We Just Ranked The Absolute Worst Movies of 2021 For People Who Hate Themselves
We just ranked the most horrible movies yet from this year of our lord 2021. You may choose to avoid them, to recommend them to your blood enemies, or just enjoy the absolutely savage reviews.
We took a deep look at the movies that critics hate the most this year -- seriously, these reviews are brutal. Our countdown list is based on scores from the movie-review aggregate site Metacritic. Rankings are current as of publication.
Films starring Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp and Liam Neeson are found here, as are titles featuring Tom Holland, Chris Pratt and Ryan Reynolds.
So, what's the very, very worst movie of 2021? Read on.
44 (TIE). "The Tomorrow War"
Metacritic score: 45
Stars: Chris Pratt, J.K. Simmons
Genre: Action/sci-fi
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Despite its wild premise — Chris Pratt goes to the future to fight aliens! — and considerable talent, 'The Tomorrow War' is mostly just bloated blockbuster business as usual." — John Nugent, Empire
44 (TIE). "Seance"
Metacritic score: 45
Stars: Suki Waterhouse, Stephanie Sy
Genre: Horror
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "With leaden performances and puzzling camerawork, it’s hard to feel in tune with the movie’s frights outside of the occasional jump scare." -- Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com
44 (TIE). "Pixie"
Metacritic score: 45
Stars: Olivia Cooke, Alec Baldwin
Genre: Crime/comedy
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "'Pixie' is a trigger-happy comedy road movie that relies more on boorish energy than wit or charm." -- Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter
44 (TIE). "Outside the Wire"
Metacritic score: 45
Stars: Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris
Genre: Action/sci-fi
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "'Outside the Wire' can charitably be compared to the kind of 'B' movies that studios used to churn out, and is best consumed by tempering expectations accordingly. Because unlike its futuristic hero, there's nothing special about it." -- Brian Lowry, CNN
44 (TIE). "Earwig and the Witch"
Metacritic score: 45
Voice cast (English-language release): Kacey Musgraves, Richard E. Grant
Genre: Animation
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "For a film about magic [originally produced for Japanese TV], there’s little sparkle to spare." -- Simran Hans, The Observer
44 (TIE). "12 Mighty Orphans"
Metacritic score: 45
Stars: Luke Wilson, Martin Sheen
Genre: Drama/sports
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "...[T]his sepia-tinged portrait slavishly follows the playbook at every turn — which is ironic since it’s a film meant to [honor] a coach who won by being inventive." -- Tim Grierson, Screen Daily
38 (TIE). "Willy's Wonderland"
Metacritic score: 44
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta
Genre: Horror/comedy
38 (TIE). "Voyagers"
Metacritic score: 44
Stars: Lily-Rose Depp, Madison Hu
Genre: Sci-fi/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "[Director Neil] Burger’s half-assed attempt at an updated 'Lord of the Flies' makes you long for a good old-fashioned school bus and a pig’s head on a stick." -- Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
38 (TIE). "Mortal Kombat"
Metacritic score: 44
Stars: Ludi Lin, Max Huang
Genre: Action/adventure
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Ultimately the film resembles cosplay with an expansive budget. It took 20 years and change for a new 'Mortal Kombat' movie to get a green light. Maybe they should’ve waited a few years longer." -- Andrew Crump, The Playlist
38 (TIE). "The Marksman"
Metacritic score: 44
Stars: Liam Neeson, Katheryn Winnick
Genre: Action/drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "The film wants to speak to some kind of old school, lone-ranger American hero type (as portrayed by a man from Northern Ireland), but it’s too vague, shying away from any controversy, to say much at all." -- Katie Walsh, Chicago Tribune
38 (TIE). "City of Lies"
Metacritic score: 44
Stars: Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker
Genre: Docudrama/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "In practice, 'City of Lies' is so understandably overwhelmed by the sprawling mystery at its core [the murder of the Notorious B.I.G.] that it never figures out what to ask of either history or itself." -- David Ehrlich, IndieWire
38 (TIE). "Cherry"
Metacritic score: 44
Stars: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo
Genre: Drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo of 'Avengers: Endgame' fame, the well-worn drama gets high marks for style and proficiency, but you don’t have to be Nostradamus to know exactly where it’s going every step of the way. At the movies, stories like this one are a dime bag a dozen." -- Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
36 (TIE). "Silo"
Metacritic score: 43
