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25 Movies That Are So Awful, People Stopped Watching Halfway Through

"I turned it off after 20 minutes and apologized to everyone for putting it on."

Liz Richardson
by Liz Richardson

BuzzFeed Staff

Have you ever been excited to see a movie, BUT THEN, once you started watching it, the whole thing was so bad you couldn’t even finish it?

FX

Well, redditor u/Bobafettinspace recently asked the question: "Did you ever stop watching a movie midway because it was simply awful? Which one and at what moment?"

Paramount Pictures

Reddit users didn't hold back and shared PLENTY of movies they disliked so much, they couldn't even finish them. Here are the results:

1. Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan stare at each other intensely in "Fifty Shades of Grey"
Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection

Suggested by: u/AutomaticAssociate86

"Wanted to see what the hype was about. Started the movie, realized how terrible it was after 15 minutes or so, and turned it off. Decided to give the book a try. Realized how terrible that was too, and gave up after a few chapters. I don't get it — it's just not good."

—u/LookMa_ImOnReddit

2. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Gal Gadot running as Wonder Woman in "Wonder Woman 1984"
Clay Enos / Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Wonder Woman 1984 flying around the mall right after she grew up. DONE."

—u/Bielzabutt

"I lost all interest after the whole Egypt fight."

—u/RiyeshRahate

"I LOVED the first movie. I can still rewatch it happily. Sure, it had a couple of issues, but overall it was truly the Wonder Woman movie I had waited 40 years to see.

Wonder Woman 1984 was TERRIBLE and incredibly disappointing. The script was just god awful and had so many holes. Some of the special effects were just bad, too. Like, you have that kind of budget and this is what you come up with??? I watched it and have zero desire to watch it again.

I hope the third one is better."

—u/KLWK

3. Holmes & Watson (2018)

Will Ferrel and John C Reilly shocked in a scene in the Queen in "Holmes & Watson"
Sony Pictures Releasing

"I turned it off after 20 minutes and apologized to everyone for putting it on."

—u/LastOfSane

"I actually sat through the entire thing. Why? I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.

I think the thing that hurt the most was that there were a few good jokes and bits in there. When Steve Coogan showed up with a tattoo gun grafted to his arm, I chuckled — especially because Steve Coogan has a talent for taking even terrible things and making them watchable. Plus, the idea of a villain with a tattoo gun on his arm is actually kind of cool. Also, Hugh Laurie as Mycroft Holmes wasn't bad. Not remarkable, but not bad.

Everything else, especially everything involving Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly trying to play off each other, was awful. With Will Ferrell in particular, it felt like he kept needing to show up anyone else who was in a scene with him, so he'd just add on to an already terrible joke and keep going. It was like he dared everyone on set to try to keep up with him, and even when they got tired of the joke, he kept insisting that he could be funnier and just kept doing the same thing. I felt awful for both John C. Reilly and Lauren Lapkus as they both had to do that horrible onion gag.

Not worth a watch. See Cats instead."

—u/SimonCallahan

4. Divergent (2014)

Shailene Woodley and Theo James waiting in a room with other people in "Divergent"
Jaap Buitendijk / Summit Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection

"My wife and I have been having movie nights at home during quarantine and decided to give [Divergent] a shot since Hunger Games was decent. Watched about 45 mins before stopping.

The film (and I assume books) are such a blatant ripoff/poor amalgamation of Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and every other young adult dystopian series that your eyes roll to the back of your head every 30 seconds."

—u/Prodigy195

5. The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Ansel Elgort running in an action scene in "The Divergent Series: Insurgent"
Andrew Cooper / Summit Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The Insurgent movie. The book was decent, the movie was boring."

—u/Iseeasong

"The movies were so much worse — especially the last movie. They had like three scenes from the book, and the rest was just random. Even the ending wasn't the same."

