Are Ryan Reynolds' Worst Movies Still Worth Watching?
Rotten Tomatoes shows that plenty of Ryan Reynolds movies have been rejected by audiences over the years, but are they really as bad as everyone says? We revisited the worst that the wise-cracking actor has to offer — and we found a few surprises.
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00:00Rotten Tomatoes shows that plenty of Ryan Reynolds movies have been rejected by audiences
00:05over the years.
00:06But are they really as bad as everyone says?
00:09We revisited the worst that the wide-cracking actor has to offer, and we found a few surprises.
00:15National Lampoon's Van Wilder has a score of 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and quite
00:20frankly, that's very generous.
00:22This is a crude sex comedy that simply doesn't have much going for it.
00:26Reynolds plays the title character, a college student in his seventh year who just can't
00:30leave his university.
00:31Alongside Van Wilder's hijinks are a character from India named Taj Mahal, a well-endowed
00:36bulldog, and a scene involving Van Wilder's rival that has to be one of the grossest things
00:41ever put to film.
00:42The whole thing is offensive and disgusting in equal measure.
00:45This was Reynolds' first major role after coming off the show Two Guys, A Girl, and
00:49A Pizza Place, and he does a fine job.
00:51It's everything else that's awful.
00:53As David Nusser, of Real Film, wrote in a scathing review,
00:56"...the film belongs to that dying comedy sub-genre, the gross-out flick, and this one
01:00takes things particularly far."
01:02That'd be all fine if any of this stuff wasn't the least bit funny.
01:06While Reynolds does his best to make the film enjoyable, it's hard to find his character
01:10likable.
01:11Even those who enjoy a bit of toilet humor will probably roll their eyes at this one.
01:15Blade Trinity, the aptly named third entry in the Blade movie series, has all the great
01:20fight scenes of the first two films.
01:22At the same time, though, it suffers from a distinct shortage of Wesley Snipes.
01:26You know, the guy who plays Blade?
01:28Apparently, Snipes and director David S. Goyer had a falling out, and this led to an awkward
01:32shoot.
01:33According to Patton Oswalt, Snipes filmed Blade Trinity in a bizarre way, only coming
01:38out of his trailer for close-ups.
01:40Snipes has denied that this was the case, pointing out that he helped get Goyer hired
01:43in the first place.
01:45Whatever the reason for the lack of Blade might be, the winner in this situation was
01:48Ryan Reynolds, who's said to have been given more lines as a result.
01:52His character, the vampire hunter Hannibal King, is one of the best parts of this otherwise
01:56forgettable threequel.
01:57"...just a thought, but you might want to consider blinking once in a while."
02:04Despite Reynolds' best efforts, the film didn't do well with critics.
02:08It holds a 24 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though viewers were kinder with an audience
02:12score of 58 percent.
02:14We're siding with the majority of regular moviegoers on this one.
02:18The 2005 remake of 1979's The Amityville Horror is a sleeker entry than the original film,
02:25and despite only getting a 24 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's definitely one of
02:29the best of the many, many Amityville movies that have been made over the years.
02:34The Amityville Horror stars Ryan Reynolds in a performance unlike any seen from him
02:38before or since.
02:39As the father of the Lutz family, he's one of the most impacted by the dark influence
02:43of the house, selling the terror with no hint of his typical wisecracking persona on show.
02:48In fact, seeing a famously friendly face do such terrible things makes it even more
02:52effective.
02:53Just be warned, if you really love dogs, you might want to give this one a pass.
02:58Reviewing the movie for the website Daily Dead, horror movie critic Heather Wixon wrote,
03:02"...not only does the remake give us deeper characters to invest in, better scares, and
03:07made the act of chopping wood absolutely one of the most horrifying things ever, but it
03:11also does what all good cinematic retellings should do, respect its roots, but also steps
03:16out and does something different."
03:19Waiting stars Ryan Reynolds and Justin Long as a pair of waiters working at a chain restaurant
03:23called Shenanigans.
03:24It's an apt name given the behavior of the staff at this particular branch, but the mischief
03:29they get up to is neither clever nor funny.
03:32Monty, Dean, and the other male staff have a running joke that involves them constantly
03:36flashing their privates to each other, a gag that wasn't particularly creative in 2005
03:42and is downright horrifying now.
03:43This kind of humor was widespread in Hollywood comedies in the mid-naughts, but even at the
03:48time, critics still found it tiresome.
03:50As Roger Ebert put it in his One and a Half Star review,
03:52"...to me it seems more like a catalyst for desperate shock value from a filmmaker who's
03:57trying to pump energy into a dead scenario."
04:00Debut writer-director Rob McKittrick set out to make a slacker comedy in the same vein
04:04as Kevin Smith's Clerks, which is a far better option if that's the kind of vibe you're after.
