The 10 Worst Drama Movies of the 2010s, Ranked

The 2010s were home to a high number of exceptional dramas that set the bar for thought-provoking and powerful thematic filmmaking through the soaring heights of the digital era. From striking biopics like The Social Network and The Wolf of Wall Street to gripping original stories like Parasite and Manchester by the Sea, there are countless top-notch drama films to choose from. However, the decade was far from flawless when it came to the dramas released, as there was also a wide variety of drama films that failed to meet the bar of quality.

A below-average drama stands out among bad movies of other genres because, at the very least, genres like action and horror can find enjoyment in even their worst outings, while drama movies that fail rarely have any inherent entertainment value. It makes for a largely disappointing experience to see films that have high hopes of telling a deeply compelling story, yet in execution accomplish the exact opposite. Many of these dramas have been largely forgotten over time and have left minimal discernable impact, with a select few living in pure infamy due to their lack of quality.

10 ‘All Eyez on Me’ (2017)

Directed by Benny Boom

The musician biopic saw an unexpected return in prominence during the 2010s following the major success of films like Straight Outta Compton and Bohemian Rhapsody, with one of the worst films to come from this resurgence being All Eyez on Me. The biopic chronicles the life of legendary hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur, from his monumental rise to superstardom to his controversial imprisonment and prolific time at Death Row Records. The film sees him rise to be a cultural icon whose legacy would continue well beyond his passing.

It’s blatant from the opening moments of All Eyez on Me that the film has no real care or passion towards telling Shakur’s life story and legacy, instead cashing in on the success of the musician biopic genre while it was hot. The result is a film that actively misunderstands the legacy and merit that Shakur had not just in the music industry, but American culture as a whole, with a lackluster execution that doesn’t do the musician justice. It easily makes for one of the worst musician biopics of all time, and easily the worst musician biopic of the 2010s.

9 ‘Beastly’ (2011)

Directed by Daniel Barnz

Acting as a hilariously tone-deaf and gothic interpretation of a modern-day Beauty and the Beast, Beastly is a story of hubris and inner beauty that completely destroys the merits of the original story. The film follows arrogant student Kyle Kingson, who after living a pampered life at the top of the social pecking order, ends up getting his life completely changed after bulling a woman without realizing she was a witch. Kyle finds himself transformed into a scarred, bald, and heavily tattooed version of himself, cursed to remain in this altered form unless he finds someone who loves him by the next spring.

While Beastly asserts itself as a more serious and mature take on the classic fairy tale story, the film cluelessly ends up being even more cartoonish and comedic than its animated counterpart. From the outlandishly ridiculous design of the “beast” to strange choices like making the Lumiere equivalent a blind man played by Neil Patrick Harris, it’s easy to point out the myriad of issues with this ill-fated adaptation.

8 ‘Jem and the Holograms’ (2015)

Directed by Jon M. Chu

A live-action reboot of a long-forgotten animated series from the 80s, Jem and the Holograms took what little love and appreciation there was for the original series and completely eviscerated it for its own, generic and by-the-numbers drama. The film sees a small-town girl catapulting herself from her small town to a global superstar sensation after a video of her singing goes viral. Traveling with her sisters, they go on the journey of a lifetime and take the world by storm, in the process of dealing with the ramifications and difficulties of reaching superstardom.

While Jon M. Chu normally has a great track record for creating stylish and visually compelling music-based films, Jem and the Holograms severely lacks the director’s emphatic flair and excitement. The film is riddled with formulaic characters, underwhelming CGI, and a repetitive, uninteresting story that is the furthest thing from compelling or original. It’s bad enough that the film acts as a major disservice to the original cartoon, but there isn’t even anything that the film has going for it when viewed as its own standalone experience.

7 ‘Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor’ (2013)

Directed by Tyler Perry

While Tyler Perry is most commonly recognized as a director for his various comedy films, the director has also lent his hand to several original thrillers and dramas, one of the most notorious being Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. The film follows the story of Judith (Jurnee Smollett), who has finally completed her graduate work and has begun her long-awaited career as a marriage counselor. When taking an internship at a matchmaking firm for billionaires, she finds herself struck by charismatic billionaire Harley, whose charm threatens to destroy her own marriage to a man she’s known since childhood.

Temptation is a deeply mean-spirited and uncomfortable drama that takes pride in creating vicious and egregious punishments for its characters as a result of their acts of adultery. In the process of telling its message about the pain that temptation provides, it fails to give these characters any nuance or depth, turning them into vicious caricatures that are supposed to be all-encompassing in their messaging. It makes for an overall gross and unsavory viewing experience that is largely fueled by hatred and malice, making no attempts to approach its topic with a human element.

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6 ‘Kings’ (2017)

Directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven

Despite its incredible cast of actors and the possibilities for storytelling surrounding its time period and real-life setpiece, Kings proves to be a major case of missed potential and lackluster execution. The film follows a foster family in South Central in the weeks leading up to the notorious verdict of the Rodney King trial in 1992, a verdict that would plunge the city into chaos and pandemonium. As racial tensions grow due to the trial, an unlikely friendship is created between foster mother Millie (Halle Berry) and her neighbor Obie (Daniel Craig), the only white man in the neighborhood.

