The Most Disappointing Movies of 2025

It’s predictable that any year-end movie list will include ‘most underrated’ picks. As we approach the new year, let’s finish our review of 2025 by looking at the movies that didn’t live up to the hype and those that were perhaps a little too praised.

One positive takeaway this year is that not many films were truly disappointing or overhyped. While we found ten movies that deserved more attention, our list of overrated films is much shorter – only eight titles. That suggests a lot of films lived up to expectations, which is a good sign.

This isn’t a list of the worst movies of the year, or even necessarily bad ones. It’s a collection of films that surprisingly did well – either financially, with critics, or both. These are the movies that, I suspect, people will be surprised to remember in the future, wondering how they became such a big hit or award winner.

I might be mistaken, and I wouldn’t be surprised to be told so in the future – maybe in ten or twenty years. By then, websites might not even exist anymore. If you want to reach me, you’ll probably have to send a message directly to my brain via whatever brain-computer interface we’re all using at that point.

Without further depressive ado, let’s get to the picks…

The Most Overrated Movies of 2025

A Minecraft Movie

The year’s biggest movie in the U.S. (and the fourth largest worldwide so far) was A Minecraft Movie. It wasn’t a hit because of its humor, thrills, or creativity. Instead, it became popular because people started going to theaters and jokingly shouting at the screen. While A Minecraft Movie wasn’t terrible – and that’s saying something for video game adaptations, making it almost like the Casablanca of the genre – many better films performed poorly at the box office. The fact that a movie’s success could depend on how fun it was to shout at is frankly discouraging.

How to Train Your Dragon

Look, I really loved the animated How to Train Your Dragon, so going into this live-action version felt… strange. Honestly, it played out almost exactly like the original – a serious case of déjà vu. It’s a beautiful film, no doubt, but completely unnecessary. Still, audiences and many critics seemed to adore it! It was a huge box office success, racked up mostly positive reviews (though I wasn’t among them!), and boasts a whopping 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. I suppose that incredible Dragon soundtrack just carries everything, even a retread of a familiar story.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I’d give The Fantastic Four: First Steps a lukewarm recommendation at best. I actually received a lot of negative feedback for my generally positive review because I admitted I found it a little disappointing and didn’t quite match my expectations for the Fantastic Four. In my opinion, Thunderbolts was a much better Marvel movie that year, but most critics and audiences disagreed.

Frankenstein

I was really disappointed with Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, despite how visually stunning it is – especially for a Netflix series. It starts strong, with a compelling scene of the creature (played well by Jacob Elordi) attacking sailors in the Arctic. However, once Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein begins to narrate his story, the series lost its momentum, mirroring Frankenstein’s own disappointment with his creation. Surprisingly, considering how I felt, the show has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. On Letterboxd, it’s currently ranked as one of del Toro’s best works, even surpassing films like Pacific Rim, The Shape of Water, and both Hellboy movies, falling only behind Pan’s Labyrinth and Pinocchio.

Materialists

I went into Celine Song’s second film, Materialists, with really high hopes, especially since I absolutely loved Past Lives – it’s easily one of my favorite movies of the last decade. Like Past Lives, this one also centers around a complicated love triangle. But despite a great cast, I felt the film couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a lighthearted romantic comedy or a warning about treating relationships like business deals, and those two tones just didn’t mesh for me. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. But it turns out a lot of people disagreed! Materialists actually became a huge international hit, earning over $100 million worldwide – which is fantastic. I’m really happy for Celine Song and hope this success lets her continue making the films she’s passionate about. It just didn’t quite click with me the way her first one did.

Jay Kelly

Describing Jay Kelly in one word? Just… okay. The acting is fine, the story is predictable, and the visuals are nothing special. It stars George Clooney and Adam Sandler in a story we’ve seen before – a warning about choosing fame over family. (It’s ironic coming from incredibly famous and wealthy actors, though.)

I’m honestly baffled by all the praise this movie received, with some calling it groundbreaking. I’m trying to understand the hype before Jay Kelly inevitably gets a bunch of Oscar nominations.

Sentimental Value

It’s interesting that Jay Kelly received so much attention because another, highly praised film, Sentimental Value, explored very similar themes at the same time. Sentimental Value follows an aging film director (Stellan Skarsgård) who hopes to mend his relationship with his daughter (Renate Reinsve), a successful actress, through a deeply personal film about their family’s difficult history. The movie raises questions about the balance between an artist’s personal life and work, whether the emotional toll on family is justified, and even if filmmakers genuinely enjoy the process. It’s a surprisingly unusual premise for a film today. While Sentimental Value is good, I’m a bit surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response. If you enjoyed it, I highly recommend checking out The Worst Person in the World, which shares the same director and lead actress.

Hamnet

Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal deliver captivating performances in Hamnet, and the film’s incredibly moving ending is largely responsible for the widespread acclaim it’s received. While visually beautiful and well-acted throughout, much of the movie feels somewhat distant and emotionally restrained. Director Chloe Zhao focuses more on showcasing the actors and staging scenes reminiscent of Hamlet than on deeply exploring the relationship between Agnes and William Shakespeare, or how personal tragedy shaped Shakespeare’s genius. This makes Hamnet a solid film, but after watching it twice, it’s unclear if it truly reaches greatness.

