Better late than never! 🎬 Kevin is here to share his personal picks for the “Best and Worst Films of 2025!” 🍿
#Top10 #MovieReview #TVReview #Bestof2025
Worst of 2025
10. Song Sung Blue
My number ten pick isn’t necessarily a terrible movie, but it’s one that I genuinely don’t understand receiving so much awards recognition and love. Some people saw a heartwarming story about the power of Neil Diamond’s music. Others saw Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, who earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance, fall in love. What I saw was a cloying, excessively sappy, and predictable mess of a film. To be fair, neither Hudson nor Jackman is the problem. They both deliver performances that are far better than the movie surrounding them.
9. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie starring in a magical love story? Sign me up! Unfortunately, the two actors have absolutely no chemistry, largely because the screenplay gives them so little to work with. Kogonada, who directed this dud, clearly has an eye for stunning visuals. If the film had been anywhere near as impressive as its cinematography, it could have been a knockout. Instead, we’re left with two thoroughly unlikable characters and a story that gives us little reason to care about their journey. When you can’t buy into the central romance of a romantic drama, you have a pretty big problem.
8. Karate Kid: Legends & M3GAN 2.0 (Tie)
Hollywood has a knack for taking a good idea and running it straight into the ground. These two films, which share my number eight spot, are prime examples.
Following the success of Cobra Kai, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood tried to capitalize on the show’s popularity with another Karate Kid movie. Johnny and Daniel make appearances, but even their presence can’t provide the spark this film desperately needs. The premise initially shows promise. Ben Wang plays a skilled young fighter who can hold his own, unlike many of the franchise’s previous protagonists, who begin their journeys as underdogs. Then there’s Joshua Jackson, whose character is the father of Wang’s love interest. He asks the young man to help him learn boxing so he can earn extra money and save his pizzeria. Okay, sure?
Had the movie stuck with that idea, it still might not have worked, but at least it could have been something different. Instead, the story shifts gears during its second half, making it feel as though the filmmakers got cold feet and retreated to the very tropes they had initially avoided. Once that happens, the movie takes a nosedive from which it never recovers.
Then there’s M3GAN 2.0. The original was a campy, entertaining ride that managed to say something meaningful about the dangers of technology while delivering a creepy, sassy, and downright dangerous robotic doll. Its sequel takes everything that made the first film work and cranks it up to eleven, turning M3GAN into an antihero and replacing much of the original’s subtlety with an overabundance of CGI and action.
That approach might have worked if the screenplay had been clever or funny. Unfortunately, the result is one of the most cringe-inducing films of the year. The wit and charm that made the original so much fun are nowhere to be found, replaced by a loud, obnoxious spectacle that mistakes excess for entertainment.
7. Him
Jordan Peele reportedly passed on this project in favor of Weapons, and after watching Him, it’s easy to understand why the latter turned out to be the better bet.
The concept of putting American football through a horror filter has plenty of potential. The sport is defined by intensity, violence, and an almost religious devotion from its most passionate fans. Players endure a constant barrage of physical punishment for the glory and love of the game, often at the expense of their long-term health. For some fans, football isn’t just a sport; it’s their entire identity.
There’s plenty of material here for a compelling horror film, but Him never figures out what it wants to say. The story veers into bizarre territory without establishing any meaningful logic, resulting in an inconsistent tone that undermines whatever tension it manages to build. I’d be more forgiving if these strange detours were at least entertaining, but they rarely are. For a movie about football, Him spends far too much time fumbling the ball.
6. Anaconda
From the moment this project was announced, it seemed like a terrible idea. Unfortunately, the finished product turned out to be even worse than I imagined.
The film attempts to combine a story about friendship and filmmaking with comedy and action, but none of these elements comes together in a satisfying way. Instead, it feels like the very definition of a paycheck movie, with a talented cast seemingly sleepwalking their way to payday.
Jack Black and Paul Rudd are both capable of making even the most ridiculous material work, but here, they seem to be operating on autopilot. The comedy rarely lands, the action is poorly executed, and the screenplay is as lifeless as the movie itself. There’s a difference between a deliberately silly film that embraces its ridiculous premise and one that simply isn’t funny. Anaconda never seems to understand that distinction.
5. Trust
Like one of the entries on my Best of 2025 list, Trust was a late addition to my viewing schedule. Unfortunately, unlike that film, this one gave me very little to appreciate.