04:09While it has a cult following among people who work in the service industry, the majority
04:13of viewers will hate this unfunny and offensive flick.
04:17"...don't f— with people that handle your food."
04:21Chaos Theory stars Reynolds as author and so-called efficiency expert Frank Allen.
04:26He lives by a time-tested routine, but that all changes when his wife Susan moves his
04:31watch by ten minutes as a joke.
04:33The consequences of that joke end up being huge.
04:35Frank's meticulous schedule falls apart, and his life spirals out of control one inch at
04:40a time.
04:41It's not the best Ryan Reynolds film you'll ever see, but despite its 30 percent rating
04:45on Rotten Tomatoes, Chaos Theory is actually pretty funny, and holds up surprisingly well.
04:50Perhaps his romantic dramedy is more enjoyable these days because mid-budget movies about
04:54adults living regular lives are a dying breed.
04:57That's a real shame, so if you miss that sort of thing, you should definitely give Chaos
05:01Theory a chance.
05:02As Ruth Stein wrote in a review for the San Francisco Chronicle,
05:05"...by creating likable characters and putting them in situations that seem plausible, if
05:09a bit of a stretch, the film succeeds."
05:12Fireflies in the Garden boasts an impressive cast, but even with all the talent involved,
05:17it's still a complete snoozefest.
05:19Reynolds plays another bearded and bespeckled author here.
05:22This time around, he's a romance novelist, one who has a complicated relationship with
05:26his English professor father.
05:28Old wounds are reopened after a sudden death in the family, but as tragic as this particular
05:32moment is, it's hard to care about the tailors and their drama, because none of them are
05:36the least bit interesting.
05:38What attracted the likes of Willem Dafoe, Julia Roberts, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Emily
05:42Watson to this project is a mystery that critics puzzled over.
05:46J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader wrote,
05:48"...this histrionic family drama must have looked good on paper to attract such a big-name
05:52cast, but on the screen it comes off as glib, rushed, and underdeveloped."
05:57Jones was just one of many reviewers to trash the film, which has a measly 21 percent rating
06:02on Rotten Tomatoes.
06:03Fireflies in the Garden actually premiered at Sundance nearly four years before it hit
06:07theaters in 2011, so producers clearly knew it wasn't a winner.
06:12The New York Post called its eventual release, quote, "...a token theatrical burial."
06:18When it premiered in 2011, the DC film Green Lantern bombed at the box office and was hammered
06:23by critics, earning a 25 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
06:27Starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, this big-screen adaptation sees him given the powers
06:31of the Green Lantern and taken to an alien planet.
06:34Like many of Reynolds' less successful projects, it looked great on paper, but Green Lantern
06:39ended up flopping so hard that it almost derailed Reynolds' career.
06:42As Reynolds told Chiragi P. Henson as part of Variety's Actors on Actors series,
06:47"...I represented the death of the superhero for a while.
06:50After Green Lantern, I was pretty much unhirable."
06:53But what makes Green Lantern so terrible, exactly?
06:56Fans of the comics could still fill several pages answering that question, but perhaps
07:00the main reason that the film failed so spectacularly is because it simply looks terrible.
07:05For some reason, the powers-that-be decided to render Reynolds' superhero suit with CGI,
07:09rather than just making a physical costume, and the result was completely cartoonish.
07:14Reynolds agreed to that assessment, and even made several jokes in the Deadpool movies
07:18mocking himself for the film's failure.
07:20"...and please don't make the super suit green.
07:23Or animated."
07:25The only reason to stick this one on is for a look at Reynolds and Blake Lively before
07:29they tied the knot.
07:30They met during production in 2010, and were married two years later.
07:33"...What is this?
07:34Why is your skin green?
07:36Why are you glowing?
07:37What the hell is with that mask?"
07:39"...It came with the outfit."
07:42The change-up is like Freaky Friday in that it's about two people who swap bodies, but
07:46that's where the similarities start and end.
07:48Freaky Friday is funny and charming, while the change-up is anything but.
07:51It follows two guys who magically end up in each other's skin after peeing in a fountain
07:56while wishing that they had the other's lives.
07:58With a setup like that, is it any wonder the movie scored just 26 percent on Rotten
08:02Tomatoes?
08:03This flat comedy flick comes from the director of Wedding Crashers and the writers of The
08:07Hangover, both of which did considerably better with the critics.
08:10The change-up is meant to be similarly endearing in a frank sort of way, with both men learning
08:15what they appreciate about their lives.
08:17That's all well and good, but the lack of laughs leading up to this moment means that
08:20it simply fails as a comedy.
08:22Critic Will Leitch didn't mince words with his review for Yahoo Entertainment, stating,
08:27The change-up is cynical, tone-deaf junk that has nothing to contribute to the world but
08:31smirks and a general dismissive attitude toward human connection and interaction.