The Worst Movie of Every Decade, According to Letterboxd

1920s: The Broadway Melody (1929)

With an average Letterboxd score of 2.4, The Broadway Melody is known as one of the worst films to ever win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. This explains why it’s the lowest-rated movie from the 1920s on the site. While it’s not actually the worst film of the decade, it’s surprisingly popular today because people often watch all the Best Picture winners—and this one doesn’t hold up well!

1930s: Reefer Madness (1938)

With an average Letterboxd score of 2.1, this film is famously bad. Originally made as a scare tactic (and known as Tell Your Children), it warns against the supposed dangers of marijuana. It’s a classic example of “reefer madness” propaganda – over-the-top and unintentionally funny. Released in 1938, it hasn’t aged well, and many now watch it because it’s so ridiculous.

1940s: I Accuse My Parents (1944)

The average Letterboxd score for this film is 2.0. A contributing factor to low scores, particularly for older movies, is Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). This show is well-known for showcasing and popularizing bad movies. I Accuse My Parents is a particularly famous and highly-regarded episode, often cited by the show’s creator, Joel Hodgson, as a favorite, and consistently ranks among the most popular with viewers.

1950s: King Dinosaur (1955)

The average Letterboxd score for this film is 1.8. It originally aired on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) in 1990 as part of the show’s second season. It’s a classic B-movie from Bert I. Gordon, known for other similarly fun films that were featured on MST3K, including The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth vs. the Spider, War of the Colossal Beast, The Magic Sword, Tormented, Beginning of the End, and Village of the Giants.

1960s: Monster A Go-Go (1965)

With an average Letterboxd score of just 1.5, Monster A Go-Go is widely considered one of the worst films ever made. Directed (uncredited) by exploitation filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis, this incredibly low-budget movie follows an astronaut who returns to Earth transformed into a monster. It was filmed in two separate parts, resulting in a disjointed and nonsensical story. Even before it gained notoriety as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode in its fourth season, Monster A Go-Go was infamous for its poor quality, and it frequently appears on “worst films of all time” lists. This reputation definitely gets it noticed on Letterboxd.

1970s: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

The average Letterboxd score for it is just 1.5 out of 5. While many casual Star Wars fans dislike The Rise of Skywalker, it’s a masterpiece compared to The Star Wars Holiday Special. This infamous TV movie was made quickly to capitalize on the success of the first Star Wars film while waiting to begin production on The Empire Strikes Back. It’s a painful 100 minutes filled with silly singing, bad comedy, and bizarre celebrity cameos (like Art Carney and Bea Arthur!). It does include one decent cartoon, which notably introduces Boba Fett. However, it lives up to its terrible reputation – and might even be worse. Despite never being officially released on DVD or Blu-ray, its legend has grown, becoming a common reference point for truly awful pop culture. If something is being compared to The Star Wars Holiday Special, it’s not just bad – it’s deeply embarrassing.

1980s: Going Overboard (1989)

With an average Letterboxd score of just 1.4, Adam Sandler’s early film, Going Overboard, is widely considered a disaster. This cruise ship-based “comedy,” featuring beauty pageant contestants, is remarkably unfunny. Interestingly, IMDb notes the film was famously rushed into production – written in just three days, cast in one, prepped in two, and filmed in six. Despite this incredibly quick turnaround, it somehow manages to be even worse than you’d expect.

1990s: Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

With an average Letterboxd score of just 1.5, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is widely considered a terrible film. Despite having a budget almost double that of the first Mortal Kombat movie, it looks incredibly cheap – the special effects are so bad they wouldn’t even be acceptable for a Sega CD game. This sequel proves that money can’t solve all problems. While the original Kombat wasn’t a masterpiece, it was at least watchable. Annihilation is so poor that it feels like a deliberate attempt to scam investors, similar to the plot of The Producers.

2000s: Dragonball Evolution (2009)

With an average Letterboxd score of 0.9, this live-action adaptation of the popular manga and anime series Dragonball has earned the dubious honor of being the lowest-rated 2000s movie on the platform. The film was criticized for casting white actors in roles originally belonging to Asian characters and for straying significantly from the source material. The screenwriter, Ben Ramsey, later publicly apologized for his work on the film, admitting he lacked passion for the project and the result was a failure. However, his apology hasn’t improved the film’s reception among Letterboxd users.

2010s: Swiped

With an average Letterboxd score of just 1.1, this Noah Centineo comedy has become notorious. The film, about a college student who enlists his awkward roommate to build a dating app, has surpassed M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender as the lowest-rated movie from the 2010s on the platform. One reviewer perfectly sums it up by saying they show it to people when they want to upset them – a pretty harsh critique!

2020s: War of the Worlds (2025)

This new take on H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds stars Ice Cube, but surprisingly, he isn’t the hero. In fact, the humans aren’t the ones who save the day – it’s Amazon. The movie essentially turns Amazon into the solution to an alien invasion. For example, a key device needed to stop the aliens is delivered to Ice Cube’s character by – you guessed it – an Amazon delivery driver using their drone service, Prime Air, which the driver conveniently points out is “the future of delivery!” It’s pretty surprising, given all this, that the movie has received such negative reviews on Letterboxd.

2025-12-19 22:30