No performer likes to receive a thumbs-down for their work, but imagine how it feels when this is a reality for a lengthy period of time. For some actors, they embarked on terrible Rotten Tomatoes streaks that weren’t kind to their careers. Now, bear in mind that Rotten Tomatoes isn’t the be-all and end-all of a film’s quality, but it’s a tool used by many to see what’s the overall consensus from the critics. In addition to this, while the aggregator didn’t exist before the ’90s, it still collects the big reviews from bygone eras to showcase what the critical thoughts were of major productions.

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So, for this feature, it’s time to head back in time to look at the major actors who received rotten ratings for a notable stretch of their careers. To make life easier here, though, films that haven’t officially received the “rotten” or “fresh” label — because there aren’t enough reviews counted — have been excluded from the equation. So, if your favorite appeared in a lost indie darling that only two people watched but no one reviewed, consider it a win.

It’s worth mentioning again, since elements of the internet community lose their collective minds over reviews and Rotten Tomatoes: It’s okay to like or love films that most critics don’t. In fact, most of these actors dried their tears with the wads of money they received for these supposedly bad movies. With that said, let’s check out the actors with terrible Rotten Tomatoes streaks.

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Sylvester Stallone thought “First Blood” would ruin his career, but it did the opposite. After “Rocky,” it became another career-defining franchise for Sly. He was money, and Hollywood wanted a piece of the action. Yet, his career post-1982 until 1993 is an onslaught of bad reviews, with the one-two of “Cliffhanger” and “Demolition Man” finally breaking the curse.

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What’s surprising about Sly’s terrible Rotten Tomatoes streak is how many fan-favorite films exist in this period. Both “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (33%) and “Rambo III” (41%) were released, as were the hard-hitting “Rocky IV” (39%) and super-stylish “Cobra” (32%). Sure, the “Rambo” sequels aren’t anywhere as good as the original movie, but they were solid 6/10 movies at best — anyone who disagrees can kick rocks. Similarly, “Rocky IV” is fondly remembered for Ivan Drago being one of the best villains in the franchise, though it didn’t receive the love of its predecessors. “Cobra” is, well, “Cobra,” with every man wanting to dress and act as cool as Marion Cobretti.

Those projects aside, no one can argue the critical battering that features like “Over the Top” (32%), “Rocky V” (32%), “Tango & Cash” (31%), “Oscar” (12%), and “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot” (14%) took. Those movies are widely recognized as the worst in Sly’s career, with the latter being one of Hollywood’s greatest troll moves courtesy of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since then, Stallone has had a few other wobbly streaks, but nothing as bad as the ’80s and early ’90s.

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Megan Fox rose to prominence and fame around the mid-2000s. Despite the fanfare surrounding her at the time, the critics weren’t in her corner. From 2004 until 2011, Fox didn’t star in a single “certified fresh” film. To be fair, though, the average person might agree that Fox’s films in this period were generally subpar or mediocre, so there can’t be too many sour grapes about it.

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The streak starts with the unburdening of “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” (14%). Then it continues with her breakout role as Mikaela Barnes in the all-out Bayhem of “Transformers” (57%) before moving to the forgettable “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” (36%) and the horrid sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (19%). Unfortunately, the true cult classic “Jennifer’s Body” (46%) finds itself included here, while “Jonah Hex” (12%) and “Passion Play” (3%) add a nice eau de trout to anyone’s filmography.

Here’s the kicker, though: 2011’s “Friends with Kids” breaks up the terrible Rotten Tomatoes streak, coming in with a respectable 66%. However, Fox goes right back to purely rotten movies until 2019 with films like “The Dictator” (57%), “This Is 40” (52%), “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (21%), and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” (38%). It’s wild to think that one mainstream actor has had more misses than hits for such a stretch. Fortunately, it appears as if Fox’s fortunes have changed in recent times, with at least a few more fresh movies than usual.

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No one possesses a career quite like John Travolta. Looking at his history on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s nothing short of shambles and puzzling. For every “Carrie” or “Pulp Fiction,” there’s a slew of putrid stinkers like “Battlefield Earth” or “Gotti.” He isn’t just an actor who has had one terrible Rotten Tomatoes streak but several.

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A notable one took place in the ’80s, kicking off with the 0%-rated “Staying Alive.” This snaked its way throughout the decade, touching everything from “Two of a Kind” (18%), “Perfect” (18%), “Looks Who’s Talking” (56%), then extending its reach into the ’90s for “Look Who’s Talking Too” (13%), “Shout” (20%), and “Look Who’s Talking Now” (0%). Finally, the streak ended with 1994’s “Pulp Fiction” (92%), while Travolta see-sawed between a string of hits and misses for the next few years.