Stars: Jack DiFalco, Jeremy Holm
Genre: Drama/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "There’s a very scary, thrilling, insightful movie to be made about these kinds of accidents and the people they happen to. 'Silo' isn’t it." -- Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine
36 (TIE). "Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway"
Metacritic score: 43
Stars: James Corden, Rose Byrne
Genre: Animation
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "It can sometimes be cute or zany and briefly send itself up, but there is fundamentally something pretty straight in its DNA." -- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
33 (TIE). "Locked Down"
Metacritic score: 42
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Genre: Comedy/drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "[Filmmaker] Doug Liman’s gimmicky dud about a London diamond heist set during the pandemic falsely assumes that quarantined audiences are panting to see films about the hell of living in quarantine." -- Peter Travers, ABC News
33 (TIE). "The Ice Road"
Metacritic score: 42
Stars: Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne
Genre: Action/drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Despite its many perils, both natural and human, 'The Ice Road' is surprisingly dull." -- Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com
33 (TIE). "Brothers by Blood"
Metacritic score: 42
Stars: Matthias Schoenaerts, Ryan Phillippe
Genre: Crime/drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "'Brothers by Blood' is an incomprehensible, frustrating mess that barely touches on its narrative themes and completely wastes the talents of its actors." -- Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant
29 (TIE). "The Woman in the Window"
Metacritic score: 41
Stars: Amy Adams, Anthony Mackie
Genre: Drama/mystery
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "I could see 'The Woman in the Window' becoming a kind of channel-surfing cult classic. But not as long as 'Rear Window' is out there somewhere, too." -- Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
29 (TIE). "Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse"
Metacritic score: 41
Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Guy Pearce
Genre: Action/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "'Without Remorse' is awful — an incoherently shot, grindingly dull movie in which just about every actor manages to seem miscast." -- Alison Willmore, Vulture
29 (TIE). "Silk Road"
Metacritic score: 41
Stars: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Yun
Genre: Docudrama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Writer/director Tiller Russell doesn't directly ask us to take a side in 'Silk Road,' a dramatization of the creation and downfall of the eponymous darknet website. But the implications of which side the filmmaker wants us to lean toward are strong—and feel a bit disingenuous." -- Mark Dujsik, RogerEbert.com
29 (TIE). "Crisis"
Metacritic score: 41
Stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Evangeline Lilly
Genre: Drama/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "The tragedy associated with [stories of the opioid epidemic] could provide fertile territory, theoretically, for a good drama about what went wrong and who's ultimately responsible. That movie might get made someday, but 'Crisis' isn't it." -- Brian Lowry, CNN
22 (TIE). "Spiral"
Metacritic score: 40
Stars: Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson
Genre: Horror/mystery
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "... [D]espite its promising start, the latter half of 'Spiral' [the ninth film in the 'Saw' franchise] succumbs to formula, like a bloodied Jigsaw victim fainting from their wounds so the blades can finish the job." -- Clint Worthington, Consequence
22 (TIE). "Honeydew"
Metacritic score: 40
Stars: Sawyer Spielberg, Malin Barr
Genre: Horror
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "'Honeydew' feels derivative from start to finish, its arthouse elements lending an aura of inauthenticity to an already-lackluster backwoods nightmare." -- Debopriyaa Dutta, Screen Rant
22 (TIE). "Here Today"
Metacritic score: 40
Stars: Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish
Genre: Comedy/drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "'Here Today' tries hard to be warm and witty and ultimately devastating and poignant, but it remains firmly in the mushy middle of sitcom sentiment, with lessons learned and hugs exchanged and an 'aww' from the studio audience." -- Alonso Duralde, TheWrap
22 (TIE). "Finding You"
Metacritic score: 40
Stars: Rose Reid, Vanessa Redgrave
Genre: Drama/romance
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "It’s not just a film that feels crafted by Mad Libs, but possibly by a middling A.I. with a soft spot for both 'Notting Hill' and cinematic artifice that mistakes contrivances for drama and evolution." -- Kate Erbland, IndieWire
22 (TIE). "Eat Wheaties!"
