Alright, let’s get on with it: the bad. While this year had some very inventive plot lines provided by “Inception,” brilliant scripts as seen in “The Social Network,” and beautiful performances, such as Natalie Portman in “Black Swan,” there were some bad films in 2010. Here, we’ll salute some of the year’s disappointments, which all seemed to prove one thing—some very bankable stars can’t even be relied on to make a box office hit. Years ago, Julia Roberts starring in a film was enough to make it successful, but not the case this year. We saw this time and time again in 2010. The only conclusion one can make is that behind the stars in a film, an audience needs a little bit more substance to go along with it.
The romantic comedy “Leap Year,” starring Matthew Goode and Amy Adams, released in January, was completely awful. About the story of a woman who decides to go to Ireland to propose to her fiancée on leap year, she experiences troubles getting to Dublin on time and along the way falls in love with her guide, played by Matthew Goode. Cue the clichés and horrible dialogue. January also gave us “Tooth Fairy” with
Dwayne Johnson and “The Spy Next Door” with Jackie Chan. February faired a little better for moviegoers with the popular (albeit crappy) romantic comedy “Dear John,” where Channing Tatum’s acting method is the same as a tree stump: wooden, stoic, and boring. Another awful romantic comedy came in the form of “Valentine’s Day” (Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, among others) which was staler than a box of week old Valentine’s Day chocolates. “The Last Song” with Miley Cyrus was released in March, showing that with each Nicolas Sparks adaptation, the films continue to get progressively worse. Cyrus should stop trying to prove to everyone she’s not a little girl anymore and take an acting class or two.
In June, the Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise starrer, “Knight and Day” failed to make anything more than a whimper at the box office, showing that the audience continues to be alienated by Tom Cruise. In May, Jake Gyllenhaal’s sword and sandal epic “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time” was very disappointing, despite the subtitle’s suggestion that there might have been a sequel. The Ridley Scott directed “Robin Hood,” proved to be the poor man’s “Gladiator” in disguise, with Russell Crowe passing off Maximus as the titular character of this film. Needless to say, it didn’t work. Both films were released in May. In July, some of the duds were “Dinner with Schmucks” with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” (yes, this was a real title of a film), and Nic Cage trying to clamber out of financial debt by starring in Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
“Love and Other Drugs” as well
as “Burlesque” proved to be substandard in November. The first film starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. While the two stars showed a lot of skin (and I mean a lot), the disparate storylines involving their love story and the criticism of America’s pharmaceutical industries didn’t ground it enough to be satisfying. “Burlesque” proved that Christina Aguilera can put out a bad album and a bad performance in her first screen debut all within the same calendar year. Even Cher or Stanley Tucci couldn’t elevate this film to loftier heights.
December received the disappointing “The Tourist,” starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Maybe the audience doesn’t like Johnny Depp playing somebody normal—Depp saw a lot more box office success with “Alice in Wonderland,” but not much here. Other bad films throughout the year included Kristen Bell in her romantic comedy with Josh Duhamel “When in Rome.” Don’t remember it? It’s okay, nobody else does either. Kristen Bell stars as a woman in love with some other than a man—her job. We know, because she literally says “I am in love with my job” showing that the age old “show, don’t tell” strategy to basic, good story telling is too much work for some screenwriters. Once Bell’s Beth goes to Rome and steals some coins from a love fountain, it gives a bunch of men absurd reasons to act like buffoons while they chase Beth around because they’re in love with her. Among the men, are actors Jon Heder (going nowhere fast), Dax Shepherd, and Danny DeVito. Josh Duhamel is her suitor, who is really in love with Beth, but she’s convinced that it’s not true love because she thinks she stole one of his
coins from the love fountain. Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is. Jackie Chan, while successful in the summer’s “Karate Kid,” started the year off with a thud with January’s very lame “The Spy Next Door.” “The A-Team” was one of this summer’s many offerings, and it was another disappointment. While audience members must have been laughing, physics teachers were crying as in one of the year’s most ridiculous action sequences, an army tank is dropped from a plane to shoot at another plane. Star Bradley Cooper controls how fast he is falling by firing the tank. This film did little to capitalize on the success of the television show of the same name.
