We’ve had some all-time classics during the 2010s, but a heap of all-time stinkers too.
From a troop of tone-deaf cats to robot Hitler, there have been so many terrible, terrible films through the decade.
So many, in fact, that I’ve had to extend the normal top 10 formula. So, here are my picks for the top 20 worst movies of the decade.
20. United Passions (2014)
The FIFA World Cup is the world’s most popular sporting event, watched by billions around the world every four years. So you’d think a movie detailing its origins would be a smash hit, right?
That absolutely wasn’t the case for United Passions, a devastatingly terrible piece of personal and corporate propaganda by FIFA and then-President Sepp Blatter. In fact, the film was so disliked, it hilariously made only $170,000 at the worldwide box office – against a budget of up to $32m.
But for those who did see it, there was so much to dislike about United Passions. With terrible, tedious dialogue throughout, the film ridiculously focuses on the administration and board meetings that went into creating FIFA and the World Cup, with barely any sporting intrigue.
And with a number of A-list actors including Tim Roth, Sam Neill and Gérard Depardieu on board, United Passions was even more of an embarrassment, and without a doubt one of the worst films of the decade.
Read a full review here.
19. Cats (2019)
Finishing the decade with a flourish, the chaotic release of Tom Hooper’s Cats gave us one last chance to see a total catastrophe at the movies.
Arguably one of the most bizarre and misguided films ever made, the movie takes the premise of the hit stage musical and turns it into a frightening and garish display of visual effects, with its A-list cast wrapped up in garish CGI cat outfits, and performing on ugly, plasticky CGI sets.
Couple that with the fact that the film is a narrative nightmare throughout, with an incoherent, messy plot, terrible dialogue, unclear lyrics and nothing even slightly resembling good pacing, and Cats proves one of the most pompous, inconsequential disasters you’re ever likely to come across.
Read a full review here.
18. The Last Airbender (2010)
The Last Airbender is a film that sums up so much of the last decade, from director M. Night Shyamalan’s downfall to unnecessary, unfaithful big screen adaptations of childhood favourites.
Maligned as one of the worst films ever made on release all the way back in 2010, The Last Airbender is a blueprint of exactly what not to do when it comes to rebooting a beloved TV series on the big screen, stripping the mystical wonder of the original and replacing it with dull, moody storytelling.
Despite some impressive CGI (for the time), the film crumbled under the weight of its pathetic, tedious action. And, in tandem with lifeless dialogue filled with fantasy gibberish and a whole host of unenthusiastic performances, the film proved to be a disaster right from the start, and inevitably one of the worst films of the decade even just one year in.
Read a full review here.
17. Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
Ah, you may not remember them now, but the Fifty Shades movies were all the rage on the big screen for a couple of years. However, once the series reached its finale, Fifty Shades Freed, it seemed most people had already given up.
And for good reason too. After two awful films, Fifty Shades Freed aimed to bring one of cinema’s dullest franchises to a spectacular close, but inevitably failed to do so as it repeated the terrible mistakes of its predecessors.
With uninteresting drama at every turn, the finale is a legendarily dull watch, and despite featuring the franchise’s high point – a random car chase towards the third act – the total lack of emotion, spectacle or intrigue in the concluding chapter to what started off as one of the biggest franchises of the decade was the final nail in the coffin, as the Fifty Shades series collapsed with barely a whimper.
Read a full review here.
16. Nine Lives (2016)
Easily the most perplexing film of the decade, Nine Lives starred Kevin Spacey as a selfish businessman whose soul is magically transported into the body of a cat. Called Mr. Fuzzypants.
Why on earth Spacey, among a number of other A-listers, agreed to appear in the film is bewildering enough, but what made Nine Lives even stranger was its a screenplay totally inappropriate for its target audience of young kids.
The movie is ridiculous enough on its own, but with bizarre adult humour, an inexplicable fascination for lengthy board meetings, and even a rather dramatic scene showing attempted suicide, the film was far from the silly, fuzzy bit of kids’ entertainment it should have been.
Beating even Cats to become the worst feline film of the decade, Nine Lives is a cinematic disaster in every sense of the word.
