The Worst Films From Great Directors

Nobody's Perfect

Even the best filmmakers sometimes have an off day. So, while these directors have a long list of great films to their name, they also have these movies they probably wish they could erase from their IMDB page (and from everyone's minds).

George Lucas: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

Did you know that George Lucas has only directed 6 movies—and five of them are good. The not-so-good one is Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Thankfully, he redeemed himself with the next two films in the prequel trilogy, especially Revenge of the Sith.

Lucasfilm, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

James Cameron: Piranha II: The Spawning

This was Cameron's directorial debut.

Kinda. According to reports, 

Cameron had very little say about how this film turned out. He didn't write the script and he had Italian producer Ovidio G Assonitis making the final calls on all decisions. Cameron was basically only credited as the director for contractual reasons.

Brouwersgracht Investments, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)

David Fincher: Alien 3

In 2009 Fincher said, “A lot of people hated Alien 3...but no one hated it more than I did".

Brandywine Productions, Alien 3 (2009)

The Wachowskis: Jupiter Ascending

Say what you will about the third Matrix movie, the biggest failure in the Wachowskis' oeuvre is, without a doubt, their 2015 space opera Jupiter Ascending. As with all of the Wachowskis' misses, the Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus sums it up nicely:

 

"Pleasing to the eye but narratively befuddled".

Warner Bros., Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Penny Marshall: Renaissance Man 

Danny DeVito is a divorced, recently unemployed ad executive who gets a job teaching literature to army recruits. If it sounds funny... it wasn't. This comedy fell flat with critics and at the box office.

Touchstone, Renaissance Man (1994)

Martin Scorsese: Boxcar Bertha

If it were any other director, this kinda-interesting, mediocre film might've never made the list.

However, given that Scorsese is one of the greatest directors to ever make movies, 

Boxcar Bertha stands out as his biggest clunker. As John Cassavetes told him after seeing the film: "Marty, you've just spent a whole year of your life making a piece of _ _ _ _. It's a good picture, but you're better than the people who make this kind of movie".

American International Pictures, Boxcar Bertha (1972)

Darren Aronofsky: The Fountain

To be fair to Aronofsky, this isn't the film he originally set out to make.

 

The Fountain was supposed to be a $70 million movie starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and instead ended up as a $35 million film starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. No shade at the stars, but more so at all the cuts and changes to his vision that Aronofsky had to make with the lower budget.

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Warner Bros., The Fountain (2006)

Darren Aronofsky: The Fountain

To quote Roger Ebert: "When a film telling three stories and spanning thousands of years has a running time of 96 minutes, scenes must have been cut out. There will someday be a director’s cut of this movie, and that’s the cut I want to see".

Warner Bros., The Fountain (2006)

James L Brooks: How Do You Know (2010)

We know Brooks can make great dramas and rom-coms as he was the guy in the director's chair for Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good As It Gets. However, How Do You Know was an uninspired rom-com that bombed at the box office, scored 31% on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned a CinemaScore audience grade of C-.

Columbia, How Do You Know (2010)

Gus Van Sant: Psycho

Gus Van Sant's idea to do a shot-for-shot remake of the Hitchcock classic sounds like an interesting exercise.

And in the end, how bad could a movie be that is an exact replica of one of the best movies ever made? The answer is: 

surprisingly bad.

Universal, Psycho (1998)

Jonathan Demme: The Truth About Charlie

Charade was a great 1963 film starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. The Truth About Charlie was a very disappointing remake of the aforementioned Charade, starring Mark Wahlberg and Thandiwe Newton (by the same guy who directed The Silence of the Lambs).

Universal, The Truth About Charlie (2002)

Amy Heckerling: Look Who’s Talking Too

Yes, this is the talented woman who brought us some of the most generationally-iconic teen movies of all time:

 

Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless. Even the first Look Who's Talking was original and well-received. Which is quite different from the sequel, Look Who’s Talking Too, which—while better than the dreck that was the third film in the series—was still an uninspired attempt to make a quick buck given how big a hit the first film had been.  

TriStar Pictures, Look Who's Talking Too (1990)

Christopher Columbus: Bicentennial Man

Everyone hoping that putting Christopher Columbus and Robin Williams together again would create the same magic that they'd found with Mrs. Doubtfire were sadly disappointed. To quote Roger Ebert's review of the film, "What a letdown".

Touchstone, Bicentennial Man (1999)

John McTiernan: Basic

Predator, Die Hard, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Hunt for Red October, The Thomas Crown Affair remake.....Basic. One of these things is not like the other ones.

Phoenix Pictures, Basic (2003)

Richard Donner: Assassins

To quote the director himself: "The audiences and critics didn't like it".

Warner Bros., Assassins (1995)

Spike Lee: Girl 6

It was the first film that Spike Lee directed that he didn't also write. Maybe he should've? At least there was the great soundtrack written by Prince.

