7 Forgotten '90s Comedy Movies That Have Aged Like Milk

Cool as Ice - 1991, with Vanilla Ice dancing like a fool with Kristin Minter

Published Sep 29, 2026, 8:17 PM EDT

A New York native, Joe graduated from an avant-garde theater school upstate, where he was obsessed with sketch comedy. There, he and his lunatic friends founded The Sketchies — which still lives on at Skidmore College today. Living in New York City, a screenwriter friend of his then taught him how to write for film. This awakened a new passion in Joe. Since then his scripts have garnered over 200 festival selections, nominations, and wins all over the globe (including the BlueCat Best Feature award). Several of his screenplays have been made into feature films — some of them not that bad! Overall, he loves to create unique, hilarious, touching, and bizarre stories.

The 90s were a glorious time for stellar comedy flicks. This period also, sadly, was an era that contained some of the worst, cheesiest, most unnecessarily offensive piles of baboon excrement ever witnessed onscreen. Some 90s comedies were regarded as decent at the time, but have simply aged very poorly, as tastes have obviously, dramatically changed. Other stink-fests were bad then, and even worse now.

Criticizing art of any sort, of course, is always a subjective experience. These dank dumpster remnants, however, are all objectively terrible. From awful films about fish-out-of-water macho nannies to maddeningly dumb movies featuring milquetoast gender-confusing shlubs, here are the 90s movies that have inspired mockery, ruined careers, and only gotten stinkier with time.

7 'Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot' (1992)

image from the 1992 action-comedy film Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, featuring actors Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Getty

Oof. Any time a film’s title has an exclamation point in it, you know it’s going to be good. Snagging Razzies for Worst Actor (Sylvester Stallone), Worst Supporting Actress (Estelle Getty) and Worst Screenplay, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot clearly wasn’t all that well-received when it first came out. On paper, The Golden Girls star Getty and Stallone should’ve had some sort of chemistry, and the final film product should’ve been a silly, fun time. They didn't, and it wasn't.

The flimsy story is about a tough guy cop, Joe Bomowski (Stallone), whose mother, Tutti (Getty) comes to live with him and wiggles her way into every aspect of his life, and then, of course, “hilarity" ensues. Perhaps the only good thing about director Roger Spottiswoode’s film is how it allegedly came to be made in the first place. Fellow massive action star Arnold Schwarzenegger heard about the script and had his agent plant the seed in the Hollywood community that Arnold was really interested in starring in it. Sly and his team heard about this, and Mr. Stallone blindly jumped at the opportunity to play the lead. But, this was just a “prank” by Schwarzenegger, as he cleverly baited Sly into committing to this insipid movie. Today, it’s even more unwatchable, as the lame gags about Tutti being an overbearing mother seem even cornier and more played-out than they did in the 90s.

6 'Mr. Nanny' (1993)

Mr. Nanny, with Hulk Hogan smiling and Sherman Helmsley grinning

But the title seemed so promising… The ill-conceived Mr. Nanny was simply a vehicle for Terry “The Hulk” Hogan to showcase his breathtaking acting ability. The question is…why? Were movie-goers clamoring to see The Hulkster on the silver screen (aside from in his cameo in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, of course)? Did a studio executive lose a bet? We’ll never know…but what we do know is that this movie is pure, PG-rated trash.

Ok, so this flick is ostensibly for children, but, really? Did kids want to see a pro wrestler in a tutu? Well, maybe, but for the rest of the viewing public, egad, this is just a nightmare from start to finish. The plot is about a former pro wrestler, Sean Armstrong (at least they were playing to the Hulk’s strengths), who is given a job as a caregiver/bodyguard to two little tykes belonging to an inventor, Alex Mason (Austin Pendleton), who is being hunted by a rival, Tommy Thanatos (David Johansen), who wants to steal Alex’s groundbreaking new microchip…or something along those lines. Of course, the two kids, Kate Mason (Madeline Zima) and Alex Mason, Jr. (Robert Hy Gorman), go berserk, and Sean has to chase them around while they get into all sorts of sidesplitting hijinks (at least, that was the goal — the kids are actually pretty evil and borderline psychotic). Director Michael Gottlieb really seems to be phoning it in here, while, bless him, the Hulk really does appear to be trying his hardest. There’s nary an original thought to be found in this mash-up classic comedy copy, Mr. Mom meets Kindergarten Cop, and 33 years later, it feels even more tired, less remarkable, and somehow sillier.

5 'Weekend At Bernie’s II' (1993)

Weekend at Bernie's II, with Johnathan Silverman and Andrew McCarthy holding up a stinky corpse man, Bernie

Speaking of aging like something decaying… Director Robert Klane’s sequel to the fun, late 80s romp that was Weekend at Bernie’s is one of the least well-thought-out movies ever. The premise of the first film is that two unwitting dudes are forced to pretend their boss, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), is alive when he’s really quite deceased — as criminals and others he was involved with try to track him down. The filmmakers did everything conceivable to milk the “this dead guy is really alive” joke for every last drop of humor. So, what was left for the second film? Rot. Plain, revolting rot.

The story of the second, putrid picture that is Weekend At Bernie’s II, is that Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy, who must’ve not been spending his money well) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman, also baffling why he returned for this detritus) get accused of the financial malfeasance that their old, dead boss Bernie had committed. So, naturally, they flee to the Virgin Islands — with Bernie’s disgusting, decomposing corpse in tow — to try to locate two million dollars that Bernie had stashed there somewhere…when he wasn’t being carted around like a well-worn attaché case. It’s a shame that the good name of the first film had to be sullied with this trashy sequel, stuffed with over-bloated performances and onion paper-thin excuses for comedy. It’s aged so poorly because, well, dead things eventually start to really stink.

