THE WORST

The Astronaut's Wife should have been a success with the acting power of Depp and Charlize Theron, but it pretty much flatlined in the theaters. Depp played Spencer Armacost, a NASA astronaut who gets in an accident in space where communication is missed for several minutes. His partner dies abruptly upon returning to Earth, and his widow then commits suicide. Spencer's wife Jillian (Theron) gets pregnant but begins to suspect something is wrong with her husband. It may be that he is not her husband after all. Why this film tanked is anyone's guess, but it certainly did not include powerful performances from either of its stars, which might have saved it. Depp seemed to be sleepwalking through the part, as cold as ice and not in a menacing way. In a boring way. It was a little too much like Rosemary's Baby and had that been-there-done-that feeling to it.



Secret Window is based off a Stephen King novella, and between King and Depp, it managed to actually be quite the success in the theaters. Box office does not always mean good movies, however, and this one unfortunately is a big of a misstep for Depp. He walked away unscathed, but it turned out his constant eccentric nature in movies was getting a little annoying, and beyond that, people were so used to King that his endings were becoming expected. Yawn. Depp plays writer Mort Rainey, an author who is dealing with writer's block and is hiding out in a cabin to keep away from estranged wife Amy (Maria Bello). Mort is confronted by a mysterious stranger John Shooter (John Turturro) who claims that Mort's work plagiarized his own. In a blend of Fight Club meeting The Shining, this story goes sinister fast, but it never quite works the way it wants to. King is a genius at psychological thriller, but in this case it became a little predictable, and too much like a slasher to really work. Still, Depp did the fine ... as a character similar to several of his previous roles.



Cry-Baby is an early Johnny Depp movie that has actually become lucrative on DVD now that he's a star, but it was somewhat of a disaster when it actually came out for director/writer John Waters. A spoof of several different teen movies, including Grease and Rebel Without a Cause, "Cry-Baby" is about a rebel leader of a school gang who falls in love with the goody two shoe girl Allison (Amy Locane). They decide to fight for their love even against all the odds and enemies they may have, and to sing about it too! Now Depp is pretty awful and over the top in this, and while that may be completely intentional to spoof bad acting in other movies ... that may not be a good enough excuse. The worst/best line of the movie is "Electricity makes me insane!" Find it on YouTube, it's worth it for a huge laugh!



Honorable mentions: From Hell, The Libertine

See Depp's filmography here & tell us what films YOU think were his best and worst movies!


Story by Chelsea 'Dee' Doyle

Starpulse contributing writer