The Worst Movies Based on True Events

“Free State of Jones” is based on the true story of a white Mississippi farmer Newton Knight who led a rebellion against the Confederacy during the Civil War. He declared Jones Country, where he lived, to be part of the Union. The county was known as the Free State of Jones. Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus describes the movies as a “stilted treatment of a fascinating real-life story.”

“Hollywoodland” was inspired by one of Hollywood’s most infamous mysteries — the death of George Reeves, the man who played Superman in the 1950s TV show. It was ruled that he took his own life, though the circumstances have been the subject of much controversy. Some critics described the movie as a whodunit that has little mystery and as a film that settles for the middle instead of shooting for the stars.

“Hysteria” is based on the eyebrow-raising story of the invention of the  by 19th-century British physicians. Just over half of critics and viewers who reviewed the film gave it a positive review. “Hysteria has an amusing subject but its winking, vaguely sarcastic tone doesn’t do the movie any favors,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“The Soloist” is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a Los Angeles violin virtuoso who developed schizophrenia and became homeless. Though critics praise the performances of Jamie Foxx, who plays Ayers, and of Robert Downey Jr, who plays a journalist writing about the musician, they were not impressed with the plot and its lack of narrative.

The 2001 Drew Barrymore comedy “Riding in Cars with Boys” is based on the autobiography of writer Beverly Donofrio. Many critics felt that the movie didn’t quite pull off its mix of comedy and darker elements.

Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” is a historical drama that won an Oscar for its costume design. Audiences were lukewarm with regard to the full product, however, as was reflected in its middling box office returns.

“Hidalgo” tells the legend of American cowboy Frank Hopkins and his mustang, Hidalgo. The two travel to Arabia in the late 19th century to compete in a challenging cross desert horse race. The plot is based on the real Hopkins’ memoirs, but some of the claims in them have been proven false.

“Hoffa” is one of several movies about the notorious labor union boss Jimmy Hoffa. The 1992 movie centers on Hoffa’s life — from his rise as a public figure to his disappearance in 1975. Just over half of critics who reviewed the movie liked it. Some, however, described it as disappointing and exaggerated.

“The 33” is the story of 33 Chilean miners who in 2010 were trapped inside the gold and copper San Jose Mine for 69 days. The film “offers an appropriately inspirational account of real-life heroism, but its stirring story and solid performances are undermined by a flawed focus and an overreliance on formula,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“Chasing Mavericks” is based on the true story of surfing legend Jay Moriarty. The movie tells the story of 15-year-old Moriarty training with local surfing legend Frosty Hesson. Mavericks is the name of a famous surf break near Santa Cruz, California. Critics point to several problems with the movies, the biggest being the bad script.

“Puncture” tells the story of a highly functioning drug-addicted lawyer who takes a giant medical supplies company to court while managing his heroin addiction and other personal problems. Critics did not like the movie’s many cliches and formulaic storytelling. Some, however, were impressed with Chris Evans’ performance as the lawyer.

“Wyatt Earp” is a biographical Western. The film tells the story of an idealistic sheriff, Wyatt Earp, who, along with his brothers, wages war on two local gangs. The movie is described as “undisciplined and overlong,” in Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus. Film critic Roger Ebert described it as lacking tension and drama.

“Heaven Is for Real” is based on the story of 4-year-old Colton Burpo who becomes unconscious during an emergency surgery. After he wakes up, he tells the story of how he was in heaven and describes events he could not have possibly seen in person. The movie “boasts a well-written screenplay and a talented cast, but overextends itself with heavy-handed sequences depicting concepts it could have trusted the audience to take on faith,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“Ned Kelly” is based on a novel about the life of the 19th century Australian bushranger. Kelly and his gang are always on the run from local authorities. Some critics describe the film as bordering on parody.

Mary Boleyn was the sister of the more famous Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. Mary was rumored to have been one the mistresses of King Henry VIII. “The Other Boleyn Girl” tells the story of how Anne convinces the king to marry her while Mary is pregnant and confined to bed. “This is cliché heaped on cliché and hopelessly artificial,” writes Deporah Ross of The Spectator.

“The Iron Lady” is the story of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, told from her perspective as an old lady plagued by dementia. Thatcher was the first female British prime minister. She resigned after 11 years in office. Meryl Streep’s performance as Thatcher earned her an Oscar. Critics disliked just about everything else about the movie.

