Movies That Earned The Absolute Worst Ratings On Metacritic

Metacritic has garnered a large enough sample pool to be quite reliable. Taste in entertainment is always subjective, but gather a whole bunch of reviews over the years, and a consensus begins to materialize. But scrolling all the way to the last pages of Metacritic reveals a gathering of atrocities. You may be surprised at some of the movies that wind up at the bottom of that list. In fact, some feature actors and creators we all know and love.

At times, it can be entertaining to indulge in the worst that cinema has to offer. Occasionally, poor filmmaking can perform a miraculous 180 and spin back around to ironic enjoyment. Of course, there are some terrible films that just pure dreck and not worth your time. So, we'll save you the trouble of rolling those cursed dice and provide a quick synopsis of films that are best left in the dustbin of cinematic history. What lies ahead are movies that have managed to earn the absolute worst ratings possible on Metacritic.

Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? totally misfires

The title of this little treasure promises to appeal to your adolescent humor. We have to admit the premise sounds funny at first, but it becomes outdated incredibly fast. Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? takes a stab at America's gun debate and features a small, firearm-loving town that's recently been rattled by a scary incident. A kid at a local school was caught with a gun, which causes quite a bit of alarm. But after the men in town refuse to give up their weapons, their wives decide to hold out on sex until things change. The cheeky dilemma promises hilarity that never arrives.

Both audiences and critics pretty much say the same thing about this 2016 film — don't waste your time. This bad boy sports a well-deserved 7 on Metacritic. Mark Jenkins at The Washington Post stated, "The movie is too busy being saucy or sappy to even look at its target." We definitely agree. The juvenile humor is so desperately trying to be edgy that it loses its appeal after the first fart joke. 

Miss March disappointed us all

There was a good amount of buzz around the release of Miss March. The film was made by Trevor Moore and Zach Cregger, members of the highly popular sketch troupe the Whitest Kids U' Know. We were all excited to take a trip down absurdity lane with some of our favorite goofballs and laugh our butts off. The story involves a kid named Eugene (Cregger) preparing for an eventful prom night with the love of his life when he gets in an accident and falls into a coma. When he wakes up four years later, he discovers that his dream girl is now a Playboy playmate. He sets off on a quest to win her back along with his immature pal, Tucker (Moore). 

The only impressive aspect of Miss March is how its creators managed to receive a $6 million budget. The movie failed to make a profit and ended TWKYK's time in Hollywood before it even began. Unlike some other movies at the bottom of the Metacritic list, you'll find yourself staying to see how the journey pans out, but you'll be disappointed with how you spent your time when the credits roll. You'll watch Miss March – with its 7 on Metacritic — all the way to the end for the same reason you can't look away from a car crash.

Despite its impressive cast, Screwed majorly screwed itself

Screwed features the comedic chops of Norm Macdonald, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chapelle, and even Danny DeVito. With a cast like that, it appears as though hilarity is assured ... but it's not. 

The story centers around Willard (Norm Macdonald), a chauffeur for a crabby rich woman, just like his father before him. After getting fed up with how he's treated, he decides to kidnap her dog and hold the pooch ransom for $1 million. When the whole ordeal goes wrong and the dog escapes, a poorly written ransom note leads everyone to believe that Willard has been kidnapped, as well!

The large heaping of slapstick humor has little effect on how little we enjoy the characters. Rather than finding Macdonald and Chapelle charmingly dimwitted, they're unbearably stupid. It's impressive how Screwed makes us dislike actors that we love. And it speaks volumes that the most charming character on screen is Danny DeVito's grimy mortician, who mines dead bodies for loot. We'd like to say you'll get minor enjoyment out of watching some youthful comedic legends, but it's better to let sleeping dogs lie and not tarnish their image with a film that has a 7 on Metacritic.

The Hottie & the Nottie is not worth your time

The moment we viewed the trailer for this film, we were amazed as to how it was ever created. Released in 2008, The Hottie & The Nottie featured Paris Hilton at the peak of her Hollywood clout. She used this clout to produce one of the most unwatchable romantic comedies in history, a movie with a Metascore of 7.

