15 Terrible Movies With High Rotten Tomatoes Scores

Rotten Tomatoes gives out scores based on the number of critics who think a movie is good versus those critics who think a movie is bad. So, when a movie has a high critic score, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the movie is great. It just means that there were enough critics to give it a thumbs up versus a thumbs down.

While two movies can have the same score, they can be completely different in quality. Essentially, if a critic gives one movie a B, but another movie an A, the two films will still land on the good side of the rating system.

This is why Rotten Tomatoes has a few terrible movies that are rated overly high. With so many critics rating a movie decent over bad, the percentage score goes up. So, there are some movies that appear to be way better than what the end results actually depict.

It’s not like all critics are ever truly wrong. Movies are complex, especially when it comes to reviewing. That being said, there are some movies that have extremely high scores but are actually complete flops.

Here are 15 Terrible Movies With High Rotten Tomatoes Scores.

15 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (77%)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has been continuously criticized by reviewers and fans alike. South Park even dedicated a whole episode to it, complaining the whole time that Indiana Jones was forever ruined.

The 2008 film starred Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Shia LaBeouf as Mutt Williams. The movie received a 77% certified fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Many fans have complained that, while they love Indiana Jones, they hated this chapter of his story. The entire movie only appealed to those who enjoyed the nostalgia of it all. Even then, though, it still was difficult to get into.

The major issue with it is that there was too much unnecessary CGI and that the story, specifically the aliens, made it cheesy instead of thrilling.

Indiana Jones 5 will be released in 2020, but Shia LaBeouf won’t be returning. Hopefully this means that there will be a shift once more in the franchise, and that the new movie will be more like the one’s that came before it.

14 Teeth (79%)

Teeth is a horror film from 2007 that received a 79% certified fresh score from Rotten Tomatoes. The film follows a high school girl named Dawn who is regularly fighting against men who have done her wrong.

After being almost raped by a guy, Dawn realizes that she has “vagina dentata.” The whole film is based on a folk tale about a woman having a vagina filled with teeth.

The film received almost a B-rating. While critics claimed that the subtext and underlining themes gave the movie substance, many movie-goers were disappointed by the film.

Audiences had issue with the movie’s weird way of dealing with major issues such as rape and abuse. It’s strange to put those issues on the forefront of a horror movie that focuses on vagina dentata. The movie made those real issues undignified at best.

13 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (79%)

For what was originally described as the last missing piece of the Star Wars franchise before recent years, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was a major let down. When compared to Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, it was fine. However, this isn’t a list ranking movies within a franchise.

Many Star Wars fans out there might have a difficult time admitting that Revenge of the Sith wasn’t a great movie. That being said, the 2005 film has regularly been seen as having too few great parts, blistering with just downright awful and unbearable moments.

For a movie that was supposed to bridge together both trilogies, it didn’t satisfy that crave for a spectacular finale. It was a let down with many reviewers only giving it a passing score due to the comparison between it and it’s two predecessors.

12 The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (80%)

Spongebob Squarepants is Nickelodeon’s longest running television show. There have been two feature Spongebob Squarepants films. The first was from 2004 and it was entitled The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.

The second one is from 2015 and is called The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. There will be a third movie called The Spongebob Movie in 2019, though the title might be just a placeholder title.

The most recent movie, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, has an 80% certified fresh movie score on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s about a pirate called Burger-Beard who steals that ultra secret krabby patty formula from Mr. Krabbs. Spongebob and the gang go above surface to steal it back, resulting in all the characters transforming their looks.

While many critics loved it, calling it a good film for the series, many long-term fans of the Spongebob Squarepants series were incredibly disappointed at the stretch of the storyline. Many children also found the movie to be bad because the humorous moments seemed to be aimed at the adults who were watching, rather than the kids themselves.

11 Stuart Little 2 (81%)

While the 1999 film Stuart Little was a major success at the box office, critics weren’t as impressed. However, when Stuart Little 2 came around, critics had a different perspective on the tiny mouse with a human family. Therefore, Stuart Little 2 has an 81% certified fresh score from Rotten Tomatoes.

The 2002 movie follows Stuart, three years older than he was in the first movie. He meets a bird named Margalo, and… that’s about it. The two go on an adventure and the movie ends happily ever after, just like the original film.

Stuart Little 2 is less about acceptance and more about entertainment. It loses the emotional ties that made the movie work in the first place. Plus, the movie is only a little over an hour long and that’s just not enough time to get into the groove of things.

10 Sharknado (82%)

When Sharknado hit television screens in 2013, it became an unfortunate classic. Everyone was talking about it and even the critics liked it, giving it an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie is a weird science fiction/horror/comedy film. It features Tara Reid and Ian Ziering as the leads, as well as John Heard. The movie is just as it sounds: it’s a film based around a shark tornado that hits Los Angeles. Since 2013, there have been five movies in the Sharknado series in total.

While critics called it a lot of fun and entertaining to watch, audiences weren’t as pleased. Being a made-for-television film, the movie had too low of a budget for the type of CGI they ended up being used in the movie. Many viewers call the film overrated, over-hyped, and just downright dumb.

9 Drinking Buddies (83%)

Drinking Buddies is a 2013 movie that had a great cast, a cool backdrop, and a well-liked storyline. It had the potential to be a great movie. Plus, Rotten Tomatoes has given it an 83% certified fresh score.

The movie follows two coworkers at a brewery based out of Chicago who aren’t happy with their relationships and, instead, begin finding interest in each other. The movie stars Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, and Anna Kendrick. It should have been awesome, but it ended up being just downright boring.