“Mary Queen of Scots” tells the story of the 16th century Scottish monarch, focusing on the rivalry between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, her cousin, who tries to overthrow her. Even the positive reviews by critics have plenty of criticism about the historical drama. “It’s too bad the narrative machinations bog down what otherwise is a fine tale of political manoeuvring,” writes film critic Richard Crouse.

Whether or not the supposed alien abduction at the heart of this movie is true is besides the point as while more than half the audience reviews recorded on Rotten Tomatoes were favorable, the critics nudged the site’s Tomatometer only up as far as 42%.

“In the Heart of the Sea” is based on a novel about one of the most infamous maritime disasters. In the movie, a whale sinks the whaleship Essex, leaving its crew to drift for more than three months at sea on three small boats. Some critics have criticized the movie, saying it is flawed, confused, and bland.

“Patch Adams,” which stars Robin Williams in the titular role, is based on the life of a real doctor with the same name. While the movie was a financial success — it was the 10th highest grossing film of 1998 — it was liked by only 22% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes, who found the movie “syrupy.”

Cate Blanchett was nominated for an Academy Award for this costume drama about England’s Queen Elizabeth I and her struggles with the Spanish — and the movie won an Oscar for Costume Design. The New York Times, however, found it to be “A kitsch extravaganza aquiver with trembling bosoms, booming guns and wild energy” and “distorted and deliriously far-fetched” — and its Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes is a mere 35%.

“Taking Woodstock” is a dramatic comedy based on the memoir “Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life” by Elliott Tiber and Tom Monte on the origin of the Woodstock music festival. Critics and audiences were generally underwhelmed by the movie, which grossed less than $10 million worldwide against a reported production budget of $30 million.

“W.” is a biography of U.S. President George W. Bush. The film centers on the future president’s rise to power from a privileged alcoholic. “A surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of the 43rd American president, W. is fascinating in spots, but merely rudimentary as a whole,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“Colonia” is the story of a secluded cult in Chile led by a German preacher and former Nazi soldier, called Colonia Dignidad. A young woman joins the group in order to find her boyfriend who was taken prisoner for protesting against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet during a military coup. Critics were not pleased with the film and bashed it for lack of details. Cath Clarke of Time Out even wrote: “Read the Wikipedia page. You’ll learn more.”

“Lonely Hearts” is the story of the detective who was tracking down the notorious and murderous couple Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez, known as the “Lonely Hearts Killers.” They were active in the 1940s in New York, targeting mostly spinsters and war widows. Debbie Lynn Elias from Behind The Lens described the movie as “emptier and more alone than the victims of Beck and Fernandez.”

“Dangerous Minds” is based on a 1992 book by LouAnne Johnson, “My Posse Don’t Do Homework.” A former Marine Corps officer and U.S. Navy journalist, Johnson’s book details her experiences teaching at-risk teens in Belmont, California. A mere 29% of critics gave the movie a positive review on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Machine Gun Preacher” tells the story of Sam Childers, a former gang biker and outlaw. Childers travels to East Africa where he eventually builds an orphanage in a Sudanese territory controlled by renegade militia where he tries to rescue kidnapped children. Critics have described the movie as overly peachy, overblown, and half-finished.

“A Walk in the Woods” is based on travel writer Bill Bryson’s memoir of the same name about his experience attempting to hike the more than 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail with an old friend. Most positive remarks about the movie have to do with having Hollywood legends, Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, in it.

“Goya’s Ghosts” is based on the story of a model of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya and the Inquisition, although many aspects may be historically inaccurate. Despite a strong cast featuring Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman, the film only managed to accumulate positive reviews from 30% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the best efforts of skilled scenery-chewers Johnny Depp and John Malkovich, the critics were largely unimpressed with this biographical portrait of John Wilmot, the decadent 17th-century English poet also known as the Earl of Rochester. The Toronto Star denounced it as a “bilious murk” and “a sad picture,” and to Movies.com it was a “Big dull drag of a movie.”

Director Luc Besson and star Milla Jovovich filmed “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc” after working on the successful “The Fifth Element” together. The movie was criticized for — among other things — being heavy handed, and it flopped at the box office, grossing $14.3 million domestically against a reported $85 million budget.

“J. Edgar” is a movie about the rise to power of famous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The movie follows his life from a minor functionary to becoming one of most powerful men in the U.S., serving under eight presidents and through three wars. Though most critics gave a positive review of Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance of Hoover, they were not impressed with the narrative, calling it muddled and confusing.