4 'Mr. Wrong' (1996)

'Mr. Wrong' (1996), Ellen DeGeneres as Martha, staring ahead, looking lost in this dumb comedy

Long before her popular talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, was even a thing (and even longer before it was revealed that said talk show was quite problematic behind-the-scenes), Ellen DeGeneres was a national comedic treasure. Her sitcom, Ellen, was a hit, so, naturally, studio heads wanted to interject her into any sort of rom-com they could capitalize on. Ergo, director Nick Castle’s Mr. Wrong was born, and, as the title suggests, just about everything about this mess is wrong.

Weighing in at a solid 7% RT score, the story is centered on Martha (Degeneres), a woman desperately looking for “Mr. Right” (already a lame, stereotypical premise). She does meet a seemingly charming guy, Whitman Crawford (Bill Pullman), and sparks fly. Little does she know that Whitman is a deranged lunatic, with a mean stalker streak. As Martha uncovers his scary traits, she tries to pull away from Whitman, which only leads to him pursuing, spying on, and, yes, stalking her all the more. Instead of a light-hearted romantic comedy, this movie turns into a decidedly dark (yet poorly executed) pseudo-thriller of sorts. Its tone is clearly all over the place, and the end result is a sloppy, horrible movie. Another uncomfortable thing about this film is the fact that Ellen was strongly urged to play heterosexual roles at the time, when she identified as gay, privately. This film only reinforces the fact that this happened in Hollywood for as long as movies were being made. Of course, the worst part of this movie is simply the movie itself.

3 'Cool as Ice' (1991)

Vanilla Ice trying to rap and romance Kristin Minter in the awful film Cool as Ice

While categorized as a “raunchy romantic comedy,” there’s really nothing funny about Cool as Ice — aside from the fact that someone in Hollywood thought that the rapper Vanilla Ice could carry a film. Clocking in with a resounding 3% critic score on RT, this cinematic abomination fails on every front possible; it’s not humorous, it’s not romantic, it’s not musically satisfying — it’s just not good.

Helmed by one of the music video directors of the moment, David Kellogg, this movie seems much more like an overly long, montage-packed video than an actual film. The story is an age-old Romeo and Juliet one. Ice is Johnny, a rapper from the wrong side of the tracks who is often found sporting around on his bright yellow motorcycle. He falls head over heels for, you guessed it, a girl next door goody-goody type, Kathy Winslow (Kristin Minter, who somehow was still able to have a career after appearing in this dreck). Kathy’s family is in the witness protection program, and her dad is still being hunted by lethal criminals. The only way Johnny has a chance with Kathy is if he is able to use his street smarts to save her whole family from the thugs who want them dead. Sigh. This movie, when viewed now, is even worse than when it was first released — not just because of the ridiculous plot and Ice’s cardboard-cut-out-like acting, but because the music featured in it is insufferable. Fans of “so bad it’s good” films may enjoy this drivel, but, sheesh, it’s aged as well as Ice’s music career.

2 'It’s Pat: The Movie' (1994)

Julia Sweeney and Dave Foley in It's Pat, looking lovingly at each other

It’s Pat…it’s a three-minute-long sketch…that was stretched into a 77-minute-long fiasco. Since Saturday Night Live had such incredible success with turning Wayne’s World into a hilarious film that made a boatload of money, executives must’ve thought, “Hey, it worked there, let’s try it with some more.” The difference is that the Wayne’s World skit was a fan-favorite, whereas the Pat sketch was a mildly amusing one that audiences simply endured.

Director Adam Bernstein’s baffling movie stars four-season SNL cast member Julia Sweeney as the titular Pat Riley. See, Pat looks like a woman…but also a man. The joke is that people keep mistaking the gender of the androgynous Pat over, and over, and over again, ad nauseam. The barely-there story is about Pat falling in love with another person of ambiguous gender, Chris (Dave Foley), but the plot is really irrelevant; the whole thing is just an excuse to repeatedly make the gender confusion joke. With gender identity becoming a widespread, sensitive issue in recent years, this movie looks even more atrocious in hindsight. It’s Pat…but it’s also crap.

1 'Simon Sez' (1999)

Dennis Rodman in Simon Sez wearing a stupid yellow motorcycle outfit firing a gun

With the 1996 animated/live action hybrid film Space Jam making 250 million at the box office, movie executives were certain they’d cracked the code for the perfect money-maker: stick a famous athlete into an action-comedy, then just sit back and let the tidal waves of cash roll in. The primary difference is that the star of Simon Sez, Dennis Rodman, doesn’t have the charisma, star power, or even acting ability of Michael Jordan. When you toss the poor guy into a toilet bowl of a film, the end result is obviously going to be disastrous, at best. With the addition of Dane Cook, as the true “comic” relief, you know you’re in very serious trouble.

The “story” is about an agent for Interpol, Simon (Rodman), who is tracking down people involved in illegal arms trading — who then gets pulled into another kidnapping plot by his old pal, Nick (Cook). The reason this movie has aged so poorly is not because of any overtly offensive or controversial material in the film. It’s because it’s offensively bad. With a 0% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 16% audience score, director Kevin Alyn Elders’s movie represents everything that could go wrong in a film. Flimsy script, lazy directing, choppy editing, and some of the worst performances ever committed to celluloid. Simon may say one thing, but the people have spoken: this is one of the dumbest movies ever conceived.