All the pieces are here to transform Kings into a striking and deeply compelling drama that tapped into the heart and soul of America during this era, yet it simply flounders and botches its execution at every turn. From atrocious editing decisions to phoned-in performances by its A-listers, Kings wastes all of its potential relatively early on, with the only thing remaining being a painfully underwhelming soap opera with nothing interesting or nuanced to say.

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5 ‘God’s Not Dead’ (2014)

Directed by Harold Cronk

While faith-based dramas and Catholic filmmaking were certainly prevalent well before the 2010s, the genre saw a massive supercharge in popularity thanks to the fervor and discussion surrounding God’s Not Dead. The film follows the story of Christian student Josh Wheaton, who refuses to disavow his faith as a part of a philosophy class taught by an atheist professor. Josh now finds himself tasked with having to prove the existence of god, or else he will be failed for his beliefs.

While the film certainly struck a chord with a dedicated audience of evangelicals who found solace in the film’s themes of fighting for one’s right to religious freedom, God’s Not Dead has zero merit or value for anyone outside this devoted audience. Between the over-the-top performances, mean-spirited tone, and frequent usage of ludicrous straw man arguments, the film revolutionized the faith-based film industry for the worst and served to define it by its hate-fueled comparative aspects.

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4 ‘After’ (2019)

Directed by Jenny Gage

Following in the footsteps of Fifty Shades of Grey‘s cinematic adaptation of what was once Twilight fanfiction, After takes its aims at a teenage audience with its adaptation of what was once One Direction fanfiction. The film follows the blossoming romance between dedicated student Tessa Young and the mysterious rebel Hardin Scott, who opens up Tessa’s guarded and safe world during her first semester of college. She begins to question everything that she knew about herself as she stops being loyal to her high school sweetheart and starts going towards Hardin.

Of all the cheaply-made teen-oriented romance films to be released during the 2010s, After stands out considerably as one of the most basic and bare-bones, relying on tropes and clichés at every turn. The characters play second fiddle to the film’s primary goal, which is to simply hope that having attractive young stars getting into romantic situations with one another is enough to satiate the audience of young, impressionable teens.

3 ‘Gotti’ (2018)

Directed by Kevin Connolly

While Gotti had high aspirations of living up to the master gangster dramas of the past, the film wound up being a comically terrible caricature of the genre that felt more like a parody than a genuine effort at greatness. The film follows the rise of notorious New York mob boss John Gotti (John Travolta), as he slowly amasses legendary status as the boss of the Gambino crime family. His life is filled with wild twists and turns, attempting to give good lessons and valuable advice to his son while traveling in and out of multiple court trials, a prison sentence, and various other tragedies.

Gotti has a relative understanding of the elements and conventions that make up a traditional gangster drama, but simply doesn’t have an understanding as to why these types of stories are compelling. The end result is one that overloads on stereotypes and tropes, simply hoping that a large amount of Italian-American accents and references to other gangster films will be enough to satisfy audiences. It pales in comparison to the gangster drama masterpieces that it’s imitating, being a hollow shell with nothing beyond its surface-level attempts at recreation.

2 ‘My Teacher, My Obsession’ (2018)

Directed by Damián Romay

While movie dramas are not immediately written off as being terrible when they include deeply uncomfortable subject material, there is a fine, narrow line in making sure that these topics are handled with care and precision. My Teacher, My Obsession (also known as Dad Crush), completely disregards this fine line, crafting a story that is as uncomfortable and sickening as it is vapid and lacking in substance. The film sees young high school student Riley, who is struggling to make friends at a new school, yet finds herself in an uncomfortable situation when her new friend Kyla ends up being obsessed with Riley’s dad.

It speaks for itself that a film about a young teenage girl somehow preying upon her considerably older English teacher is not only flawed and problematic on a fundamental level, but comes across as sickening and unsavory to watch. As if the more vile aspects of its plot weren’t bad enough, the film is also home to an array of bad performances and an editing style that serves to only amplify the worst aspects of the filmmaking.

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1 ‘I’m Not Ashamed’ (2016)

Directed by Brian Baugh

A painful and egregious case of performative art that actively misinterprets the real-life events of a victim of a mass shooting to relay its faith-based message, everything about I’m Not Ashamed is rotten to the core. The film tells the story of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the horrific Columbine High School shooting, using her journal entries in the days leading up to her death as a reference point. The film intertwines her story with those of the gunmen responsible for the shooting, as well as giving insight into her perspective and relationship with Christianity.

I’m Not Ashamed has little care for Rachel Joy Scott as a real person who suffered a tragic end during one of the most painful moments in modern American history, instead propping her up as a tool for its political agenda and message. The film makes rash assumptions and twists the truth of the event to give more emphasis to the Christian side of things, even at one point creating a despicable falsehood that the shooting occurred due to their school teaching evolution instead of creationism. While there are a multitude of different ways to create exceptional faith-based films in a dramatic setting, I’m Not Ashamed‘s tarnishing of the legacy of a deceased teenager easily makes it one of the most morally corrupt films of recent memory.

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NEXT: The 10 Worst Drama Movies of All Time, Ranked