10 Biggest Mistakes The James Bond Series Ever Made

10. Dr Christmas Jones In The World Is Not Enough

Including this one does feel rather like shooting fish in a barrel at this point. But anyway you cut it, there's really no denying that Denise Richards' Dr Christmas Jones is the worst Bond girl ever. And yes, I know that's saying a lot.

1999's The World Is Not Enough was the 19th Bond movie, and Pierce Brosnan's third film in the role. The series had, by this point, managed to strike a tricky balance between edginess and absurdity, facilitated by Brosnan pitching his performance midway between Sean Connery and Roger Moore. This had worked perfectly in Goldeneye and (to a lesser extent) Tomorrow Never Dies.

Third time, in this instance, was not a charm. The World Is Not Enough is an oddly schizophrenic movie; on the one hand, it's the most grounded and character-driven Bond movie since On Her Majesty's Secret Service; on the other, it boasts some painfully goofy elements that utterly scupper any attempts at emotional realism.

The worst offender on this front: a world-class nuclear physicist dressed like Lara Croft with a demanour more becoming to a California mall than an Eastern European oil pipeline.

Kiss all sense of pathos goodbye; every time Christmas Jones is on screen, all the movie's efforts toward real drama are completely undermined. It's not just that Denise Richards was miscast, it's that the character belongs in a different movie altogether.