—u/Strawberryjam2525

6. Knock Knock (2015)

Keanu Reeves looks confused during a scene in "Knock Knock"
Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Knock Knock involves, among many things, two women sexually assaulting Keanu Reeves to get him to cheat on his wife. Then, the women acting like some Harley Quinn/Jack Nicholson’s joker from the old school Batman as they hold him hostage.

It was atrociously bad and impressively terrible acting by Reeves. Worst acting I’ve seen from him, tbh."

—u/Filmcricket

7. The Last Airbender (2010)

Noah Ringer as Aang in "The Last Airbender"
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. I tried to watch it once, and I managed to force myself to watch it for 15 minutes. I then turned it off and never finished it. Gosh awful. Not representative of the show AT ALL."

—u/YouSpokeofInnocence

"I tried to watch this movie; only made it to the first line of dialogue. Immediately turned it off."

—u/XignaChronos

"The Last Airbender movie. [For me,] it was after the group of earthbenders did Zumba to levitate a pebble."

—u/NiamhHA

8. Charlie's Angels (2019)

Kristen Stewart, Ella Balinska, and Naomi Scott in "Charlie's Angels"
Chiabella James / Columbia / Courtesy Everett Collection

"I watched about 10 minutes of it and just could not do it. I was there for the original TV series. I was there for the Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore movie, which was FABULOUS — but the 2019 one just lacked any charisma and energy...In my opinion, the show was simply miscast. After having actors like Angelina Jolie, Milla Jovovich, and Charlize Theron in action roles, the actors chosen for Charlie's Angels (2019) seemed like high school cheerleaders."

—u/superbloggity

9. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Princess Leia uses the force in space to propel herself to safety in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

"The Last Jedi — when Leia force-pulled her way through the vacuum of space."

—u/basedlandchad

"At first, I was like, 'Oh wow, so that's how they're going to kill off Leia,' and thought it was a decent send-off. But then, the Mary Poppins sequence happened, and I pretty much lost all interest in the movie."

—u/AscensoNaciente

10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Ramon Rodriguez and Shia LaBeouf in "Transformers 2"
Robert Zuckerman / Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The second Transformers movie. I can't recall which scene exactly, but it was definitely one of those cringey jokes from those two robots."

—u/gaboduarte

"I cut it off as soon as the girl grew a robot tail. Killed the entire series for me. Never saw another one."

—u/2smart2argue

11. Sausage Party (2016)

Brenda (voiced by Kristen Wiig), Frank (voiced by Seth Rogen), Sammy Bagel Jr (voiced by Edward Norton), and Vash (voiced by David Krumholtz) looking shocked in "Sausage Party"
Sony Pictures Releasing / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Not halfway, but I couldn't make it past the opening song of Sausage Party.

I like dark and edgy humor. Carlin was a favorite comedian of mine. Sausage Party was just...numbing. I remember getting weirdly embarrassed and hoping that my roommates wouldn't hear what I was watching through the walls."

—u/Black_Bud

12. The Hottie and the Nottie (2008)

Paris Hilton and Christine Lakin in "The Hottie and the Nottie"
Regent Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection

"I was in a mall in the UK and got asked to go to a free screening of The Hottie and the Nottie. This had never happened to me before, so I went for the experience...No way I was staying through that monstrosity."

—u/OpenShut

13. Artemis Fowl (2020)

Ferdia Shaw in "Artemis Fowl"
Nicola Dove / Disney+ / Courtesy Everett Collection

"I stopped watching Artemis Fowl at around the time the child says he's better than Einstein and everyone agrees."

—u/killerhuman688

14. The Kissing Booth (2018)

Joey King lifts a blindfold and looks surprised to see Jacob Elordi during a scene in "The Kissing Booth"
Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The Kissing Booth. My mom thought it would be like a funny rom-com, so we decided to watch it together. Plot twist: It wasn’t funny or romantic."