The romantic comedy “Leap Year,” starring Matthew Goode and Amy Adams, released in January, was completely awful. About the story of a woman who decides to go to Ireland to propose to her fiancée on leap year, she experiences troubles getting to Dublin on time and along the way falls in love with her guide, played by Matthew Goode. Cue the clichés and horrible dialogue. January also gave us “Tooth Fairy” with
Dwayne Johnson and “The Spy Next Door” with Jackie Chan. February faired a little better for moviegoers with the popular (albeit crappy) romantic comedy “Dear John,” where Channing Tatum’s acting method is the same as a tree stump: wooden, stoic, and boring. Another awful romantic comedy came in the form of “Valentine’s Day” (Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, among others) which was staler than a box of week old Valentine’s Day chocolates. “The Last Song” with Miley Cyrus was released in March, showing that with each Nicolas Sparks adaptation, the films continue to get progressively worse. Cyrus should stop trying to prove to everyone she’s not a little girl anymore and take an acting class or two. In June, the Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise starrer, “Knight and Day” failed to make anything more than a whimper at the box office, showing that the audience continues to be alienated by Tom Cruise. In May, Jake Gyllenhaal’s sword and sandal epic “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time” was very disappointing, despite the subtitle’s suggestion that there might have been a sequel. The Ridley Scott directed “Robin Hood,” proved to be the poor man’s “Gladiator” in disguise, with Russell Crowe passing off Maximus as the titular character of this film. Needless to say, it didn’t work. Both films were released in May. In July, some of the duds were “Dinner with Schmucks” with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” (yes, this was a real title of a film), and Nic Cage trying to clamber out of financial debt by starring in Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
“Love and Other Drugs” as well
as “Burlesque” proved to be substandard in November. The first film starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. While the two stars showed a lot of skin (and I mean a lot), the disparate storylines involving their love story and the criticism of America’s pharmaceutical industries didn’t ground it enough to be satisfying. “Burlesque” proved that Christina Aguilera can put out a bad album and a bad performance in her first screen debut all within the same calendar year. Even Cher or Stanley Tucci couldn’t elevate this film to loftier heights. December received the disappointing “The Tourist,” starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Maybe the audience doesn’t like Johnny Depp playing somebody normal—Depp saw a lot more box office success with “Alice in Wonderland,” but not much here. Other bad films throughout the year included Kristen Bell in her romantic comedy with Josh Duhamel “When in Rome.” Don’t remember it? It’s okay, nobody else does either. Kristen Bell stars as a woman in love with some other than a man—her job. We know, because she literally says “I am in love with my job” showing that the age old “show, don’t tell” strategy to basic, good story telling is too much work for some screenwriters. Once Bell’s Beth goes to Rome and steals some coins from a love fountain, it gives a bunch of men absurd reasons to act like buffoons while they chase Beth around because they’re in love with her. Among the men, are actors Jon Heder (going nowhere fast), Dax Shepherd, and Danny DeVito. Josh Duhamel is her suitor, who is really in love with Beth, but she’s convinced that it’s not true love because she thinks she stole one of his
coins from the love fountain. Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is. Jackie Chan, while successful in the summer’s “Karate Kid,” started the year off with a thud with January’s very lame “The Spy Next Door.” “The A-Team” was one of this summer’s many offerings, and it was another disappointment. While audience members must have been laughing, physics teachers were crying as in one of the year’s most ridiculous action sequences, an army tank is dropped from a plane to shoot at another plane. Star Bradley Cooper controls how fast he is falling by firing the tank. This film did little to capitalize on the success of the television show of the same name. 
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