Worst movies of 2021

Some of the worst films of 2021 have starred some of Hollywood's most respected names: Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Sigourney Weaver, Nicolas Cage and Tom Holland. 

These movies were rated the lowest among all of the films released in so far this year, according to the movie review aggregator Metacritic. We've narrowed the list to focus on films with at least 10 critic reviews, to arrive at the worst of the year. Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley star in this literary-driven drama from director Philippe Falardeau.  The family-friendly Netflix movie stars Jennifer Garner and Édgar Ramírez as parents who devote an entire day to saying yes to their children's every whim.  The latest Studio Ghibli movie was called "ghastly" by Paste Magazine.  The Anthony Mackie-led Netflix film was called "a futuristic war movie that lacks imagination in the present," by The New York Times.  Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo and Damon Wayans Jr. star in the Apple TV+ drama.  The film critic from Consequence described the Nicolas Cage-led thriller as "flavorful as Chuck E. Cheese pizza."  The sci-fi film about teenagers out to colonize a distant planet was called a "half-assed attempt at an updated 'Lord of the Flies,'" by the New York Post.  Liam Neeson plays an ex-Marine attempting to save a migrant child from a murderous drug cartel. The Forest Whitaker and Johnny Depp-led drama is based on the story of the murders of the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac. The martial arts thriller is based on the video game of the same name.  Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor play lovers in a broken relationship during the 2020 pandemic lockdown.  The drama, based on the darknet website of the same name, stars Nick Robinson, Alexandra Shipp, Jason Clarke and Jimmi Simpson.  Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly and Gary Oldman star in this drug drama. "A promising premise gets a dull, lead-footed treatment," Variety said of the sci-fi film.  "An attempt to start a film franchise out of Patrick Ness's YA sci-fi books — about a planet where everyone hears your thoughts — falls flat on its face its first time out," said Rolling Stone. The horror film based on the 1983 James Herbert novel "Shrine" did not receive glowing reviews.  The Netflix film was called "what happens when filmmakers take a moderately interesting premise and surround it with witless writing, cringe-inducing acting, stagnant action, humor-deprived comedy, and feckless drama," by Reel Views. Bringing the animated cat and mouse duo into the real world did not sit well with film critics.  "The problem is the script, the script, the script," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle.  "A clunky, heavy-handed film that takes a pressing contemporary issue and flattens it under two genres the writer-director seems ill-equipped to handle," wrote The Wrap of the Nate Parker race-related drama.  "'Why don't you watch my film before you judge it?' Sia tweeted in November, when outrage about the movie's casting started to percolate. Well, I have watched the film, I am judging it, and it's awful," wrote a Slate film critic about singer Sia's project.  Not even Morgan Freeman could save this action thriller from negative reviews. "Don't be fooled by the name Morgan Freeman," advised the New York Post.  And the "winners" are... The Guardian called the film a "simpering knock-off of 'The Devil Wears Prada,'" and said the dramedy "is so wet you could shoot snipe off it."  "The promising beginning shows that it could have been something more than dumb. Alas, it's not," wrote the Arizona Republic.  "It's a movie almost too ugly to consider beyond the surface ... 'Earwig and the Witch' is, by normal standards, a misfire — and by Ghibli's standards it's much worse." "[The film] is neither curious nor bold in the ways it depicts a sentient robotic revolt." "There's hardly a moment in 'Cherry' that's believable, but the film's true crime is that there's hardly a moment in it that's enjoyable either. The only emotion the movie conveys is being full of itself," said Variety. "The scares aren't scary. The jokes aren't funny. The action itself is doubly disappointing, as poorly choreographed as it is incomprehensibly filmed." "[The film] makes you long for a good old-fashioned school bus and a pig's head on a stick." Movie Nation called the movie "a thriller that misses the mark, and not by a little." RogerEbert.com said "it's a dull, overly familiar affair that really only reminds one that Depp should have segued nicely into old man roles if his personal life and on-set behavior hadn't derailed his trajectory." "In spite of its occasionally engaging displays of gnarly brutality, the film too often feels like an adaptation of a player select screen," wrote Slant. "Given the choice between watching this film again and having to stay in my apartment for another ten months, I might have the tiniest temptation to pick the latter," wrote Vanity Fair. "At the end of the day this is a hollowly reductive account of what happened with a weird subtextual rich punk against blue collar cop agenda falling woefully flat," said The Film Stage. The Washington Post called the film "so overstuffed with baloney and cheese it ought to come with a pickle on the side." "Bliss" stars Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek.  Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley star in the fantasy movie. "If the devil did exist, then surely he'd have the power to destroy films as dull as this," wrote The Guardian.  Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer star in the superhero comedy. "'Tom & Jerry' is five to ten minutes of action that might have worked in one of the cartoon duo's shorts, surrounded by an inordinate amount of unimaginative, unfunny human-based conflict," said The Hollywood Reporter.  The paranormal comedy stars Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann and Isla Fisher. The movie stars Omari Hardwick and Theo Rossi. Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr. and Maddie Ziegler star in the musical drama.  "The 83-year-actor appears alongside Ruby Rose in the new action movie 'Vanquish,'" their critic writes. "But the Oscar winner can't lift this heinous material by director and co-writer George Gallo. Popeye couldn't hoist it up post-spinach."