The bad luck struck again in 1999 after “The General’s Daughter” (22%) and continued until 2007’s “Hairspray” (92%). These eight years feature some of the greatest misfires in movie history, including “Battlefield Earth” (3%), “Domestic Disturbance” (23%), the aptly titled “Basic” (21%), and the uncool “Be Cool” (30%). The streak hasn’t really recovered since then either, as one or two of his films might break up the monotony of rotten ratings, but Travolta’s projects continue to circle the drain of relevancy. In recent years, he’s starred in several 0% films, such as “Life on the Line,” “Gotti,” “Speed Kills,” “Trading Point,” and “The Poison Rose.” Ouch.

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Prior to venturing into cinema, Jason Momoa cut his teeth in the television world, appearing in recognized shows like “Baywatch: Hawaii,” “Stargate Atlantis,” and “Game of Thrones.” Momoa’s Hollywood career kicked into high gear when he was cast as the titular character in 2011’s “Conan the Barbarian” reboot. Despite Momoa certainly having the look for Conan, the film didn’t provide the life-changing role he might have imagined, as it only garnered a 25% critical approval score. It also marked the start of an unwanted Rotten Tomatoes bad streak for Momoa, as he tried to establish himself as a key player in the industry.

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After “Conan,” Momoa’s next movies didn’t elevate his reputation. He appeared in “Bullet to the Head” (45%), “Road to Paloma” (54%), “Wolves” (16%), “Sugar Mountain” (36%), “The Bad Batch” (45%), and “Once Upon a Time in Venice” (21%). Then it was “Justice League” — or should I say “Josstice League”? — which assembled a 39% score and proved to be the beginning of the end for the SnyderVerse.

After such a horrid run, one feared that Momoa could have been relegated to the type of action movies that have the budget of a chicken mayonnaise baguette. The actor fought back, though, with a series of positively reviewed films like “Braven, “Aquaman,” “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” and “Dune” to demonstrate he deserves his place among the top stars in Hollywood. Although the likelihood of “Conan 2” ever happening with him returning as the hero is next to nothing.

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Around the turn of the millennium, Devon Sawa established himself as one of the hottest young actors of his generation. Yet, despite main roles in “Idle Hands” and “Final Destination” putting him on the map and turning him into a scream king of horror movies, his films weren’t warmly received by critics. As it turns out, it was the beginning of a two-decade run of negative scores on Rotten Tomatoes for Sawa.

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“Idle Hands” ignited the match with 18%, followed by the (unfair) burn of “Final Destination” at 40%. After “The Guilty” (40%), “Slackers” (10%), and “Extreme Ops” (7%) set flames to his filmography on Rotten Tomatoes, Sawa’s Hollywood profile took a major dip thereafter, as he popped up in lesser-known movies and lost the sheen of a teen idol. The smaller-budget productions didn’t improve his fortunes either, as films like “The Fanatic” and “Life on the Line” yielded 15% and 0% respectively.

At this point, it looked like Death’s master plan was to punish Sawa with an endless and merciless assault of bad scores on Rotten Tomatoes for daring to mess up its design in “Final Destination,” but Sawa broke the spell in 2020 with “Hunter Hunter” (94%). Since then, he’s had a few more hits in the form of “Black Friday” (65%) and “Heart Eyes” (81%). That being said, it’s mind blowing to consider that he’s an actor who didn’t have a single fresh hit for over 20 years!

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Look, Freddie Prinze Jr. is no Marlon Brando. At the height of his fame, he blended in nicely with the teen-friendly films around him. So, sure, he’s far from a generational talent, but he isn’t Tom Green, right? That being said, do you know how many of Prinze’s films fall on the positive side of Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer? Two. The first is 1997’s “The House of Yes” (62%) and 2022’s “Christmas with You” (65%).

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Everything else in between is rotten to the core. “I Know What You Did Last Summer” might be seen as a seminal ’90s slasher, but it only received a 48% critical approval rating. Its sequel, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,” didn’t fare better either, receiving an abysmal 7%. Prinze’s time as the ultimate rom-com boyfriend failed to endear his to critics too, as “She’s All That” (41%), “Down to You” (3%), “Boys and Girls” (11%), and “Summer Catch” (8%) resulted in more mehs than merriment.

The actor had the chance to strut his stuff in other high-profile productions too, but the outcome was the same. “Wing Commander” crash-landed at 10%, while “Scooby-Doo” and “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” was a ruh-oh at 32% and 22% respectively. At one point in the 2000s, Warner Bros. killed Darren Aronofsky’s Batman movie because the studio wanted Prinze in the lead and the filmmaker wanted Joaquin Phoenix. If you go by the data here, it’s more than likely that Prinze would have had another rotten project to add to his ever-growing list.

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Much like her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn’t have an envious Rotten Tomatoes track record. Of course, there’s an argument to be made that she’s best remembered for her celebrated television work as Buffy Summers in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and hasn’t featured in many films since 2013, but a streak is a streak. And the truth is Gellar’s freshest hit remains 1997’s “Scream 2.”

