John Travolta's mob film 'Gotti' gets rare 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
There are movies brutally shaded by critics and then there are movies that manage to get a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. John Travolta's latest passion project 'Gotti' happens to fall in the latter category. And what's worse? This is not the first for Travolta. Two of his previous films — 'Staying Alive' and 'Look Who's Talking Now' — are also among those to have achieved the same dismal score.
The movie stars Travolta's wife Kelly Preston in the role of his on-screen spouse and is directed by Kevin Connolly. The film boasts of a star cast of Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Stacy Keach and Alicia Vikander. Even Lindsay Lohan somehow became to be a part of the film that underwent a seven-year gestation period before its release.
Sadly, none of that was able to save the apparent sham for a mob film that 'Gotti' is, as per critics. Especially according to all of the 23 reviews that called it "rotten" on the new-age film-critic website, as of Monday.
As for the film, the basic plot tracks the rise and fall of American mobster John Gotti, from his mob enforcing days to becoming the head of the Gambino crime family. In the days of his reign, Gotti was known as both "The Dapper Don" and "The Teflon Don" and eventually he was convicted of murder and extortion. Gotti died in prison in 2002.
Creating a biopic of that sort had been no less than a "challenge", as Travolta had admitted earlier this year, at the Cannes Film Festival. "You put my name with the Gotti name and it reeks of a story that should be told," he told reporters. "But Hollywood can be odd. There was a lot of stress in getting Gotti made. But I knew, if we did it well, we could pull it off."
But, post the release of the film, critics have begged to differ, and in the most ruthless way possible. The Hollywood Reporter described the movie as "poorly written, devoid of tension, ridiculous in spots and just plain dull in others."
And that wasn't the end of it as mafia references were soon piled on to bash the movie right at its very opening weekend. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers believes the movie “deserves to get whacked” and “is an offer Travolta should have refused.”
“I’d rather wake up next to a severed horse head than ever watch ‘Gotti’ again,” quipped Johnny Oleksinski in the New York Post.
Back in December, right before the film's initially-planned release, Lionsgate decided to give in to Travolta's request and sold the movie back to the production company. 'Gotti' finally released this Friday and earned $1.67 million in just 503 theaters over the weekend, as per reports by Box Office Mojo.
However, for those still intrigued about watching the movie — 'Gotti' achieved a 79 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. “Clearly, critics are out of touch with the people who actually vote with their pocketbooks,” is what 'Gotti' publicist Dennis Rice had to say, reported Deadline.