The 10 Worst Movies of 2022

10 films that just simply didn’t work for me

Chris Salazar
13 min readDec 31, 2022

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Every year, there is always a debate on whether making a “Worst list” is ethical or not. People often say “you’re a terrible person for doing this” or get completely angry, claiming that I’m being mean-spirited. Don’t get me wrong, I get it. There are people who act in bad faith in this world. I am not one of them.

Good or bad, I respect the people working on these films. Making a movie is no easy feat: between budgets, deadlines, studio demands, audience demands, etc. It can be a very stressful experience to do so. In a matter of fact, I am still trying to wrap my head around a script that I want to write. None of this is easy.

Still, bad movies get made. When filmmakers get arrogant and subject the audience to the flashing of their egos, it’s pretty bad. When a film fails to meet expectations, it’s unfortunate. When a film bores me, I’m not going to watch it again. Worst of all, when a studio tries to regurgitate blandness and vapidity, it needs to be called out. Even in a year in film as good as 2022, there were some pretty bad films I saw this year.

Why am I doing this? Not to be a snarky asshole but, because I would rather reflect on what worked and what didn’t work. Please keep in mind that everything is subjective. If you liked a certain film starring the frontman of a rock band from the 2000s, that is okay. I disagree with you but, I don’t hate you. Also, I am gonna be harsh with my thoughts but, I will try to also point out the good because almost every film on this list has a few good things despite how bad they are.

Before we start, some Dishonorable Mentions:

Devotion - A major disappointment for me despite great performances from their leads

The Whale- Brenden Fraser and Hong Chau are great here but, my god was this movie emotionally manipulative

Babylon- Great cast and a great opening scene but, the film is pretentious, bloated, and has more endings than “Return of The King”

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Chris Salazar

28 | Fiction Writer | usually writes about anything but, mostly about film