Not all movies can be blockbuster hits that propel an actor to superstar status. Several Hollywood films were so ill-received, by both viewers and critics alike, that they nearly derailed these actors’ career potential.
Many of these Hollywood actors were big names with several hits under their belt before they hit a career low. Others were still newly establishing themselves when they veered off course. Yet, Hollywood loves a good comeback story. Although some of these actors’ careers never fully recovered, many continued working and even made a full recovery.
This post was updated on October 14, 2025 to clarify the financial loss of John Carter, circumstances of Harnett’s career, the director of Alexander, and modest success of Lucky Number Slevin.
John Carter (2012)
Taylor Kitsch was a breakout star of the popular TV show Friday Night Lights when Disney took a risk and cast him in the lead role in their big-budget film John Carter, an adaptation of the popular Edgar Rice Burroughs novels.
What was supposed to be a blockbuster instead was one of the biggest bombs of all time, costing the studio a whopping $263 million. This film badly hurt Kitsch’s leading-man momentum.
The Love Guru (2008)
Mike Myers was one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1990s and early 2000s, with an impressive resume of hits including Wayne’s World, Austin Powers and its multiple sequels, and Shrek. But his star began to wane in the mid-2000s.
But the final nail in the coffin was the objectively terrible The Love Guru, in which he plays a Westerner raised in India who becomes…a love guru. Full of dumb jokes, it was a total bomb, and seriously stalled his live-action film career.
Norbit (2007)
A legend of the comedy world throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Eddie Murphy’s meteoric career began to show some strain with 2002’s poorly reviewed The Adventures of Pluto Nash, one of the biggest flops of all time.
It kept chugging along through hits including Daddy Day Care and Dreamgirls, but couldn’t survive 2007’s Norbit, in which he plays a mild-mannered guy who’s forced to marry an overweight woman. Though Murphy was Oscar-nominated for Dreamgirls the same year Norbit temporarily damaged his reputation and stalled his momentum. A long hiatus followed, which finally came to an end, and Murphy returned to the screen with films like Dolemite Is My Name, Coming 2 America, and the most recent film, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
Gigli (2003)
Power couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez starred in the romantic crime comedy Gigli, one of the most expensive box office bombs ever made and is widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever. It was the low point of Affleck’s career (which stagnated for years afterward) and took an enormous toll on J.Lo.
The film hurt both stars’ credibility at the time, though both later rebounded.
Freddy Got Fingered (2001)
Early in the 21st century, Canadian comedian Tom Green was all the rage. Thanks to the success of his MTV shock comedy show The Tom Green Show, 20th Century Fox offered him the opportunity to write, direct, and star in his own film. The resulting movie Freddy Got Fingered was panned and hated by critics. It derailed his film career, though he remained a pop-culture figure, and later hosted projects like The Tom Green Show revival and Celebrity Big Brother.
Batman & Robin (1997)
The “It Girl” of the early- to mid-1990s, Clueless star Alicia Silverstone was poised to truly hit the big time with 1997’s big-budget Batman & Robin, starring George Clooney as the Caped Crusader. However, the film was horribly misguided and widely panned, still regarded as a joke.
Even the high-profile stars in the movie couldn’t save it. The film and her panned performance slowed her mainstream film momentum, but she continued working. She later did Blast from the Past, Clueless-related projects, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Requin (2022).
Battlefield Earth (2000)
Propelled by the success of late-’90s films including Pulp Fiction, Face/Off, and Get Shorty, John Travolta was experiencing a bona fide career renaissance in 2000. This led him to pursue his passion project, an adaptation of the L. Ron Hubbard book Battlefield Earth.
The movie and Travolta’s performance were panned as among the worst of all time and thus temporarily ended his late-’90s resurgence. However, he’s starred in several movies since then, including the 2024 film, Cash Out.
Showgirls (1995)
After rising to fame as the brainy Jessie Spano in Saved by the Bell, Elizabeth Berkley had a promising film career all but guaranteed. Until she decided to play against type as a stripper in the poorly reviewed NC-17 film Showgirls. Hollywood turned its back on her, and she’s only racked up a handful of credits since.
Wild Things (1998)
Like Berkley, Neve Campbell also shed her good-girl image (cultivated by starring in the TV show Party of Five and megahit Scream) to a career-killing effect. A huge late-’90s star, she took a risk by starring in the erotic thriller Wild Things, alongside Denise Richards and Matt Dillon. Although it marked a risky career move for Campbell, the salacious romp received decent reviews and didn’t derail her success entirely.