—u/PrincessPitstains

15. Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Eddie Redmayne and Edward Hogg in "Jupiter Ascending"
Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Walked out of a movie theatre two hours into its 2.5 hour runtime. It’s literally just a [hot mess], not complemented by Oscar Winner (that year) Eddie Redmayne’s bland performance."

—u/Carwb

16. The Poison Rose (2019)

Morgan Freeman in "The Poison Rose"
Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The Poison Rose. It’s got John Travolta, Morgan Freeman, Brendan Fraser. Twenty minutes in, I got fed up with the bad film noir attempt and switched it off."

—u/SubtleStutterDude

"I saw this years ago when it first came out and was so bored with it that I blocked it from my memory. Maybe I fell asleep — I dunno. Then, a few months ago, I saw it on Netflix, didn't even look familiar, but it had Travolta and Freeman so I thought I'd give it a shot. Was 30 minutes in before I realized I'd seen it, and it wasn't going to get any better. So yeah, that movie was so bad, I accidentally saw it more than once."

—u/bandastalo

17. The Spirit (2008)

Gabriel Macht, Sarah Paulson, and Dan Lauria have a tense conversation in "The Spirit"
Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Frank Miller’s The Spirit. It’s completely ridiculous. The story, the dialogue — all terrible. And I have pretty low standards."

—u/ChillyAl

18. The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005)

The iconic Lavagirl and Sharkboy in a classroom during the movie
Dimension Films

"Sharkboy and Lavagirl — as an adult. Which sucks, because as a kid I thought it was the coolest movie I’d ever seen, but not even the nostalgia aspect saved it for me after growing up."

—u/throwaway304596824

"That's the only movie I can think of that is both legitimately 100% a bad movie and needed to be made that way anyway."

—u/KeplerNova

19. Kangaroo Jack (2003)

Anthony Anderson screaming when he sees Kangaroo Jack
Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Kangaroo Jack is trash, and I was practically crying with boredom when I saw it. And yes, I'm an Aussie."

—u/Zeruvi

"Aussie here and I feel your pain. One of the worst Australian movies we’ve had the misfortune of producing."

—u/Arkady2009

20. Eragon (2006)

Edward Speleers with a dragon in the movie "Eragon"
20th Century Fox Film Corp. / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Dragon goes into the sky as a baby, comes down fully grown, and says her name is Sapphira. Just, no. Eragon getting the name from Brom was a HUGE deal later."

—u/AgentSilentCat

"I loved the books so much and was excited for the movies. Why did they have to be so terrible?"

—u/fabz_martins

21. Steel (1997)

Shaquille O'Nea as a superherol in "Steel"
Warner Brothers

"While in high school, I watched Steel, a completely forgettable movie starring Shaq, with a group of friends on its opening night. About one-third of the way through, we all decided that we weren't going to waste any more of our time watching that trash heap of a movie, so we got up and left. As we were leaving, a bunch of other moviegoers also left."

—u/MightyCaseyStruckOut

22. The Internship (2013)

A shocked Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in "The Internship"
20th Century Fox Film Corp. / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The Internship with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. It felt like a Google commercial with the occasional joke thrown in."

—u/extramustardy

23. Spring Breakers (2012)

Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, and Vanessa Hudgens in "Spring Breakers"
Annapurna Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

"I saw it at the theater with a friend of mine, and we walked out of it 30 minutes in. Can't remember the exact moment, but I just couldn't watch it any longer lol."

—u/amiffedcat

24. Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017)

Diamond White, Yousef Erakat, Tyler Perry, Patrice Lovely, Lexy Panterra, Inanna Sarkis dressed in Halloween costumes during a scene in "Boo 2! A Madea Halloween"
Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection

"A girl I was dating at the time and her friends wanted to watch it. I loath Tyler Perry movies, and watching this one was a marathon of the senses of sight and sound."

—u/gil_beard

25. Cats (2019)

Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy in "Cats"
Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Cats. After three minutes."

—u/General_Kenobi-66

Do you agree with this list? Which "awful" movies would you add? Let us know in the comments below!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.