08:37The worst movie on the list in terms of Rotten Tomatoes scores, with a rating of just 12
08:42percent, is 2013's R.I.P.D.
08:44This supernatural Ryan Reynolds flop found a second life on Netflix at one stage, but
08:49it seems like that was more out of morbid curiosity than anything else.
08:52On top of a ridiculous name that stands for Rest in Peace Department, the film has little
08:57going for it in terms of plot.
08:58Reynolds plays a Boston cop who gets killed by his partner and is subsequently recruited
09:03into the R.I.P.D., which hunts for souls that have escaped judgment.
09:07His new partner, played by Jeff Bridges, is a Wild West lawman with old-school sensibilities.
09:11It isn't particularly funny or clever, and the real mystery here is why Jeff Bridges
09:16is slumming it in such a silly movie.
09:18Eon's Evening Standard put it harshly, but fairly, when they published in their review,
09:22"...who wouldn't be dispirited by this script, which, when not plagiarizing Men in Black,
09:27plays out like an episode of Doctor Who aimed at dumb, fascistic teens?"
09:31Although Bridges and Reynolds make a good team, the material and visuals let them down
09:35big time.
09:36It's no wonder R.I.P.D. bombed hard at the box office, losing somewhere around $140 million.
09:43"...This is a joke."
09:45"...Hilarious.
09:46Ha ha ha."
09:49Selfless is another body swap movie starring Ryan Reynolds, but it's thankfully not another
09:54Freaky Friday clone.
09:55In this one, Ben Kingsley's Damian Hale jumps into a younger body, played by Reynolds, which
10:00he's been assured was grown in a lab.
10:02Of course, this isn't true, and soon the younger Damian starts having flashbacks to the personal
10:07and military life of his body's original owner.
10:09One of the biggest issues here is that the whole body swap thing isn't actually pulled
10:13off very well, with Reynolds making little effort to match Kingsley's accent and mannerisms.
10:18Selfless is meant to make viewers question the morality of changing your body, but the
10:22plot is so vapid and shallow that it's hard to get past the surface.
10:26Cathy Mayo of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine wrote in her review,
10:29"...I do wonder what the filmmakers might have done if they had avoided the trite, explosive
10:34tropes of an action film for something that actually touched upon the many issues raised
10:39by their basic body swap plot."
10:41In the end, Selfless reveals itself to be a dumb movie masquerading as a clever one.
10:46Most critics agreed, with only 18 percent of them giving positive reviews.
10:51Technically, the main character of 2016's Criminal is CIA agent Bill Pope, played by
10:56Ryan Reynolds.
10:57However, Pope's memories are implanted into a convict named Jericho Stewart, played by
11:01Kevin Costner after his death.
11:03Pope was killed on the job before he could reveal to his superiors where he hid an important
11:08informant, and now it's up to Jericho to fill in the gaps.
11:11Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman also star, which makes the fact that Criminal stinks
11:15even more, well, criminal.
11:17With so much talent, how did this picture end up with a score of 30 percent on Rotten
11:21Tomatoes?
11:22For one thing, Criminal never really explains what's actually going on.
11:25It's not clear what plot Pope was trying to foil, or why Jericho is suddenly a nice guy.
11:30The goals are the big bad and murky at best, and the film can't decide how serious it is.
11:35In her two-star review, Sarah Michelle Fetters of Movie Freak wrote,
11:39"...Douglas Cook and David Weisberg's science fiction-flavored scenario attempts to have
11:43it multiple ways.
11:45On one hand, playing events with deathly, bleakly murderous seriousness, while the others
11:49crafting a comic book-flavored absurdist vibe where anything and everything is suddenly
11:54possible."
11:56Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is a follow-up to The Hitman's Bodyguard, which paired up Ryan
12:00Reynolds with Samuel L. Jackson.
12:02Despite the first film, the sequel didn't score well with critics on Rotten Tomatoes,
12:06but it also did better with regular moviegoers, notching an audience score of 79 percent.
12:11Even though the plot of the follow-up film has some holes, having the two A-listers team
12:14up with Salma Hayek makes for some fun moments and solid gags.
12:18"...He is the most annoying motherf----- on planet Earth."
12:23"...Excuse me!
12:24I have 20-20 hearing."
12:26Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard isn't an Oscar-worthy movie by any stretch, but it's certainly an
12:31entertaining one.
12:32It's packed full of exciting action sequences and makes for a fun 100 minutes, if you're
12:37willing to suspend your disbelief.
12:39While the majority of critics were unable to do that, the film scored a disappointing
12:4326 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
12:45Jeanette Katsoulis of The New York Times had a good time watching it anyway.
12:49She wrote,
12:50"...Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is loud, lazy, profane, and well-nigh incoherent.
12:55It's also at times quite funny, with a goofy vulgarity that made me giggle."
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