The best films of 2025 are… coming soon! First, there are some messes to clean up.
As a critic, I believe in balance. Where there is a “best”, there must certainly be a “worst” and I stay away from low-hanging fruit. It is too easy to go after the latest Adam Sandler comedy, cheap Netflix rom-com, etc. To choose a list of the year’s worst pictures, one must focus on the films that should have been something but failed for one reason or another, and this year certainly had a few. These were works that showed promise, but dropped the ball, then picked it up, dropped it again, and smashed it to bits.
I do not take pleasure in writing a negative review. It means that I saw a bad film and that is never a good thing. But again, where there is good, there is bad and, as I publish my year’s end “Best of”, balance must be achieved.
Here are my choices for the 10 worst films of 2025. These are the ones that coulda and shoulda, but didn’t.
1. AFTER THE HUNT– Luca Guadagnino
How far the mighty have fallen. Luca Guadagnino’s incredibly simplistic latest takes on a myriad of lofty subjects. Cancel Culture, moral rot, and those in power who protect their own are front and center. While the issues raised are ever present today, the film fails to dig deep; presenting its cast as societal symbols rather than relatable characters. The film could care less about seriously examining this world of “He said. She said ” conundrums, becoming nothing more than a cinematic “tease.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deliver another obtrusively annoying score. Their only bad scores exist as the three they did for Guadagnino.
Cartoonish in its attempt to be provocative, After the Hunt feels like a paper from a first year Philosophy student who should probably change their major. EVERYTHING is goofy and obvious. Guadagnino takes such a bewilderingly pretentious approach that the picture becomes an unwanted comedy.
This is the absolute worst film of 2025.
2. SPLITSVILLE– Michael Angelo Covino
A modern comedy that wants to say something about modern marriage, sexual freedom, and the boundaries of marriage and friendship. Good idea. Awful execution. Awful. AWFUL!
This is a loud, annoying, pile of cinematic slop. Painfully unfunny to the point of making me angry at the filmmakers.
This one is so bad, it put me in a bad mood once again while writing this.
3. HEDDA– Nia DaCosta
This is one giant missed opportunity.
DaCosta is a terrific director. Tessa Thompson is a fine actress. Henrik Ibsen’s story is nothing short of a masterwork. Sadly, the entire film falls flat.
The direction is a mess, the drama is clumsy, the supporting cast all seem to be in different movies, and Tessa Thompson is (sadly) completely miscast. You can see her struggling with every dramatic beat.
The power of Ibsen’s work reduced to a forgettable whimper.
4. OH, HI!– Sophie Brooks
A dreadfully contrived film that wants to be so many things and fails at all of them. Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman have zero chemistry. Their characters are basically two dolts who can’t navigate life.
Is it Drama? Comedy? Dramadey? The filmmakers have no idea. Nor do we. Nor do we care.
Instantly forgettable.
5. KINDA PREGNANT– Tyler Spindel
Amy Schumer is one funny comedian. This movie is one unfunny experience.
A shockingly awful comedy with zero laughs. From the premise to the execution, this is a film so bad that I was embarrassed while watching it.
This is no Trainwreck, but it IS a train wreck.
6. SHELBY OAKS– Chris Stuckman
Shelby Oaks is a mixture of the found footage genre, ghost story, and supernatural mystery; failing at all three.
The film’s major problem is a lack of original spark. As the movie progresses, it becomes unclear what is happening to who and why due to a muddled screenplay that wanders aimlessly across the screen.
Kudos to the filmmaker for getting his debut feature financed through a Kickstarter campaign, but he should refund the investors.
7. FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S– Emma Tammi
While the first film wasn’t exactly On the Waterfront, 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s was a fun popcorn-movie version of the game that became a phenomenon.
The horror genre allows for suspension of belief, but this film’s stilted dialogue, comatose performances, and a final “battle” that is as lackluster as it is absurd, make this one a complete failure and an insult to dedicated fans.
8. THE CONJURING: LAST RITES– Michael Chaves
At this point, the Conjuring sequels are “rinse and repeat” horror for the uninitiated. There are no surprises and nothing new. At the halfway point of the final Warren “adventure”, you could hear the film’s cinematic wheels spinning and spinning and spinning.
Flat melodrama, a goofy script, and a failure to come up with anything spooky, director Chaves fails to create one single moment of originality. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as the leads and the incredible “true life” cases the Warrens were involved with, the series’ final bow is all dressed up, but has nowhere to go.
In a startling shift from the effectiveness of the originals, The Conjuring: Last Rites is a tepid and redundant bore.
SONG SUNG BLUE– Craig Brewer
Biopics are tough to get right. A filmmaker must work hard to overcome the same structure of just about every true story “rise and fall and rise again” or “rise and fall and learn to overcome” structure that came before. Brewer cannot dodge the pitfalls of the ol’ by-the-numbers.
The true story is quite moving. The documentary about Mike and Claire Sardina, who performed as a Neil Diamond tribute band named “Lightning & Thunder”, is a moving watch. Brewer’s dramatization is stilted and cloying, to the point of being offensive to the real life couple and their struggles.
Kate Hudson is excellent, but Hugh Jackman is Hugh Jackman; good enough, but nothing different from what he always does in a drama. The haphazard script and bland direction rob the two leads of any emotional chemistry. Instead of getting to the heart of its characters, the film is too interested in the ups and downs and eventual tragic shift that would upend their lives. It is all handled badly and the film becomes insultingly manipulative.
IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU– Mary Bronstein
My most controversial choice.
This pseudo-Freudian deep-dive into a mental breakdown is a film I wanted to like and one where I tried twice to see if I could uncover its merits. Sadly…
Because many people like to say, “But wait, Anthony. You didn’t get it.” Oh, I fully understand. I do indeed “get” what the film is doing and why Bronstein chose to present it in such a fashion. Sadly…
On the plus side, the director shows confidence. In today’s milquetoast Hollywood, Bronstein has ambition. Sadly…
The film tackles important and lofty issues (the intensity of motherhood, crumbling mental health, the weight of assuming one is a complete failure) but refuses to bring any real depth beyond watching the lead character spiral and spiral and spiral and spiral and spiral.
With all that is happening on screen, everything feels messy and none of the strong ideas are explored beyond surface level. Frankly, the ideas aren’t explored at all. Each one is just presented. Watch our lead character walk around nervously while smoking weed, drinking, and being rude to everyone. What could be going on inside this broken personality? It doesn’t matter, as long as we get to wallow in two hours of repetitive anxiety and depression.
Bronstein’s screenplay turns its main character’s neuroses into such caricature and the overly-styled (and sometimes laughable) cinematography choices make it almost impossible to find an emotional tether.
The picture turns its concept into a contrived and annoying narrative that is nothing more than a one trick pony with nowhere interesting to go.
Rose Byrne. Does she give a good performance? Probably, but she doesn’t have much to work with. I like Byrne, but her style never changes. This is a part that is darker than Byrne has ever played, so everyone is crying “Oscar time!” She’s solid and certainly commendable, but the character is nothing more than a pastiche of trauma. There is nothing more to the performance.
Well, that’s 2025.