After a rocky period in the 80s, the 1990s seemed poised to return to the glory days of the 1970s filmmaking. With the birth of the Sundance Film Festival and the rise of Miramax, independent film became more readily available than ever. New works from masters such as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, as well as debut films by future auteurs Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, and Wes Anderson.
The 1990s also saw their share of schlock in the form of big-budget blockbusters and intimate character pieces. A general love of film drove people to the cinema, making these terrible movies into big hits. But it's hard not to find these films embarrassing today, even to those nostalgic for the days of packed movie theaters.
Rocky V (1990)
Just like its main character, the Rocky franchise is remarkably resilient. What started as a gritty and realistic drama in 1976 rolled with the punches as moviegoing tastes changed, and by 1985 had become an over-the-top action film. But the win streak ended with the bloated and dour Rocky V. It was a misjudged attempt to bring the series back to its roots. It disappointed the thousands who went to theaters expecting another victory for the Italian Stallion.
Dying Young (1991)
During the 1990s, Julia Roberts ascended from popular actor to Hollywood megastar, beginning the decade with Pretty Woman and later starring in The Pelican Brief, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Notting Hill. But not all of her hits have stood the test of time, such as the weepy Joel Schumacher film Dying Young. Roberts and co-star Campbell Scott make a lovely couple, but the movie’s heavy-handed themes overpower any chemistry, making for a manipulative watch.
Out for Justice (1991)
Few action stars are as inexplicable as Steven Seagal, an untalented and uncharismatic guy in a ponytail who was one of the most bankable actors of the early 90s. Honestly, one could replace Out for Justice with any Seagal flick besides Under Siege, listless entries with three-word titles like Hard to Kill or Marked for Death. Despite their box office regularity, they all have the same unengaging plot and uncompelling action scenes.
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Without question, Freddy Krueger is one of the best horror icons, a terrifying dream demon played with magnetic malice by Robert Englund. But as time passed and the sequels piled up, Freddy lost his edge of menace and became little more than a goofy quipster. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, which saw a group of teens uncovering the secret of dispatching with Freddy forever. Despite a nifty sequence involving a powerful hearing aid, Freddy’s Dead features some of the worst bits in the franchise, including a Nintendo-inspired nightmare and an already-dated cameo by Johnny Depp.
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! (1991)
Throughout the 80s, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were locked in an over-pumped arms race as each beefy action hero tried to outdo the other. In a hilariously mean trick, Schwarzenegger feigned interest in a terrible script about a tough cop and his overbearing mother. When he heard about his rival’s plans, Stallone swooped in to star in the movie, not realizing he had been set up. As a result, Stallone followed the worst Rocky movie with the even worse comedy, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!
Rising Sun (1993)
On paper, the idea of a political thriller based on a Michael Crichton book, directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes sounds fantastic. In practice, Rising Sun is a hateful piece of nastiness. As the detectives, played by Snipes and Connery, uncover the truth about a horrible murder, the movie becomes increasingly cruel in its portrayal of the Japanese, making a movie that’s too disgusting to enjoy.
Son in Law (1993)
It’s hard to explain the 90s popularity of Pauly Shore, the son of an influential comedy club owner who somehow became a movie star. Honestly, Shore worked well as a supporting character in 1992’s Encino Man, where co-stars Brendan Fraser and Sean Astin make his hippie schtick easier to take. But Son in Law puts Shore alone in the spotlight, hoping his fish-out-of-water shenanigans would work with moviegoers. And they did at the time, helping the movie make $36.4 million on an $8 million budget.
Dennis the Menace (1993)
Dennis the Menace was a pretty tame kid despite his name when cartoonist Hank Ketchum debuted him in a 1951 comic strip. By 1993, the kid seemed bland, especially compared to Kevin McCallister of the Home Alone movies that Dennis the Menace producers wanted to build on. To be fair, Christopher Lloyd is pretty scary as Switchblade Sam, and you can’t complain about Walter Matthau as harried neighbor Mr. Wilson, but that hardly justifies the $117 million Dennis the Menace raked in.
Hook (1991)
Steven Spielberg released two of his greatest films in the 1990s, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. He also released some of his worst movies, including the Peter Pan riff Hook. On paper, the story of a grown Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, sounds like a slam dunk, especially with Dustin Hoffman as Hook and Bob Hoskins as Smee. In practice, Hook is a joyless slog, as sickeningly sweet as the frosting-slathered treats imagined by the lost boys.
Sliver (1993)
Wild as it may seem in today’s more modest culture, steamy thrillers like Basic Instinct and Final Analysis were all the rage. And no one ruled the genre like Sharon Stone. But Stone couldn’t elevate a lackluster script from Joe Eszterhas (writer of Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and Jade) and dull direction by journeyman Philip Noyce. Sliver’s popularity makes one hope that these spicy flicks stay in the past.
Disclosure (1994)
In theory, movies would be a great way to raise awareness of workplace harassment. But Barry Levinson’s Disclosure, based on a novel by Michael Crichton, treats the issue like a fun intellectual exercise. Instead of drawing attention to how women have suffered under the practice, Disclosure makes a man (Michael Douglas) the victim and a woman (Demi Moore) the harasser. Even more ridiculous than the virtual reality worlds the characters visit, the harassment plot makes a mockery of this important issue.
