Ah, Christmas. ‘tis the season to be jolly...and all that festive lingo. It’s a time when everyone’s spirits are on a rise and we’re all looking for something to liven us up. Most people find inspiration in festive settings, which is what we will be looking into here. Christmas comes and goes every year, but the products of the season have potential to last forever.
Take the examples of movies, for instance, we’ve got lovely films to remember even decades later like Die Hard, It’s a Wonderful Life and Home Alone. The creative juices flow for writers as the holiday offers them an easy setting with potential for more. But this isn’t always the case, not when some efforts turn out to be made with half the effort or the wit.
All of us are attracted to films with big star names. Even if there was a greatest actor of all time, they would have a few lame films to their credit. However, it’s the star power of these actors that make a person disregard the horrible plot. The films you find enjoyable because it features your favorite actor can be a pain to watch for someone else. However, the star power that each actor has means that there are some fans out there that will definitely see it, just based on the fact that they love that actor. Over time, these films are pretty much forgotten from the minds of the casual, but live on for the most ardent of fans.
Here are 25 Forgettable Christmas Movies Only True Fans Remember.
Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas
Kirk Cameron is notable for never wearing in his staunch Christianity to the point that he refuses outright to kiss any of his female co-stars. His deep love for religion means he does his best to promote the customs of Christianity – but that’s no excuse to make terrible films.
Saving Christmas is regarded as one of the worst films ever made. It has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is only known for how bad it is. For Kirk’s sake, let’s hope this remains largely forgettable.
Bad Santa 2
Bad Santa was a nice surprise where we got a Christmas film with R-rated material that still had a lot of heart in it. Bad Santa 2’s announcement brought some trepidation over its quality next to its predecessor. This trepidation was well-founded as the film lacked the originality of the first part. It undid all the development from earlier events and relied mainly on fan interest.
Bad Santa 2 didn’t turn heads at the box office either; perhaps it will be best remembered under the first part’s shadow.
Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever
Grumpy Cat has millions upon millions of followers across social media. The family that owns this little feline has profited greatly by adopting a cat that looks annoyed at everything, and it’s a total coincidence how things worked out.
However, it was also a matter of time before this fame would be exploited and in came Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever. Somehow, Aubrey Plaza became producer and voice star, leading attention toward the film. Thankfully, four years later only close fans know of its existence.
Black Christmas
Slasher films were all the rage back in the 1970s and 1980s, with the genre seeing franchises that reached around ten films in total each. In the 2000s, a revival was attempted with many slashers seeing remakes.
Black Christmas followed suit in 2006 with known names like Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Michelle Trachtenberg. It was basically a formulaic slasher with the gimmick of Christmas slapped onto it. Trachtenberg has fans from Buffy and Winstead from films like Final Destination and Fargo, and those people most likely get a kick out of Black Christmas, too.
The Nutcracker in 3D
Elle Fanning has been making waves in Hollywood ever since she was cast in Maleficent in 2014. Now, she’s been top-billed in films like Live by Night, among others. You’d think being only 16-17 in 2014 would’ve meant her filmography had just started, but her earlier work includes Nutcracker in 3D.
The 3D gimmick had exploded in 2010 thanks to Avatar, and The Nutcracker exploited this too. No one really wanted it, and hardly anyone liked it either, but at least we have something to tease Elle Fanning with.
Rise of the Guardians
Unlike a lot of the films on this list, Rise of the Guardians garnered a good amount of reviews upon release. However, the film also made to follow suit with the superhero frenzy and combined Christmas with The Avengers in this team-up.
However. the tactic was easy to see through and the film didn’t do well at the box office. What’s interesting to note are the number of A-listers: Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, and a slew more. Its good reviews at least amps up the average Tomatometer of the actors.
Surviving Christmas
Ben Affleck’s turnaround in the early 2010s was a marvel if you dig deep and see the bottom-of-the-pile movies this guy had earlier. In the early to mid-2000s, Affleck starred in a series of flops and critical bombs. Surviving Christmas continued this trend by delivering a laughably un-laughable movie.
The premise involved Affleck’s character paying a family to pose as his own to impress his girlfriend; that is until he falls for the fake family’s daughter. Affleck fans are the only ones who may view this as a funny misstep in his career.
Deck the Halls
Getting into the Christmas spirit is one thing, but to make an entire film about it is really stretching it. Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito do just that in Deck the Halls. The premise is literally the two of them attempting to one-up each other by decking their houses in the most lavish of ways.
What seems like a funny feud turns into something of a hostage situation for viewers as the movie repeats the same thing again and again. Not exactly a critic’s dream to sit through this.
Jingle all the Way 2
Larry the Cable Guy doesn’t seem to have a last name and he doesn’t seem to like starring in particularly good sequels. After reprising his role in Pixar’s only critically bombed film Cars 2, Old Larry turned Jingle All the Way into a dud as well by appearing in its sequel.
