Chris Evans is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood right now. He rose to fame for playing comic book superheroes, like the Human Torch in The Fantastic Four duology. But it was Evans' iconic role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that turned him into a household name. But this super stardom didn't happen overnight.
In a 2009 interview with The Boston Globe, before his career really took off, Evans said, "Luckily, my first couple of movies were really terrible" and then goes on to name a few. What were the movies on his list? And are these movies really as bad as Chris Evans claims?
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Not Another Teen Movie might have been Chris Evan's second feature-length film, but it was his first big movie. The tremendous success of horror comedy Scary Movie birthed an entire franchise that parodied specific genres.
Not Another Teen Movie was the second film to come out of this franchise, a movie that (if you can't tell by the title) parodied popular and iconic teen films, such as She's All That, 10 Things I Hate About You, Pretty in Pink, American Pie, Cruel Intentions, The Breakfast Club, and so many others.
This was the first film that Evans included in his "terrible movies" list. "There wasNot Another Teen Movie, not a blockbuster," he said in his interview withThe Boston Globe. But we have to disagree with Evans' assessment here. A movie doesn't need to be a blockbuster in order to be great.
Sure, this film has a 32% score on Rotten Tomatoes and follows a ludicrous story. But Not Another Teen Movie is regarded as a classic among the Millennials who grew up with it, a beloved comedy that had most of us doubling over with laughter with its on-point references, raunchy humor, and comical stereotypes.
Evans was far from Captain America and Hollywood fame back in 2001 (though he was still jacked, even then), which makes it even funnier to watch him play the shallow, arrogant, and popular jock, Jake Wyler.
The Perfect Score (2004)
The Perfect Score is a teen-comedy heist film that follows six high school seniors, who break into a testing center to steal the answers to their upcoming SAT tests. It was Evans' third feature-length movie. Interestingly, The Perfect Score features another future star, who would work closely with Evans in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Scarlett Johansson.
According to Chris Evans, he did a slew of "terrible movies" in 2004, and The Perfect Score is one of them. "Gone in a New York minute," he said when describing this film. And this time, we're more inclined to agree with him.
MTV Films is not exactly known for producing "great movies", and The Perfect Score is no exception. It has a pitiful 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's concensus reads,
"Neither funny nor suspenseful, this heist / teen flick also fails to explore its potentially socially relevant premise."
Critics also called it a poor man's rip-off of the teen classic, The Breakfast Club. Fortunately, The Perfect Score wasn't bad enough to slow down the momentum of Evans' or Johansson's careers.
The Orphan King (2004)
The Orphan King was Evans' next project after The Perfect Score. Very little is known about this film. It co-starred Bill Pullman and was the only movie that Andrew Wilder directed before becoming a TV producer. Evans talks about The Orphan King in a 2004 interview:
"Long story short, it’s about drugs, violence, friendship, and love. It’s gritty and sad, but super independent, super low budget. That’ll run festivals and probably go to Tribeca [Film Festival] in May."
But The Orphan King never made it to Tribeca. As Evans mentions in his 2009 Boston Globe interview, the film "never even made it to theaters," prompting him to add it to his terrible movies list. What happened to this film exactly? Why wasn't it ever released? It's kind of an underground mystery. The Orphan King has become a lost project in Chris Evans' filmography, locked away in the vaults of independent Hollywood.
Cellular (2004)
In Cellular, a kidnapped woman manages to contact a stranger and ask for his help, leading to a struggle for survival between several characters. It features a pretty all-star cast that includes Kim Basinger, Jason Statham, William H. Macy, Jessica Biel, and of course, a then unknown Chris Evans.
Cellular was Evans' last film in 2004 and the last entry on his terrible movies list. It also gave the budding actor his first real taste of the action genre. Evans said in his 2009 interview,
"I did a movie called 'Cellular,' which was gone"
What does "gone" mean in this context exactly? That the movie went in and out of theaters? That it was a forgettable film that dropped from both critics and audiences' radars? The answer is unclear.
Cellular actually holds the highest Rotten Tomatoes score on Evans' terrible movie list with a 56%, which isn't far off from its 58% audience score. Despite these rotten scores and its gimmicky feel, most critics, including the legendary Roger Ebert, called Cellular one of 2004's best action thrillers.
You can catch Chris Evans next in
Red One
, which hits theaters on November 15, 2024.
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