The 10 Worst Movies Starring Great Actresses

Image via Complex Original

The unfortunate star: Penélope Cruz

As a moment of solace for Penélope Cruz, she should look at 2001's notoriously awful Captain Corelli's Mandolin in this way: At least she worked with Nicolas Cage before he jumped the shark, began picking one laughably bad project after another, and started bringing good actresses down with him, like Diane Kruger (National Treasure: Book of Secrets), Rose Byrne (Knowing), and Nicole Kidman (Trespass).

In Captain Corelli's Mandolin, the usually vibrant and magnetic Cruz is at her dullest, establishing little to no chemistry with Cage as they play a couple of star-crossed lovers getting hot and heavy in Greece, circa 1940. The worst kind of Oscar-baiting period drama, director John Madden's film looks gorgeous on its surface but lacks anything beneath its glossy cinematography and scenic visuals.

The unfortunate star: Cate Blanchett

One sign of an actress who's undeniably excellent: Even when everything else around her sucks in a movie, she's never less than impressive. That's the case in Charlotte Gray, in which Cate Blanchett maintains a charismatic hold on viewers' attention throughout as a tough Scottish woman who joins the French Resistance to save her boyfriend during World War II.

It's just unfortunate that director Gillian Armstrong can't settle upon one distinct, palpable narrative direction, alternating from a war film to a sappy love story without ever grabbing hold of one firmly enough.

The unfortunate star: Sophia Loren

Putting Sophia Loren and Clark Gable together in a romantic comedy seems like a no-brainer for both audiences and critics, no? Well, so did the idea of casting Johnny Depp to play against Angelina Jolie in The Tourist, and look how that one turned out.

Essentially the '60s equivalent to The Tourist, It Started in Naples stars two of the era's biggest names in a flat look at two people from differing walks of life who fall in love while engaging in a heated custody battle over an orphan. Alongside a strangely indifferent Gable, Loren comes across as the forbearer of Katherine Heigl in one of the latter's dreary rom-coms. Though, as unbelievable as this sounds, we'd watch One for the Money instead of It Started in Naples any day.

The unfortunate star: Susan Sarandon

Confession: Susan Sarandon could make a movie with Tyler Perry and we'd have to see it. One of Hollywood's sexiest cougars, she's also one of the movie industry's best actresses whenever she actually wants to be, not when she's mindlessly appearing in dreck like Adam Sandler's recent flop That's My Boy.

While Sarandon currently receives rave reviews for her new drama Arbitrage, let's take a step backward and reflect upon Noel, the 2004 ensemble drama that's basically Crash for viewers hoping to sob during the Christmas season. Several gifted actors, including Penélope Cruz and Alan Arkin, fall victim to actor turned director Chazz Palminteri's overly sappy storytelling and lifeless camerawork, but it's Sarandon, playing a divorced woman tending to her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother, whose plight stings the most.

The unfortunate star: Natalie Portman

If you know anything about Free Zone, congratulations, you're quite the art-house cinema enthusiast. For everyone else, Natalie Portman's little-seen, wisely overlooked drama set in the Middle East was hardly a blip on their moviegoing radar back in 2005, and remains just as anonymous today.

To be fair, though, Portman and everyone involved in Free Zone clearly made the film with the best intentions; it's just that, for all of the story's potentially insightful viewpoints, the delivery of the material is unbelievably dull, stifled by a lack of chemistry between Portman and her co-stars and an overabundance of dry, robotic dialogue.

The unfortunate star: Audrey Hepburn

By 1981, Audrey Hepburn was already a 33-year veteran in Hollywood, so it's not like she needed to make more movies or prove herself to anyone. Like Robert De Niro in recent years, though, the star of classics like Roman Holiday (1953) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) felt the need to collect another paycheck when she signed onto director Peter Bogdanovich's ensemble comedy They All Laughed.

Better described as "they all suffered," They All Laughed is a wildly uneven screwball flick that can't ever decide if its a romantic affair or a silly, slapstick diversion. And through it all, Hepburn, playing a woman who suspects her husband is being unfaithful, sleepwalks toward the dollar bill at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

The unfortunate star: Meryl Streep

You can't blame multiple Academy Award winner Meryl Streep for thinking that Lions for Lambs was a wise career movie. On paper, it appears to be foolproof Oscar bait. Directed by Robert Redford, it's a straight-faced drama about our country's dealings in both Afghanistan and in governmental offices, and was set to co-star Tom Cruise in a role that would pit him one-on-one against Streep. All you'd need was for someone to go "full retard" and Lions for Lambs could have swept the awards without even trying.

Well, if only Redford had sought a few script revisions before shooting. Instead, he went with Matthew Michael Carnahan's plodding, preachy, and unsubtle take on the material, and gifted actors like Streep, Derek Luke, and a young Andrew Garfield, all of whom give fine performances, were left helpless. In terms of "worst movies on otherwise stellar résumés," Streep could, of course, do a lot worse than a film as prestigious as Lions for Lambs. Not much worse, mind you, but still.

The unfortunate star: Charlize Theron

An action-adventure flick starring Charlize Theron in skintight black latex? You don't have to be a kinky fetishist to get excited by that sales pitch, and when you consider that Aeon Flux was based on the popular MTV animated series, it's must-see status heightens even further.

But despite Theron's surprisingly nimble athleticism and knack for executing dangerous stunts and snappy fight choreography, Aeon Flux is a stylistic action misfire on par with Milla Jovovich's Ultraviolet, or, gasp, Halle Berry's Catwoman.

The unfortunate star: Hilary Swank

Before 2007, Hilary Swank was on pace to become the next Meryl Streep. Through her searing performances in Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), the powerful actress had earned A-list clout and, with that, the ability to pick and choose whichever projects she desired. It's too bad that her sense of discernment had little in common with her on-screen talents.

Freedom Writers, the cliched "white savior" teacher flick she both starred in and executive produced, waved the first red flag when it opened in January 2007. Three months later, something far worse arrived. In The Reaping, a silly, scare-free horror dud about the Bible's plagues being unleashed on a small Louisiana community, underperformed at the box office while embarrassing itself before the unlucky few who paid to see it.

It's the kind of movie an actress makes when she's trying to find her footing in Hollywood, hoping to prove she can lead a project, not when she's looking to capitalize on a pair of Academy Award victories. Halle Berry must have watched The Reaping and said to herself, "Finally, I don't feel so bad about Catwoman anymore."

The unfortunate star: Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor is held in such high regard by pop culture historians that not even a film as inept as 1968's Boom! can tarnish her legacy, but, alas, that doesn't mean it's any less worthy of contempt. Until the forthcoming Lifetime movie starring Lindsay Lohan as Taylor debuts, this flick is the icon's lowest moment.

Co-starring her then-husband, Richard Burton, Boom! finds a totally unhinged Taylor playing an alcohol-guzzling, forever angry woman living on a far-away island where she rules over a group of tepid servants and secretly worries about her health. It's a showy type of role that can either bring forth multiple awards and/or nominations or simply make the actor involved look humorously, and unintentionally, nutty. Obviously, in Boom!'s case, it's the latter.