By Ryan Heffernan
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There are few things in film more exciting than the prospect of a true ensemble cast, a coalition of Hollywood’s biggest names sharing the screen together to make a major blockbuster spectacle rich with drama and intrigue. Recent years alone have seen such an approach work a decadent treat, with films like Oppenheimer, Knives Out, and the Dune films stunning examples of what a great film imbued with a litany of A-listers can become. However, there have been plenty of times when such an assembly of stars has courted disaster.
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From calamitous comedies that missed the mark to audacious thrillers that simply weren’t that thrilling, these 10 films offer ample proof that exceptional acting talent alone cannot compensate for a bad movie. They range from recent releases that felt destined to be sensations but ended up as slop, to long forgotten films featuring some of the greatest stars Hollywood has ever seen.
10 'Triple 9' (2016)
Starring Casey Affleck, Kate Winslet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Woody Harrelson, Gal Gadot, Michael K. Williams & Teresa Palmer
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A sprawling crime saga that proved to be too formulaic to make a real splash, Triple 9 is actually an example of a dull movie being somewhat elevated by its acting talent. Irina (Kate Winslet), the wife of a Russian crime lord, forces a band of criminals to steal documents that will land her husband in trouble. In order to carry out the heist, the gangsters plan the murder of a cop to create a city-wide manhunt that will serve as a distraction.
The immensity of the all-star cast is to be admired, and every one of them plays their part well as the movie crosses between the crooks performing the heist, the crime barons who hired them, and the police striving to make sense of it all. To give the film its due, its story unfolds in a taut and efficient manner that refrains from indulging in its cast too much. However, Triple 9 always lacks a pointedness and a thematic ambition to make it a worthy vehicle for its stars and, ultimately, squanders their talents on something formulaic and monotonous.
Triple 9
R
Drama
Action
Crime
Mystery
Thriller
- Release Date
- February 19, 2016
- Director
- John Hillcoat
- Runtime
- 115
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9 'The Golden Compass' (2007)
Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Sam Elliott, Christopher Lee, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen, Ian McShane, Kathy Bates, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jim Carter, Freddie Highmore, Simon McBurney & Magda Szubanski
Based on Philip Pullman’s young adult fantasy novel “Northern Lights”, The Golden Compass was released as an ambitious fantasy epic. Unfortunately, it suffers from a desire to appeal to family audiences, a want that sees it water down the novel’s thematic heft. The end result is a visually wondrous though fizzling viewing experience that follows a young girl venturing to the North with her daemon companion to rescue her kidnapped friend from an evil organization.
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Virtually every remotely important supporting role is occupied by an A-list star, be it an on-screen appearance or a voice acting part. While the stardom on display does genuinely add to the enchanting wonder the film emits, it doesn’t carry the compromised story through all its flaws to a rewarding ending. Planned sequels for the film had to be scrapped on account of its poor domestic box office performance and widespread criticism. However, Pullman’s complete trilogy was adapted to the screen in the form of Apple TV+’s His Dark Materials, which aired from 2019 to 2022.
The Golden Compass
PG-13
Adventure
Family
Fantasy
- Release Date
- December 7, 2007
- Director
- Chris Weitz
- Runtime
- 113 Minutes
8 'Casino Royale' (1967)
Starring David Niven, Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Ursella Andress, John Huston & William Holden
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On paper, 1967’s Casino Royale is an ingenious idea. The parody picture lampoons the Bond franchise as it follows an aged 007 (David Niven) drawn from retirement when SMERSH agents begin assassinating MI6 operatives. As James Bond’s investigation develops, he finds himself cast amid a litany of eccentric personalities that include the gambling SMERSH financier Le Chiffre (Orson Welles), baccarat specialist turned MI6 aide Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers), and Bond’s own bumbling nephew, Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen).
While the Bond franchise is ripe for comedic skewering, Casino Royale completely squanders its possibilities with its juvenile sensitivities, its lazy critiques, and its complete disregard for any semblance of cohesive plotting. Even in the few scenes that are able to gel into something tangible, the film offers only slight chuckles. It was a woeful missed opportunity upon release, and it has not aged gracefully over the decades, making it the single worst James Bond film ever made, even if a tantalizing tease of what might have been.
