10 Terrible Movies That Had Amazing Casts

10 Terrible Movies That Had Amazing Casts

It is hard for an actor or actress to find longevity in Hollywood and not run into a clunker. By that we mean they find themselves in a film that is, for a better word, crap. It is even more shocking when the movie cast is large and very well-known, and the movie still turns out to be a stinker.

There are many reasons for this, where even a talented movie cast can’t save the film. It could ultimately be because of the script, it could be the actors and director not seeing eye-to-eye, or it could be a number of other production issues.

We have found 10 movies whose cast couldn’t be the ultimate savior. Let us know what you think of our choices and chime in with some of your own.

10. Angels in the Outfield (1994)

You are probably saying to yourself, “But this is a Disney movie and a harmless one at that.” Disney, yes, harmless, no. The film stars Danny Glover as the Anaheim Angels’ beleaguered manager and a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Roger, who asks for divine intervention to help the Angels win, which would bring his family back together.

For a “father” to tell his son he will get his family back together if the Angels win a World Series, well, need we say more? Disney tried to take advantage of The Mighty Ducks film from 2 years earlier, but it simply didn’t work, not even with a movie cast that included Glover, Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Lloyd, Tony Danza, Brenda Fricker, Ben Johnson, Milton Davis Jr, Dermot Mulroney, Adrien Brody, and, wait for it, Matthew McConaughey.

9. The Expendables 3 (2014)

Sylvester Stallone went to the well one time too many times (for some) for The Expendables 3, an action/blow-up film that once again tried to incorporate as many action stars from the past as possible. The problem was the gimmick lost its luster after the second film and this third one didn’t have the pop the first two had. One can only hope the upcoming fourth entry in the franchise (yes, there will be a fourth) turns out more like the first than the third.

It’s a shame things didn’t work out better with this movie cast which included Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

8. The Love Guru (2008)

Talk about a misfire. Roundly skewered by critics and audiences alike, The Love Guru marks the very bottom of Mike Myers’ career (and here you thought it was The Cat in the Hat). Myers plays Pitka, a spiritualist and self-help guru whose skills are lacking in every sense of the word.

The gags (the few that are there) miss their mark consistently and the gross-out humor is just that, gross. What makes this whole thing worse is the movie cast who does little-to-nothing to save the film. They include Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good, Verne Troyer, and Ben Kingsley.

7. Movie 43 (2013)

This film was a desperate attempt to pull off what David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams were able to do 47 years ago with The Kentucky Fried Movie, which was put together an ensemble movie cast and hilarious spoofs and sketches. Well, the makers of Movie 43 did get one thing right, they were able to cobble together a great cast, only to embarrass themselves with horrible content.

The cast included Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Gerard Butler, Naomi Watts, Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Richard Gere, and Uma Thurman but what made the film even more horribly puzzling was the talent behind the camera that included Steven Brill, Peter Farrelly, Will Graham, Steve Carr, Griffin Dunne, James Stuart Duffy, Jonathan Van Tulleken, Elizabeth Banks, Patrik Forsberg, Brett Ratner, Rusty Cundieff, and James Gunn. Do yourself a favor, watch The Kentucky Fried Movie instead.

6. Nine (2009)

As one movie critic said in their review, “You’d be hard-pressed to find a better cast in any film this year.” There you have it, a film with an excellent cast surrounded by a film of much lesser value. Nine is a musical, an adaptation of the 1982 film of the same name.

The wasted movie cast includes Daniel Day-Lewis (who knew he could sing and dance?), Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Fergie, and Sophia Loren. For a film that was so poorly received by critics and audiences alike, it was nominated for four Academy Awards. Go figure.

5. Alexander (2004)

How could a film that had such an amazing movie cast, while also being written and directed by the prolific Oliver Stone, fail so miserably? Yet, this epic tale of Alexander the Great did just that.

The film tells the story of Alexander, who by age 32, had conquered and eventually amassed the world’s greatest empire ever seen. The film was made on a $155 million budget, only bringing in $167 million at the box office and its project loss of up to $71 million makes it an official box office bomb. Very sad with a cast that included Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins, Jared Leto, Rosario Dawson, and Christopher Plummer.

4. The Counselor (2013)

Another fantastic movie cast in another waste of a film. The Counselor somehow comes from director Ridley Scott and a script written by one of the greatest to put pen to paper, Cormac McCarthy. That combination alone should equate to a good, if not great, movie, but what audiences got instead was an overly violent movie with no soul.

The cast, which included Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Rosie Perez, and Rubén Blades did what they could, but ultimately it wasn’t even close to enough. It is a sad waste of talent on all fronts.

3. New Year's Eve (2011)

Taking a page out of the Love Actually files, New Year’s Eve poorly attempts to tell intertwining stories set in New York City on one of the most celebrated nights. The stories talk about love, forgiveness, hope, and second chances, but director Garry Marshall completely misses the mark, even with a talented cast at his disposal.

Too bad, because the movie cast includes stars like Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, and rocker Jon Bon Jovi. This is what happens when a script doesn’t provide its stars with redeemable material.

2. The Great Gatsby (2013)

It is often said that styles make movies. Well, styles can also destroy movies. You do, though, have to give director Baz Luhrmann credit for creativity, even though it is this (in excess) that is the ultimate downfall of his 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby.

Based on the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the film gets the Luhrmann makeover to the extreme. It’s this overindulgence that takes viewers to places they need not go, like away from the story.

The wasted movie cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Amitabh Bachchan.

1. Cannonball Run 2 (1984)

We are not sure if there has been a bigger wasted cast than in the Cannonball Run 2. Understandably the producers and main cast from the first film would want to take a shot at a sequel since the first one was so well received.

Unfortunately, they forgot to write even the barest of scripts when they put together one of the largest and most well-known casts ever to hit the screen. The waste began with returnees like Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy David Jr., Jamie Farr, and Jack Elam.

It continued with a who’s who of legends like Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Ricardo Montalbán, Telly Savalas, Susan Anton, Catherine Bach, Foster Brooks, Sid Caesar, Louis Nye, Jackie Chan, Richard Kiel, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Mel Tillis, Tony Danza, Charles Nelson Reilly, Alex Rocco, Henry Silva, Abe Vigoda, Jim Nabors, Joe Theismann, Arte Johnson, George Lindsey, and Doug McClure. Somehow, someway, they even got the Chairman of the Board, ol Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra to team up with fellow Rat Packers Martin and Davis Jr.