When Jennifer Lopez was asked to name the worst film she’s ever seen, the singer and actor didn’t hold back, hitting out at an acclaimed Oscar winner.
Lopez appeared on Films to Be Buried With, the podcast hosted by Brett Goldstein, her co-star in Netflix romantic comedy Office Romance, and when put on the spot to name her least favourite movie, she said: “You can tell from my taste in movies about this, but Nomadland.”
Lopez said she knew that would be an “unpopular” choice, considering the film, directed by Hamnet’s Chloé Zhao, was revered at the time of release in 2020, and went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress for Frances McDormand.
She also levelled that ”it’s hard to say ‘worst’ because it’s a beautiful film” and that “a lot of people really enjoyed it”, but said it was her “worst type of film”, personally.
Nomadland received glowing praise from critics, including The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey, who hailed the drama as “a film of fragile, humanist beauty” in her five-star review – but for Lopez, films like Nomadland are “not why I go to the movies”.
Lopez, whose credits include Maid in Manhattan, Monster-in-Law and Marry Me, said she typically prefers to watch romantic comedies, action films and musicals as opposed to dramas like Nomadland, explaining: “It’s a slow-moving thing about grief, and there’s no escapism to it.”
She continued: “And I do like some movies like that. Some movies like that would be a bit… But that one, I just didn’t.”
Lopez acknowledged that “it’s just a taste thing”, levelling: “I know we need movies about grief – I understand; I just don’t want to watch ‘em – the same way I don’t want to watch horror films. It’s just not for me.”
Nomadland is a meditative road movie following a widow (McDormand) who quits her life in Nevada to travel around the US in her van.
While Lopez “didn’t enjoy the film”, which she found “depressing”, the star praised McDormand’s performance, stating: “She’s amazing – we all know this. There’s no surprise there. She deserves all the Oscars.”
Lopez currently stars in Office Romance with Ted Lasso star Goldstein, who co-wrote the film with Joe Kelly.
Zhao followed up Nomadland with Hamnet, the fictional drama based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about the death of William Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son in the 1500s. The film imagines how the tragedy might have inspired Hamlet.
Shortly after the film received eight nominations, Sir Ian McKellen, a Shakespeare enthusiast who has played characters ranging from Hamlet and King Lear to Macbeth and Henry IV’s John Falstaff, said he didn’t “quite get” the “improbable” film.
“I’m not very interested in trying to work out where Shakespeare’s imagination came from, but it certainly didn’t just come from family life,” the thespian told The Times.