The story centers around a hottie (guess who) that requires our leading fella, Nate (DodgeBall's Joel David Moore), to find someone for her hideously ugly friend (Christine Lakin) before they date. Paris Hilton is unbearably one-dimensional as "the Hottie" — smirking her way through emotionless conversation — while "the Nottie" is an over-the-top, pustule-encrusted disaster that doesn't even accidentally evoke humor.

You may have already guessed the ending at this point. Yep! "The Nottie" gets a miraculous makeover that makes her less ugly, and Nate winds up with her, instead. If you are looking for cliche slow-motion shots and acting that will make you feel pain, this is the movie for you. Philip French at The Guardian described this film best when he said, "There is nothing to commend this disastrous film and not even a herd of wild horses, each laden with a Gucci saddlebag packed with doubloons, could induce me to see it again."

Caddyshack II certainly wasn't a hole-in-one

The first Caddyshack is considered an all-time classic comedy, and its fans were excited for the second installment when it arrived in 1988. The story features the same golf course from the first film and much of the cast, sans Rodney Dangerfield and Bill Murray. As for the plot, when a real estate tycoon has his membership rejected from the golf club due to his general buffoonery, he enacts his revenge by buying controlling stock in the club and turning it into a tasteless amusement park.

In their pursuit to recapture the zany essence of the first film, some genius decided to opt for a PG-rated endeavor, which contrasted starkly with the original's R rating. Caddyshack II fell flat on its face and didn't even come close to making a profit, compared to the $40 million outing of the first. It would appear as though there truly is no replacement for the venerable Rodney Dangerfield. Not to mention that any film without Bill Murray is immediately less enjoyable. No wonder its Metascore is a measly 7.

Baby Geniuses is truly terrible family film

On paper, the idea of unruly talking babies sounds like an adorable adventure. But filmmakers in the late '90s reached for the sun and got burned. Not only do all the jokes feel written by toddlers, but the animation surrounding Baby Geniuses forces you to focus on its inadequacies more than any type of story structure. Which is bold to say because there isn't much of a story to muck up. Despite turning a profit in theaters, critics gave Baby Geniuses a thorough lashing with a Metascore of 6. This can best be summed up by Tim Brayton at Alternate Ending, who wrote, "Aesthetically and morally, I can hardly name a more viscerally repugnant family film from the 1990s."

Kathleen Turner and Christopher Lloyd star as scientists who believe that babies are born with a vast amount of universal knowledge — a knowledge that's lost once the babies begin speaking human languages. Until that knowledge is lost, babies can communicate in their own complex language. Turner and Lloyd seek to decipher this language when one of their prized infants escapes. The whole ordeal sounds charming until you watch the toddlers dancing around in tuxedos and karate-chopping their way across rooftops. Portraying babies as anything but the adorable little humans they are is a farce that belongs in a bad horror film.

Gold Diggers is the worst that National Lampoon has to offer

The National Lampoon name doesn't carry the same clout as it did in the '70s and '80s thanks to a hearty helping of mediocrity. And with its Metascore of 6National Lampoon's Gold Diggers is the crown jewel of failure adorning the film studio's plastic crown. 

It features two losers named Calvin (Will Friedle) and Leonard (Chris Own) as they fumble through a life of petty crime. After a failed robbery attempt, they're invited into the mansion of the same rich, old sisters they tried to rob. Calvin and Leonard concoct a plan to marry the women and then collect their inheritance once the sisters die of old age. Unbeknownst to our lead fools, the women are drowning in financial trouble. And the sisters have a plan of their own, consisting of murdering the men after the wedding and collecting the insurance money.

There are few things as painful and embarrassing as when comedy fails. And Gold Diggers fails so spectacularly that your stomach will get that feeling like you're standing naked in your high school classroom. Jen Chaney at The Washington Post described Gold Diggers best by saying it's "so stupefyingly hideous that after watching it, you'll need to bathe in 10 gallons of disinfectant, get a full-body scrub, and shampoo with vinegar to remove the scummy residue that remains."

The Human Centipede III is horrifying in more ways than one

There are few people who won't gag at the mere mention of this series of films, especially the "grand" finale. The Human Centipede III features the familiar premise of sewing multiple humans together to form a giant centipede. If you're curious as to the details surrounding this procedure, we urge you to please not seek out answers. It's difficult to describe this film — even a summarization of its events is appalling — but we'll try our best.

