20 Most Disappointing Movies of 2025

Considering Luca Guadagnino's track record of delivering smart, provocative, and engaging films of many genres, expectations were high for his new awards-courting dramatic thriller After the Hunt.

Guadagnino seemed like an inspired choice to dig into a story centered around a sexual abuse scandal in the post-#MeToo era, and with a firecracker cast including Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny, it was easy to get swept up in the hype.

But After the Hunt premiered to wildly mixed reviews at the Venice Film Festival and fared no better when it hit general release in October.

Despite fine work from the cast, especially Roberts, After the Hunt was bogged down by a stamina-drainingly dull script, which manages to be extremely chatty while saying little of actual consequence.

As an attempt to excavate the "nuances" of its central situation, After the Hunt too often comes off as simplistic and even juvenile, marking a very rare miss for its celebrated director.