As a highly critical person, I know how harsh critics can be… especially when it comes to movies.
Over the years, so many movies have been panned by critics but are actually quite good; similarly, utter garbage is often rated quite highly (read: Avatar).
Below is a list of ten movies that have achieved a critic’s score of less than 15% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, but should be a lot higher.
10. A Night at the Roxbury (11%)
Have you ever dreamed of owning your own dance club? Yes? Well then the plight of two brothers, Steve and Doug Butabi, played by Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell, may cut a little too close for your liking.
Aside from being the first film role for Eva Mendes, and the final for Loni Anderson – A Night at the Roxbury is genuinely funny. Released in 1998, the film is based on a long-running sketch from TV’s Saturday Night Live.
The film explores the concept of loneliness in a big city and what it means to chase your dreams.
Noooo… yes!
Why is it a good film? It brought Haddaway’s song What Is Love? back into fashion.
9. Dracula: Dead and Loving It (11%)
A comedy-horror film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Leslie Nielsen… what could possibly be bad about that?
Released 21 years after Brooks’ comedy classic Young Frankenstein!, Nielsen stars as Count Dracula, parodying Bela Lugosi in his 1931 film Dracula. Much of the dialogue was taken from the 1931 classic but given a facelift for the comedic nature of this film.
For example:
Dr. Steward: Count Dracula, allow me to introduce Professor Abraham Van Helsing of London University. He’s a doctor of rare diseases as well as theology and philosophy.
Van Helsing: And gynaecology.
Dr. Steward: Oh, I didn’t know you had your hand in that, too.
Why is it a good film? “No! Not ANOTHER enema!”
8. Canadian Bacon (14%)
While a ludicrous concept in 1995, ever since last year’s presidential election of Donald Trump a war between US and Canada seems a lot more plausible.
Starring John Candy, Alan Alda and Rhea Pearlman, and directed by ultra-left wing documentarian Michael Moore, Canadian Bacon is the story of a struggling US president who starts a war with their neighbours to the north.
The film is a scathing indictment of small town America and was, funnily enough, produced by Madonna’s production company, Maverick Productions.
Why is it a good film? Two of the characters are named Bud Boomer and Honey… what else do you need to know?
7. The Condemned (15%)
Jack Conrad (WWE’s ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin) is awaiting the death penalty in a corrupt Central American prison. He is then ‘purchased’ by a wealthy television producer and taken to a desolate island where he must fight to the death against nine other condemned killers from all corners of the world, with freedom going to the sole survivor.
That’s right – The Condemned is essentially The Hunger Games, just without all the touchy-feely nonsense.
Filmed in Queensland, Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones headline this 113 minute masterpiece with some of the most brutal fight and death scenes on camera. For fans of Neighbours, the film also features Madeliene West, who played Toadie’s beloved Dee, so… there’s that too.
Why it’s a good film: Steve Austin rolls over a cliff’s edge to avoid being shot by a shotgun… and survives.
6. Revenge of the Nerds 2: Nerds In Paradise (7%)
With a star-studded cast including Robert Carradine, Curtis Armstrong and Courtney Thorne-Smith and Bradley Whitford, how could you not love Revenge of the Nerds 2: Nerd In Paradise?
Ousted from their hotel for being nerds, the gang head to the infamous Hotel Coral Essex and are targeted by a rival fraternity, the Alpha Betas, who are hell-bent on getting rid of our gang of misfit heroes.
This is a modern retelling of a David and Goliath battle, complete with all of the awkwardness nerds have to offer.
Why is it a good film? Dudley ‘Booger’ Dawson.
5. Beverly Hills Cop 3 (10%)
Welcome to Wonder World!
Ten years after the world was introduced to fast-talking cop Axel Foley, and what remains one of the most infectious soundtracks (specifically Axel F), Eddie Murphy was back at it, this time taking on money launderers who had co-opted a Californian theme park, Wonder World.
Think ‘Die Hard in a theme park’.
Judge Reinhold was a shining light in this movie and who doesn’t miss him? Similarly, Eddie Murphy. In fact, aside from the Shrek movies, Murphy has done little else worthy of mention since this film.
Excitingly, there will now be a fourth instalment of the Beverly Hills Cop franchise.
Why is it a good film? The Oki Shuffle, the Annihilator 2000 and the return of Serge (“I don’t care… I wear suits.”).
4. Street Fighter (15%)
In 1993, the Capcom video game Street Fighter II had well and truly taken the world by storm, earning $1.5 billion in revenue ($2.64 billion in today’s money). It was a phenomenon.
The next logical step, of course, was to release a movie – the 1994 epic simply titled Street Fighter.
Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as American military commander William F. Guile, the late Raul Julia as M. Bison and our very own Kylie Minogue as Cammy, the film is a beautiful tale of mateship and, well, arse-kicking.
Raul Julia, who played Gomez Addams in the rebooted Addams Family movie franchise, was suffering stomach cancer during the filming of this movie and passed away before the film was released.
Why it’s a good film: How about the fact that Samoan-American Peter ‘Navy’ Tuiasosopo plays the Japanese character of E. Honda? Or the fact that even though he didn’t need to, JCVD played an American…
3. Beverly Hills Ninja (14%)
Of all the movies on this list, this one is perhaps the most surprising. After all, it’s a brilliant film starring one of the funniest comedians ever, the late Chris Farley.
The movie follows Farley’s character, Haru, who was in a shipwreck as a baby. Baby Haru was rescued by a clan of ninja warriors and raised as one of them.
Released just a few months before Farley’s death, a sequel to Beverly Hills Ninja was in the works and was set to star David Hasselhoff. The movie was eventually released in 2010 with the title Dancing Ninja.
Why it’s a good film: Holy Shinto! Aside from being Christian Bale’s favourite film, Beverly Hills Ninja is a rousing story of how anyone can become a ninja, including a fat, white American.
2. Gator (0%)
How this 1976 action comedy film starring (and directed by) Burt Reynolds has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is anybody’s guess. Surely it’s a joke…
A sequel to White Lightning, Gator follows Reynolds’ iconic character of Gator McKlusky as he leaves prison. He is then forced to help law enforcement agents to bring down a corrupt politician.
There’s a whole heap of moonshine, a cat lady and a convenient cop car that already has keys in the ignition.
Why is it a good film? There is a place called Bogan County… and it’s not in Queensland!
1. The Mighty Ducks (15%)
The year was 1992. A then-30-year-old Emilio Estevez was seeking to break free from his ‘Brat Pack’ years. He had wowed us in The Breakfast Club, St Elmo’s Fire and The Outsiders, and he had just completed a stint as a lead in Young Guns and Young Guns II. What would he do next?
Enter The Mighty Ducks.
Quite simply, The Mighty Ducks is an amazing movie that launched the career of a young Joshua Jackson (Pacey from Dawson’s Creek) and led to two even-more-amazing sequels. The tale of Gordon Bombay (a character named after two well-known gins – Gordon’s and Bombay Sapphire) and his ducks will go down as one of the most inspirational sporting stories of all time. How it has such a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes just goes to show that some people have no taste.
Why it’s a good film: Aside from giving audiences a healthy dose of Emilio Estevez, the film also introduced the loveable-yet-gassy character of Goldberg.
Quack!