Read a full review here.
15. Guardians (2017)
Superhero movies had such enormous pull at the box office this decade, that you’ve likely seen (or at least heard of) every single one released over the last ten years.
That is, however, with the exception of Guardians, Russia’s own attempt at kickstarting an Avengers-style superhero team. Far from the Avengers, however, Guardians was a lifeless and ugly atrocity, falling flat on its face with horribly predictable and underwhelming action, awful visual effects and laughably poor imagination throughout.
Infuriatingly dull from start to finish, Guardians is without a doubt the worst superhero movie of the decade, with an inconsequential story and utterly pathetic attempts at capturing the same high-stakes, blockbuster excitement we see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Read a full review here.
14. Gods Of Egypt (2016)
Gods Of Egypt wasn’t just one of the decade’s worst films, but it also provided one of the more unpleasant incidents of the last few years, as its director went to war with critics after the film was panned on release.
The negative reviews weren’t without good reason, as the film is an awful, hulking mess, complete with brutally ugly visual effects, an incomprehensible story, terrible performances, and accusations of whitewashing, with woeful representation for the film’s original setting.
But worst of all, with the film thrown on a critical dumpster fire in its first days of release, director Alexis Proyas took to social media to launch a rage-filled attack on critics, whom he described as ‘diseased vultures’ working only to consensus. The affair spiralled out of control as Proyas got into a number of spats with individual critics, signalling a rather ugly fate for what is now one of the decade’s most infamous films.
Read a full review here.
13. Fifty Shades Darker (2017)
As we’ve already seen, the Fifty Shades trilogy was hardly a masterpiece (two of its three films are on this list), and it’s the middle film, Fifty Shades Darker, that sticks out as the real stinker of the lot.
Coming two years after the much-hyped original, the film attempted to reinvigorate intrigue in the series to no avail, pathetically trying to recapture the ‘controversy’ of the original while simultaneously establishing a story with a wider scope than Anastasia and Christian’s relationship, bizarrely straying into a world of deceit, revenge and conspiracy.
Its faux-intrigue and drama aside, the film lacked the undeniable style of the original, having lost director Sam Taylor-Johnson, and in tandem with a ridiculous and ultimately inconsequential side plot featuring none other than Kim Basinger, Fifty Shades Darker proved a laughably terrible mess, made worse by its unrelenting desperation to be taken as a serious drama.
Read a full review here.
12. Movie 43 (2013)
Despite being one of the very worst movies not just of the decade, but in recent memory, Movie 43 somehow managed to attract a huge A-list cast, with a number of Hollywood’s biggest names playing a part in what turned out to be an enormous mistake.
An anthology film about something or other, Movie 43 is absolute cinematic garbage, a stain on the reputations of all those who appeared in it (Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Halle Berry, Chris Pratt, Kate Winslet, Uma Thurman, Kristen Bell, Gerard Butler, Elizabeth Banks and many, many more).
But worst of all, it’s a total waste of any good person’s time, unfairly robbing you of 90 minutes of your life with crass, unfunny humour, disjointed storytelling and often gob-smacking, bewildering gags that never, ever cook up even the faintest of laughs.
Read a full review here.
11. Jack And Jill (2011)
Adam Sandler’s reputation hasn’t always been golden, but in the early part of the decade, it hit a new low with the release of Jack And Jill.
A shrill, unfunny and frankly tedious film that sees Sandler star as twin brother and sister Jack and Jill, it’s an almost unbearable watch, with Sandler’s horrifying performance the nail in the coffin.
Shrieking his way through the whole movie, Jack And Jill never gives you a moment to even take a breather, pummelling you into the ground with terrible jokes in rapid-fire succession throughout.
Couple that with a now-infamous cameo from Al Pacino in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial, and you have a film that sums up some fo the very worst Hollywood had to offer this decade.
Read a full review here.
10. Slender Man (2018)
Remember Slender Man? No? Hardly surprising, as the film proved one of the biggest flops of the decade, receiving universally terrible reviews from critics and general audiences alike.
