Every Cameron Diaz Movie With Bad Ratings That's Still Worth Watching
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
If you were around during the 1990s and 2000s, you know Cameron Diaz. There was a time when you couldn't go more than a few months without one of her films landing at a theater near you — and for good reason. Diaz is as talented as she is kind and determined, and she's made some of the most beloved films out there, like "Charlie's Angels," "There's Something About Mary," and "The Mask."
However, that doesn't mean every Diaz movie has been a grand slam with audiences and critics. In fact, some of her films have pretty terrible reviews — but they're still worth watching anyway.
You won't see Diaz doing much in terms of acting these days, and that's because the actress has effectively retired. In 2020, she explained to fellow actress Gwyneth Paltrow that she left the industry because she wanted to. "I just decided that I wanted different things out of my life," she said (via CNN). "I had gone so hard for so long, working, making films and it's such a grind. I didn't really make any space for my personal life."
Fair enough! Here's a look back at some of the star's less-beloved hits that we think are still worth checking out.
'What to Expect When You're Expecting'
"What to Expect When You're Expecting" is a 2012 movie based on a book by the same name. The movie was more or less universally panned, with a score of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 2/5 rating on Common Sense Media, and a 5.7/10 rating on IMDb.
However, the film features some major household names who bring a lot of fun to it. In addition to Cameron Diaz, the movie co-stars Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, and Brooklyn Decker. And fans on Amazon actually give the film 4.5 stars out of 5, with one noting that it's not exactly good — but it's not exactly bad, either.
In fact, it turns out the movie might get better the more you watch it. As the reviewer writes, "It's actually one of those movies that is more enjoyable after multiple viewings, like those old cable TV stalwarts from back in the day, where you'd turn it on while doing chores and the you'd turn off the vacuum for the parts you like best."
'The Other Woman'
Released in 2014, "The Other Woman" features Cameron Diaz alongside Kate Upton and Leslie Mann. The three play a group of women who all realize they're dating the same man. Diaz's Carly is the girlfriend who finds out her boyfriend is actually married to Mann's Kate, who then finds out that he's also dating Upton's Amber. It's a mess, but the movie isn't really that bad.
Of course, you wouldn't know that, based on the reviews it's received. The film is ranked at 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, 6/10 on IMDb, and 39% on Metacritic. Film reviewer Mark Kermode wrote (via The Guardian), "It would nice to be able to declare that this women-on-top revenge comedy presents a sparky gender-role inversion, but instead it just trots out the usual clichés in tired and increasingly tiresome fashion." Ouch!
However, fans on Amazon Prime love the movie. One wrote, "So much fun to see so much female revenge for all the right reasons, and it's a great team effort."
'The Sweetest Thing'
The 2002 film "The Sweetest Thing" also received pretty negative marks: 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, 1/5 on Empire, and 5.2/10 on IMDb, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to love about it ... right? Well, according to famed film critic Roger Ebert, the only thing good in "The Sweetest Thing" is Cameron Diaz herself. "This is not a good movie," he wrote. "It's deep-sixed by a compulsion to catalog every bodily fluids gag in 'There's Something About Mary' and devise a parallel clone-gag. It knows the words but not the music; while the Farrelly brothers got away with murder, 'The Sweetest Thing' commits suicide."
In the movie, Diaz is joined by Christina Applegate and Selma Blair. They get up to a lot of different shenanigans, and, for many fans, it's just fun to watch a classic buddy movie that stars women instead of men. As one person wrote on Amazon, "To me, this movie is the equivalent of a male chauvinistic film, only for women."
'Annie'
Cameron Diaz also starred in the 2014 remake of the classic film "Annie." Of course, many people shudder when they hear "remake of the classic film" in any context, but a lot of people genuinely enjoyed this update on the original.
However, it seems that plenty of others did not. Roger Ebert wrote, "Judged purely in terms of its production and direction, this latest 'Annie' is inferior to its predecessors; director Will Gluck, of TV's 'The Marshalls' and 'Andy Richter Controls the Universe,' has envisioned it as a repository of 2014 music and musical performance cliches, the actors cavorting through indifferently composed widescreen vistas, and singing in voices that have been heavily AutoTuned."
Perhaps the people who leave film reviews on Amazon are just always in a great mood because they really like this movie. One person wrote, "Did not want to watch this ... I found that I really liked it despite myself. The main actress is adorable and very likable."
'Head Above Water'
Released way back in 1996, "Head Above Water" stars our girl Cameron Diaz as Nathalie, wife of Harvey Keitel's Judge George. The two are on vacation with close friends when tragedy strikes: One is found dead. What follows definitely falls under the category of "dark comedy," but the movie proves that there is truly an audience for everything.
Reviewer Derek Elley wrote for Variety that Diaz was one of the best parts of the whole movie. "'Head Above Water' is an amiable, let's-hide-the-corpse black comedy that's funniest when it finally lets go of the reins in the last act. Elsewhere, despite watchable playing by Cameron Diaz, the movie takes awhile to find its legs, and is weighed down in the early stages by a seriously miscast Harvey Keitel."
The movie is actually a remake of a 1993 Scandinavian film by the same name. If you love Diaz, then it's worth a shot. As Elley concluded, "The picture is a fine showcase for Diaz's fast-developing acting skills."