10 Movies In The IMDb Bottom 100 Actually Worth Watching
5. Gigli (#76)
Gigli marks the point in which any remaining public support for the "actor" Ben Affleck died away and people gave up entirely. It marks the point at which Affleck became a full-on joke, instead of just a half-joke. Essentially, it was the movie that ended his career. And that makes perfect sense when you actually sit down to see Gigli - an annoying, insufferable and actually kind of bewildering motion picture that pretty much should have been titled "Ben Affleck: My Resignation From Hollywood" instead. Does it make sense that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have zero chemistry in this movie, despite the fact that they were a couple in real life at the time of shooting? It does not. Does it make sense that Christopher Walken appears in a scene in which his character talks about wanting a delicious pie? Absolutely, no. It is a mess of a movie; a two hour contrition in which pretty people pretend to be interesting and fail miserably at every turn. Viewed now, though, at a time when Affleck is arguably at the height of his career (he is Batman: who'd have thought?) and Gigli makes for an endlessly curious watch. It is the certified proof that you can sink to the the lowest depths imaginable and still bounce back.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.