This one is pretty self-explanatory. We have had some pretty bad films so far this year, especially because we are beyond the halfway point.
These are some of my personal and overall critic and audience choices for some of the worst films of the year so far. If you like these movies, good for you, enjoy them with pride. I did not particularly like them, but to each their own. Here are 15 of the worst films of 2016 so far.
1. The Darkness
When I first heard the title of the this film, I immediately thought it was a documentary about the early 2000s rock band with the guy with the amazing falsetto. You can imagine I was disappointed to find out it was actually a cliche filled horror movie starring Kevin Bacon.
The Darkness is incredibly clumsy in its execution, falling over “supernatural” themes and the supposed ghost story. The scariest thing about this movie is how many movies you can name who have included the same ideas or scares.
The film is based on what are said to be actual events about a family who visits the Grand Canyon and bring home a supernatural force that feeds off their fears and takes over their lives. It stars Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell, David Mazouz, Lucy Fry, Matt Walsh, Jennifer Morrison, Ming-Na Wen and Parker Mack.
Director Greg McLean has a mixed record, as far as his filmography goes, with most of his films receiving mixed reviews. The Darkness was not one of these films. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 5%, based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 2.5/10.
Audiences, the nicest of all film reviewers gave the film a C on the A+ to F Cinemascore scale. The Darkness has been rated one of the worst films of 2016 on plenty of publication so far, and its notoriety of poorness lands the film here. At least you have another slot in your belt if you play six degrees of separation with Kevin Bacon.
2. Ride Along 2
This is what happens when a bad movie does well at the box-office, you get an even worse sequel. The original Ride Along, starring Kevin Hart, who really needs to stop being in every movie, and Ice Cube. It was ripped apart by most audience members and critics, but earned over $150 million against a $25 million budget.
Naturally, producers in Hollywood banked on the lack of content in the month of January, when the original was released and released the sequel two years later, also in January.
This installment stars Cube and Hart, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn, Bruce McGill and Tika Sumpter. I can’t deny that Ice Cube and Kevin Hart have a certain chemistry between them and the original and the sequel have their few funny moments, but overall the second installment cannot bank on this chemistry as it heavily borrows from the first film and cannot break the law of diminishing returns, there shouldn’t have been a sequel and it shows.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 15%, based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 32 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”.
Hopefully we do not get a Ride Along 3 because Ride Along 2 grossed over $124 million. Kevin Hart is already in enough movies, so maybe this franchise, if you want to call it that, will stop at the second poor showing.
3. Dirty Grandpa
First things first, the title of this movie is just stupid. I soon as I heard the title I knew it was going to be terrible. When Robert De Niro retires or dies, whatever happens first, he is going to be remembered for legendary performances and great films.
None of those performances or films have been recent, as Hollywood is not giving him any good fare for his supreme talent. I am not alone in my disdain for this mess, the film, on Rotten Tomatoes has an approval rating of 11%, based on 121 reviews and an average rating of 2.8/10.
Richard Roeper was one of the harshest, and in my opinion most correct people when he said, If Dirty Grandpa isn’t the worst movie of 2016, I have some serious cinematic torture in my near future.” Including Dirty Grandpa, Roeper has already had some cinematic torture in this half year.
Dirty Grandpa is just unfunny, it comes to a point where how unfunny it is becomes laughable. One of my favorite reviews of the film was done by Mark Kermode who gave the film a scathing review on his BBC Radio 5 Live show (Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review) saying, “after Dirty Grandpa I did feel genuinely unclean, I wanted to go and have a shower, because it’s just so revolting. Somewhere in hell there is a multiplex playing this on a double bill, with Movie 43 and Entourage.”
I have to agree with Kermode here, the Robert De Niro and Zac Efron led monstrosity has been one of the worst films of this year so far. Unfortunately, the film made $99 million at the box office against an $11 million budget, so hopefully we won’t get a Dirty Grandpa 2. The best thing about this film was seeing Zac Efron basically naked.
4. The Do-Over
I just couldn’t help myself. Even you have read any of my worst lists, there is a strong chance they have contain a movie with Adam Sandler in them.
Sandler could not escape another worst list with the release of The Do-Over. I really tried my best, but I had to include this absolute disgrace of a comedy. Hopefully, Netflix is get some views and traffic on this piece of crap and Sandler’s first film in his deal with the company, The Ridiculous 6, or they are getting jack-squat for this deal.
