Top 10 Worst Movies of 2020

The Coen Brothers are masters of quirky cinema. Over their decades-long career, they’ve given us numerous unforgettable films populated by unique, larger-than-life characters. Many fans have long fantasized about catching up with The Dude, but the Coen Brothers don’t do sequels. “The Jesus Rolls” is a solid argument as to why not. A spin-off from “The Big Lebowski”, “The Jesus Rolls” is written and directed by John Turturro, who also reprises the titular role of Jesus Quintana. The Coen Brothers’ involvement was limited to giving Turturro their blessing; in hindsight, fans of The Dude likely wish they hadn’t. Jesus simply does not work as a protagonist. The whole thing feels aimless and immature - and even with a short runtime manages to overstay its welcome.

How do you manage to assemble a cast including the likes of Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Rosie Perez, and Willem Dafoe and have it go this badly? Especially considering director Dee Rees gave us the superb 2017 historical drama “Mudbound?” While that film carefully juggled its ensemble cast to great and emotionally-profound effect, this movie is a mess. A political thriller, it centers on a journalist who, during the 1984 presidential election, is pulled into the family business (arms dealing) and, by extension, the Iran-Contra affair. Confused? Well, the film only further complicates things. Netflix has distributed some truly great films, but “The Last Thing He Wanted” feels like it was just unceremoniously dumped here.

After the poor critical response to “Suicide Squad,” director David Ayer was quick to blame studio interference. Okay, that’s pretty common with big budget comic book movies. But what’s the excuse here? Watch a clip from “The Tax Collector” out of context and you might assume it’s a fake movie from a sketch show being played for laughs. Shia Lebeouf’s character is supposedly white, but he’s fully adopted chicano cholo mannerisms. The end result is... uncomfortable. The film doesn’t just fail in terms of good taste, however. The plot is paper thin and populated by characters to match. Self-aware or not, the movie is a walking collage of cliches and stereotypes. The cinematography and editing is also distractingly off.

Every year, countless films feel the sting of being labelled “rotten,” but getting 0% on the Tomatometer is truly special.“John Henry” earns its place on the list. And the fact that it managed to do so with a star as reliably charming as Terry Crews is a testament to just what a colossal misfire it really is. “John Henry” borrows the name of the African American folk hero and drags it through the mud in a story that honestly has nothing to do with him. Crews plays an ex-gang member who protects two Honduran refugees from Hell - Hell being his former gang leader (played by Ludacris). A heartless thriller, “John Henry” swings and misses at every opportunity, even failing to hit the status of “so bad it’s good.”

In recent years, Mel Gibson has largely followed Nicolas Cage and John Travolta into the direct-to-video bargain bin. And sadly, that’s where this film belongs. “Force of Nature” sees Gibson joined by Emile Hirsch and Kate Bosworth for a crime/action movie with disaster film elements. The short version of the plot is that it involves a heist during a hurricane in Puerto Rico, but there honestly just way too many moving parts. It’s like no one, including the director or screenwriter, was entirely sure as to where this story was going so they just made things up as they went along. Unintentionally silly (and more than a little tone deaf in 2020), “Force of Nature” is a hurricane of confusion.

If there’s one movie that got people talking for ALL the wrong reasons in 2020, it’s this one. “365 Days” isn’t just problematic; it’s shockingly inappropriate and may very well go down as one of the worst films ever made. It earned itself 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and arguably only attracted viewers out of morbid curiosity once the internet got wind of it. The plot reads as follows: a Sicilian man kidnaps a woman and gives her one year to fall in love with him. So, you might be asking, how could this horror thriller be so offensive? Well, it’s actually framed as a “romantic erotic drama.” Yep! Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the acting is also terrible.

Prior to its release, we actually had “Hillbilly Elegy” at #4 on our list of Top 10 Movies and TV Shows Coming to Streaming in November of 2020. As such, it’s with great sadness that we give the film the same spot on this list. A drama exploring themes of identity, family, and the American Dream, “Hillbilly Elegy” boasts great performances, but not even powerhouses like Glenn Close and Amy Adams can make up for the movie’s fundamentally flawed screenplay. This isn’t a compelling investigation of poverty; it just feels voyeuristic and all too content to revel in squalor and stereotypes. It’s not the worst film of the year, but it certainly fell furthest relative to expectations.

Édgar Ramírez and Michael Pitt are both very competent actors. But what is an actor to do when, in the place of characters, they’re given cardboard cutouts to play instead? The action thriller genre has given us so many mindless straight-to-video films over the years, and we didn’t think there was anything left for a movie to do that could really shock us. But “The Last Days of American Crime” digs deep to find a new low and earn its place amongst the worst films ever made. Yes, it’s boring. Yes, it’s an endless slew of crime film cliches. But, in the context of the civil unrest inspired by police brutality in the U.S., this movie is also absurdly out of touch with the times.

With his tenure as Iron Man finally having come to a close, Robert Downey Jr. finally has time to focus on other projects. As one of the highest paid actors in the world and with some great performances under his belt, he really has the clout to do anything. So… why did he choose to make this massively expensive misfire of a children’s movie? And why didn’t anyone intervene to right the ship during production? Though undeniably unnecessary, “Dolittle” was by no means destined to fail; its missteps are glaring and obvious. Fart jokes abound and consistently fall flat. The plot is needlessly complicated but lacks an emotional core—which it tries to make up for by just throwing more CGI at us.




Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Unhinged” (2020)

“Coffee & Kareem” (2020)

“The Kindness of Strangers” (2020)


“The Wrong Missy” (2020)


“Brahms: The Boy II” (2020)

Adaptations of beloved YA and/or middle years books, in general, are far more likely to miss the mark than succeed. For every Harry Potter or Hunger Games film franchise, there are three flops like “Mortal Engines” and “The 5th Wave.” But rarely has a book series with such rich source material and so many dedicated fans been adapted so poorly. The changes are many, impossible to justify and (in some cases) in fundamental opposition to the spirit of Eoin Colfer’s novels. Disney gave filmmaker Kenneth Branagh an ample budget, but the cuts to the story, characters and worldbuilding make this film feel lacking in every possible way. Artemis Fowl and his fans deserved much better. So… can we get a series now instead?