I have been waiting a long time (A whole year) for this one! 2025 had some absolute bangers at the top of the lists, but the bottom is just as fascinating. Join me now as we take a terrible journey to discover the worst movie of 2025 together!
There are many spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution – or don’t – and let me know what you think!
Honorable Mention: How to Train Your Dragon
An honorable mention goes to the live-action adaptation of DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon. I did not want to make a full entry on it, but I promise you that this film served zero purpose other than to steal your money and amplify that animation studios do it better. Although not the worst-looking movie, the overabundance of CGI and mind-numbingly boring performances was enough to make me feel a little angry when all was said and done.
#5: Honey, Don’t
Oh, how the mighty keep falling lower. The Coen Brothers are the best. When they worked together, there was immeasurable greatness, but now that they have parted ways and gone on to their own projects, I dread that Ethan has lost his sauce and the plot.
Margaret Qualley and Ethan Coen team up once again after mixed results in their first collaboration: Drive Away Dolls. While the editing and plot moved at a calm three million miles an hour in that film, at least it had heart and a bit of charm. Honey, Don’t lacks everything that could make a movie watchable.
Initially, I had high hopes for this, considering it was still a movie involving one of the Coen brothers. The potential was still there for this to be good, but it was nothing but a mess. Every time I thought I understood the direction the story was headed, it went somewhere else, yet everything that was happening was still underwhelming.
I couldn’t tell you what the case was that Honey O’Donahue (Qualley) was supposed to investigate, because there were too many B-plots that felt more developed than the main story. The best thing I can say about this is how much better the editing was. Margaret Qualley was not bad, and Charlie Day’s consistent asking of Honey out was charming enough. Aside from that, there is nothing else I can recall or even speak too fondly of. 3/10!
#4: The Woman in the Yard
The Woman in the Yard is a psychological horror movie that uses the scary entity as a metaphor for loss and anger. The Woman in the Yard would have been a decent movie if the metaphor had not been as plain as a bagel, the story had not been done before, and there had been at least something unique to this.
As far as comparisons go, the closest movie to compare this to is The Babadook. On an independent budget, that film is one of the most distressing portrayals of loss and anger, expertly combining some truly uncomfortable tension with a shift in who the titular monster is haunting. The Woman in the Yard did not need to have the same execution, but at the very least, the film could have been entertaining.
The Woman in the Yard fell flat fast after an interesting first few minutes. Beyond that, everything else in this film has been done better elsewhere, and this is not a film I will be thinking of again after this. list 3/10!
#3: Jurassic World Rebirth
Do you know the definition of insanity? About halfway through this film, I realized I had not seen any of these Jurassic Park films since 2015’s revival, Jurassic World. It is astonishing how poor this franchise has become and how uninspiring this film is. I counted on two fingers the number of scenes I enjoyed in Rebirth. I can count on two knuckles the number of visual effects, settings, musical scores, and scenes that I liked.
Dialing back the harshness a bit, Jurassic World Rebirth is a forgettable film that makes dinosaurs uninteresting. This would have scored way higher if they at least had some fun with it or understood that this is an action/adventure movie featuring dinosaurs. Rebirth took itself a bit too seriously and, in turn, lost the potential for fun. Whenever fun was nearby, the movie took a hard pivot back to being as serious as possible, and that was lame.
I do not have much else to say about this movie, which is another detriment to Rebirth. After two hours of action, dinosaurs, chases, and adventure, I have no recollection of anything good or memorable. That is a crime to me, and therefore, is ranked deep into the bowels of 2025’s movies.
Being boring is the worst thing you can be, because if a film is bad, at least there is something to enjoy. That brings us perfectly into the next film. Coming in at the coveted penultimate worst movie of 2025 spot is the masterclass of modern moviemaking, which, of course, is:
#2: War of the Worlds
You have seen the memes, you have seen the scenes, and you have heard the reactions, and yes, all of them are true. War of the Worlds is one of the highest-regarded works of Science Fiction ever created, cementing itself a legendary status with Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation of H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, as well as Orson Welles’ influential radio program. We had Orson Welles, we had Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, and now we have *checks notes* Rich Lee and Ice Cube.
God, where do I even begin with this? How about this being a direct-to-streaming Amazon Prime original movie? Spielberg shot his adaptation from groundlevel, inspired by real footage filmed by those nearby during the September 11 terrorist attacks. In this version, everything is done on a computer, shot through FaceTime, and is about the U.S. Government secretly deploying the tripods to steal everyone’s information and destroy the world as a ploy.
The first thirty minutes of this movie are genuinely hilarious. From the jump, there is not a single second of confidence anywhere. Ice Cube was for sure reading his script right off the monitor. Every time Eva Longoria is on screen, her character is comically attacked and then thrown into a new scene with no one really checking on her.
After witnessing his pregnant daughter (Iman Benson) get pancaked by one of the tripods (over FaceTime), Cube puts together an email with the header “Parenting is hard.” It is only after his son, Dave (Henry Hunter Hall), is possibly destroyed by the Tripods that Cube includes Dave in it. The plot of the film begins about twenty minutes in, with no warning other than that the weather was a little funky.