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In the same year she starred in “Scream 2,” she also lent her talents to “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” but the critical reception paled in comparison to the 82% she received for dodging Ghostface’s knife (albeit unsuccessfully in the end). Two years later, Gellar starred in “Simply Irresistible” and “Cruel Intentions.” The latter became something of a cult classic, but it only mustered 54% on the Tomatometer, while “Simply Irresistible” proved to be anything but with 16%.

The 2000s weren’t any better for Gellar. “Harvard Man” failed with 33%, while the “Scooby-Doo” sequels would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling critics. “The Grudge” and “The Grudge 2” had absolutely nothing on the original “Ju-On” movies, while Gellar’s voice performance as April O’Neil couldn’t save 2007’s “TMNT” from a shell-shocking 36%, nor could anyone turn the tide for “Southland Tales” (41%). All things considered, it’s unlikely that these flops bother Gellar too much, especially taking into account how she carved her name into pop culture history with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

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Anyone with the mesmerizing “Gigli” in their filmography is going to receive slack — and rightfully so, since it’s a box office flop that put its creator in director jail. In Jennifer Lopez’s case, though, “Gigli” wasn’t the start of something awful — “turkey time” just so happened to be in the middle of it. Prior to 2019’s “Hustlers,” Lopez was on a terrible Rotten Tomatoes streak since 1998’s “Antz.”

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She couldn’t catch a break in the early 2000s, as “The Cell” (45%), “The Wedding Planner” (17%), “Angel Eyes” (32%), “Enough” (22%), and “Maid in Manhattan” (38%) primed her for the disasterpiece that was “Gigli” (6%). It didn’t get any better from there, as Lopez suffered with the likes of “Jersey Girl” (42%), “Shall We Dance?” (47%), and “Monster in Law” (19%), and the 2000s weren’t even done yet.

The 2010s were hardly anything to write home about either. Lopez stumbled from “The Back-up Plan” (17%) to “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” (23%) and a number of forgettable animated movies like “Ice Age: Continental Drift” (37%), “Ice Age: Collision” (18%), and “Home” (53%). Even the great Jason Statham could do nothing to help her prevent “Parker” from flopping to 41%. “Hustlers” (88%) proved to be a positive turning point for Lopez, as she’s achieved a few hits since then with the odd dud, such as the ghastly “Atlas” (19%), scattered in between.

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It’s outrageous that Eddie Murphy’s name features on this list, especially after the gifts he provided humanity in the form of characters like Axel Foley from “Beverly Hills Cop” and Donkey from “Shrek.” Yet, Murphy isn’t immune to a rotten streak or two. In fact, he’s had a few he would like to forget, but his most memorable one stretched from 1989 to 1996.

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After 1988’s “Coming to America,” Murphy’s films failed to strike a cord with critics. “Harlem Nights” downed itself at 27%, while “Another 48 Hrs.” — the buddy cop sequel to a fan-favorite film starring Murphy and Nick Nolte — crashed at just 19%. “Boomerang” only whacked itself on the side of the head at 49%, whereas “The Distinguished Gentleman” sank to 13%.

Tragically, the next two Murphy movies received a universal thumbs-down, even if they might be seen through a different set of eyes nowadays (or at least by this author). “Beverly Hills Cop III” was handcuffed at 10%, while “Vampire in Brooklyn” had its fangs shaved down to 11%. So, what pulled Murphy out of this rut? It was “The Nutty Professor” (64%), a movie that Ryan Reynolds believes Eddie Murphy should have won an Oscar for.

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The Muscles from Brussels owned the late ’80s and early ’90s, but Jean-Claude Van Damme hit a bumpy patch after 1993’s “Hard Target.” Maybe it’s because he went so “hard” in that movie — especially with his glorious mullet — that he struggled to hit those same Rotten Tomatoes-approved highs until 2008.

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Right after “Hard Target,” JCVD starred in “Street Fighter,” which might be one of the best ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ movies of all time, but that didn’t stop it from getting KO’d with 11% on the Tomatometer. “Timecop” didn’t exactly electrify either with 42%, and neither did “Sudden Death” at 51% (though this “Die Hard” clone deserves a lot more praise than it gets). The second half of the ’90s followed the same pattern, with “Maximum Risk” (34%), “The Quest” (14%), “Double Team” (11%), “Legionnaire” (29%), “Knock Off” (10%), and “Universal Soldier: The Return” (5%) struggling to gain any substantial critical approval.

By the start of 2000s, Van Damme’s reputation suffered, as he entered the full-blown straight-to-DVD era of his career. “Replicant” staggered to 30%, “The Order” hobbled around at 13%, and “Derailed” received a straight 0% rating. It might have looked like hopeless then, but the actor roundhouse kicked his way back to the top and free of a terrible Rotten Tomatoes streak with 2008’s “JCVD” (82%). Moral of the story: Never doubt a man who can do the splits and live to tell the tale.

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