20 Movies So Boring Audiences Could Barely Stay Awake

A movie does not need nonstop action to hold an audience’s attention. Some of cinema’s greatest films unfold slowly, relying on atmosphere, character development, and quiet tension instead of spectacle. But there is a difference between deliberate pacing and a movie that feels painfully dull. When the story drags, the dialogue falls flat, or the characters give viewers little reason to care, even a relatively short runtime can feel endless.

What qualifies as boring will always be subjective. One viewer’s meditative masterpiece may be another person’s cure for insomnia. Still, certain movies have earned widespread criticism for sluggish pacing, lifeless performances, confusing storytelling, or failing to deliver on promising ideas. Some arrived with major stars, enormous budgets, or strong source material, only to leave audiences checking the clock.

To identify 20 of the most boring films in cinema history, TEMPO reviewed audience ratings, critic reactions, and recurring complaints across IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Reddit, Screen Rant, and other entertainment sources. These are the movies most frequently accused of testing viewers’ patience and making two hours feel much longer.

• Cast: Tamer Hassan, Ray Panthaki, Susan Lynch

Viewers have touted "City Year" as one of the most tedious and forgettable movies. Directed by Steve M Kelly and released on April 24, 2009, this movie is not only boring but confusing and has a significantly low rating. This film received a 0% score on the Tomatometer and an audience score of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.

• Cast: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Jackson Rathbone

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, "The Last Airbender" is close to the top of the most dull movies ever made. It's slow, and the characters aren't interesting. It's easy to close your eyes, wake up 15 minutes later, and not miss a thing. On Rotten Tomatoes, this film scored a 5% on the Tomatometer.

• Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn

Even good movies can be considered boring. This is the case for "Lincoln," directed by Steven Spielberg and released in the United States on Nov. 16, 2012. It's not a bad movie with some great actors and easy-to-recognize characters, but this film has nothing new or exciting. If you already know who Abraham Lincoln is, this film brings nothing to the table.

• Cast: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway

"Alice in Wonderland" is a live-action adaptation directed by Tim Burton. It is filled with unique characters, beautiful outfits, and lively sets. Yet, even with all of this, the movie is quiet, which makes it a perfect movie to sleep through. The main character is hard to watch and root for, compared to other characters like the Mad Hatter.

• Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Angela Bassett

Not all things in the DC universe are a hit and many can be rather strange, often considered boring or awkward; one of the worst is "Green Lantern," directed by Martin Campbell. The concept of the film and heroes are interesting, but it wasn't delivered right, despite the incredible cast and sets. The actors and audience know, considering this film is constantly made fun of and spoofed.

• Cast: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott

Not all Hulk films are guaranteed to be a success and one of the hardest ones to watch is the 2003 rendition directed by Ang Lee. It's forgettable and was quickly abandoned with a canceled sequel. Although the character was brought to life in the Marvel Universe shortly after, this was with a different actor and tone.

• Cast: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Claire Forlani

"Meet Joe Black" is a polarizing movie directed by Martin Brest. Some people absolutely love this romantic fantasy film, while others think it's dull and uninteresting. Many viewers weren't fans of this film because of the writing and the hard-to-watch characters.

• Cast: Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall

Although some people love the movie "Gods and Generals," others would prefer to use it as a means to sleep. This epic war drama directed by Ronald F. Maxwellis long, running for over 3 1/2 hours. It's hard to convince anyone to watch a movie longer than two hours, so a three-hour war movie is a tough sell.

• Directed by: Robert Wise
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Directed by Robert Wise and released in 1979, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" might be a surprising addition to the list considering how popular Star Trek is. It's one of the best science fiction universes of all time, yet this film is often hard to watch because of its slow pace. Even with this minor criticism, it's loved by many but could have easily been a 40-minute episode rather than an over 2-hour movie.

• Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle

Boring movies can be very popular and "50 Shades of Grey" is no exception. This romantic film directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson was a box office hit, drawing in many erotic romance readers. Still, the movie was dull and slow, and the characters had no personalities. Anastasia Steele was naive, but not much else is known about her mousey character.

• Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester

Director Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" is a highly-rated movie, but it's pretty dull to watch. This film runs for over 2 hours and has a lot of slow moments. While this film was considered boring by movie watchers of today, it was still ahead of its time with beautiful shots and cool sound effects.

• Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Directed by Roland Emmerich, "White House Down," is a political action thriller film with an incredible cast. This film, released on June 28, 2013, is a campy action film with funny one-liners but can be considered predictable. It's not a movie people mention on "Top 10 Best" lists.

• Cast: Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling

"A Wrinkle in Time" may not be the worst movie ever made, but it's easy to forget. When this movie, directed by Ava DuVernay, was first released, it garnered a lot of attention and hype as it was based on a popular book of the same name. However, it was very different from the novel. Although a fun fantasy film for kids, the slow, quiet dialogue drags.

• Cast: Casey Affleck, Matt Damon

The Gus Van Sant-directed film "Gerry" was released on Feb. 14, 2003, and is a hard watch. It's a relatively short film with a run time of about 1 1/2 hours. For some people, "Gerry" is fantastic and even their favorite, while others are confused and uninterested in watching it again. Although peaceful, nothing really happens in the film.

• Cast: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean

Sometimes, a great cast of actors and incredible sets are not enough for a movie to be interesting. This is the case for the Wachowskis-directed film, "Jupiter Ascending," released on Feb. 6, 2015, in the United States. The world-building in this movie is stellar, but the characters' personalities feel like they were forgotten.

• Cast: Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins

Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, "Apollo 18" was not the greatest of films. It was considered boring, hard to watch, and uninteresting, though the audience and critics agree on the greatness of this film. This low-budget movie was done in the style of films like "The Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity" and is considered a cheap ripoff.

• Cast: Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc

"Lost in Space" is an iconic film that was a big flop. Directed by Stephen Hopkins, this movie adaptation of the television series received many negative reviews and criticisms. Audiences were originally excited to see a movie of the 1960s television series of the same name, but it did not live up to the hype.

• Cast: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos

There are many polarizing opinions of the film "Clash of the Titans," a remake of the 1981 film of the same name. Directed by Louis Leterrier and released on April 2, 2010, it was generally a fun movie, but the script is hard to follow and void of strong lines, and it could have used more thrills. While the audience score is higher, it's still less than 50%, and the Tomatometer score for this film is 27%.

• Cast: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt

Director Ridley Scott's interpretation of "Robin Hood" was a hard movie to put on this list as people are divided on its excitement. Released in the United States on May 14, 2010, it's a slow film that tells a unique side of the Robin Hood story. However, it got a lot of criticism as Robin Hood, the main character, wasn't charming or as sweet as portrayed in previous adaptations.

• Cast: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger

War dramas are hard to watch for some, but to others, they are fascinating films. This includes "Cold Mountain," directed by Anthony Minghella and released in the United States on Dec. 25, 2003. With a run time of more than two hours, the film was initially successful, but it's barely mentioned or discussed two decades later. (Want to read more about movies? Check out our article on the worst movies based on true stories.)