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7 'Nine' (2009)
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson & Fergie
Gratuitous self-indulgence and a standoffish sentiment towards its characters sees Nine drop the ball despite containing an intriguing premise and a host of generational talents. The ever-magnificent Daniel Day-Lewis commands the screen as Guido Contini, an Italian film director suffering through crises in his professional and personal lives, many of which spawn from his perception of the women in his life. Among them are his wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard); his mistress, Carla Albanese (Penélope Cruz); and his confidant, Lilli (Judi Dench).
Further bolstered by the likes of Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, and Fergie, Nine understandably turned heads with its fantastic cast, and while all of them turn in exceptional performances, the film stumbles with its distanced thematic wanderings and its confusing structure. It is a dire shame because its visual style and musical numbers all had the heft to support the illustrious cast, it was just the shallowness and uncertainty of the narrative approach that served as its downfall.
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Nine
PG-13
Drama
Documentary
Musical
Romance
- Release Date
- December 25, 2009
- Director
- Rob Marshall
- Runtime
- 118 Minutes
Watch on Amazon
6 '1941' (1979)
Starring Dan Akyroyd, John Belushi, Ned Beatty, Christopher Lee, Murray Hamilton, John Candy, Slim Pickens, Nancy Allen, Tim Matheson & Toshirō Mifune
While Steven Spielberg often imbues his films with comedic moments, the esteemed director has rarely committed to the genre in earnest. One of the few times he did the result was 1941, arguably the only major misstep in the filmmaker’s incredible career, and one that squandered a cast of comics that would have been the envy of every working director aspiring to make comedies at the time.
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Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, residents in California enter into a state of panic, fearing that they may be next. Military men and civilians alike fuel the manic hysteria as they ready themselves for a Japanese invasion. While Spielberg can be commended for imbuing the film with a screwball grandiosity, it all ultimately falls flat as the potential of such a cast is never even close to being realized. It is a simple-minded premise that capitulates into a chaotic flurry of momentary gags with nothing of substance to say, and even less to warrant a real laugh.
1941
PG
Action
Comedy
War
- Release Date
- December 14, 1979
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Runtime
- 118 Minutes
Rent on Amazon
5 'Gangster Squad' (2013)
Starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Nick Nolte, Mereille Enos & Holt McCallany
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Walking the same line as countless other police action stories since The Untouchables made it popular, Gangster Squad is not only a brilliantly cast crime-action thriller, but a lavishly stylized visual treat with an eye for production design and costuming. Unfortunately, it is incapable of blending all these elements into anything more than a completely unfulfilling story of crime, mundane moral simplicity, and police violence.
With ruthless mobster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) thriving in post-war L.A.—with his empire including corrupt police, bought politicians, and a legion of thugs—LAPD officer John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) leads a squad of rugged mavericks on a mission to bring down the crime lord. Such is the monotony of the story that even the defining triumphs fail to resonate, making for an entirely forgettable picture that stands, most notably, as a beautifully presented piece of unrealized potential.
Gangster Squad
R
Action
Crime
Documentary
Drama
Thriller
- Release Date
- January 10, 2013
- Director
- Ruben Fleischer
- Runtime
- 113
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Rent on Amazon
4 'Zoolander 2' (2016)
Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penélope Cruz, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor, Milla Jovovich, Kristen Wiig, Billy Zane & Jerry Stiller
There have been plenty of sequels to successful pictures that have bolstered their casts with new stars only to leave fans disappointed as the magic of the original seemed to evaporate. Comedy is a genre that is particularly prone to doing this, but few films have done so to the degree of Zoolander 2. It sees male models Derek (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) reunite to work for Interpol to uncover a series of assassinations targeting celebrities all over the world.