Attempting to build on the viral success of the Slender Man story from back in 2012/13, the film was released far too long after the trend’s peak, resulting in a lack of enthusiasm for the film upon release, and even less intrigue about the supposed urban legend the story is based on.
But worse than that, Slender Man is an atrocity of modern horror. The genre has cooked up some stunning gems over the last decade, but Slender Man, with its gloomy visuals, over-reliance on predictable jumpscares and lack of character depth, showed just how bad horror movies could still be.
Its pathetic attempts to recapture the terror and fear of The Blair Witch Project are more than awful, and with similarly poor performances from a young cast, there’s nothing good to say about the film, just that it’s the worst studio horror movie of the decade.
Read a full review here.
9. Jurassic Shark (2012)
Now we’re getting into the realm of the really bad movies. Its excellent title aside, Jurassic Shark is evocative of an entirely new genre that came to life in the 2010s, and shows just why we hope it will stay put in the decade past.
Low-budget shark horrors were all the rage through the last ten years, and while some managed to impress with so-bad-it’s-good hilarity, Jurassic Shark is so-bad-it’s-unbearable.
The film is boring from the start, taking an age to introduce the toothy villain we’re all waiting for, and in that unsuccessful attempt to create tension, it introduces a number of major characters, all of whom are dumber and more irritating than you can imagine.
But even worse is the film’s atrocious CGI, with a shark that looks more like a cardboard cut-out than anything remotely threatening. If you think the likes of Sharknado were bad, then you haven’t seen anything yet.
And more than that? Despite its short running time (only 75 minutes), the film finishes far earlier than expected with credits that roll for 25 minutes at the end – a full 1/3 of the entire movie – as if the filmmakers wanted to get this mess over with as soon as possible.
Read a full review here.
8. Girls With Balls (2018)
One of the most revolting films I’ve come across in a long time, Girls With Balls was an insufferable mess.
Complete with awful, vulgar humour throughout, the film goes way overboard with its attempted message of female empowerment, and actually turns its lead characters into a bunch of deeply unpleasant girls who, in the face of danger, you wouldn’t mind seeing lose out.
But worst of all, Girls With Balls is overfilled with excessive violence and revolting villains, as the girls find themselves being chased by a group of brutal hunters when lost in the woods. Its political messages aside, the action is nauseating, and the villains revolting, turning what could have been a more light-hearted horror romp into an hour and a half of truly painful, foul proceedings.
Read a full review here.
7. Birdemic 2: The Resurrection (2013)
Back in 2008, the world was blessed with the release of director James Nguyen’s infamous Birdemic: Shock And Terror, the worst low-budget movie in history.
Five years later, Nguyen came back with a vengeance, releasing the much-anticipated and heavily crowd-funded sequel, Birdemic 2: The Resurrection.
And in all truth, the film is a massive step up from its predecessor (although that really isn’t saying much). With higher quality production, including slightly better performances, a clearer image, dialogue synchronised with the film, and even CGI birds, it’s one of the biggest surprises of the decade from a certain perspective.
Look at it in the context of all other films released over the last ten years, however, and you remember that Birdemic 2 is still appallingly bad. Non-sensical, poorly paced, and still very badly made, it’s a really terrible watch, and doesn’t even feature the hilarity of its unfathomably bad predecessor.
Read a full review here.
6. That’s My Boy (2012)
That’s My Boy is Adam Sandler’s second appearance on the list, and without a doubt the worst movie he has ever starred in.
A hateful, mean-spirited, offensive and childish monstrosity throughout, That’s My Boy descends to depths I thought Hollywood could never reach. With ill-conceived humour that features homophobia and misogyny, and makes fun of a number of difficult, serious topics in very poor taste, it’s a vile film that spends nearly two hours screeching and shouting its head off for no good reason.
The performances are bad across the board, with Sandler more annoying than usual as an estranged, drunken father, and even Andy Samberg in a more level-headed role is poor.
We’re in the midst of low-budget disasters at this point in the list, so for a film like That’s My Boy (with an astounding budget of $70m) to be mixing among them speaks volumes about just how poor it is.
Read a full review here.
