25 Movies That Were So Bad People Left Theaters And Couches Mid-Way

The posters looked great but before intervals, people made other plans.

Lakeisha

• Published in Film & TV
• March 11, 2022

Movies are a great source of entertainment, but only if they're made with smart humans in mind. Just because it's reel doesn't mean people will digest any crap you throw at them!

I'm not sure if some producers, directors, or writers actually re-read their script before hiring stars to act out the scenes. There was a time when movies had their charm, man.

Come on, movies like Rocky, The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Jaws, etc., kept us on our toes the whole time. What do we have today that makes any sense?

When movies like Paranormal Activity, American Dream, 50 Shades of Grey, and Wonder Woman, among many others, hit theaters and online streaming platforms, you can't help but wonder what went wrong.

It's only obvious that you get wiser with age and wine tastes better as it ages, but doesn't the same apply to movies? I guess not... it's the complete opposite.

Back in the day, a majority of movies were awesome, today a majority of them don't make sense. Aren't I right?

You can't argue with that. I mean, look at Star wars!

What has today's modern generation of producers, directors, and writers brought to the table? Speechless?

That's right. Only a handful of today's movies make any sense, but the rest are downright terrible and we'll get to them now.

Cue in the scroll.

1. Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

Wanted to see what the hype was about. Started the movie, realized how terrible it was after 15 minutes or so, and turned it off.

Decided to give the book a try. Realized how terrible that was too, and gave up after a few chapters.

I don’t get it — it’s just not good.

LookMa_ImOnReddit

2. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Wonder Woman 1984 flying around the mall right after she grew up. DONE.

Bielzabutt

I lost all interest after the whole Egypt fight.

RiyeshRahate

I LOVED the first movie. I can still rewatch it happily.

Sure, it had a couple of issues, but overall it was truly the Wonder Woman movie I had waited 40 years to see. Wonder Woman 1984 was TERRIBLE and incredibly disappointing.

The script was just god awful and had so many holes. Some of the special effects were just bad, too.

Like, you have that kind of budget and this is what you come up with??? I watched it and have zero desire to watch it again.

I hope the third one is better.

KLWK

3. Holmes & Watson (2018)

I actually sat through the entire thing. Why?

I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess. I think the thing that hurt the most was that there were a few good jokes and bits in there.

When Steve Coogan showed up with a tattoo gun grafted to his arm, I chuckled — especially because Steve Coogan has a talent for taking even terrible things and making them watchable.

Plus, the idea of a villain with a tattoo gun on his arm is actually kind of cool. Also, Hugh Laurie as Mycroft Holmes wasn’t bad.

Not remarkable, but not bad. Everything else, especially everything involving Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly trying to play off each other, was awful.

With Will Ferrell in particular, it felt like he kept needing to show up anyone else who was in a scene with him, so he’d just add on to an already terrible joke and keep going.

It was like he dared everyone on set to try to keep up with him, and even when they got tired of the joke, he kept insisting that he could be funnier and just kept doing the same thing. I felt awful for both John C. Reilly and Lauren Lapkus as they both had to do that horrible onion gag.

Not worth a watch. See Cats instead.

SimonCallahan

4. Divergent (2014)

My wife and I have been having movie nights at home during quarantine and decided to give [Divergent] a shot since Hunger Games was decent. Watched about 45 mins before stopping.

The film (and I assume books) are such a blatant ripoff/poor amalgamation of Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and every other young adult dystopian series that your eyes roll to the back of your head every 30 seconds.

Prodigy195

5. The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)

The Insurgent movie. The book was decent, the movie was boring.

Iseeasong

The movies were so much worse — especially the last movie. They had like three scenes from the book, and the rest was just random. Even the ending wasn’t the same.

Strawberryjam2525

6. Knock Knock (2015)

Knock Knock involves, among many things, two women sexually assaulting Keanu Reeves to get him to cheat on his wife.

Then, the women acting like some Harley Quinn/Jack Nicholson’s joker from the old school Batman as they hold him hostage.

It was atrociously bad and impressively terrible acting by Reeves. Worst acting I’ve seen from him, tbh.

Filmcricket

7. The Last Airbender (2010)

The Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. I tried to watch it once, and I managed to force myself to watch it for 15 minutes.

I then turned it off and never finished it. Gosh awful.

Not representative of the show AT ALL.

YouSpokeofInnocence

I tried to watch this movie; only made it to the first line of dialogue. Immediately turned it off.

XignaChronos

The Last Airbender movie. [For me,] it was after the group of earthbenders did Zumba to levitate a pebble.

NiamhHA

8. Charlie’s Angels (2019)

I watched about 10 minutes of it and just could not do it. As a longtime fan, I was there for the original TV series.