A warden at a prison subjects his prisoners to horrific torture that includes boiling hot waterboarding, castration, and rape. When all his demented ideas to save money by subduing the prison population fails, the warden opts for a horrific operation that creates a giant human centipede winding around the entire prison yard. 

We're honestly not sure how this film didn't get a lower Metascore than 5. It deserves less. Deirdre Crimmins at Film Thrills summed up everything The Human Centipede III has to offer by stating, "Between the lack of action, predicable relations with the secretary — and only female character — and the absence of any character development past caricature, the film is lackluster. It is void of the atmosphere and mood created in the previous films, and it suffers from this void."

Vulgar is, you guessed it, really vulgar

"An ugly, revolting movie" is how The San Francisco Chronicle chose to describe Vulgar. With its Metascore of 5, the film is the misguided brain child of Bryan Johnson in his directorial debut. Johnson had a few roles in Kevin Smith movies like Mallrats and Dogma, and Smith actually executive produced Vulgar. However, this bomb can't compare to even the very worst of Smith's offerings.

The story centers around a professional clown named Will, who's raped by one of his sadistic clients. After a successful turn of fate, Will finds himself the star of a successful kids show. All seems well until his rapist resurfaces and threatens him with video of their night together.

We're not sure if Johnson was shooting for dark comedy or horror. Truth be told, we don't think Johnson knows, either. If Kevin Smith was a juggalo with no budget and no sense of humor, this is the film he would make. Critics such as David Cornelius of eFilmCritic.com echo that sentiment by stating Vulgar "is the movie equivalent of a sweaty old guy in a raincoat shopping for cheap porn."

Strippers deserves all the hate

You can call us victims of schadenfreude, but there's a tinge of enjoyment that stems from critic's ability to savagely critique films that deserve the hazing. Strippers is one such movie. Stephen Holden at The New York Times declared, "Jorge Ameer's Strippers belongs to that vast cinematic underbelly of semi-professional made-for-video movies that for reasons known only to God are lucky enough to enjoy a thoroughly undeserved theatrical release. ... Trust me: it's not funny."

Strippers features an executive named Alan who loses his job, his girlfriend, and just about everything else before being savagely beaten to death. There you have it — beginning, middle, and end. While we'd like to paint a more elaborate picture around why Strippers is so bad, it belongs to a truly awful class of film — one in which most critics didn't even waste their time badmouthing it. Instead, they just left it with a 5 on Metacritic.

Politics aside, Hillary's America is just bad

This misguided film was produced and directed by Dinesh D'Souza and features almost every cinematic crime on the list. It was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards and won four, including Worst Picture (a first for a documentary film), as well as Worst Director and Worst Actor (also D'Souza). The man was even bold enough to re-enact scenes from his own "Democratic Headquarters" set. Political agendas set aside, it's flat-out a horribly assembled film with just a Metascore of 2.

The only thing D'Souza had going for him was financing, which allows for some clear visuals and nothing more. Even if your ideologies align with those of Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, we'd still be surprised if you're able to absorb this oppressively soulless ordeal. As Alan Zilberman of The Washington post wrote, "D'Souza lets scenes drag, jumping through history in ways that squash any sense of discovery and creating an overall sense of boredom."

Nobody wants to hear The Singing Forest

You might recognize the director of The Singing Forest from another film on this list. Jorge Ameer of Strippers managed to up the ante in terms of awfulness and forced us to ask how the heck this guy keeps getting films made. "To describe this supernatural soap opera as inept and mawkish doesn't really begin to evoke the awfulness of The Singing Forest," writes Stephen Holden of The New York Times

The premise itself feels written by a hormonal adolescent goth wallowing in the sadness of love forlorn. The Singing Forest tells the story of a widower named Christopher who falls into an alcohol-induced depression after his wife's death. He becomes obsessed with the idea of reincarnation and begins to believe he's a reincarnated resistance fighter from World War II. He also believes that his daughter's soon-to-be husband is his lover from a past life. A psychic confirms this, and the two develop a romantic relationship that ends in Christopher's daughter giving her father away at the wedding. But wait, there's more. His daughter never existed and was the spirit of Christopher and his wife's miscarriage. Let us reiterate — this thing's Metascore is 1.

