The romantic comedy that almost ruined Ben Affleck’s career

This romantic comedy was “Gigli,” the 2003 flop starring Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Written and directed by Martin Brest, “Gigli” follows hapless gangster Larry Gigli (Affleck), who is tasked with preventing a mob boss from entering the slammer by kidnapping the younger brother of a federal prosecutor, who is in development disabled. Due to Gigli’s less than stellar record, she has been told to work with the most successful Ricki (Lopez). Gigli is attracted to Ricki (although, note, Ricki is a lesbian), but he doesn’t like being forced to team up with her, largely for sexist reasons. Yes there is a parcel problematic stuff here, not to mention the seriousness of the film in general.

“Gigli” was a real box office bomb, earning just over $ 7 million worldwide against his budget of $ 54 million (via Mojo ticket office). He was completely criticized by critics, scoring a mere 6% on Rotten tomatoes. In a scathing review, Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote: “Other mind-boggling follies can happen, but it’s impossible to imagine how they’ll beat this one for mind-boggling nonsense or stupidity or pretense.”

When “Gigli” came out in 2003, it hit Affleck’s career hard. In the years following this disaster, he was still able to work consistently – and appeared in films such as the 2006 neo-noir mystery “Hollywoodland” and the romantic comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You” – but did not do anything highly regarded by critics. for years.

Finally, in 2010, Affleck directed “The Town”, which was received positively and even won several award nominations, including a few Satellite Award nominations for Affleck (per IMDb). A few years later, Affleck made “Argo” and thus fully put his career back on track. However, no one will likely ever forget “Gigli”, in all its atrocity.