10 Movies Released Way Too Late To Make Sense

10. Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)

Released 18 years after The Blues Brothers was the surprise critical and commercial comedy hit of 1980 (and 16 years after the death of its star, John Belushi), even a cynic couldn’t call Blues Brothers 2000 a cash-in.

However, written once again by Dan Ayckroyd and John Landis, directed once again by Landis, with that same cast of musicians (those still living) reprising their roles and an almost identical plot (if you can call it that), the film is clearly an attempt to pull off the same magic trick.

It fell short in every conceivable way. There was no screenwriting trick or casting stunt in place to fill the void Belushi left, and no serious attempt to break new storytelling ground: bringing in a kid is the laziest plot device imaginable.

That plotlessness was fine for the original. The Blues Brothers was an extended skit, filmed wildly over budget and over schedule, held together by a classic playlist of R&B standards and the x-factor: a brimming vat of charisma and chutzpah.

Missing any trace of that x-factor, all that the sequel had to offer was a series of celebrity cameos, a soundtrack that couldn’t measure up to the classics and a car chase only interested in adding extra cars to the original audacious third-act pile-up. Two decades after The Blues Brothers surpassed all expectations, Blues Brothers 2000 failed to meet even one.