Throughout the year, the focus on the movie industry is on summer blockbusters. Between your Fast & Furiouses and your MCUs, most of the summer dialogue revolves around things blowing up and people doing things that would kill them in real life. And those movies can be great, but what about the not-so-great movies?
When we say “not-so-great,” what we really mean is “total stinkers.” Not every movie can be the best–or even any good. Some have to be the worst–that’s just how things work. And throughout the year, there have been some movies that have been critically panned by critics.
Going through Metacritic, we found the 20 lowest-scoring movies of 2021, some of which you may have heard of–while others are straight-to-video flicks that passed us all by.
Metacritic aggregates critical reviews from credible journalists around the globe and gives an average score for the films, based on the reviews. For the list below, movies with fewer than seven reviews weren’t considered for the worst films of the year. Metacritic is the sister-site of GameSpot, as both websites are owned by Red Ventures.
Check out which films critics disliked below, starting with number 20. You can also check out the 10 best movies of 2021, according to Metacritic.
20. Naked Singularity
Score: 36
11 reviews
John Boyega stars as a public defender in NYC who doesn’t believe in the system anymore. He ends up getting pulled into a drug heist. While critics did not like this movie, did any of them try watching this movie with the mindset that Boyega is actually playing Finn from Star Wars or Moses from Attack the Block? Or both, somehow? Surely, that will make this movie a lot more fun.
19. The Affair
Score: 35
8 reviews
This film takes place in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s. It follows an affair between two women, just like the title suggests. The film also revolves around a fabulous house built by a fantastic architect. However, “fabulous” and “fantastic” are not words critics would use to describe this film.
18. Home Sweet Home Alone
Score: 35
15 reviews
This Disney+ movie is actually the sixth in the franchise. While this movie follows a young boy named Max Mercer–not Kevin McCallister–the plot is the same. A kid’s parents leave him at home, burglars show up, and the kid has to protect his home. What’s different is that this time, the kid’s parents are going to Japan.
17. Awake
Score: 35
13 reviews
This Netflix original has a really interesting premise. Around the world, everyone loses the ability to sleep, except for one child. The mother tries to find a cure. However, it quickly becomes uninteresting as it’s a string of “wouldn’t this be cool” scenes.
16. Thunder Force
Score: 34
34 reviews
This is also a Netflix film, which stars Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy as two superheroes taking on evil-doers like The Crab, Laser, and The King. It features a dynamite cast, but is filled with unfunny gags and a paint by numbers story.
15. Yakuza Princess
Score: 34
11 reviews
This film takes place in the Japanese community in Sao Paulo, Brazil. An orphan finds out she’s the heiress to the Yakuza crime family. She has to wage war against those who wish her dead. However, according to many critics, this movie was already dead on arrival.
14. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
Score: 32
36 reviews
A sequel to 2017’s forgettable The Hitman’s Bodyguard, this film follows Ryan Reynolds’ bodyguard character Michael Bryce, as he has to deal with the hitman’s (Samuel L. Jackson) wife, Sonia Kincaid, played by Salma Hayek. A few critics noted that the best part of this movie is that it’s shorter than the original.
13. A Week Away
Score: 32
7 reviews
This musical takes place at a Christian summer camp. A teen who has a run-in with Johnny Law finds himself falling for the daughter of the guy who runs the place. If you love High School Musical, but only have Netflix, this still probably isn’t the movie for you.
12. The Starling
Score: 31
23 reviews
Melissa McCarthy stars in this Netflix movie about a woman who suffers a loss but then has to deal with a bird who makes a nest next to her house. And guess what? The bird is a real jerk–a CG bird that looks real bad according to most critics.
11. The Reckoning
Score: 31
7 reviews
Neil Marshall (2019 Hellboy, The Descent) directed this film from early 2021 which follows a woman who has unjustly been accused of being a witch during the Great Plague. Critics have called this movie tedious and aggravating.
10. Diana: The Musical
Score: 29
8 reviews
Yes, there was a Broadway musical about the Princess of Wales. It was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic and released on Netflix. While Disney+’s Hamilton made that successful transition from Broadway to streaming service, the same cannot be said for Diana: The Musical.
9. Infinite
Score: 28
27 reviews
This Paramount+ film starred Mark Wahlberg who is haunted by memories of things that never happened to him. He learns his memories are real but from past lives. Many critics found nothing entertaining about this movie.
8. Blithe Spirit
Score: 26
19 reviews
Dan Sevens starred in this fantasy comedy about a novelist with writer’s block living in London with his wife. In order to get inspiration, he invites a mystic to his house who summons the spirit of his dead wife. Now, he’s got his current wife and his dead wife. Imagine the gags! No, don’t.
7. The Misfits
Score: 25
9 reviews
Lots of critics had something to say about The Misfits, which stars Pierce Brosnan as a thief who gets involved in a gold heist. While heist movies can be exceptionally action-packed, death doesn’t come ripping in The Misfits. It’s bland, mediocre, and will make you want to scream.
6. Breaking News in Yuba County
Score: 24
7 reviews
Awkwafina and Allison Janney star in this movie about a man who goes missing, and his wife becomes a local celebrity as she goes on the search for him. From there, she goes on a wild journey coming across over-the-top characters. While the film has a fantastic cast, its comedy lands exceptionally flat.
5. American Skin
Score: 24
10 reviews
A former Marine now works as a janitor and his son is killed by a police officer, and there is no trial, so the father has to take matters into his own hands. While the film tackles very serious issues in America, critics found it to be overly preachy and at times, manipulative.
4. Midnight in the Switchgrass
Score: 24
9 reviews
Finally, a movie that teams up Bruce Willis and Megan Fox. The duo plays FBI agents who are investigating a string of possibly related murders of woman. Fox’s character goes undercover, but everything goes wrong. If that sounds uninteresting, that’s because most critics–and average viewers–found it to be so.
3. The Virtuoso
Score 24
7 reviews
Anthony Hopkins joins Anson Mount and Abbie Cornish in this movie about an assassin who is given a clue to find his mysterious mark. It’s an assassin movie with a mystery, all in one. Most critics found Hopkins to be the only palatable part of the film.
2. Music
Score: 23
18 reviews
Singer/songwriter Sia directed this Kate Hudson movie, which follows a former drug dealer who is the guardian of her half-sister–whose name is Music. Numerous critics have said that the film’s message is–literally–Music can save your life.
1. Vanquish
Score: 22
14 reviews
According to critics, the worst movie of the year is Vanquish, which stars Ruby Rose as a mother with a dark past who worked as a Russian drug courier. However, a retired cop (Morgan Freeman) takes her daughter hostage and forces the mother to take out violent gangsters. Yes, that’s the absolutely bonkers plot of the film.