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Fan Favorite Movies Critics Hated – Boo On Them
By Reese Calder
January 15, 2025
The chasm between what critics and audiences think about a given movie is sometimes too vast for even Dominic Toretto from The Fast and the Furious to jump over in a juiced-up car.
While the tastes of moviegoers and critics often align — think Barbie, Oppenheimer, and The Dark Knight — other times, audiences embrace popcorn flicks that critics give a thumbs-down.
Each movie profiled here had an instant box office appeal or developed a cult following on home videos. Critics dismissed these divisive movies because they either don’t understand the target audience, review every movie as though it aspired to Oscar glory, or get their jollies tearing things apart that bring joy to others.
And, of course, sometimes, the movies are terrible. Whatever the reason, critics don’t understand these fan-favorite movies.
Venom (2018)
Tom Hardy plays investigative journalist Eddie Brock, who unwillingly becomes the host of the titular alien symbiote Venom. The movie also stars Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott.
Venom made a super $856.1 million globally and spawned a franchise, with Venom: The Last Dance. Critics, however, spit venom at the movie, describing it as “chaotic,” “noisy,” an “incoherent mess,” and “close to an hour of tedium” before Venom appears on-screen.
At least Jake Coyle of the Associated Press conceded that “train wrecks like these aren’t supposed to be this entertaining.”
Transformers (2007)
Michael Bay’s Transformers kicked off an enduring live-action franchise based on Hasbro’s “robots in disguise” toys. The movie made a star out of Shia LaBeouf and also stars Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Anderson, and Megan Fox.
The first movie in the Transformers franchise made $709.7 million worldwide and so far spawned six sequels and prequels. While some critics begrudgingly praised Bay for the action sequences and special effects, they described the movie overall as “goofy fun” and “preposterous.” Los Angeles Times‘ Kenneth Turan dismissed the humans as “oddly lifeless, doing little besides marking time until those big toys fill the screen.”
As the series soldiers on with no end in sight, critics have become increasingly hostile toward Transformers movies except for the 2018 prequel Bumblebee.
The Boondock Saints (1999)
This action-thriller, directed by Troy Duffy, stars Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as Irish fraternal twin brothers. The pair become vigilantes after killing a couple of Russian mafia goons in self-defense. Reedus went on to achieve greater fame as Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead.
Although The Boondock Saints bombed upon its initial release and got eviscerated by critics, the movie became a hit on home video, earning more than $50 million in sales. Its cult success led to the 2009 sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day as well as a third film currently in development. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club wrote that The Boondock Saints is “all style and no substance, a film so gleeful in its endorsement of vigilante justice that it almost veers (or ascends) into self-parody.”
Billy Madison (1995)
Although Billy Madison didn’t laugh all the way to the bank during its theatrical run, the movie became a cult favorite and is now considered one of Sandler’s better films, for what that is worth. Critics described the movie as “joyously obnoxious,” “one of the most execrable movies ever made,” and “a few bursts of sheer, irresistible idiocy.”
Hocus Pocus (1993)
This beloved Halloween film stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as three witch sisters who are unwittingly resurrected by a teenage boy (Omri Katz) on Halloween night in Salem, Massachusetts.
Although Walt Disney Pictures’ Hocus Pocus didn’t cast a spell on moviegoers or critics during its initial theatrical release, the movie became a hit on home video and developed a huge cult following. This led to 2022’s Hocus Pocus 2, which featured all three lead actresses reprising their roles as the Sanderson sisters, as well as a third film currently in development. Critics dismissed the original film as “harmlessly hokey but never much more than mediocre,” “a lot of hysterical shrieking,” and “a pretty lackluster affair.”
Suicide Squad (2016)
This third installment of the now-defunct DC Extended Universe focuses on the titular supervillain team and stars Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and Jay Hernandez.
Suicide Squad made a killer $749.2 million globally and spawned a spin-off (2020’s Bird of Prey) and a stand-alone sequel (2021’s imaginatively titled The Suicide Squad). Critics found the 2016 movie had a “muddled plot, thinly written characters, and choppy directing.”
Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote, “Suicide Squad is just bad. It’s ugly and boring, a toxic combination that means the film’s highly fetishized violence doesn’t even have the exciting tingle of the wicked or the taboo.” The Wall Street Journal summed up the obnoxious flick in two words: “ugly trash.”
Space Jam (1996)
This combo live-action/animated sports comedy stars Michael Jordan as himself alongside Looney Tunes characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, and Pepé Le Pew.
Space Jam made more than $250 million worldwide and spawned a sequel, 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy. Although the latter, starring LeBron James, got panned by critics and bombed, the first Space Jam didn’t get glowing reviews either, despite appealing to young basketball fans.
TV Guide described Space Jam as a “cynical attempt to cash in on the popularity of Warner Bros. cartoon characters and basketball player Michael Jordan, inspired by a Nike commercial.”
The Notebook (2004)
The Notebook adapts a romance novel by Nicholas Sparks — a man who has made a lucrative career out of penning sappy romantic fantasies. The Notebook takes place in the 1940s and stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.
