We all make mistakes, right?
Even the best actors make terrible movies. It's excusable when an actor is first starting their career, but a bit more perplexing when they're at the top. Listed below are 10 actors who made panned movies after winning an Oscar.
Halle Berry
Oscar winner: “Monster's Ball” (2002)
Panned movie: “Catwoman" (2004)
Natalie Portman
Oscar winner: “Black Swan” (2010)
Panned movie(s): “No Strings Attached,” “The Other Woman” and “Your Highness” (all in 2011)
Harvard-educated Natalie Portman has typically shown great judgment in selecting roles, but after winning an Academy Award in 2010, three stinkers starring her were released the following year. Of the trifecta, the medieval stoner flick “Your Highness” ranks lowest with a 27-percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
Jamie Foxx
Oscar winner: “Ray” (2004)
Panned movie: “Stealth” (2005)
One of Hollywood’s most versatile talents, Jamie Foxx shot to A-list status after winning an Oscar for his dead-ringer portrayal of Ray Charles in 2004’s “Ray.” The next year, Foxx co-starred in “Stealth,” a fighter pilot action movie that lost more than $58 million due to lackluster box-office returns.
Sandra Bullock
Oscar winner: “The Blind Side” (2009)
Panned movie: “All About Steve” (2009)
Sandra Bullock has rarely had difficulty generating praise from audiences and critics, but after striking Oscar gold in 2009’s “The Blind Side,” she laid an egg. Bullock’s performance as a socially awkward stalker in “All About Steve” earned her a Golden Raspberry Award for worst actress. The movie holds an impressively bad 7-percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Kevin Spacey
Oscar winner: “American Beauty” (1999)
Panned movie: “The Life of David Gale” (2003)
With his ongoing role as corrupt politician Frank Underwood in Netflix’s “House of Cards,” Kevin Spacey is back in the good graces of critics, but in 2003, they were shaking their heads. Four years after winning an Oscar in the suburban drama “American Beauty,” Spacey starred in “The Life of David Gale,” which was derided as “An evil piece of junk,” by British film critic Ian Waldron-Mantgani.
Reese Witherspoon
Oscar winner: “Walk the Line” (2005)
Panned movie: “Four Christmases” (2008)
She’s one of America’s sweethearts, but Reese Witherspoon hasn’t always been a critical darling. After wowing audiences as June Carter Cash in 2005’s “Walk the Line,” this Southern belle was ripped for her starring role in “Four Christmases” three years later.
Michael Douglas
Oscar winner: “Wall Street” (1987)
Panned movie: “Shining Through” (1992)
After starring in several beloved movies in the 1980s, Michael Douglas didn’t exactly start the following decade with a bang. The horrifying Holocaust drama “Shining Through,” starring Douglas, was named 1992’s worst picture at the Razzies.
Jeff Bridges
Oscar winner: “Crazy Heart” (2009)
Panned movie: “R.I.P.D.” (2013)
Jeff Bridges has always taken career risks, but not all have paid off. Four years after winning an Oscar as an alcoholic country singer in 2009’s “Crazy Heart,” Bridges was ripped for starring in “R.I.P.D.,” which Time's movie critic Richard Corliss compared to “the eighth day of jury duty.”
Sally Field
Oscar winners: “Norma Rae” (1979), “Places in the Heart” (1985)
Panned movie: “Surrender” (1987)
A two-time Oscar winner, Sally Field perhaps deserves the most grief of any actor on this list. Two years after proclaiming, “You like me!,” to Academy Award voters in her acceptance speech for 1985’s “Places in the Heart,” Field starred in a clunker. The 1987 comedy “Surrender” currently holds a 13-percent score at Rotten Tomatoes.
Nicolas Cage
Oscar winner: “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995)
Panned movie: “Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000)
To be fair, Nicolas Cage and critically despised movies go together like peanut butter and jelly. Since 1995, he’s starred in 30 films declared “Rotten” at Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 13 “Fresh” ones. Five years after winning the Academy Award as an alcoholic writer in “Leaving Las Vegas,” Cage made “Gone in 60 Seconds,” which Roger Ebert called “a movie of no significance whatsoever.”