Metacritic score: 40
Stars: Tony Hale, Elisha Cuthbert
Genre: Comedy
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "An unfortunate, unfunny mess." -- Kristen Yoonsoo Kim, New York Times
20 (TIE). "Chaos Walking"
Metacritic score: 38
Stars: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley
Genre: Fantasy/adventure
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "... 'Chaos Walking' is a grim retread of the YA dystopian story that offers nothing else but a misguided attempt to elevate the genre through a darker, more 'adult' tone." -- Hoai-Tran Bui, Slash Film
22 (TIE). "The Boss Baby: Family Business"
Metacritic score: 40
Voice cast: Alec Baldwin, Amy Sedaris
Genre: Animation
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "A baby in a suit? Always cute. Recycled gags? Not so much — this 'Boss Baby' just didn’t get the memo." -- Maya Phillips, New York Times
22 (TIE). "Bliss"
Metacritic score: 40
Stars: Owen Wilson, Salma Hayek
Genre: Sci-fi/drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Completely miscast, egregiously plotted and ludicrous in absolutely every single other way, 'Bliss' is a true cinematic disasterpiece." -- Barry Hertz, Toronto's Globe and Mail
20 (TIE). "America: The Motion Picture"
Metacritic score: 38
Voice cast: Channing Tatum, Olivia Munn
Genre: Animation
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "A throw-everything-against-the-wall collection of silly jokes that reimagines American history as a bro-tastic action flick, Matt Thompson’s animated film makes 'Drunk History' look like a Ken Burns production." -- John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter
19. "Space Jam: A New Legacy"
Metacritic score: 37
Stars: LeBron James, Don Cheadle
Genre: Animation/live action/comedy
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "The joyride through the Warner Bros. IP universe is not quite as soul-busting as the trailer led me to believe it would be, though I suspect it benefited only in comparison to my expectations." -- Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
17 (TIE). "The Unholy"
Metacritic score: 36
Stars: Cricket Brown, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Genre: Horror
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "This religious-themed horror based around the phenomena of Marian apparitions has an intriguing premise but cuts too many corners in its catechism." -- Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily
17 (TIE). "Mainstream"
Metacritic score: 36
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke
Genre: Drama/comedy
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "A brittle, exasperated satire on social media celebrity, [director Gia Coppola's] sophomore film ... soon becomes the very thing it sets out to expose: a glittery, jangly image machine that manufactures little of actual substance, except the conclusion that social media = bad." -- Jessica Kiang, Variety
15 (TIE). "Awake"
Metacritic score: 35
Stars: Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Genre: Sci-fi/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "There is no getting around it: Mark Raso’s 'Awake' is bad. But at least it’s so bad that it’s often ludicrously laughable: Netflix may well have a cult turkey on its hands." -- Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times
15 (TIE). "The Affair"
Metacritic score: 35
Stars: Hanna Alström, Carice van Houten
Genre: Drama
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Despite a fine Continental cast and gleaming production values, Czech helmer Julius Ševčík has made a muddled, maudlin hash of what ought to have been a sure thing." -- Guy Lodge, Variety
14. "Thunder Force"
Metacritic score: 34
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer
Genre: Comedy/action
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Belly-flopping into the superhero movie pool, 'Thunder Force' illustrates what happens when filmmakers take a moderately interesting premise and surround it with witless writing, cringe-inducing acting, stagnant action, humor-deprived comedy, and feckless drama." -- James Berardinelli, ReelViews
10 (TIE). "A Week Away"
Metacritic score: 32
Stars: Kevin Quinn, Bailee Madison
Genre: Musical
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "This is a film as tidy, transparent and kid-friendly as a square of Jell-O salad, and so squishily eager-to-please that it doesn’t engage with its religious themes so much as tuck them into song lyrics to hover in the narrative like grapes." -- Amy Nicholson, New York Times
