10 Actors With The Worst Average Rotten Tomatoes Scores
Rotten Tomatoes, the well-known critic aggregate site, has been the go-to for cinema enthusiasts for the past 25 years. However, actors with the lowest scores may feel differently about its popularity. With its extensive library of everything hot or not, and the hallmark “certified fresh” stamp of quality, Rotten Tomatoes has become a tastemaker for the TV and movie industry. So it means something when an actor’s entire career is dotted with neon green splats of awful reviews.
While it’s true many hands make a film, there is something to be said about the performances at the heart of each production and whether they resonate with an audience. With critics and audiences often in disagreement with one another, it is often far more telling when they actually agree. Compiling this list was a deep dive of both audience and critic scores and using both the average and median to best ascertain who truly belongs in the limelight of shame.
While many of these actors are stuck in the critical flophouse, it cannot be understated that the bodies of work produced by each one are still something to be admired. With that said, it’s never the sign of a great career to be trapped in perpetual mediocrity. Here are the actors with the worst scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
10. Megan Fox
Megan Fox’s career has only been graced with a single movie with a certified fresh rating, the tense micro-thriller Till Death.
9. Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl bumbled around Tinsel Town in a myriad of bad movies. While her reputation may never fully recover, it remains to be seen if her career ever will.
8. Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler is a confounding figure. Proving he has the acting chops to deliver moving performances in movies such as Hustle, Uncut Gems, and Funny People, Sandler is as confounding a performer as Nicolas Cage.
7. Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher has always found some success with more comedic performances. While retrospectively, Dude, Where’s My Car? has been revitalized almost ironically for how intensely brain-dead it is, some of Kutcher’s other work such as Killers and Just Married have lingered as mediocre reminders of his difficulty transitioning to the big screen.
6. Jessica Alba
With universally panned flicks such as Honey and The Eye, it’s quickly apparent how little there is to her performances. With her most recent film, Killer Anonymous, snatching a much-maligned 0% critic score, it’s difficult to see anything remarkable for Alba in the near future.
5. Kevin James
Kevin James has turned his signature character of the overweight buffoon into a commercial lightning rod. Never quite venturing outside his wheelhouse, it would appear that Kevin is fairly comfortable with where he and his fanbase are.
4. Steven Seagal
With many of his movies serving as cash grabs and ego projects, it could be argued Seagal himself may have been the pioneer of the “Geezer Teaser.”
3. Hilary Duff
It’s unfortunate to have seen her fall from grace as she transitioned from TV to movies releasing a string of awful box office flops.
2. Taylor Lautner
Fumbling through a series of poorly received action flicks such as Abduction and Tracers it seems Taylor may have found a home with several others on this list with none other than Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions.
1. Rob Schneider
Despite his comedic success with Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalow, Schneider’s career rarely peaks above the 30% and an atrocious median of 21%. Maybe, no matter what critics may say, you really can do it.
The incredibly popular critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes has been the go-to for cinema enthusiasts for 25 years, but some actors with the lowest scores may feel differently about its popularity. With its extensive library of everything hot or not, and the hallmark “certified fresh” stamp of quality, Rotten Tomatoes has become a tastemaker for the TV and movie industry. So it means something when an actor’s entire career is dotted with neon green splats of awful reviews. While it’s true many hands make a film, there is something to be said about the performances at the heart of each production and whether they resonate with an audience.
With critics and audiences often in disagreement with one another, it is often far more telling when they actually agree. Compiling this list was a deep dive of both audience and critic scores and using both the average and median to best ascertain who truly belongs in the limelight of shame. While many of these actors are stuck in the critical flophouse, it cannot be understated that the bodies of work produced by each one are still something to be admired. With that said, it’s never the sign of a great career to be trapped in perpetual mediocrity. Here are the actors with the worst scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
10 Megan Fox
What could be said about Megan Fox that hasn’t already been blasted across the critical landscape since her role as Mikaela Banes in Transformers. While her antagonistic relationship with Michael Bay landed her in hot water, she still managed to produce a sizeable body of work in her nearly two decades in the movie industry. Regrettably, it’s been largely a miss for the actress as her resume has only been graced with a single movie with a certified fresh rating, the tense micro-thriller Till Death. Luckily for Megan Fox, public opinion seems to have shifted over the years on what she may be capable of with a recent renewed interest in the underappreciated cult hit Jennifer’s Body.