Sophie Turner stars as an actress caught in a scandal reminiscent of the infamous 2020 Hollywood photo-hacking controversy, in which the private images of several actresses were leaked online. In this case, the leaked material includes risqué photos and an image of a positive pregnancy test. The father? The actor who played her television dad on a long-running family sitcom. Worried about protecting his public image, he orders a hit on her.
After fleeing to a remote location to wait for the scandal to die down, she finds herself fighting for her life when the men sent to kill her begin closing in.
At its worst, this could have been a standard thriller with enough ridiculous twists to qualify as a guilty pleasure. Instead, it’s weighed down by atrocious writing, questionable performances, uninspired production design, and just about everything else that can go wrong with a movie. Rather than keeping you on the edge of your seat, Trust will have you laughing at its sheer awfulness. And not in the way the filmmakers intended.
4. Smurfs
This is easily the most irritating movie on my list.
A well-made animated film can appeal to children and adults alike through clever humor, an engaging story, and memorable visuals. Most parents can probably name at least one animated movie they genuinely enjoyed watching with their kids. I have a hard time imagining Smurfs making many of those lists.
This feels less like a genuine attempt to bring the beloved characters to life and more like a product designed to bombard audiences with noise, terrible songs, and an endless parade of irritating gags. Rihanna and James Corden lead the voice cast, but there’s little chemistry or charm to be found. The entire experience feels like an assault on the senses.
And speaking of Corden, to borrow from Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls: “Stop trying to make James Corden happen. He is not going to happen.”
Corden is every bit as grating and shrill here as he has been in so many of his other projects. Perhaps a different voice cast could have helped, but the problems run much deeper than one performance. Still, when your movie is already this exhausting, having Corden add to the irritation certainly doesn’t help.
3. I Know What You Did Last Summer
Legacy sequels have become Hollywood’s go-to strategy for bringing back familiar faces while introducing a younger cast to a new generation. Scream managed to make the formula work, while the Halloween franchise has had a much more inconsistent track record. Unfortunately, I Know What You Did Last Summer now joins the growing pile of disappointing attempts.
The opening offers a glimmer of hope that we might be getting a passable slasher. But as the story progresses, the film becomes increasingly frustrating, with one baffling decision after another dragging it further into the depths of mediocrity.
Say what you will about the 1997 original, but it had a distinct visual style and an atmosphere that made its seaside setting memorable. This new installment, by comparison, is astonishingly bland. Somehow, a movie set in a beachside town manages to feel completely drained of color, personality, and charm.
The story’s developments grow increasingly ridiculous, with certain choices feeling like outright betrayals of the original film. Jennifer Love Hewitt returns in an appearance that feels more like a ghostly reminder of better days, but it’s Freddie Prinze Jr. who proves especially disappointing. I’ve always liked the guy and thought he was perfectly solid in the original. Unfortunately, his performance here feels like a significant step backward.
For a franchise built on suspense, atmosphere, and a memorable hook, this sequel manages to make nearly everything feel lifeless. The result is a disappointing return to a series that deserved much better.
2. Hurry Up Tomorrow
A self-indulgent mess from beginning to end. Someone needs to introduce The Weeknd to the word no.
1. Love Hurts
The other nine movies on this list are bad, but none of them rubbed me the wrong way quite like this Valentine’s Day release.
Love Hurts is a completely soulless film. Ke Huy Quan, fresh off an unforgettable awards run that culminated in an Academy Award, is thrown into an action comedy that seems convinced it’s delivering an adorable romantic story. Unfortunately, the movie has neither the charm nor the personality to pull off either genre.
Ariana DeBose, another enormously talented performer and Oscar winner, fares no better. She and Quan have virtually no chemistry, which is a serious problem when the entire premise hinges on their relationship. The lack of a believable connection between the leads is impossible to ignore, leaving the movie’s emotional core completely hollow.
It’s almost impressive how thoroughly Love Hurts misses the mark at every possible turn. The action lacks energy, the comedy falls flat, and the romance never comes close to working. Nothing feels organic, and the film has so little charm that even its most ridiculous moments become irritating rather than entertaining.
I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever rolled my eyes further back into my head than when Marshawn Lynch delivered his famous catchphrase. Lynch has comedic timing, but the gag is so painfully lame that it perfectly encapsulates everything wrong with the movie.
That was the feeling I had throughout the entire runtime: a steady stream of eye rolls, bad jokes, and missed opportunities.
There were plenty of bad movies released in 2025, but Love Hurts was the one that left me the most frustrated. It’s a joyless, lifeless, and utterly forgettable attempt at entertainment—and my pick for the Worst Movie of 2025.
