The year of 2017 was mostly a great one for films. There were many memorable movies in a number of different genres, and there was truly something for everyone. However, despite all the great cinematic experiences that 2017 brought, it also brought us plenty of bad ones.
While “bad” is a very subjective term since different people have different tastes, thousands of people trust the Rotten Tomatoes website to be the one-stop-shop for all things movie-related. Their rating system (which separates professional critic opinions from that of the movie-going public) has been trusted for years and their site gets millions of viewers every month. What we’re saying is that RT is generally pretty reliable when it comes to determining whether a movie was worth watching or just pure crap. With that in mind, we are going to take a look at the 15 movies of 2017 with the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating.
How many of these trainwrecks did you see?
15. The House – 18%
The star-studded cast of this film and the decent premise seemed like it would be good enough for the movie to be watchable, but it wasn’t. The film stars Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler as a couple who start an illegal casino in their home in order to raise money for their daughter’s college tuition. They are both talented actors, and we are sure they could star in a good film together. But this one wasn’t it, as the premise just didn’t work in the eyes of movie-goers and critics alike. It didn’t make much at the box office either (coming in $5 million below it’s budget) and currently sits at an 18% rating, making it one of the lowest scores of any film released in 2017. But not as low as the next 14 movies on our list.
14. All Eyez On Me – 17%
There is no doubting that rapper Tupac Shakur was (and still is) one of the most influential and important people in the world of hip hop. We knew a biopic for him was coming (especially after the success of Straight Outta Compton) and when this film was announced, people were incredibly excited. Problem is, this film didn’t do justice for one of the best rappers of all time. The dialogue is bad, the acting is bad, and the entire film didn’t feel “big” enough for what it was supposed to be, even though star Demetrius Shipp Jr. was praised for his portrayal of Tupac himself. All Eyez On Me currently sits at a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s not likely to get any higher.
13. The Mummy – 16%
Universal Studios had high hopes for The Mummy and were hoping that it would be the rejuvenation of their iconic monster franchises like Dracula, Frankenstein, and more. They were even hoping to create a shared monster universe with many different films, following the Marvel blueprint. However, The Mummy ended up being a critical and box office flop. It tried too much to be both a horror film and an action film, and ended up falling somewhere in the middle. Even having some solid actors like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe couldn’t save it from being anything but a lazy attempt.
12. The Dark Tower – 16%
With the success and popularity of the Dark Tower book saga by iconic horror author Stephen King, fans were very excited to hear that The Dark Tower was finally coming to the big screen in 2017. It was originally supposed to be a massive franchise over different medias, and then it ended up being 95-minute long movie that didn’t live up to the books at all. Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey manage to save the film a bit with their solid acting, but it simply doesn’t capture that same “feel” that the books do. As a result, the film scored a sad 16% on Rotten Tomatoes and is something most people want to forget.
11. Transformers: The Last Knight – 16%
Let’s be honest, most of the Transformers movies are pretty terrible. Sure, the first one wasn’t godawful and was a decent introduction for the franchise, but it’s all been downhill from there. Despite negative reviews from most critics, this series continues to bring in hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. We guess people just like to watch CGI robots make things explode.
However, The Last Knight is the first sequel to seriously show signs of killing the series altogether, as it was roundly skewered by fans and critics. Rolling Stone famously gave it “zero stars,” saying that “every time Michael Bay directs another Transformers abomination (this is the fifth), the movies die a little. This one makes the summer’s other blockbuster misfires look like masterpieces.” That’s harsh, man. The film is currently sitting at 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, but we doubt that will stop them from making yet another sequel.
10. Fifty Shades Darker – 10%
There is no doubting that the Fifty Shades of Grey series of films and books has become a huge franchise with thousands of people lining up for the sultry series. It began as a book trilogy and quickly turned into two films so far, with the final installment still on the way. While it’s been a strong performer at the box office, the critics and users on Rotten Tomatoes aren’t buying it. While the original film has a sad 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, the 2017 sequel fared much worse. As of the writing of this article, Fifty Shades Darker has a 10% rating, which is downright awful! The movie was just dull in every sense of the word and there was no chemistry between the actors at all. In a film that relies on romance, spark, and sex scenes, that’s a killer.
9. The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature – 9%
Apparently this was a sequel to a 2014 animated comedy called The Nut Job, which we don’t blame you if you don’t remember. While the film had a decent cast of voice actors (Will Arnett, Jackie Chan, Katherine Heigl, Maya Rudolph, among others) and it did well enough at the box office to earn back its budget, this movie is just a disaster. The film features unlikable characters, animations that are all over the place, and is simply not entertaining to most people who would find themselves watching it. The film currently has a rating of 9% and we don’t think they will be fortunate enough to get another sequel.
