Top 10 Worst Netflix Original Movies

We get that dating your best friend’s older brother could be a little awkward, but for Elle, it’s more than just awkward. It’s filled with enough drama and ups and downs to fill - not one - but three teen rom-coms. The trilogy of “Kissing Booth” films premiered on Netflix between 2018 and 2021. While the audience kept clicking play, the critics kept saying “nay” to this cliched seen-it-all-before (and seen-it-better) trio. However, even though Netflix has reported strong viewership numbers for the three films - only the first one got an over 50% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. And the third film is at 19%.

Fans of “Workaholics” must’ve been pretty psyched in 2018 to see the film “Game Over, Man!” show up in their Netflix feed. From director Kyle Newacheck to the film’s three stars Anders Holm, Adam DeVine, and Blake Anderson - all four guys had previously created and starred in the previously mentioned sitcom. A sitcom which, it should be noted, saw plenty of good reviews. As opposed to the action comedy “Game Over, Man!,” which one critic called an “almost laugh-free comedy.” The film is filled with standard and predictable genre tropes, but doesn’t do any of them particularly well. This one is smart and funny guys in a not-so-smart and not-so-funny movie.

When it comes to this film, most folks were less concerned about how it ended than when it would end. Because what Netflix gave us with this 2018 action thriller is 114 minutes of bad writing, overacting, and disappointment that the filmmakers couldn’t deliver on an ‘end of the world’ premise with potential. Critics and Netflix subscribers agreed on this one too - with the audience Rotten Tomatoes score of 17% matching that of the critics. Forget about “How It Ends” and just don’t start this one to begin with.

Based on a true story, “Brain on Fire” tells of a New York journalist who is cured of a mysterious illness at the last minute, by a dedicated and skillful Syrian-American neurologist. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. While TIFF has often launched movies onto a successful and acclaimed trajectory - that wasn’t the case with “Brain on Fire.” Rather than provide a deep and dramatic experience, this film comes across as more of an uninteresting TV movie of the week. Critics weren’t super kind to Chloë Grace Moretz’s performance either. The cure for this movie…. Don’t watch it!

If celebrities and lots of money were all you needed to make a great movie, then “The Last Thing He Wanted” would’ve been nominated for multiple Oscars given its $100 million budget and big-name stars. With Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Rosie Perez, and Willem Dafoe, this 2020 Netflix film had plenty of name power behind it. The problem was it didn’t have much good writing to go along with it - making this political thriller much more confusing than thrilling. With a title like “The Last Thing He Wanted” your movie better be good or you’re just setting us up to say - as many critics did - that this is the last film anyone really wanted.

Set in the near future, “The Last Days of American Crime” depicts a world in which the American government is set to initiate a “synaptic blocker” that will prevent the population from breaking the law. Unfortunately, there was no such device deployed to stop this awful movie from being made though. And while releasing the film at the time of the George Floyd murders was unfortunate timing, this film doesn’t get let off the hook that easily. The movie runs two-and-a-half hours long and is barely exciting for about an hour of that time. The 0% Rotten Tomatoes score says it all - as does the wonderful consensus line: “This Crime is punishment.”

Remember how “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” was an average comedy with a few laughs but lacked the quality writing to take it beyond a one-joke flic? Well, the problem was that the movie was a big hit at the box office and apparently gave Kevin James the confidence that he could have a successful comedy without it actually having to be that funny. And voila! Seven years later, he was starring in “ True Memoirs of an International Assassin” - another one-note action comedy with a few funny moments but mostly one will find both the comedy and the action pretty disappointing. Thankfully, at 98 minutes long, it isn’t wasting too much of your time.

We’re not saying a buddy comedy starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg can’t be good. But we are saying this buddy comedy starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg isn’t. Hart plays a stay-at-home dad who, for the first time in years, has some “me time” while the family is out of town. However, it only takes a few days for him to get bored and hook up with his wild former best bud, Wahlberg. This is the point where we would like to tell you that the hilarity ensues. Unfortunately, this poorly-written comedy is barely funny. And it isn’t just the critics saying that. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an audience score of 32% and comments like, “yikes” and “bored.”

Have you ever argued with a friend about which one of your dads would win in a fight? Well, that’s what happens in “Father of the Year.” Two drunk college kids have said argument and the respective fathers take it seriously - and mayhem and comedy follow. Well, what actually follows is a standard, paint-by-numbers comedy with a few gross-out gags. There is also some predictable heart-warming stuff that is more like ‘heart-luke warm’ because you really don’t care that much about any of the characters. Neither you nor your dad should have to sit through this one.

Oh, Adam Sandler. The man is an enigma. He is, on one hand, the man behind some of our favorite comedies of all time - From “The Wedding Singer” to “Happy Gilmore.” On the other hand, he is responsible for a multitude of lazy, unfunny, and poorly conceived comedies as well. From the barely mediocre “Sandy Wexler” to the less-than-mediocre “The Do-Over.” But, atop that list (and ours) is the almost irredeemable “The Ridiculous 6” - or as we like to call it, “The Ridiculous Sucks.” And if you thought that joke was bad - it’s better than about 99% of the gags in this terrible movie.

What original Netflix movies top your worst list? Let us know in the comments.