Like The Ridiculous 6, The Do-Over is basically Sandler and his goons being stupid and unfunny for 90 minutes, thank God it’s only that long. The film follows Charlie (David Spade) and Max (Adam Sandler) after the latter fakes their deaths in order to start their lives anew.
Things go awry, however, when they discover that the dead men whose identities they have adopted were entangled in criminal activities. Like many of Sandler’s movies of the last decade, The Do-Over is just not that funny and relies on a lot of childish stupidity for plot points.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 5%, based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 3/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 22 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”.
These scores are pretty normal for a Sandler movie. We are halfway through Sandler’s four film deal with Netflix so maybe I will be writing about another disaster that stars someone who started so strong and has become a cliche of horrible. Like I said before, Sandler, please stop.
5. Misconduct
I don’t know who tried to make Josh Duhamel into a movie star, but seriously the project is over, the experiment failed, and Misconduct is the final nail in the coffin. Misconduct is an 2016 American drama thriller film directed by Shintaro Shimosawa at his directorial debut and written by Simon Boyes and Adam Mason.
The film stars Josh Duhamel, Alice Eve, Malin Åkerman, Byung-hun Lee, Julia Stiles, Glen Powell, with Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins.
Similarly to Robert De Niro in Dirty Grandpa, Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins are not helping themselves by appearing in this mess. They are wonderful actors with tons of talent, but you can tell they don’t want to be there. They are there for the paycheck and to walk off when they have it. I guess everyone involved felt a great deal of relief when Misconduct was released only in limited released and to Video on Demand.
The plot finds ambitious lawyer Ben (Josh Duhamel) who finds himself caught in a struggle between a corrupt pharmaceutical executive, Denning, and the firm’s partner, Abrams. The case takes a deadly turn and Ben must uncover the truth before he loses everything.
Misconduct received negative reviews from film critics. It holds an 8% “Rotten” rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 2.43/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 24 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”.
Critics have agreed that the film didn’t really earn the label of being a thriller and that the cast look and sound incredibly uninterested in being in the film at all. In the UK, the film made grossing just £97 (£19.40 per screen) on its opening weekend. I feel sorry for sorry for those people who make up that 97 pounds.
6. Fifty Shades of Black
The problem with so many spoof movies is they are just not that funny, or are very inconsistent and all of their laughs can be found in the trailer.
Fifty Shades of Black has those problems and the source material they were parodying was already quite unintentionally funny. Fifty Shades of Grey has already been panned across the board, so when the Wayans family, who are behind such classics as White Chicks, Little Man, and A Haunted House, decided to parody the film, many people were curious as to why.
This is another January product, which as we know is a prime time for wide release films that aren’t Oscar bait. Fifty Shades of Black follows the plot line of the first movie of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise as is as follows: Hannah (Kali Hawk), is an unattractive college student who goes to interview wealthy entrepreneur Christian Black (Marlon Wayans), at his Black Enterprises office building for her roommate’s school newspaper.
Despite the fact that he made his money through shady means (and a stint as a male stripper), she falls for him, but soon discovers he’s not the romantic type. The film, because January was financially successful which could lead to sequel films for each of the entries in the franchise.
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 7%, based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 2.8/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews” Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “C” on an A+ to F scale. To sum this entry up, Fifty Shades of Grey was funnier than Fifty Shades of Black and that is not good.
7. God’s Not Dead 2
Much like its predecessor, God’s Not Dead 2 pounds it agenda into it’s already paranoid target audience. Another successful film that did not warrant a sequel that got one, God’s Not Dead 2 is better than the original, a rarity for a sequel, but is still incredibly heavy-handed and forced.
The film follows High school history teacher Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) comes under fire for answering a student’s (Hayley Orrantia) question about Jesus. When Grace refuses to apologize, the school board votes to suspend her and threatens to revoke her teaching certificate.
Forced to stand trial to save her career, Grace hires young lawyer Tom Endler (Jesse Metcalfe) to defend her in court. Endler devises a powerful strategy to show the jury the historical significance of Wesley’s classroom discussion.
The plot, which is much more believable than the first film, is still basically a two hour jazzed-up version of a sermon. The message is so heavy handed that it feels you are being force-fed instead of subtly including the message throughout the character’s journey.
This film and the original feel like recruitment tools or ways to punish people who do not believe. The film was financially successful, making $23 million against a $5 million budget. However, it was panned by a majority of critics and even some religious-based publications found faults in the film.
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 10%, based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 22 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”. The best part of this film is it was released on April Fools Day, which I found hilarious.