The box office hit won several awards, including the prestigious MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, and is considered one of the best romantic movies in history. Fans of Sparks, Gosling, and tear-jerking romances love The Notebook, but critics did not.
Years before Gosling became an A-list star and Oscar nominee for his performance in Barbie, William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote that Gosling “just doesn’t have the kind of star power or chemistry with McAdams to anchor this kind of minor-league Gone With the Wind.”
Showgirls (1995)
Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls stars Elizabeth Berkley as Nomi Malone, a drifter with a mysterious past who arrives in Las Vegas determined to become the lead showgirl in the Stardust’s production of Goddess. The so-called “All About Eve in a G-string” stars Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, and Glenn Plummer.
Showgirls bombed upon its initial release, and critics tore it apart, especially Berkley’s over-the-top performance. Then something magical happened: audiences began to embrace the maligned film as a camp classic.
Now viewed as an instantly quotable, so-bad-its-funny satire, Showgirls became one of MGM’s biggest hits ever on home video. Midnight screenings of the movie started to happen where audience members dressed up as the characters and shouted lines at the screen à la The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
At a recent screening of the movie at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, Berkley tearfully thanked the LGBT community for “getting it” and giving Showgirls redemption and the last laugh.
Hook (1991)
This fantasy-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg stars Robin Williams as Peter Pan, Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook, and Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell. The movie is about an adult Peter Pan who has forgotten his childhood and must return to Neverland to save his kidnapped children from Captain Hook.
Although commercially successful and nominated for five Oscars, Hook didn’t hook the audience expected for a Spielberg blockbuster. Critics said that Hook “would only appeal to the baby boomer generation” and that its “whole construction is really nothing more than a hook on which to hang a new version of the Peter Pan story.” Still, the score created by John Williams is considered one of the composer’s best, and Hook has since developed a cult following.
The Hangover Part II (2011)
This sequel to The Hangover and the second film in the trilogy stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Jeffrey Tambor, Justin Bartha, and Paul Giamatti. This time the guys travel to Thailand for Stu’s (Helms) wedding and again experience a collective blackout.
The Hangover Part II became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy during its run, making $586.8 million worldwide. Unlike the first film, however, critics found less to laugh about in round two.
Variety called the sequel a “faded copy of its predecessor superimposed on a more brightly colored background.” Others said that Part II “lacked surprises” and found the humor “raunchier” and “crueler.” The Hangover Part II received two Razzie nominations, including Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel.
National Treasure (2004)
In National Treasure, Nicolas Cage plays treasure hunter and cryptographer Benjamin Franklin Gates, who searches for a Freemason treasure, the location of which is hidden on the flip side of the Declaration of Independence. The action-adventure heist film directed by Jon Turteltaub also stars Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha, and Christopher Plummer.
National Treasure became a monumental crowd-pleaser, grossing $347.5 million worldwide and spawning a sequel, 2007’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
Roger Ebert described the film as “so silly that the Monty Python version could use the same screenplay, line for line.” In 2020, producer Jerry Bruckheimer reportedly said that a third film was in the works with the original cast returning, but Cage downplayed his potential involvement during a Q&A in 2022.
Twilight (2008)
Based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer, Twilight explores the burgeoning love triangle between a sullen human teen (Kristen Stewart) and two supernatural hotties: a sparkly vampire (Robert Pattinson) and a hunky werewolf (Taylor Lautner).
Twilight ignited a pop-culture phenomenon and grossed $408.4 million worldwide against a budget of only $37 million. The blockbuster hit spawned The Twilight Saga franchise, consisting of five movies. USA Today dismissed the first movie as “unintentionally funny and quickly forgettable.”
Stewart and Pattinson had an offscreen romance that lasted most of the duration of The Twilight Saga, which fans became more interested in than the movies. When they split in real life, the magical spell these movies had over young adults also got broken. Unlike the immortal vampires featured in Twilight, the movie did not age well.
Taken (2008)
In the action-thriller Taken, Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA agent with a “very particular set of skills” who must rescue his daughter and her friend after they are kidnapped by Albanian human traffickers while traveling in France. Two sequels followed in 2012 and 2014.
Taken kicked off Neeson’s unexpected late-career turn as a movie-action hero. The movie made a killer $226.8 million worldwide against its modest $25 million budget, so it’s no wonder that fans lined up for more. Neeson’s “Taken speech” even became an Internet meme. Critics, however, were less taken with Taken, calling it “preposterous,” “brainless,” and “unintentionally silly.”
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
This action franchise about street racing, family, and heists began with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, a bromance between street racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and undercover police officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker). The franchise includes 11 films, the most recent of which is 2023’s Fast X.
2001’s The Fast and the Furious grossed $207.3 million worldwide against a relatively miniscule budget of $38 million compared to what some of the sequels cost. More than two decades after the original, it’s only now that the franchise seems as if it is running on fumes as fans start to move on and box office dips.
