Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Phoenix Film Festival’s The Five. This time we are taking a look at the five worst movies that Shaquille O'Neal has been in. We are ranking the movies based on the movie quality itself not necessarily O’Neal’s performance but it was taking into consideration. We are including all movies that O’Neal played a character and not cameos or roles were he played himself. This list is not an attack on O’Neal’s acting talents but, it is more of an observation of the movies as a whole.
5. Show Dogs (2018)
Coming in at number five on our list is Show Dogs. This movie was supposed to be a family friendly adventure, but unfortunately it missed the mark. The jokes were pretty dry and there was no connection with the characters on screen. While this was just a voice over performance for O’Neal, it just wasn’t a movie that connected with audiences over 10.
4. Grown Ups 2 (2013)
This was another flop in the Adam Sandler movieverse. Grown Ups 2 was a bit of a cash grab after the box office success of the first movie. There was just one too many fart jokes in this one for our liking. While there is a spectacular cast of comedic talents in this movie, there was nothing funny about this movie. O’Neal played a cop who was kind of a waste of space. The humor was uninspired and they kind of went for cheap laughs instead of good comedy, which is unfortunate because this film could have been so much better.
3. Blended (2014)
Number three on the list is, Blended, a pretty predictable and bland rom-com film. There could have been so much working for this movie, but the execution is just not there. The laughs felt forced and the romance was not all that believable. The funny parts were foreseeable and Shaq’s character did not really add much in terms of humor. There are some likable parts and good one-liners, but this is definitely a forgettable movie.
2. Kazaam (1996)
Coming in at number two is the cringe worthy Kazaam. This is the first movie on the list that Shaq has the leading role, but it was a major box office let down. Good special effects were hard to come by, yes I know it was the 90s ,but it didn’t look good at all. The movie did show that an audience existed for O’Neal but, this is just not a good movie on any level. Kazaam is a perfect example of what happens when out of touch adults make a kids movie. .
1. Steel (1997)
To top of our list is probably the worst superhero movie ever made (yes I said that knowing Batman and Robin came out earlier that year). It bombed at the box office only bringing in $1.7 million with a $16 million dollar budget. There really isn't anything good I can say about this movie. The writing was poor, the acting was sub-par, and the superhero costume (which is supposed to look like a cool futuristic suit) looked like a giant metal trash can. I could see that DC was trying to market a huge star in a superhero movie, but it just fell flat.