9 Katherine Heigl
A reportedly difficult-to-work-with actress, Katherine Heigl has been in a consistent slump since her departure from Grey’s Anatomy back in 2009. With her only certified fresh movie being 2007’s Knocked UpHeigl has bumbled around Tinsel Town in a myriad of bad movies. Starring alongside another actor on the list in Killers, the atrocious Bon Jovi vehicle New Year’s Eve, and universally lampooned One for the Money, Heigl continued to flounder well into the later half of the decade. While her reputation may never fully recover, it remains to be seen if her career ever will.
8 Adam Sandler
Perhaps one of the most frustrating actors on this list, Adam Sandler is a divisive figure. Proving he has the acting chops to deliver moving performances in movies such as Hustle, Uncut Gems, and Funny People, Sandler is as confounding a performer as Nicolas Cage. The driving force behind Happy Madison Productions, Adam finds himself often leading schlock like Jack and Jill, Blended, Grown Ups 1 and 2, and The Do-Over. Knowing exactly where his comfort zone is, it’s almost admirable that Sandler is simply just making back-to-back location flicks with his close circle of friends.
7 Ashton Kutcher
Catapulting to stardom with his role as Kelso in That 70s Show and starring alongside Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men, Ashton Kutcher has always found some success with more comedic performances. Vacillating between try-hard serious and bumbling idiot don’t seem to be helping Ashton either. While retrospectively, Dude, Where’s My Car? has been revitalized almost ironically for how intensely brain-dead it is, some of Kutcher’s other work such as Killers and Just Married have lingered as mediocre reminders of his difficulty transitioning to the big screen.
6 Jessica Alba
There was a time when Jessica Alba’s name seemed to be everywhere. With her breakout cult-hit Dark Angel, Alba seemed poised to ascend to leading lady material. Unfortunately, critics felt otherwise. With occasional glimmers of some decent films in her repertoire, it seems all too apparent that Alba isn’t exactly delivering on her star power. With universally panned flicks such as Honey and The Eyeit’s quickly apparent how little there is to her performances. With her most recent film, Killer Anonymous, snatching a much-maligned 0% critic score, It’s difficult to see anything remarkable for Alba in the near future.
5 Kevin James
One of the Happy Madison alumni, Kevin James has ridden a wave of success over the years despite his near abysmal critical reception. With Hitch, Monster House, and TV show King of Queens being some his most well-received work, the comedic actor would find eventually household notoriety until his most infamous role as Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Even without critical success, Kevin James has turned his signature character of the overweight buffoon into a commercial lightning rod. Never quite venturing outside his wheelhouse, it would appear that Kevin is fairly comfortable with where he and his fanbase are.
4 Steven Seagal
While it may not come as much of surprise to anyone that the self-proclaimed martial arts master would grace this list, it’s difficult to remember a time when Seagal’s name actually commanded respect. The incredibly cringey Steven Seagal has been a prolific actor and filmmaker starring in or producing 78 movies since 1988. For those keeping score at home, that’s an average of just over two movies every year. With many of his movies serving as cash grabs and ego projects, it could be argued Seagal himself may have been the pioneer of the “Geezer Teaser.”
3 Hilary Duff
Finding her stardom under the House of Mouse, Hilary Duff’s name became as synonymous as her on-screen persona Lizzie McGuire, A show that catapulted her into the early 2000s limelight, and was even slated for a Lizzie McGuire reboot. It’s unfortunate, then, to have seen her fall from grace as she transitioned from TV to movies releasing a string of awful box office flops. It wouldn’t be until 2015 that the Material Girls star would find redemption in the series Younger playing Kelsey. Even so, Duff seems to have fallen to the wayside again with the release of The Haunting of Sharon Tate but rebounded on TV with the somewhat divisive spinoff How I Met Your Father.
2 Taylor Lautner
The child star turned teen heartthrob, Taylor Lautner’s career has been a tragedy to watch. Starring in a slew of bad movies, Lautner’s highest achievement remains his role as Jacob Black in the Twilight quadrilogy of movies. Fumbling through a series of poorly received action flicks such as Abduction and Tracers it seems Taylor may have found a home with several others on this list with none other than Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions. Only time will tell if the depressed werewolf will ever sniff out better roles, or if he’ll simply cozy up to his newfound family in the Sandler circle.
1 Rob Schneider
Ironically, the man who cemented his career doing cameos in Adam Sandler ventures shouting “you can do it,” hasn’t exactly figured out what “it” is. Spearheading a series of flops in the early 2000s, the comedian has yet to nab a single feature worth a certified fresh rating. Despite his comedic success with Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalow, Schneider’s career rarely peaks above the 30% and an atrocious median of 21%. Even so, Schneider has always maintained a successful relationship with Adam Sandler and Happy Madison Productions. Maybe, no matter what critics may say, you really can do it.