8. The Emoji Movie – 9%
This is one of those films that was doomed from the very start. Everyone knew this film would be bad, but no one had any idea it would be this bad. The movie is about living emojis who live and work in their city. And that’s really it. There isn’t much substance here and literally no one enjoyed the film. For a very long period, the film was maintained an amazing 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but slowly fought and clawed to its current rating of 9%. There was nothing the team behind this film could do to save it, it was simply terrible through and through.
7. Rings – 7%
Nearly 15 years after The Ring shocked the world and became an iconic horror film, another iteration was released in 2017. However, just like The Ring 2 (2005), this film was a train wreck and did nothing but sour the name of the brilliant original. It was boring, had a bad cast, and didn’t offer anything to new viewers who hadn’t seen the original. This film secured a terrible 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While hardcore fans of The Ring franchise might enjoy parts of this film, it was simply unnecessary to add more to the complicated backstory of Samara Morgan aka the Girl in the Well. It was likely a last-ditch attempt to try and make some extra money by using the “Ring” name.
6. Hangman – 7%
The premise of Hangman is that a police officer and a profiler try to track down a serial killer who, as you might guess by the title of the film, has an MO similar to the children’s game called Hangman. The movie is just bland and way too familiar with how it plays out. It is nothing out of the ordinary and is no better than an episode of a prime time crime drama, which is pretty bad for a movie that cost a LOT more than a TV episode. Despite the decent cast that included Al Pacino and Karl Urban, Hangman sits at just a 7% on Rotten Tomatoes and was simply not worth the price of admission.
5. The Snowman – 7%
The Snowman had a very interesting ad campaign — in fact, it felt like you couldn’t escape seeing multiple ads for this Michael Fassbender crime thriller before its release in October. Despite the large marketing budget, it ultimately failed pretty hard as a movie. The Snowman has an amazing cast of actors (J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer, and Rebecca Ferguson also star) but sadly, just had too many plot holes and writing mistakes for anyone to really get into. The director even slagged his own film, blaming the studio for rushing things along. The movie flopped tremendously — it only made a couple of million dollars and on top of that, received some pretty bad reviews. Overall, it is sitting at an eye-opening 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.
4. Tyler Perry’s Boo! 2: A Madea Halloween – 6%
Despite how bad most of Tyler Perry’s films are, they always seem to make money and be enjoyed by their target audience. So sequels continue to get made, much to the chagrin of everyone else. One of those sequels came out this year and it was simply too bad to ignore. Tyler Perry’s Boo! 2 is largely seen as a low-point in the franchise and is currently sitting at a lowly 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even still, the movie made back almost double the initial investment, so don’t be shocked to keep seeing new Tyler Perry films coming out every year or so.
3. Just Getting Started – 5%
This film seemed to have all the necessary ingredients for a solid action-comedy: A good director in Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump, Tin Cup), decent premise, and a good set of starring actors in Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones. The movie is about a former FBI agent and a former military officer who need to team up to deal with the mafia. However, despite how decent it sounds, it definitely was not. The lead actors clearly didn’t put their hearts into it, as the whole thing is pretty lifeless and slow. It is crazy how a film with so much talent involved could fall so flat. As of the writing of this article, the movie sits at a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
2. The Last Face – 5%
Director Sean Penn tried to say something poignant with this romance drama, but it ended up being very confusing. Half of the film is a drama set in war-torn Africa, while the other is a romantic adventure between an aid worker and a doctor, played by Charlize Theron on Javier Bardem. Not only was the direction off course, so was the entire film itself. Edits were bad, camera work was bad, and the acting was bad — The Guardian stated that both Theron and Bardem gave “career worst performaces.” The movie attracted additional criticism for how it portrayed poverty-stricken African refugees and survivors was a negative. Basically, every single thing about this movie was one word: BAD. It is currently sitting at 5% on Rotten Tomatoes and to be honest, it’s lucky to have that.
1. Flatliners – 5%
Flatliners was originally released back in 1990 and became a bit of a sci-fi cult classic thanks to it’s cast of young unknown (at the time) actors and original concept, although critics hated it when it first came out. And because Hollywood is boring and can’t come up with anything new, they thought it was a good idea to do a remake nearly three decades later. Again, the film had a decent young cast. But this time again, the film wasn’t very good at all. In fact, it was horrible. It falls super flat as a horror film and adds nothing new to the sci-fi genre either. Very few people have any idea why this film was even made in the first place, including us. To no one’s surprise, the film has a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
