This hit man needs a hit
| Average Metascore | 36 |
| Average User Score | 6.6 |
| Average Gross (U.S. only) | $48.8M |
Opening this weekend, Killers stars Ashton Kutcher as 30-year-old newlywed Spencer Aimes, who must reveal his secret identity as a spy and assassin to his bride (Katherine Heigl) after he is attacked in their suburban home. The Robert Luketic-directed film is one of two romantic comedy/action hybrids set for release this month; the other, the Tom Cruise-starring Knight and Day, arrives June 25th.
Killers, however, was not screened in advance for reviewers. While studios occasionally eliminate advance critic screenings for horror films or other movies expected to appeal to limited audiences, such decisions are much less common for major summer releases -- heck, critics even got to see the abysmal Sex and the City 2 28 in advance. So consider yourself warned that reviews will likely be poor for Kutcher's new film.
If Killers indeed receives negative reviews, it will continue an unfortunate trend for the actor: not a single one of Kutcher's movies has earned acclaim from critics. The former model, one-time Twitter superstar (Britney Spears recently surpassed his record for most followers), and current Nikon spokesperson has appeared in over a dozen feature films since landing his breakthrough role on Fox's That '70s Show, but 57% of his releases were panned by reviewers, and the others receiving mixed reviews at best.
Critics aren't the only ones who have disliked Kutcher's films; despite his seeming popularity, the actor has yet to make a mark at the box office. Not a single film with Kutcher in a lead role has cracked the $100 million mark, and Killers seems unlikely to be the first to do so. And don't let those user scores below fool you: while Metacritic users have been unusually kind to Kutcher's films, visitors to other film sites (including IMDb and Netflix) consistently award low ratings to the actor's releases.
| Year | Title | Metascore | Users | Opening Weekend / Domestic Gross | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Down To You * | 13 | 7.4 | $7.6M / $20.1M |   |
| 2000 | Dude, Where's My Car? | 30 | 7.9 | 13.8 / 46.7 | |
| 2001 | Texas Rangers | 29 | 9.0 | 0.3 / 0.6 | |
| 2003 | Just Married | 28 | 8.5 | 17.5 / 56.1 | |
| 2003 | My Boss's Daughter | 16 | 2.7 | 4.9 / 15.6 | |
| 2003 | Cheaper by the Dozen * | 46 | 7.1 | 27.6 / 138.6 | |
| 2004 | The Butterfly Effect | 30 | 7.4 | 17.1 / 57.9 | |
| 2005 | Guess Who | 49 | 6.6 | 20.7 / 68.9 | |
| 2005 | A Lot Like Love | 48 | 7.0 | 7.6 / 21.8 | |
| 2006 | The Guardian | 53 | 8.1 | 18.0 / 55.0 | |
| 2006 | Bobby * | 54 | 6.1 | 0.1 / 11.2 | |
| 2008 | What Happens in Vegas... | 36 | 6.2 | 20.2 / 80.3 | |
| 2009 | Spread | 43 | 3.5 | 0.1 / 0.3 | |
| 2010 | Valentine's Day * | 34 | 5.1 | 56.3 / 110.5 | |
| 2010 | Killers | ||||
| Movie | Year | Netflix | Metascore | Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Guardian | 2006 | 53 | 8.1 | |
| "Costner and Kutcher should run out and remake 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' just yet, but in The Guardian, the two actors turn out to complement each other well enough to make a lot of this supremely derivative and formulaic picture go down better than it should." -- Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald |
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| This long, character-focused action movie about a Coast Guard training program paired Kutcher with Kevin Costner. While some critics praised the chemistry between the two actors -- and Kutcher's performance -- others, like Chicago Reader's J.R. Jones, noted that "Kutcher is in way over his head." |  |
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| Movie | Year | Netflix | Metascore | Users | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My Boss's Daughter | 2003 | 16 | 2.7 | |
| "This may be celebrity prankster (and pinup du jour) Ashton Kutcher’s most elaborate practical joke to date: the gag being that this is a real movie and that he’s a real movie star." -- Scott Foundas, LA Weekly |
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| One of several romantic comedies on Kutcher's resume, Daughter went for crude, stupid laughs and succeeded in disgusting reviewers but failed miserably on the comedy front. The good news for Kutcher is that the script and the direction received most of the blame; the bad news is that the actor was unable to rise above the material. Of course, when the material is this bad, who can blame him. |  |
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| 2 | Just Married | 2003 | 28 | 8.5 | |
| "Kutcher and Murphy seem game enough, and it's a testament to their charisma that they're the hardest element of the film to hate." -- Keith Phipps, A.V. Club |
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| Another rom-com, the Shawn Levy-directed Just Married united Kutcher with then-girlfriend Brittany Murphy as newlyweds on a European honeymoon. While the film was a financial success (especially given its low budget), the comedy received poor reviews, though, again, few critics complained specifically about Kutcher's performance. |  |
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| 3 | Texas Rangers | 2001 | 29 | 9.0 | |
| "''Texas Rangers' is full of thundering-hooves montages meant to suggest that there's a lot more going on than there actually is. What's going on is: hunks on horsies." -- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly |
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| One of Kutcher's first major roles (he filmed it well before Dude, Where's My Car, though it was released a year after that movie) found him portraying an Arkansas farmer in a Western set after the Civil War. The film lasted just three weeks in theaters, and recouped almost none of its $38 million budget. |  |
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| 4 | Dude, Where's My Car? | 2000 | 30 | 7.9 | |
| "The two stars are, to use their own word, sweet. And if you accept the film on its own brain-damaged level, there actually are laughs to be had." -- Steve Simels, TV Guide |
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| While a some people seem to like this 2000 stoner comedy -- Kutcher's first leading role on the big screen -- many critics failed to find any humor in the film. Dude didn't really ask Kutcher to show anything he wasn't already displaying on That '70s Show, but the part seemed to fit him better than other more recent roles. |  |
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| 5 | The Butterfly Effect | 2004 | 30 | 7.4 | |
| "You have to, if not love, at least not mind a movie in which the very act of Ashton Kutcher reading is enough of a cosmic trauma to rip a hole in the fabric of space-time." -- Dennis Lim, Village Voice |
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| Another Kutcher film that was more popular among moviegoers than among critics (although not exactly a hit), this sci-fi thriller saw the actor attempting to establish that he could carry a dramatic film. While the Chicago Tribune admired his "credibly serious" performance, other reviewers felt that Kutcher was miscast and could not handle everything the role demanded. |  |
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What do you think?
Have you enjoyed any of Ashton Kutcher's films? Are you looking forward to Killers? Let us know in the comments section below.