Halfway through the movie, everything moved beyond the point of hilarious into annoying, boring, and pointless territory. War of the Worlds is frankly an embarrassment, and I hope Amazon and Universal paid everyone ridiculous amounts of money for this absolute steaming heap. Do I recommend this movie? Kind of. If you are interested in seeing something remarkably terrible for a while and then in the mood to hate everything in this world, then War of the Words is perfect for you! 1/10!
Truly, this movie is terrible, and it should never be forgotten, but I will do you one worse. The top spot goes to a film that should be forgotten for two handfuls’ worth of reasons. The worst movie of 2025 has got to be:
#1: The Unbreakable Boy
The Career Crash King himself, Zachary Levi, is back and worse than ever! The Unbreakable Boy is based on the true story of the LeRette family. The film is supposed to be about Austin (Jacob Laval), a boy with severe autism and a brittle bone disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, and his ability to spread joy and persevere even in the face of his own pain. In actuality, The Unbreakable Boy is about Austin’s father, Scott (Levi), dealing with Austin’s health, his wife’s struggles with the same brittle bone disease, alcoholism, and his faith.
I am not going to attack this movie for incorporating the challenges of questioning what your faith can do for you, nor the struggles people face with alcohol addiction. However, I am going to challenge this movie’s usage of faith to overlook the awful characters and its shallow attempt to gain our sympathy. I grew up Catholic, so I understand the questions and struggles one can have with their spiritual position in difficult times. However, The Unbreakable Boy is cheap, gross, offensive, and frustrating.
Our protagonist, Scott, not Austin (the one this movie is supposed to be about), is incapable of doing anything without complaining or walking away from the situation. Whenever Scott is in a tough situation, he is quick to get angry or be miserable over nothing. The best example is a scene where Austin and Scott are in a field flying a kite. Austin imagines a dragon in the sky and asks Scott if he sees it. Scott can’t imagine it, and they both begin yelling at each other because Scott doesn’t understand Austin at all.
No imagination? Nothing? We will come back to imagination in a moment.
Despite this film supposedly being about Austin, it treats him in a fairly mean way. His father is whiny for no valuable reasons and makes no effort to connect with him. Teresa (Meghann Fahy), his mother, is actually nice to him since she feels guilty for passing on her disease, and Austin’s brother, Logan (Gavin Warren), has more character development than anyone else in the movie, despite having a total of two scenes.
Austin’s classmates bully him – a cliche and a staple in similar movies – for no reason other than because the movie said so. His grandparents always tell Scott to just think of what Jesus would do instead of providing any actual support, and everyone always tells Austin to stop talking.
The Worst Movie of 2025 Continued
Why is this faith-based movie so mean, lackluster, and cold? I am genuinely asking. It’s crazy how anyone thought this would inspire anyone in any way. The Unbreakable Boy is tone deaf, rude in its delivery, and a complete waste of anyone and everyone’s time. There has been enough slander towards the character writing here, but not enough towards the rest of the film, so let’s run through some more negatives, shall we?
Faith is a front for the character’s terrible behavior. The story is about a Christian father failing to be a good person and a good support system for his family, and not about an inspirational young man continuing on through the many tribulations life has thrown at him, like the trailers would have you believe.
Every performance is wooden and awful. Anytime Scott needs advice from his parents, his dad always just pats him on the shoulder and says something unhelpful, while his mom tells him to pray on it. This film also portrays Autism as something that will divide families, end relationships, ruin people’s lives, and needs to be fixed.
Also, in revisiting my notes, I was reminded that Scott has an imaginary friend whom he consults in his adulthood. In fact, his imaginary friend is even dressed like Tyler Durden from Fight Club in one scene. That’s deemed okay, but if Austin imagines a dragon flying in the sky, he needs help and can be helped through salvation? What are you talking about?
Every issue is black or white, and either ends with fighting, drunkenness, or prayer. There is zero chemistry between the actors, and the characters don’t even like each other. I have “Teresa does not like Scott” written three separate times in my notes. No one is likable, there is no story, the messaging is wrong, and there is nothing redeemable about this film.
My word, I have a migraine writing all of this down. There will never be enough time to properly cover every single issue in every scene of this movie, but I’ve said enough, so I’ll leave it there.
The Worst Movie of 2025 by Nolen Kelly
2025 was a memorable year, but the films above should be forgotten ASAP. The Unbreakable Boy, Jurassic World Rebirth, The Woman in the Yard, Honey, Don’t, War of the Worlds, and even How to Train Your Dragon are not films I think are worth reinvestigating or bringing into the future.
In 2026, I hope the bottom 5 are terrible entertainment, and we can avoid being boring or offensive. Those are all of my hopes, thoughts, and opinions. What about you?
What were your least favorite movies of 2025?
What did you think of these movies here?
Let me know below, and stick around with Respect My Region.
