Who made the worst movie of the year?
I'm going to be posting infrequently this week -- everyone's entitled to a little holiday break -- but I couldn't resist indulging in every moviegoers' favorite ritual: toting up the worst movies of the year. I see so many movies each year that I treat the bad ones like way a baseball player handles the game where he struck out four times, the last time with the bases loaded: You forget about it and move on.
But Christian Toto, the Washington Times film critic, just posted a timely reminder of his least favorite films of the year, with his No. 1 pick going to "88 Minutes," the horrifically bad Al Pacino thriller, which will surely be remembered more for the color of Pacino's hair -- burnt orange -- than for its hapless filmmaking and inept acting. As Toto puts it: "If you're not thinking 'What were they thinking?' during every scene of this misbegotten crime thriller, then your brain may not be connected to the rest of your body."
Toto offers up a few other choice clunkers, including "Jumper," The Happening" and "10,000 B.C." But everyone has their own taste when it comes to really awful films, so I'm eager to hear your worst film of the year choices. Just to get the ball rolling, here's a few more candidates:
"Meet the Spartans," an inane spoof (allegedly of "300," though who would know for sure) that got so many bad reviews it actually earned a two on Rotten Tomatoes, inspiring heaps of critical abuse ("It's so bad that even Carmen Electra should be embarrassed," wrote the Detroit News' Adam Graham).
"Meet Dave," a clunky one-note Eddie Murphy sci-fi comedy vehicle that inspired Empire magazine's Simon Crook to write: "Avoid it like the plague."
Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna," a soggy, interminable (2 hours and 40 minutes) drama about black World War II soldiers that might be Lee's worst film ever, filled with every WW2 cliche known -- or as the Christian Science Monitor's Peter Rainer put it: "Whatever miracle occurred at St. Anna never made it to the screen."
And the dreadfully unfunny "Hamlet 2," which Focus Films inexplicably bought for $10 million after seeing it at Sundance, enhancing the festival's reputation (remember "Happy Texas"?) as the burial ground for film comedy. The movie had so few comic moments that it inspired the New York Post's Kyle Smith to write: "I laughed zero times at 'Hamlet 2,' which is aimed at campy men and the women who find them hysterical."
I know there are lots of more possible deserving entries, from "Funny Games" to " Saw V" to Will Smith's "Seven Pounds," which is currently inspiring a wealth of critical venom. Surely I've forgotten a few groaners. Help me out here!
"Synecdoche, New York" was long, confusing, weird, and a waste of a good cast.
Posted by: Jay | December 22, 2008 at 03:37 PM
"The Happening" is the worst movie of the DECADE...let alone the year! Easily top 10 worst of all time!
Posted by: utzworld | December 22, 2008 at 03:37 PM
Quantum of Solace: A great Bond - a great M - standing around with not much to do in a limp TV drama, with stock TV-style baddies, stock TV-level ingenues. And a critical moment of skullduggery, set during a weird-beard opera performance...huh?!
Posted by: gmkerwin | December 23, 2008 at 08:56 AM
The Happening isn't Shymalan's worst movie, but it's the one he put out this year.
It's on my list of worst pictures. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it.
Posted by: NickR | December 23, 2008 at 09:37 AM
I definitely have to nominate Burn After Reading.... one of the worst movies I've seen.
Posted by: dominic | December 23, 2008 at 09:50 AM
Move: Mama Mia: was miscasted. Play was ten times better. Better voices, better acting than movie.
Posted by: AMERIBOB1 | December 23, 2008 at 09:50 AM
I wholeheartedly agree with utzworld.
I'd also like to add "Rachel Getting Married" to the list, as well as, "Hankcock." *shudder*
Posted by: the dude | December 23, 2008 at 09:51 AM
My first question is...who the F are you?
I hate to be dramatic but, how dare you name any movie with Al Pacino the worst movie of the year. I think you need to go back to school.
Sure it wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't THAT bad, and just the fact that he was in it is enough to keep it off the "worst" movie list. COME ON! There were a lot of movies a lot worse than that one.
Posted by: ns | December 23, 2008 at 09:51 AM
Wrong Pacino movie.....Righteous Kill was a waste of both Pacino AND De Niro.
Posted by: Mark P | December 23, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Trust me, "The Spirit" will top the list or climb precariously close to the top of the worst....and with only a week before it could be declared the worst of '09! Frank Miller's "The Stinker" would've been more accurate!
Posted by: Firefly | December 23, 2008 at 09:52 AM