I was there for the Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore movie, which was FABULOUS — but the 2019 one just lacked any charisma and energy…

In my opinion, the show was simply miscast. After having actors like Angelina Jolie, Milla Jovovich, and Charlize Theron in action roles, the actors chosen for Charlie’s Angels (2019) seemed like high school cheerleaders.

superbloggity

9. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

The Last Jedi — when Leia force-pulled her way through the vacuum of space.

basedlandchad

At first, I was like, ‘Oh wow, so that’s how they’re going to kill off Leia,’ and thought it was a decent send-off. But then, the Mary Poppins sequence happened, and I pretty much lost all interest in the movie.

AscensoNaciente

10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

The second Transformers movie. I can’t recall which scene exactly, but it was definitely one of those cringey jokes from those two robots.

gaboduarte

I cut it off as soon as the girl grew a robot tail. Killed the entire series for me.

Never saw another one.

2smart2argue

11. Sausage Party (2016)

Not halfway, but I couldn’t make it past the opening song of Sausage Party.

I like dark and edgy humor. Carlin was a favorite comedian of mine.

Sausage Party was just…numbing. I remember getting weirdly embarrassed and hoping that my roommates wouldn’t hear what I was watching through the walls.

Black_Bud

12. The Hottie and the Nottie (2008)

I was in a mall in the UK and got asked to go to a free screening of The Hottie and the Nottie. This had never happened to me before, so I went for the experience…

No way I was staying through that monstrosity.

OpenShut

13. Artemis Fowl (2020)

I stopped watching Artemis Fowl at around the time the child says he’s better than Einstein and everyone agrees.

killerhuman688

14. The Kissing Booth (2018)

The Kissing Booth. My mom thought it would be like a funny rom-com, so we decided to watch it together.

Plot twist: It wasn’t funny or romantic.

PrincessPitstains

15. Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Walked out of a movie theatre two hours into its 2.5 hour runtime. It’s literally just a [hot mess], not complemented by Oscar Winner (that year) Eddie Redmayne’s bland performance.

Carwb

16. The Poison Rose (2019)

The Poison Rose. It’s got John Travolta, Morgan Freeman, Brendan Fraser.

Twenty minutes in, I got fed up with the bad film noir attempt and switched it off.

SubtleStutterDude

I saw this years ago when it first came out and was so bored with it that I blocked it from my memory. Maybe I fell asleep — I dunno.

Then, a few months ago, I saw it on Netflix, didn’t even look familiar, but it had Travolta and Freeman so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Was 30 minutes in before I realized I’d seen it, and it wasn’t going to get any better. So yeah, that movie was so bad, I accidentally saw it more than once.

bandastalo

17. The Spirit (2008)

Frank Miller’s The Spirit. It’s completely ridiculous. The story, the dialogue — all terrible.

And I have pretty low standards.

ChillyAl

18. The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005)

Sharkboy and Lavagirl — as an adult. Which sucks, because as a kid I thought it was the coolest movie I’d ever seen, but not even the nostalgia aspect saved it for me after growing up.

throwaway304596824

That’s the only movie I can think of that is both legitimately 100% a bad movie and needed to be made that way anyway.

KeplerNova

19. Kangaroo Jack (2003)

Kangaroo Jack is trash, and I was practically crying with boredom when I saw it. And yes, I’m an Aussie.

Zeruvi

Aussie here and I feel your pain. One of the worst Australian movies we’ve had the misfortune of producing.

Arkady2009

20. Eragon (2006)

Dragon goes into the sky as a baby, comes down fully grown, and says her name is Sapphira. Just, no.

Eragon getting the name from Brom was a HUGE deal later.

AgentSilentCat

I loved the books so much and was excited for the movies. Why did they have to be so terrible?

fabz_martins

21. Steel (1997)

While in high school, I watched Steel, a completely forgettable movie starring Shaq, with a group of friends on its opening night.

About one-third of the way through, we all decided that we weren’t going to waste any more of our time watching that trash heap of a movie, so we got up and left.

As we were leaving, a bunch of other moviegoers also left.

MightyCaseyStruckOut

22. The Internship (2013)

The Internship with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. It felt like a Google commercial with the occasional joke thrown in.

extramustardy

23. Spring Breakers (2012)

I saw it at the theater with a friend of mine, and we walked out of it 30 minutes in. Can’t remember the exact moment, but I just couldn’t watch it any longer lol.

amiffedcat

24. Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017)

A girl I was dating at the time and her friends wanted to watch it. I loathe Tyler Perry movies, and watching this one was a marathon of the senses of sight and sound.

gil_beard

25. Cats (2019)

Cats. After three minutes.

General_Kenobi-66

In Summary...

These kinds of movies are like scams - big promises that deliver nothing. The first 10 minutes would be good because your mind is still trying to fight off boredom, but at the 11th minute, you start thinking of options.

These are just some of the many bad movies that people left midway. What was the worst movie you've seen that you regret watching?

Comment below!

Lakeisha