Joaquin Phoenix is certainly one of the most talented actors in the world. After his Oscar for Joker, he continued with the role of Napoleon Bonaparte for Ridley Scott. But what is the actor’s worst film according to spectator ratings?
Currently starring in Napoleon, Joaquin Phoenix, 49, has an extremely rich career, punctuated by the Oscar for Best Actor in 2020 for Joker.
The actor has worked for the greatest directors, from James Gray (The Night Belongs to Us) to Ridley Scott (Gladiator) via Jacques Audiard (Les Frères Sisters), Woody Allen (The Irrational Man) or Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master).
The actor, whose partner’s orgasms made him leave the set in Her, can boast of an almost perfect filmography with very few missteps. However, one feature film particularly stands out from the crowd as an ugly duckling. This is the worst film with Joaquin Phoenix according to spectator ratings: It’s All About Love.
With a score of 2 stars out of 5, this work by Thomas Vinterberg displeased spectators, making this romantic drama the worst in Joaquin Phoenix’s career. The story takes us to the near future. Elena, played by Claire Danes, is a New York skater overwhelmed by fame who has called into question her marriage.
She decides to hang up her skates, thus going against her manager and her two assistants. After cloning Elena to protect their backs, they try to eliminate her. John (Joaquin Phoenix), her husband who came from Poland to file for divorce, will help her escape from them.
According to Lorenzo Fly, It’s All About Love is “an uninteresting film which gets lost in an unbelievable and rather clumsy scenario. The work tries to give itself a philosophical dimension on life and love but it never succeeds or in a grotesque way.”
“Heavy and ridiculous”
“But it’s so cumbersome! It drags on forever. A real waste of time!”, insists adict. Xavierch adds that “this film is very pretty, very aesthetic. But apart from that, I didn’t understand much, I was terribly bored. I was still waiting for some semblance of an answer, but no, nothing.
And how funny they are walking around in the snow (which doesn’t get wet by the way) in little jackets and moccasins… It’s ridiculous. Go on your way, there’s nothing to see.”
For its part, Flying_Dutch does not mince its words: “One wonders what Joaquin Phoenix and Sean Penn could have done in this joyous nonsense. Besides, they don’t seem convinced either. Only the director manages to follow himself and the film is sinks into an uninteresting delirium.”
2023 Apple Joaquin covers his ears, he doesn’t want to hear the criticism!
Among a majority of rather negative reviews, chrischambers86 defends the film. “It’s as beautiful as Jean Cocteau and Thomas Vinterberg once again asserts his talent as a director!
A beautiful and curious work which asserts its originality through the theme it addresses. Furthermore, the interpretation is solid and convincing; Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes form a very pretty couple in this funeral ballet.”
“A failed film”
As for Gérard Delteil, he is mixed: “The film is difficult to rate because it is obviously a dud, although it has some superb mystery sequences. Thomas Vinterberg, despite his talent, completely failed with an incoherent script and some rather pretentious flights of fancy. Too bad, because it had all the ingredients to make a captivating fantasy thriller.”
Finally, Oriwa also expresses his circumspection: “So there, I’m stunned, completely mixed. I don’t know at all what to think of this film. Let’s say that I didn’t understand everything, that I didn’t see the real goal, but that all this vagueness managed to fascinate me.
It’s intriguing. Between the breathtaking and the big failure, it’s a weird feeling. Joaquin Phoenix is superb, but Claire Danes did better. Strange, captivating, poetic, disconcerting.”