” the Chicago Tribune said. “It's a losing proposition.” Better to check out Adams in such films as “American Hustle” and “Enchanted.”
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Beloved Star: Emma Stone
Critics Score: 20%
“Cruella” and “La La Land” star Emma Stone is beloved as America’s sharp-edged sweetheart, so what could go wrong? Well, for starters, casting Stone as the part-Hawaiian, part-Chinese lead in this film. Stone herself later apologized, saying, “I’ve become the butt of many jokes. I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is.”
Beloved Star: Idris Elba and Judi Dench
Critics Score: 19%
Idris Elba has had audiences swooning and critics cheering since he made his name stateside in HBO’s “The Wire” and won over even more fans as Heimdall in the Marvel universe. Judi Dench is an English Dame, a leading light of the stage. Neither of them could salvage this misguided attempt to film Andrew Lloyd Webber’s feline musical. The CGI, and the lack of a theater, where things don’t have to feel real, had critics guffawing – and not in a good way.
Beloved Star: Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino
Critics Score: 18%
With three Oscars and 16 nominations between them, you’d be right to expect more from anything starring Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. Unfortunately, you’d also be sorely disappointed with this serial-killer thriller. “It's not much fun to see these two reduced to Mad TV parodies of themselves,” Entertainment Weekly said. “In the right movie, they'd stop coasting on their legends long enough to remind us how they became them.”
Beloved Star: Ben Kingsley
Critics Score: 14%
From Gandhi to Guru Tugginmypudha. Ben Kingsley, an acting icon and Oscar winner, fell hard with Mike Myers’ 2008 movie about a would-be guru returned to the United States to spread spiritual healing. The movie was widely reviled as loaded with racist caricatures. Kingsley seemed to poke fun at this misstep with his role as Trevor Slattery, an English actor who portrayed a fake terrorist in the Marvel universe, notably “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
Beloved Star: Johnny Depp
Critics Score: 10%
For a time, Johnny Depp’s acting was so striking, and his charisma so undisputable, that he was frequently compared with his idol, Marlon Brando. And like Brando, Depp has gone off the rails in recent years. “Depp's turbocharged archness is basically the whole show. The actor appears as out of whits to give as the man he's playing, with little interest in enunciating clearly or hiding his self-regard,” The New York Times said. Better to revisit Depp in “Donnie Brasco,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” or even “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Beloved Star: Patrick Stewart
Critics Score: 6%
Picard. Macbeth. Poop. Yes, Patrick Stewart, star of stage and screen, chose to add his name to this literally two-dimensional flop as the Poop Emoji. In Empire magazine said, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Class act that he is, Stewart even promoted the movie on the Today Show.
Beloved Star: Morgan Freeman
Critics Score: 5%
Morgan Freeman carries the force of authority for American moviegoers; perhaps that’s why so many famous quotes are falsely attributed to him. Following an Oscar nod for playing a vicious thug in 1981’s “Street Smart,” Freeman established himself as a stately, heroic lead, and we aren’t eager for him to return to his baddie roots — especially in a stinker like this one. A former drug mule (Ruby Rose) tries to go clean, but Freeman plays the cop who kidnaps her daughter to force her to play hitman against a variety of gangsters. Better to tune into Freeman as Nelson Mandela in 2009’s “Invictus.”
Related: Tom Hanks’ Most Regrettable Movies
Beloved Star: John Cusack
Critics Score: 0%
An entire generation (X) of moviegoers holds a special place in its collective heart for John Cusack, the star of such ‘80s touchstones as “Say Anything” and “Eight Men Out.” He hasn’t quite held up to that reputation in recent years, although a stint last year in “Utopia” was somewhat redeeming. “Reclaim” pretends to be a serious film about child trafficking, but critics just weren’t buying it. “This isn't activism; it's by-the-numbers suspense,” The New York Times said.
Beloved Star: Bruce Willis
Critics Score: 0%
Remember “Moonlighting?” “The Sixth Sense?” “Red?” Hold onto those memories, because 2021 saw not one but three stinkers starring Bruce Willis. He “puts in such a wooden performance playing a washed-up, burnt-out cop that I could have screamed in frustration,” the Guardian said.