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The likes of Will Ferrell, Milla Jovovich, Christine Taylor, Billy Zane, and Jerry Stiller all returned for the sequel, while Penélope Cruz and Kristen Wiig joined the cast along with a litany of cameos from the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Katy Perry, Lewis Hamilton, and many more. Unfortunately, the vast array of celebrity personalities did little to enhance the ill-fated sequel, which was routinely unfunny and suffered from an uninspired narrative. It was a financial disaster and is remembered by many to be among the worst movies of the 2010s.
Zoolander 2
m
Comedy
- Release Date
- February 12, 2016
- Director
- Ben Stiller
- Runtime
- 102 Minutes
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3 'All the King’s Men' (2006)
Starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, James Gandolfini, Patricia Clarkson, Mark Ruffalo, Jackie Earl Haley & Kevin Dunn
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In 1949, Robert Rossen directed a Best Picture-winning adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning political novel of the same name. 2006’s star-studded remake did not enjoy the same esteem. It is probably a great enough indictment of the film’s quality that, even with such an illustrious cast of Hollywood A-listers and its basis on Robert Penn Warren’s classic American novel, it is a title that many moviegoers would never have come across.
It follows an idealistic lawyer who succumbs to corruption when he becomes the governor of Louisiana. Disregarded as painfully transparent Oscar bait from the instant it was released, All the King’s Men offers no insights—refreshing or otherwise—into politics and corruption, and whimsically entertains a series of ambling, directionless subplots without command or conviction. Even the cast—all of whom have excelled in other projects—look bored and dispirited. It is an abysmal, dreary drama that assembled all the components to make a great and timely political story and then refused to do anything with them.
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2 'Don’t Look Up' (2021)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi & Mark Rylance
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While it was highly divisive upon release, polarizing both critics and audiences with its thematic might and questionable execution, Don’t Look Up has rapidly faded from public consciousness after being a feature at the 94th Academy Awards. The scathing political satire follows two astronomers who discover a comet that will decimate life on Earth. They are surprised when their best efforts to warn the world of the looming catastrophe are countered by career-minded politicians and media personalities.
The premise of the film is not only brilliant but timely, but its delivery leaves plenty to be desired. It is about as sharp and surgical as a sledgehammer in its presentation of its two heroes' frustrating battle against the ignorant masses, whose self-preserving stupidity is handled with such hyperbolic excess that the point the film set out to make evaporates amid its shrill preaching and heavy-handed convictions. Just as egregious an offense is how its approach sees the talents of the sublime, star-studded cast lost within an ugly onslaught of lazy, exaggerated caricatures and shallow, unexplored ideas.
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Don't Look Up
R
Comedy
Drama
Sci-Fi
- Release Date
- December 10, 2021
- Director
- Adam McKay
- Runtime
- 145 minutes
1 'Amsterdam' (2022)
Starring Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldaña, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Chris Rock & Taylor Swift
Having directed American Hustle, The Fighter, and Silver Linings Playbook in the past, David O. Russell is certainly no stranger to a star-studded line-up. While he has missed the mark on occasion before, nothing could have prepared moviegoers for the calamity that was Amsterdam. A mishmash of comedy, mystery, and historical drama, it follows three unlikely friends from WWII who witness a murder and become the prime suspects in the investigation. As they fight to clear their names, they unveil one of the strangest conspiracies in U.S. history in the process.
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To put it bluntly, Amsterdam’s funny moments never warrant a laugh, its mystery is anything but intriguing, and its treatment of its historical backdrop is less interesting than reading through the Wikipedia page about the same events. A tiresome bore, every new star that the film introduces is present only to offer false hope that their appearance will be a long-awaited turning point. It never is. The film became a financial disaster as well as a critically derided failure that emphatically proves that all the A-list talent in the world can only do so much to bolster an otherwise awful movie.
Amsterdam
R
Drama
History
Comedy
- Release Date
- October 7, 2022
- Director
- David O. Russell
- Runtime
- 134 minutes
NEXT: The 10 Best Ensemble Movies of the Last 5 Years
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- Movie
- Don't Look Up
- Zoolander 2
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