Abduction (2011)
A breakout star of the Twilight saga, Taylor Lautner starred in his own film, 2011’s action-thriller Abduction. The film was a complete flop (with Lautner’s lack of star wattage being especially noted). Though he’s appeared in a handful of movies since then, none of them were memorable.
Jumper (2008)
Hayden Christensen’s performance as young Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequels wasn’t exactly universally beloved, but his career continued chugging along pretty well (including a widely praised turn in Shattered Glass) until 2008’s tentpole Jumper, which was directed by Doug Liman. Though the film was intended to launch a franchise, it bombed instead. Christensen took a break from Hollywood after the poorly received film stalled his leading-man career temporarily. He later came back to the big screen with Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) and Ahsoka (2023).
Cutthroat Island (1995)
Geena Davis was one of the most reliable stars of the early 1990s, turning out hits like Beetlejuice, Thelma & Louise, and A League of Their Own. But when she starred in Cutthroat Island in 1995, a swashbuckling pirate adventure with a notoriously troubled shoot and an even more notorious box office return, her star power faded.
Directed by Renny Harlin (her husband at the time), the film lost $88 million and became (at the time) the biggest box office bomb in history. It badly damaged her box office reputation, but she later returned to with moderate TV success.
The Master of Disguise (2002)
Wayne’s World and Saturday Night Live star Dana Carvey was riding high with HBO comedy specials, popular films, and his talk show when he launched into the star vehicle The Master of Disguise in 2002. The adventure comedy, in which he plays several characters in various disguises, was immediately recognized as one of the worst movies ever made, and Carvey’s film career suffered as a result. Since then, he’s returned to stand-up, voiced Secret Life of Pets 2, and revived Wayne’s World sketches.
Rollerball (2002)
Another turn-of-the-millennium star, Chris Klein was on a tear with films including American Pie, Election, and Here on Earth when he was cast in the big-budget reboot of the James Caan classic Rollerball. The film turned out to be one of the biggest bombs ever, and greatly reduced his leading-man roles.
Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Josh Hartnett was one of Hollywood’s biggest heartthrobs of the late ’90s and early 2000s, proving his range with everything from big-budget action films like Pearl Harbor to romantic comedies like 40 Days and 40 Nights.
Lucky Number Slevin, a star-studded, neo-noir crime thriller left audiences underwhelmed and Harnett’s performance took the brunt of the criticism. However, the film was not a bomb — it earned $56 million worldwide on a $27 million budget and received mixed-positive reviews.
Following the film, Hartnett took a voluntary hiatus, not a forced one (though the choice may have been influenced by the criticism he received for Slevin). He has since rebounded with big projects like Penny Dreadful, Oppenheimer, and Trap.
Elizabethtown (2005)
Orlando Bloom made a name for himself in big-budget blockbusters like the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises, Troy, and Black Hawk Down. His career veered down a different path when he decided to change gears and starred in the romantic tragicomedy Elizabethtown.
Critics panned his performance (and American accent) as shallow and charmless. Leading roles dried up for him soon after. However, his career continued with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Hobbit, and Carnival Row.
Waterworld (1995) and The Postman (1997)
Kevin Costner was one of the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1980s, with hits including Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, and Dances with Wolves cementing his reputation as a likable everyman. But when he starred in two huge flops that performed extremely poorly – 1995’s high-concept action film Waterworld and 1997’s The Postman – his career slumped.
Although he starred in other motion pictures, it’s taken years to make a true comeback (he recently starred in the popular western drama Yellowstone).
Alexander (2004)
With hits including Phone Booth, Daredevil, and S.W.A.T under his belt, by 2004, Colin Farrell was one of Hollywood’s most bankable movie stars. But one role changed that: Oliver Stone’s Alexander, a bloated, historically inaccurate mess.
Though the film grossed $167 million on a $155 million budget, it was panned as a disappointment. Alexander was a critical failure that briefly stalled Farrel’s A-list run. However, he rebounded quickly with In Bruges (2008), The Lobster, and The Batman, and won a 2023 Golden Globe for The Banshees of Inisherin.
Pinocchio (2002)
Italian actor Roberto Benigni is best known to audiences worldwide for the film he wrote, directed, and starred in 1997’s Life is Beautiful, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor. A future in American cinema was his to take, but when he followed up with 2002’s Pinocchio, his career didn’t fare well.
Pinocchio performed modestly well in Italy before flopping in the U.S. It was derided as one of the worst movies of all time and received very poor reviews — e.g. 0% on Rotten Tomatoes for the English-dubbed version. He’s only acted in a handful of Italian films since.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Courtesy of Warner Bros..