Being a film critic is great, until it isn't. And some days it's more difficult than it probably should be, like on those days when you sit through a truly horrendous film and can't just walk away from it. The end credits roll and you can't simply shut down and forget it happened. You have to actually think about why it sucked. I know, boo-hoo Travis, cry me a river.
It's getting increasingly difficult to compile a list of worst movies because I've gotten pretty good at handing off what looks awful to somebody else. I may be a workaholic and willing to watch all kinds of nonsense to keep you dear readers informed, but I'm not into self-torture. And yet a few horrendous movies still slipped through the cracks, mostly comedies which tend to be the most subjective. Anytime you're dealing with "worsts" and "bests" it's going to be all relative, anyway, so if you see a movie you genuinely love on this list don't bother ripping me a new hole because of it. One: I won't care. And Two: I won't care.
So below you'll find my picks for the 15 worst movies I've seen in 2016 up to this point. What sucks is that if I waited a couple of weeks there would be more entries on this list, but I'm only using what is actually in theaters right now. But the same goes for the "bests" because there are some amazing flicks coming up that you may not have had the chance to see yet. Anyway, you won't find any superhero movies here, sorry all of you who despise Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but I dug it whether my critic brethren did or not. Mostly what you'll find are movies that simply had no reason to exist. They're not funny, not meaningful, not memorable in any conceivable way, and to me those are the worst kinds of movies there are. I'd rather a movie be terrible trying to do something novel, which is why you won't find Swiss Army Man here, even though I didn't like it at all.
Enjoy, and feel free to chime in with your own picks!
The Do-Over (review here)
Director: Steven Brill
Cast: Adam Sandler, David Spade, Paula Patton, Kathryn Hahn
The Finest Hours (review here)
Director: Craig Gillespie
Cast: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Holliday Grainger, Eric Bana, Ben Foster
The Choice (review here)
Director: Ross Katz
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Benjamin Walker, Tom Welling, Alexandra Daddario, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Grace
Knight of Cups (review here)
Director: Terrence Malick
Cast: Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Teresa Palmer, Freida Pinto, Isabel Lucas, Imogen Poots
The Program (review here)
Director: Stephen Frears
Cast: Ben Foster, Chris O'Dowd, Guillaume Canet, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace
The Divergent Series: Allegiant (review here)
Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Naomi Watts, Jeff Daniels, Octavia Spencer, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort
Kill Your Friends (review here)
Director: Owen Harris
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, James Corden, Craig Roberts, Ed Skrein
I Saw the Light (review here)
Director: Marc Abraham
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen
Mother's Day (review here)
Director: Garry Marshall
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Britt Robertson, Jason Sudeikis
Carnage Park (review here)
Director: Mickey Keating
Cast: Ashley Bell, Pat Healy
Alice Through the Looking Glass (review here)
Director: James Bobin
Cast: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter
Fathers and Daughters (review here)
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Cast: Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Kylie Rogers, Aaron Paul, Diane Kruger, Quvenzhane Wallis, Jane Fonda
Now You See Me 2 (review here)
Director: Jon M. Chu
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (review here)
Director: Kirk Jones
Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Andrea Martin
Gods of Egypt (review here)
Director: Alex Proyas
Cast: Gerard Butler, Brenton Thwaites, Rufus Sewell, Chadwick Boseman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
