The 15 Worst Movies of 2021

(#13) If the title rings a bell, it's because it belongs to a comedic ghost story that was originally a Noël Coward play and then a 1945 David Lean film based upon that play. The latter was a box office bomb but has since achieved near-classic status. But it seems unlikely that this new remake/adaptation from TV director Edward Hall (Downton Abbey) will ever be held in high esteem, even though it features a good cast led by Dan Stevens, Judi Dench, Leslie Mann, and Isla Fisher. The main culprit is a screenplay that somehow discards Coward's original dialogue and breeziness in favor of something more modern—or, rather, something "tin-eared, lumpen-footed, [and] almost perversely unfunny" in the words of Variety's Guy Lodge.

“Despite the heavyweight cast, the film’s production values are those of a kids’ TV show that might go out on a weekday afternoon.” —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian