The Hollywood Reporter‘s writers have written many best-of lists over the years. You can learn about the best movies this century (so far), the best documentaries, the best horror movies, the best Christmas movies. Even the best Christmas-horror movies.
But what about the most mind-numbingly boring movies of all time? The movies that you went to see in a theater and then slowly realized that you’ve made a terrible mistake?
On that front, Reddit’s r/movies beat us to it. And we have to admit, the subreddit’s list — with dozens of ranked suggestions getting hundreds of votes each — is actually pretty legit (though admittedly has a fair amount of recency bias). So below we’re presenting, as voted by film fans, a list of the 10 most boring movies so far this century, along with some of the best comments about each.
First, here are some of the runners-up from the discussion: The Lion King (the 2019 remake), Only God Forgives, Jupiter Ascending, Ad Astra, Gods and Generals, Tree of Life. Each is its own unique brand of dreary.
Now the seven most boring, starting with the most tolerable (comments edited for grammar and clarity).
7. Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola’s financially disastrous 2024 passion project with an all-star cast led by Adam Driver): “Megalopolis was an unforgettable experience for me solely for the fact that the audience (which was like 10 people) was gradually reducing as the film went. Like every 30 minutes or so another person got up and left, and by the end of the movie it was just me. Definitely the best worst movie I’ve ever seen, it’s so bizarrely and uniquely awful that I ended up laughing and loving it so much. Plus the fact that ‘What do you think of this boner I got?’ is an actual line in the movie by Jon Voight.”
6. The Dead Don’t Die (writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s star-packed 2019 zombie film): “It’s a zombie apocalypse comedy with a stacked cast including Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi. Sounds awesome on paper but somehow it’s a total snoozefest. I sat through the whole thing thinking surely something will happen to justify this massive waste of time but nope. It’s a plotless, pointless anti-film.”
5. Skinamarink (a 2022 Canadian experimental liminal spaces horror film written and directed by Kyle Edward Ball; the film is sometimes compared to Backrooms). “I love liminal horror, and it had some moments, but … it was just a very dark, hard-to-see movie with never-ending shots of hallways and ceilings and more hallways and ceilings” and “It’s a cool 20-minute short film that is interminably stretched out to an hour 40. Unbearably dull.”
4. Napoleon (Ridley Scott’s 2023 version starring Joaquin Phoenix): “Napoleon is best known for his military tactics and outsmarting his enemies through warfare. But the movie focuses on his spousal problems and trying to make a baby. Only in the end credits does it talk about Napoleon’s achievements in text. That is something that should’ve been portrayed on film. Absolute garbage.” Or, as another put it, “I typically like Scott but Napoleon was straight up booty-cheeks.”
3. Conan the Barbarian (Marcus Nispel’s 2011 reboot of the action fantasy franchise starring Jason Momoa): “Somehow, they made a movie with boobs, blood and dark magic incredibly boring.” Multiple users noted they forgot they had seen the film until now.
2. Joker: Folie à Deux (Todd Phillips’ notorious sequel to Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga: “Yep went to [IMAX 70mm] screening here in Irvine, California. Worst theater experience ever I’m not exaggerating” and “It’s one thing to make a bad movie (like Transformers sequels). It’s another thing to make such an intentionally bad follow-up to a movie which goes against everything the original was. Like the director had to do this to prove a point or to get back at someone, right?”
1. Direct Action (a 2024 French documentary about a radical environmental activist farming community co-directed by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell). “The movie is split up into five-minute segments, where they just placed a camera in the corner of the room and they went on with their day: Five minutes of fixing a wheel, five minutes of setting potatoes, five minutes of baking bread, five minutes of delivering vegetables. It’s three and a half hours of this, mind you … after the first hour, it was kinda like meditation.”