Searchlight Pictures, Girl 6 (1996)

Frank Oz: The Stepford Wives

Another director whose name might not be on the tip of everyone's tongue is Frank Oz.

However, his directorial resume speaks for itself and includes the likes of 

The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and What About Bob?.

Paramount, The Stepford Wives (2004)

Frank Oz: The Stepford Wives

However, he finds himself on this list because his name was also on the director's chair for The Stepford Wives.  It was a film that had plenty of satirical potential (seemingly right up Oz's alley), but according to the The New York Times review, collapsed "at the end into incoherence and wishy-washy, have-it-all sentimentality".

Paramount, The Stepford Wives (2004)

Ang Lee: Gemini Man

It's almost hard to imagine that the director who gave us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, among many other great films, is also the guy who made Gemini Man. While we appreciate the attempt to make something visually interesting with the high-frame rate filming technique, the film itself was, to quote Variety, "a high-concept misfire". 

Skydance Media, Gemini Man (2019)

Barry Levinson: Sphere

Some might see Toys as Levinson's greatest failure. However, the film was a passion project for Levinson and we appreciate what he tried to do with that Robin Williams movie—even though it ultimately failed to reach its ambitious heights. As for Sphere...

Warner Bros., Sphere (1998)

Barry Levinson: Sphere

Based on a Michael Crichton book, the expectations were super high for this one (remember that Jurassic Park is also based on a Crichton novel). However, as good as the book is, the film never reaches the depth of character or story that the novel does and instead sits on the screen like a bland sci-fi film.

Or as the Los Angeles Times described it: 

"The more the movie explains itself, the more ordinary it becomes".

Warner Bros., Sphere (1998)

Barry Sonnenfeld: Wild Wild West

Barry Sonnenfeld and Will Smith had just done Men in Black together, so another action comedy sounded like an easy win. Instead we got a 16% Rotten Tomatoes fail and a whole lot of Razzie awards.

 Will Smith even turned down playing Neo in 

The Matrix to do this movie...ouch!

Peters Entertainment, Wild Wild West (1999)

Alfred Hitchcock: Juno And The Paycock

Ever heard of it? Well, lucky for you.

British International Pictures, Juno and the Paycock (1929)

Ridley Scott: A Good Year

1979 was a good year for Ridley Scott as it was the year Alien came out. He had another good year in 1982, when Blade Runner hit theatres. 1991 was another good year for the director with the release of Thelma & Louise. And 2000 was yet another good year for Scott with Gladiator. 2006 however.

....

Fox 2000 Pictures, A Good Year (2006)

Ridley Scott: A Good Year

Well, that was not a good year for Ridley Scott. Because that was the year that his sappy romantic comedy A Good Year was released. A rom-com without much com and underwhelming rom.

Fox 2000 Pictures, A Good Year (2006)

William Friedkin: Jade

David Caruso left NYPD Blue after one season in order to parlay his new found fame into movie stardom. This awful erotic thriller is often cited as the main reason that never happened. Hey, at least it forced him back to TV and we got the sunglasses-wearing Horatio Caine on CSI: Miami for 10 seasons.

Paramount, Jade (1995)

Harold Ramis: Club Paradise

Harold Ramis knew how to direct great comedies.

 

Caddyshack, National Lampoon's Vacation, Groundhog Day, and Analyze This are all proof of that fact. Club Paradise' 11% Rotten Tomatoes score is proof he didn't get it right all the time.

Warner Bros., Club Paradise (1986)

John Hughes: She's Having A Baby

For anyone who grew up in the '80s, John Hughes' movies are ingrained in our subconscious.

Well, most of them. 1988's 

She's Having a Baby is one of Hughes' rather forgettable films. Let's put it this way: Kevin Smith loves the movie and called it a template for his film, Jersey Girl. 'Nuff said.

Paramount, She's Having a Baby (1988)

Tim Burton: Planet Of The Apes

The original Planet of the Apes movies were great and so has been the rebooted franchise of the 2010s. But then there was Tim Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes movie—it was supposed to be the beginning of something, but it was so bad, those plans were canceled.

Twentieth Century, Planet of the Apes (2001)

Rob Reiner: North

To quote from Roger Ebert's now infamous review of the film:

"I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it... 

North is a bad film—one of the worst movies ever made. But it is not by a bad filmmaker, and must represent some sort of lapse from which Reiner will recover — possibly sooner than I will". Don't hold back, Roger.

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Castle Rock Entertainment, North (1994)

Francis Ford Coppola: Jack

"Jack was a movie that everybody hated and I was constantly damned and ridiculed for," said Coppola. "I must say I find Jack sweet and amusing. I don't dislike it as much as everyone, but that's obvious—I directed it. I know I should be ashamed of it but I'm not".

Hollywood Pictures, Jack (1996)