5. Titanic II (2010)
James Cameron’s Titanic made over $2bn at the box office, and went on to win 11 Academy Awards. Its sequel? Well, you’ve never heard of it.
As far as possible from the epic romance and drama of the original, Titanic II is a painful rip-off that combines a dull, wannabe story with terrible special effects, and typically awful performances and writing from distributors The Asylum.
It’s not a real sequel, styled as a ‘mockbuster’ of the original, but with barely a smidge of humour, unspectacular action and a total lack of cinematic energy from beginning to end, Titanic II doesn’t even deserve to share the name of the film it parodies, instead proving a painfully dull, pointless watch right the way through.
Read a full review here.
4. Nazis At The Centre Of The Earth (2012)
One of the very worst films I’ve ever come across, Nazis At The Centre Of The Earth defines cinematic garbage.
Another hit from The Asylum (Titanic II, Sharknado etc.), this film follows a team of explorers as they uncover the secret lair of the Third Reich underneath Antarctica.
Plainly ridiculous from the start, the film loses any sense of comedy as it pummels you with its terrible action and preposterous story, building through a series of tedious and unfunny twists towards a finale that sees our heroes on the run from none other than a resurrected, robot Adolf Hitler.
Couple that with unnecessarily gruesome violence throughout, and Nazis At The Centre Of The Earth proves eternally more unpleasant than the silly fantasy romp it should have been. I hate it to the core, and recommend you stay away from it for all eternity.
Read a full review here.
3. Not Cool (2014)
We’ve seen a number of YouTubers make the leap from the desktop to the big screen, from Smosh: The Movie to KSI’s Laid In America.
But of all the big screen YouTube adventures, Not Cool is the worst by a country mile. A horrible, painful mess of juvenile idiocy, the film is an unbearable watch from the start, complete with shrill characters, pointlessly explicit gags, and an infuriating, childish story.
Although YouTuber Shane Dawson does a fairly good job with the editing and production, the screenplay is a monstrosity, with a focus on all the dull, bad things about being a teenager,.
With comedy that’s more juvenile and vulgar than even American Pie, Not Cool is a film that will have you gritting your teeth in agony, and while it may seem perfectly harmless on the surface, it proves to be one of the most genuinely painful, unpleasant and irritating films you will ever see.
Read a full review here.
2. Car’s Life 2 (2011)
Remember those cutscenes from kids’ video games in the ’90s? Well, imagine making an entire movie out of just that, and you have the disaster that is Car’s Life 2.
A pointless and lifeless excuse for a movie, the film blatantly rips off Pixar’s Cars, albeit delivering the same story with barely any of the same humour or heart, and definitely without anything like the same animated beauty.
Car’s Life 2 is barely a film. A long, extended series of ugly, empty scenes that hardly even connect to one another, it’s an utterly useless waste of time, and the longer it goes on with its stupid, fake smiley characters, the more painful it becomes.
Read a full review here.
1. ThanksKilling 3 (2012)
The worst film of the decade by a landslide, the hateful, disgusting and disturbing ThanksKilling 3 will always stand as my most despised film.
The sequel to the undeniably terrible ThanksKilling, ThanksKilling 3 tells the story of a foul-mouthed puppet turkey as he swears and screams on a quest to find the copy of the lost movie ‘ThanksKilling 2’.
That infuriatingly stupid plot aside, ThanksKilling 3 is everything that I hate about what movies can be rolled into one. Offensive, loud, vulgar, juvenile, ugly, morally corrupt and mean-spirited, it’s a repugnant piece of film through and through.
Running for a full 99 minutes, I found myself feeling physically sick come the end of this movie, thanks to its disgusting, ugly visuals, terrible production quality and deeply offensive humour and story. Even the strongest tolerances won’t stand up to the horror that is ThanksKilling 3.
The previous 19 films on this list are veritable Citizen Kanes compared with this. It’s more than likely you haven’t seen it, and it’s best that you keep things that way.
This isn’t a so-bad-it’s-good movie, it’s not even just so-bad-it’s-bad. It’s a pile of revolting, odious rubbish that deserves to be set alight and forgotten forever.
Urgh.