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie is pure trash

This dud was released in 1987, and it's based on the highly popular trading cards. In other words, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie is a mindless cash grab. The animatronics involved fail to develop an endearing quality over time, and instead, they manage to steer it from bad comedy to campy slapstick horror. TV Guide slaps its criticism right into the film's description by stating this is "a stunningly inept and totally reprehensible film."

This is universally considered one of the worst films ever made. Despite the fact that it's insanely disgusting, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie sports a PG rating, a fact that displeased parents across the country. There were protests involving the film, and any commercial sponsorship quickly pulled out. The film was yanked out of theaters just a couple weeks into its run. The Garbage Pail Kids Movie was so bad that it ended the popularity of the trading card game. Vulgarity aside, even looking at pictures of this film will make your spine tingle. With its Metascore of 1, it truly is horror-inducing in all the wrong ways. 

United Passions failed to impress anyone

United Passions was funded almost entirely by FIFA, as it's about the origins of their organization. However, the group's thematic endeavor was met with scathing reviews from audiences and critics alike. "United Passions is one of the most unwatchable films in recent memory, a dishonest bit of corporate-suite sanitizing that's no good even for laughs," states Daniel M. Gold at The New York Times.

United Passions stars Sam Neill and Tim Roth in uncharacteristically unlikeable roles, as well as Gerard Depardieu, who's far past his prime. The movie managed to earn a Metascore of 1, and we're curious as to where the money went on this production. FIFA coughed up a whopping $29 million to produce this film and wound up making back around $170,000 ... with an American box office pull of $607. No matter how much you like these actors or the sport, it's best to avoid this disastrous film at all cost.

Bio-Dome depicts Pauly Shore's downfall

If you were sentient in the 1990s, you might remember a time when Pauly Shore was the golden boy of comedic entertainment. His over-the-top personality was plastered on movie posters for a couple of years before audiences started to get annoyed. The beginning of the end for Shore was on display with Bio-Dome, a story about two slackers who mistake a closed ecosystem experiment for a shopping mall and are hermetically sealed inside with five scientists for a year.

The movie may be only 95 minutes, but you'll feel like you've spent a year in isolation with these characters by the end. The lowest Metascore possible (1) is well-deserved for this atrocious film. The only enjoyment you'll get out of Bio-Dome is its reviews. Our favorite has to be Hal Hinson over at The Washington Post, who wrote that it's "a spoof of eco-consciousness starring one-man toxic spill Pauly Shore, Bio-Dome offers ... deviant innuendo and simian sight gags destined to gross out and offend just about everyone. ... Shore's brain is a cesspool where the most distressing things keep floating to the surface." Yikes! We're going to stick to watching Encino Man.

Do yourself a favor, and stay away from Chaos

Not to be confused with 2005 Jason Statham action flick, Chaos may tempt you to dig down to the bottom of a bargain store bin and cough up 99 cents for a chance to laugh at how bad it is, but we ask that you fight that urge and spend your money on something more satisfying ... like gas station sushi. 

Chaos is a remake of Wes Craven's The Last House On The Left, and it fails to live up to it in every way possible, resulting in a film with a pathetic Metascore of 1. Most critics who saw the film were so nauseated by watching it that they simply begged audiences to stay away. Roger Ebert opened his review of Chaos with a warning: "Chaos is ugly, nihilistic, and cruel — a film I regret having seen. I urge you to avoid it." Echoing that sentiment was Michael Wilmington at The Chicago Tribune, who declared, "Chaos definitely gave me the worst time I've had at a movie in years — and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but my worst enemies. Even then, I'd flinch."

Death of a Nation is the worst film according to Metacritic

From the people that brought you Hillary's America comes an even worse movie! It appears that wannabe director Dinesh D'Souza is determined to double down on awful cinematic creations and chase after more Golden Raspberry wins. That's really the only explanation for why Death of a Nation exists at all.

When it doesn't feature awful acting from D'Souza himself, Death of a Nation features copious shots of him strolling through the streets of New York, looking pensive, reading his own books, and equating the Democratic party to Nazis. This sleepwalk through history sports the lowest Metascore on record, although, it does have a hearty dose of positive user reviews compared to others low on the list. Perhaps D'Souza could have pulled ahead of Chaos and avoided being the worst-reviewed movie on record if he wasn't such an insanely inept filmmaker.