The movie has too slow of a pace, plus the characters– even the ones who are easier to sympathize with– aren’t appealing, let alone likable. The art house film made $200,000 at the box office, but found more success through steaming services such as Netflix. The movie brings in viewers, but it also disappoints them.

8 Paranormal Activity (83%)

The 2009 movie Paranormal Activity wasn’t supposed to be successful. Once it hit theaters, the movie started getting hype through social media. From there, it grew and producers were able to produce multiple sequels. It soon became an official series.

The movie revolves around a couple who are being haunted by something. The audience watches everything through cameras set up by the couple around their house. It was a low budget film that had received a lot of hype.

Critics immediately took a liking to Paranormal Activity. It has an 83% certified fresh critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, most critics praised the film for it’s premise, rather than it’s content.

The movie can be slow and the anticipation goes on a bit too long. The acting can also use some work, as it mostly comes off a bit stale. While the idea is great, the movie itself is not.

7 Nurse Betty (84%)

Nurse Betty is a 2000 film starring Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, and Aaron Eckhart. It has a certified fresh score of 84% from Rotten Tomatoes. Not only that, but it won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival that year. 

Betty, played by Zellweger, lives an unfortunately boring life. However, she ends up being able to go into an alternative reality that makes her much more happy. The movie is a dark comedy that mixes reality with fantasy.

Critics liked the film because it was quirky and weird, a common thread with movie critics. However, fans found the movie to be superficial at best. Many people regularly find the movie to be confusing and are thus unable to follow it, with the humor going over there heads or just simply not being funny at all.

6 King Kong (84%)

The 2005 version of the 1933 film about a giant ape terrorizing a city was expensive to make. It managed to received $218 million at the box office and was directed by Peter Jackosn, who also directed The Lord of the Rings series. The movie received an 84% certified fresh score from Rotten Tomatoes.

The major problem with King Kong is that it was over three hours long. That’s three hours of obsessing over a monkey. The original movie is short and simple, but this version is overly excessive. There’s too much to it, which ends up being the downfall of it.

Director Peter Jackson loved the original King Kong and some speculate that this might have been his downfall. A lot of people think that, because Jackson loved the story so much, he wasn’t able to edit himself at all.

5 Freaky Friday (88%)

Yet another remake, Disney’s Freaky Friday starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as the mother and daughter who switch bodies. The movie ended up with an 88% certified fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Back in the day when Lindsay Lohan was at the beginning of her prime, she starred as the teenage daughter who felt misunderstood by her mother in the movie. The two unwillingly switch bodies to learn more about each other.

While the original film hit a lot of emotional points, the newer version didn’t really seem to fit modern day. It’s content is thin and it’s easy to figure out the ending. The movie also doesn’t really know who it’s supposed to be aimed at. They wanted audiences to range from young kids to adults, but that just made the movie less enjoyable for everyone.

4 The Lost City of Z (88%)

The Lost City of Z premiered this year. Audiences were excited because the movie received a certified fresh score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie was based on the book that goes by the same name, which is a nonfiction novel that focuses on a British explorer who travels to the Amazon in the early 20th century.

Biographical and historical movies always struggle with balance. It’s a constant battle between staying honest to the material and being interesting, as well as entertaining, for the audiences who are paying to see it. The Lost City of Z fell into the same mistakes as previous biographical films.

The film was great for history buffs, but not so much for movie lovers. The Lost City of Z moved super slowly and came across as boring most of the time. While there is an audience for this type of film, the movie wasn’t able to find it and, overall, fell completely flat.

3 Babershop: The Next Cut (90%)

Barbershop: The Next Cut was a sequel to an already beloved film and had an all star cast that included Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Common, Regina Hall, Anthony Anderson, and Eve.

This film brings up a lot of important points about what’s going on in America and how the African American community is regularly treated as less than anyone else. This is probably why the critic scores are so high because there is depth to this movie. However, the problem is that these points overtook the comedy aspect of the film.

The movie lacks any form of balance. Fans of the first film felt like this one was more staged than the first one. It’s not a movie that makes you actually laugh, even though it’s meant to be a comedy. Perhaps if the movie hadn’t been labeled as a “laugh out loud comedy,” then fans wouldn’t have been as disappointed with it.

2 About a Boy (93%)

About a Boy was nominated for a Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Oscar, but that doesn’t mean it was a grand slam. The movie stars Hugh Grant as the main protagonist, who needs to stop acting so young and grow up. He befriends a twelve year old kid and they help each other and eventually learn more about themselves.

The movie received a 93% certified fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Many critics liked it, but many fans believe that the movie was too far fetched of a concept and thus had a hard time getting into the movie.

Again, this is another film that labels itself as a comedy, but isn’t going to actually make you laugh more than a couple of times. The movie is also extremely predictable in the broad scheme of things, causing audiences to be bored a lot of the time.

1 Spy Kids (93%)

As a movie that might have seemed better when you were younger, Spy Kids actually wasn’t that great. However, the 2001 movie did receive a 93% certified fresh score from Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie follows two kids who go on a mission to rescue their spy parents who have suddenly disappeared. The movie did so well, though, that it was followed up by multiple sequels.

Spy Kids had a great concept, especially for the families who were watching it as a whole. There was appeal for both adults and kids. However, it fell flat in quite a few areas.

The movie didn’t really succeed when it came to special effects, which took some viewers out of the movie all together. The script also lacked when it came to dialogue and character interaction. Beyond that, the acting just wasn’t up to par. The concept is what brought people in and that’s the only reason why the movie managed to succeed with critics.

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Do you think these movies are worthy their high Rotten Tomatoes scores? Do you know of any other movies that have undeserved high scores on Rotten Tomatoes? Let us know in the comments!