The Absolute Worst Films of 2021
Warning! Bad movies ahead!
It was a real treat to finally get to return to the movie theaters in 2021. There were heaps of excellent films that brought fans back to the moviegoing experience, but a fair share of stinkers also slithered through the box office in 2021. Many featured star-studded casts and carried high anticipation, and others flew under the radar and stayed there. We’re going to take a look at the five films this year that bored us to death, sickened some, and down right pissed us off.
5. Army of the Dead (Dir. Zack Snyder)
Yet again, another money grabber zombie movie. When I first saw the trailer for Army of the Dead I saw lots of promise for a refreshing take on the zombie film with the added genre flair of it also being a heist story. The fun concept was tragically lost in an overly processed shell of a movie. It’s surprising that there was even a script written for this, as its run time is mostly spent attempting visual spectacle and includes extremely minimal attention to details specifically in its storytelling. There’s also this extremely overused shallow depth of field in almost every shot, as if they didn’t want to spend any time on the green screened background so they made it uncannily blurry instead.
4. Jungle Cruise (Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra)
Disney was met with huge success following the billion-dollar movie series Pirates of the Caribbean, an impressive feat for a movie based off of a theme park ride. Why not try again? This time, it’s the Jungle Cruise boat ride from Disney World. Starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, their chemistry and performance was the only reason I didn’t walk out of the movie theater. The blatant tries to replicate the same magic of the Pirates movies was painful and sad. The mystical lore that they inserted very abruptly into the end of the movie felt like the writers couldn’t think of anything else to make the movie interesting, so they added ancient demons and magic.
3. Red Notice (Dir. Rawson Marshal Thurber)
I promise I don’t have anything against the legendary Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but 2021 was definitely not his year in movies. Red Notice is a strange seesaw between an action movie and a spoof on action movies, and till this day I’m still not sure which parts are serious and which are satire. It hits your typical blockbuster markers with over sexualization of women, quipy and soulless punchlines, and big sparkly explosions. It’s not to go unrecognized that this movie is undoubtedly fun, but for all the wrong reasons, it pushes into so bad it’s good territory.
2. Boss Baby 2: Family Business (Dir. Tom McGrath)
I may not be the target demographic for this film, as a 21 year old college student, but I actually quite enjoyed the first Boss Baby film. What made the first one so fun was the relatable and universally funny idea of babies that talk, and the second one was just more talking babies; not really filling in that blank space a sequel requires to be filled. Family Business is essentially the Minionification of the Boss Baby franchise. Launching into the territory of mindless sensory visuals, every joke being funny faces and noises, and repetitive slapstick comedy. With lead actor Alec Baldwin’s career ending controversy at the close of 2021, it’s very clear Boss Baby 2 will be lost in the abyss of bad children’s movies.
1. Here Today (Dir. Billy Crystal)
Watching Here Today in the theaters was a very dissociative experience. There’s something so uncanny and strange about the delivery of the dialogue in this movie. It almost feels like a Wes Anderson-esque speech pattern that’s very overly presentational, but in the hyper realist world of a Hallmark movie. It’s very disheartening to see an iconic actor like Billy Crystal portray such an unbelievable and unintentionally creepy character, and a comedian as hilarious as Tiffany Haddish be subjected to such yawn-inducing writing.