10 (TIE). "Tom & Jerry"
Metacritic score: 32
Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña
Genre: Animation/live action/comedy
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "'Tom and Jerry' is so busy, so desperately unfunny, so clunkily cacophonous that it makes you long for the simple, brain-numbing charms of the one thing it pretty much refuses to give you: a 'Tom and Jerry' cartoon." -- Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
10 (TIE). "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard"
Metacritic score: 32
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek
Genre: Action/comedy
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Full of action without thrills, comedy without laughs, noise without meaning and violence without reason (or even any cool combat choreography), it’s a headache with a Hollywood marketing budget." -- Cary Darling, San Francisco Chronicle
10 (TIE). "Every Breath You Take"
Metacritic score: 32
Stars: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan
Genre: Thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "With only a few fleeting moments of nail-biting thrills, 'Every Breath You Take' remains mostly tepid and frustrating." -- Kristen Yoonsoo Kim, New York Times
9. "The Reckoning"
Metacritic score: 31
Stars: Charlotte Kirk, Sean Pertwee
Genre: Horror
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "... [A] witch-hunt thriller that lacks the texture to be realistic and the no-holds-barred energy to be pulpy." -- Ian Freer, Empire
8. "Infinite"
Metacritic score: 28
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Genre: Sci-fi/action
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "The script doesn’t reincarnate so much as it recycles, drawing freely on the nested realities of 'Inception,' the free-your-mind metaphysics of 'The Matrix' and the amnesiac-assassin revelations of the Jason Bourne movies. Maybe watch one of those tonight instead." -- Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
7. "Blithe Spirit"
Metacritic score: 26
Stars: Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher
Genre: Comedy/fantasy
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Completely miscast with uninspired production, this remodeling of 'Blithe Spirit' is a faint shadow of its [Noël] Coward roots, a resurrected retired poltergeist without its same purpose or vigor." -- Jenny Nulf, Austin Chronicle
6. "The Misfits"
Metacritic score: 25
Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Tim Roth
Genre: Action/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "The characters are bland, the dialogue is atrocious, the action is mediocre, and even the heist is a boring bust." -- Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
3 (TIE). "The Virtuoso"
Metacritic score: 24
Stars: Anson Mount, Anthony Hopkins
Genre: Action/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Director and co-writer Nick Stagliano tries to wax serious about the business of killing, but the trouble is, he hasn’t written any characters who scan as real people." -- Tim Robey, The Telegraph
3 (TIE). "Breaking News in Yuba County"
Metacritic score: 24
Stars: Allison Janney, Awkwafina
Genre: Comedy/crime
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "A farce that fizzles, a satire that sags, and a dead-end for its gifted cast ..." -- Liam Lacey, Original-Cin
3 (TIE). "American Skin"
Metacritic score: 24
Stars: Nate Parker, Omari Hardwick
Genre: Drama/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "An asinine and self-serving call to action that tries to hide its basic incompetence behind a veil of righteous fury." -- David Ehrlich, IndieWire
2. "Music"
Metacritic score: 23
Stars: Kate Hudson, Maddie Ziegler
Genre: Musical
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Overused, hyper-[stylized] pop numbers aren’t enough to mask the catastrophic [misjudgments] that [writer-director] Sia has exercised here. ... [T]his a massive misfire." -- Beth Webb, Empire
1. "Vanquish"
Metacritic score: 22
Stars: Ruby Rose, Morgan Freeman
Genre: Action/thriller
Blurb you won't find on the movie poster: "Replete with atrocious visual effects and sound design, 'Vanquish' emerges as a ghost of an exciting action thriller with a tired, deadpan storyline." -- Debopriyaa Dutta, Screen Rant