10 More Movies Critics Detested

Admit it: You’re having a ball reading the absolutely scathing Sex and the City 2 reviews. So is Andrew O'Hehir, and to celebrate, he recalls 10 of the worst-reviewed recent films, on Salon:

1. Battlefield Earth: One critic predicted this L. Ron Hubbard sci-fi adaptation would be “hailed as the worst of its kind ever made;” another said it “may well turn out to be the worst movie of this century.”
2. Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat: It inspired quite a few critics to pan it, Seuss-style; example: “Really, it’s true:/The Cat in the Hat/Is a piece of dog doo.”

3. Showgirls: “I know, I know: You love it, somebody you know had this awesome Showgirls-themed party in college, etc, etc,” writes O'Hehir. “But before it became a cherished cult item, it was a symbol of mid-'90s Hollywood decadence and excess” that one critic compared to “being keelhauled through a cesspool.”
4. Glitter: This “dull, preachy quasi-biopic” of Mariah Carey was more like “a butt-numbing exercise in tedium” for one reviewer.
5. Cocktail: Sure, it made Tom Cruise into a star, but one reviewer summed it up thusly: “Saturday Night Fever without John Travolta, the Bee-Gees, and dancing.” Another was even more succinct: “Very, very stupid.”

For the complete list, click here. (More movie review stories.)