Make no mistake, Larry’s a likable guy and all, but when the premise is to mooch off the goodwill from the first film the movie itself won’t be remembered by anyone.
Jack Frost
Michael Keaton made it work big with Beetlejuice despite the character being a complete abomination in existence. Keaton was roped in to play another freakish character in Jack Frost where he voiced a CGI’d snowman.
It may have been made with good intentions but just look at that creepy as heck face! Jack Frost bombed at the box office, and it may have been for a number of factors, but we won’t be surprised if people were turned off by that scary face. At least Keaton fans can compare this role with Beetlejuice.
Ghost of Girlfriends Past
Matthew McConaughey (that is one awfully difficult name to spell) is the first name that comes to mind when thinking of a romantic comedy. The man made the genre what it is. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past isn’t really a bad film, it’s just that it doesn’t quite rank high among Matthew’s other romance films.
The film also serves as a final hurrah of the heartthrob for this genre as he took to dramatic turns with Bernie, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Dallas Buyer’s Club. Still, he isn’t any less charming here, though.
A Christmas Carol
Those realistic looking animated films are more of an acquired taste, which is why 2009’s A Christmas Carol didn’t appeal to a wider market. Although the novel by Charles Dickens has stood the test of time, not everyone will remember this animated film.
It was nevertheless a good outing for Jim Carrey, who traded in his usual bombastic performance for a role with more substance (although his crazed antics are present here too). Still, it’s not among the first films you’ll go for when writing a Christmas viewing list.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Child actors tend to grab big parts at the peak of their success, after which it is a make or break scenario if their impact sticks with the audience. Jonathan Taylor Thomas is one of the casualties of this practice as the voice behind young Simba failed to capture an audience for himself.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas was the young man’s feet stepping into film life but here we are over twenty years later and the film can only be notable because it also stars Jessica Biel.
THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN
Hallmark films get a very bad rap because it’s considered to be a home for fading actors. The Christmas Train may defy this idea considering it stars are very notable actors in Dermot Mulroney, Kimberley Paisley, Joan Collins, and Danny Glover.
The film itself is a heartwarming, feel-good (although exceptionally cheesy) outing that feels like a light nuzzle by the fire on a cold evening. However, because it’s a Hallmark film, not many have a clue that it has ever even been released.
Look Who's Talking Now
Look Who’s Talking was a box office success thanks mainly to it being a surprisingly enjoyable film. Its sequels were completely unneeded and tarnished the image of the first movie as well. It’s hard to take these films seriously when the premise keeps getting wackier by the second.
Look Who’s Talking Now focused on animals talking! Sure, we may need to dumb ourselves down for some movies, but this was ridiculous. Only hardcore John Travolta fans could find something entertaining from this film and even that’s a stretch.
THE FAMILY MAN
When you emulate a formula that’s been done several times before, it won’t make your movie stand out much regardless of how good it might be. The Family Man was essentially a spin on It’s a Wonderful Life in a romantic comedy sense.
The film had us see Nick Cage wake up in an alternate life he could’ve had if had he made one different decision when he was younger. It’s a feel-good film that isn’t remembered much because we already have It’s a Wonderful Life.
Just Friends
You can never say Ryan Reynolds doesn’t have range. The guy’s played all kinds of roles in all genres and it’s not his fault if some were better than others. Just Friends is a romantic comedy where a formerly overweight dude sheds his weight and returns to his hometown for Christmas looking handsome and Ryan Reynolds-like.
It’s a sweet film where you get the usual guy-gets-girl ending, but now that we have Ryan as Deadpool, it’s only staunch Reynolds fans who could recall Just Friends.
Four Christmases
Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn have made enough comedy films to fill up a person’s lifetime by binge-watching them. When you’ve got such a wide array of choices, you want to go for the best. Unfortunately, Four Christmases is among the ho-hum pile.
The film has a couple you never really feel any sympathy for, who need to visit each one of their parents while pretending they don’t have problems of their own. Both stars have done more memorable work and you’ll only remember this film if you’re really into Witherspoon-Vaughn films.
Everybody's Fine
Even if you happen to be a fan of Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, or Robert De Niro, you’ll still have a hard time recalling Everybody’s Fine. The film’s shoehorned in the middle of each actor’s career and doesn’t stick out at all.
De Niro plays a father visiting each of his lousy kids on Christmas to find out why they’ve lied to him about being unavailable. It doesn’t have the pull or charm you want from a Christmas story and all three (adult) kids’ characters are unlikable.
HOME ALONE 4
If you liked Home Alone 4 then you’re either a huge Home Alone fanboy or you’ve never seen any movie outside the Home Alone franchise. After realizing no one gave two hoots about a random kid stuck at home in Home Alone 3, the writers decided to bring back the same characters from the first two parts with a new cast and hoped this would be good enough.
The movie was a tame imitation of the more successful films that came before and more than once you’ll be siding with the bad guys.