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
In 1994, Jim Carrey went from cast member on the sketch show In Living Color to the biggest comedy star on the planet, thanks to the release of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb & Dumber, and The Mask. That sudden popularity was enough to drive viewers to the theater for Carrey’s sole sequel movie, the incredibly dull When Nature Calls. Carrey’s Ventura persona already felt tired, and Steve Odenkirk’s hacky script and direction offer no new ideas.
A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
Today, we know Keanu Reeves to be the most exceptionally kind man in Hollywood and an action icon. But it took a while for Reeves to reach this respected state, his reputation harmed by poorly chosen projects like A Walk in the Clouds. Reeves fails to make an impression as a World War II vet trying to reconnect with his wife (Debra Messing) while dealing with PTSD. Even worse is the schmaltzy story that takes too many unearned leaps, relying on melodrama to make plot leaps work.
The Net (1995)
The internet was still a new thing to most Americans in the 1990s, and as much as it excited people, it also terrified them. This combination of wonder, trepidation, and utter misunderstanding made audiences hungry for a movie like The Net. No part of The Net resembles real internet functions, especially not in the 1990s, in which bad guys completely undo poor Sandra Bullock’s life via a dial-up modem. There’s some hokey fun to be had rewatching The Net now, but it cannot be enjoyed as a real blockbuster.
Independence Day (1996)
Yes, you read that right. Independence Day is a bad movie. You might remember Independence Day as the fun blockbuster in which a swaggering Will Smith and a wisecracking Jeff Goldblum fight aliens. But you’ve forgotten the plodding pacing, nonsense leaps of plot logic, and lame humor. The disaster scenes still pack a punch, and the leads have chemistry, but not enough to make Independence Day enjoyable.
Eraser (1996)
Stallone took a couple of hits on this list, so it’s only fair that Arnold Schwarzenegger gets mocked too. Throughout the 90s, Schwarzenegger stretched his comedic muscles, even playing a kinder, friendlier T-800 in Terminator 2. But with Eraser, Arnie plays the action straight, to subpar results. A solid supporting cast, including the always agreeable Vanessa Williams, cannot overcome the movie’s tired action.
Jack (1996)
Every great filmmaker has low points, but it’s hard to understand how Francis Ford Coppola went from making classics like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now to making Jack. Gone is all the complexity of Coppola’s previous work, replaced by Robin Williams playing a ten-year-old boy who ages prematurely because of a rare disease. Annoying when it's not melodramatic, Jack still debuted at #1 at the box office and earned $58.6 million in the U.S.
Space Jam (1996)
If you’re of a certain age, you might be angry to see Space Jam on this list. A spin-off of Nike commercials that paired Michael Jordan with the Looney Tunes, Space Jam has a legion of supporters. But those supporters can’t separate their nostalgia from the actual film, which feels exactly like a sneaker ad stretched to feature length, filled with lame jokes and basketball player cameos.
Batman & Robin (1997)
Batman was flying high when he entered the 90s, still soaring on the success of Tim Burton’s 1989 movie. But by 1997, both Burton and star Michael Keaton had left the franchise, with the former replaced by stylish director Joel Schumacher and the latter replaced by Val Kilmer and then George Clooney. Some may enjoy Uma Thurman’s campy Poison Ivy but Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who plays villain Mr. Freeze, seem bored with the overblown production.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Shockingly, Spielberg appears on this list twice and Michael Crichton three times because there’s just no defending the lackluster follow-up to Jurassic Park. Where the original had a sense of awe and danger befitting its subject, The Lost World veers wildly between too silly and too cruel.
Godzilla (1998)
No one in their right mind expects Godzilla movies to be good in the traditional sense. But we expect them to be fun, and that’s where the American movie falls flat. Once again, Independence Day director Roland Emmerich pretends that occasional action scenes make up for a dull pace and lame humor. Worse, Godzilla reimagines the titular kaiju as a giant iguana, robbing the famous monster of all its menace.
Antz (1998)
In a strange coincidence, Antz hit the theaters within six weeks of Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. While both films were hits, A Bugs Life tripled the earnings of its Dreamworks competitor, and it’s easy to see why. Antz went for a slightly more sophisticated approach, casting Woody Allen, of all people, as a neurotic worker ant and giving the characters hideous designs. The movie attracted kids and adults, but no one looks back fondly on Antz.
City of Angels (1998)
It’s not just the wild performances that make Nicolas Cage such a fan favorite. He brings that commitment to even a dull picture like City of Angels. An ill-conceived American remake of the transcendent Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire, City of Angels stars Cage as an angel who gives up mortality to be with a woman (Meg Ryan). Cage is predictably weird, but his off-kilter portrayal works against the film, which ignores its stranger aspects for treacly sentimentality.
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
So great was the excitement surrounding the first new Star Wars movie in sixteen years that even those leaving The Phantom Menace told themselves they saw a good movie. It wasn’t until the third or fourth viewing that most fans realized that, outside of a couple of cool fight scenes and a fantastic John Williams score, The Phantom Menace was unbelievably boring and ugly, a horrific combination of nonsense plotting and flat performances.
The World is Not Enough (1999)
He may have the right look and a great debut in GoldenEye, but Pierce Brosnan will be remembered as one of the most underwhelming Bond. And his worst movie is unquestionably The World is Not Enough, in which Brosnan’s 007 fights to protect an heiress (Sophie Marceau) from a mad assassin (Robert Carlyle). Somehow incomprehensible and pedestrian, The World is Not Enough feels more like a parody of Bond movies than the real thing.
