A great cast does not always make for a great film. Sadly, some scripts totally waste the incredible talent assembled for the movie or spend all their budget on the cast. Here are 10 terrible movies despite having amazing casts!
10. Cats (2019)
Starting with source material from T.S. Eliot, music from Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the fifth-longest-running Broadway show in history – you’ve got all the makings of a winner. Then you assemble Judy Dench, James Gordon, and Idris Elba… and it still bombs. Reviewers describe it as pompous inconsequential gibberish. Garish. Tedious. Cats‘ IMDb rating is 2.8! ‘Nuff said.
9. The Dead Don’t Die (2019)
Director Jim Jarmusch has made some highly-rated films, but this isn’t one of them. It’s natural to have high hopes with a stellar cast that includes Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, and Tom Waits. But instead of a fun horror-comedy, viewers get 1 hour and 44 minutes of boredom and stupidity.
8. All The King’s Men (2006)
Based on the titular 1946 novel — and previously made into a film in 1949 — All the King’s Men is loosely based on former Louisiana Governor Huey Long. The stellar cast includes Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, Patricia Clarkson, and more. Reviewers called it a plodding, boring soap opera that’s forgettable.
7. Daybreakers (2019)
This film offers a fresh twist on vampire tales with a plague that turns most of humanity into vampires and the race to develop synthetic blood. It stars Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill. As Roger Ebert wrote, this intriguing premise could have become a parable about our dwindling resources. Instead, the movie ends by devolving into bloodshed and combat.
6. The Counselor (2013)
Ridley Scott directing? Check. Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt starring? Double check. Written by Cormac McCarthy? Triple check. Movies don’t look any better on paper than this. So where did it fail? The abstract storytelling was hard to follow. The dialogue was too cryptic. This one forgot to put the thrill in “thriller.”
5. The Monuments Men (2014)
Directed, co-written by, and starring George Clooney, this World War II film about rescuing art masterpieces from German thieves is no Ocean’s Eleven or Three Kings. The ensemble cast includes Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, and more. The attempt at trying to mix a period drama with whimsical elements was so out of context it fell flat.
4. The Great Gatsby (2014)
With source material from one of literature’s best works by F. Scott Fitzgerald and a decent 1974 version as a guide, there was a lot to work with here. The stellar cast included Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Toby McGuire, Joel Edgerton, and more. Unfortunately, a lot went wrong. The soundtrack was a disaster. It was overlong, overdone, and ultimately dull.
3. Gangster Squad (2013)
Taking us back to 1949, Gangster Squad aspired to be a film noir classic and assembled a top-notch cast. It stars Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Frank Grillo, Mirielle Enos, and Michael Pena. But this one’s no Mulholland Falls or Chinatown — not by a long shot.
2. Glass Onion (2022)
Rian Johnson’s previous film Knives Out was a fresh and keep-you-guessing whodunit. Glass Onion was met with high expectations. Sequels rarely top the original, and this is no exception. Daniel Craig returned, adding Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Hugh Grant, Ethan Hawke, Natasha Lyonne, and more. But this one simply fell flat for many viewers.
1. American Hustle (2013)
Wait, you say, didn’t this one get nominated for 10 Oscars? Yes, but Hollywood often gets behind films with a lot of big stars. This one had them. Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Michael Peña, and more. It had a lot of starshine but many people found this film overhyped and boring.
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