“Lovelace” is based on the true story of adult film actress Linda Lovelace. The movie is meant to set the record straight about Lovelace, who became the poster girl for sexual revolution in the 1970s. Neither critics nor moviegoers were impressed. The film was slammed for lacking depth.

Ridley Scott’s “1492: Conquest of Paradise” centers on Christopher Columbus, who is played in the film by Gérard Depardieu. The 142-minute epic was a flop with critics, only 32% of whom enjoyed it, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Bling Ring” was inspired by actual events. A group of celebrity-obsessed teenagers called Bling Ring rob famous people’s homes. Though more than half of film critics enjoyed the movie, just about a third of viewers liked it. The movie “suffers from director Sofia Coppola’s failure to delve beneath the surface of its shallow protagonists’ real-life crimes,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“True Story” is based on the real case of Christian Longo, an accused murderer of his wife and his three children. Critics have slammed the film as uninspiring, disappointing, and unenlightening.

“Factory Girl” tells the story of Andy Warhol’s muse Edie Sedgwick. The film has an abysmal 20% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although some, like Richard Roeper, praised Sienna Miller’s performance as Sedgwick.

“How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” is a comedy based on Toby Young’s memoir of the same name. A British writer is hired by an American magazine. After moving to New York and trying to fit in, he ends up offending everyone he meets. The comedy is described as neither sharp nor satirical in the Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

Based on the life of rapper 50 Cent, who stars in the movie, this “distinctly tedious piece of work” (according to Reel Film Reviews) obviously resonated with its audience, but its Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score is an abysmal 16%.

“Eat Pray Love” is based on the famous book of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert. The movie is a romantic drama that follows Gilbert, played by Julia Roberts, as she makes several life-changing decisions. Critics say the book is much better, calling the movie shallow, lifeless, and dull.

“The Fifth Estate” is a movie about the news-leaking site WikiLeaks. The film movie covers the time from the early days of the partnership between Julian Assange and his right-hand man, NAME, to the explosion of the site on the world stage. The film is “heavy on detail and melodrama but missing the spark from its remarkable real-life inspiration,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“Domino” was inspired by the life of Domino Harvey, a former model, bounty hunter, and daughter of actor Laurence Harvey. The movie failed to inspire critics, with only 18% giving it a positive review on Rotten Tomatoes.

This action-horror flick is based on a book by a real-life cop who joins forces with a Catholic priest specializing in exorcisms. The movie made money but failed to impress critics, who panned “the random, far-fetched storytelling” (Time Out) and called it “a routing procedural with unremarkable frights” (Chicago Sun-Times).

This is the story of talented and influential rapper Tupac Shakur, from his early days in New York City to his tragically early death. Though more than half the audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were favorable, an astonishingly small 18% of critics found the film had merit.

Only 28% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes liked this ironically unimaginative biopic of Steve Jobs, one of the most imaginative innovators in recent history. Critics quoted by the site call it “bland and bloated,” “the equivalent of a feature-length slow clap,” and “a missed opportunity.”

The 2016 comedy is based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery that took place in Charlotte, North Carolina. Many moviegoers and critics found the film — which has the same director as 2004’s “Napoleon Dynamite” — to be a little too wacky.

“Devil’s Knot” is a direct adaptation of a novel about the story of “The West Memphis Three.” The movie is centered on the trial of three teeangers accused of killing three little boys in a Satanic ritual. Critics dislike the movie for its lack of suspense, describing it as a stiff book report.

The movie is based on the 2016 autobiography “The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes.” The thriller shows the events of the Aug. 21, 2015, armed attack on passengers traveling aboard a train from Amsterdam to Paris. The movie “pays clumsily well-intentioned tribute to an act of heroism, but by casting the real-life individuals involved, director Clint Eastwood fatally derails his own efforts,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“Alexander” is the story of Alexander the Great, the King of Macedonia, who conquered much of the known world by age 32. The nearly three hour-long movie has been described by critics as emotionally and intellectually incoherent, flawed, and an excruciating disaster.

“Winchester” is a horror film that tells part of the true story behind the Winchester Mystery House near San Francisco. The plot is based on the real-life experiences of Sarah Winchester who built a mansion for the ghosts she believed were following her. Critics have described the movie as tedious, disappointing, and a wasted opportunity to tell a good story.