I've read tons of bad scripts, but recalling one for a film that actually got made is somewhat tricky. I'm not sure what's out there, but I'd bet some of your guys are great at finding stuff.

Southland Tales by Richard Kelly would be a great one to pick apart. It's a lesson in guarding against overindulgence and not overcomplicating the story.

FEAST is another script that really doesn't work as a script. The prose feels like it's trying way to hard to be edgy and cool, and on the page there really isn't much of a story there. I remember being shocked when I learned it was the Project Greenlight winner, but at least it made for an entertaining season of the show.

I didn't read it, but going by the movie that resulted I'd have to put CRASH on the list. Not just for the utterly offensive on-the-nose writing, the cardboard characters masquerading as morality lessons and the pretension that seeped from every scene, but also for every insanely bad "hyperlink" movie on race that this script inspired.

Yes, I know it won an Oscar for Best Picture. I just wonder what collective insanity took over the Academy that year.

Wow, I must have absolutely no taste! I worked with public housing residents and see Crash as a period piece that highlights real attitudes. My son does academic research on bias and prejudice formation and he liked Crash as well. Perhaps, however, academic research in that area is a pretentious endeavor.

Based on my experiences working with public housing residents, and with the police who patrolled some of the public housing estates, I also find the dialogue in The Wire to be authentic and therefore not at all offensive. In fact, one scene in which the entire dialogue consisted of derivatives of the "f" word had me ROLF.

The worst script I have ever seen online is called "Ninja-Vengeance" by Matthew Morse, which I guess was made in 1988 but damned if I have ever seen a copy. The script opens with dialogue gems such as: "You have no idea how much trouble your in" (sic) and continues at about that level for 110 of the longest, most vapid pages I've ever read.

I have a copy if you need it, but it's Googleable. Let me know.

One of the worst scripts I've read recently was 2012. Just awful.

How about The A-Team, http://www.mypdfscripts.com/download/1157?

It's bad. It was produced. It has enough writers that none can take it personally. Specially since it's very likely that most of the crap came straight from the printer of Alex Young.

This one because I can't find the script for Gigli anywhere.

Hey, how about Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith???

George Lucas seems immune to criticism on this one. :-)

I agree with The Bitter Script Reader on CRASH's on-the-nose dialogue. While an interesting premise, it all seemed so forced.

Another dialogue-issue film is AVATAR.

Might be interesting to explore box-office hits that had flaws.

How about The Bounty Hunter (starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler)?

Actually, the answer is right there in your title: Wanted -- it's a bad screenplay, and it's useful to analyze it.

Good writers, but a ridiculous script, resulting in a badly flawed movie.

Agree with Walter, "Wanted", is a bad script.

Read the script for "Crash", script was okay, I did like the movie. I didn't feel that the dialogue was forced, thought it was realistic when I compare to what I grew up with as far as racial tensions go & prejudices... the 'you people' statements I still hear all the time... the coincidences in the movie & script were a bit much.

@moneymakermj

TANGENT:

What designates a bad screenplay?

I found ALIEN (Starbeast -- oh, scary) to be terrible. But the movie made from the script was phenomenal.

I also completely disagree with the conceit that only a good screenplay can make a good movie.

Plenty of terrible and mediocre movies have been made out of great screenplays. Likewise, plenty of mediocre scripts have made incredible movies.

Filmmaking is the sum of its parts.

Maybe I'm just jaded, because the level of "direction" seems to have taken a landslide in the past 10 years -- thanks corporate America.

We aren't really doing anything new. Sadly, the 90s was chalk-filled with new.

I triple everything said about Crash. I grew up in the racially charged south in a school that had a pre-planned race riot every spring - I think people did it to freak out the faculty and get school cancelled - but, except for the annual "riot", no one was ever as blatant as the characters in Crash. The racism was much more subtle and much more insidious.

I don't think it would make a good movie to study, because it did win Best Pic and a lot of people do love that one. I think we should find something that nobody likes - like Showgirls! For a modern flick, Salt had people rolling in the aisles when they shouldn't have been.

Personally, I don't think Crash is bad enough. I like the idea of the A-Team though, it was a true bomb.

I read the script Wichita which became Knight and Day. The draft I read was better than what they filmed, but still didn't work. Would be interesting to study what went wrong with that one (can't blame the talent!) but may not be able to find the script they shot online.

A-Team or Knight and Day would get my vote.

I liked crash. It was a bit OTT, but I found it compelling enough. I don't think it would work as the best study of a bad script.

@DCWms: If we do bounty hunter, I wouldn't mind comparing it to Midnight run.

What about reading a script where it was changed for the worse? The remake of Clash of the Titans had a lot of issues. I haven't read the script yet, but I heard there were some major changes. I'll have to check it out.

Wish I could find a copy of Mallrats.

Need an example of "on the nose" dialog...look no further.

Of course this is all out of context but if you have seen the movie...wow!

Please do not touch my comics.

Why would you not like me to touch your comics.

I will tell you why --

Please do tell me.

Oh wait...look over there --

Why would you like me to look over there?

My friend who does not speak will tell you why.

But if he can not speak then how can he tell me that?

Oh wait. I love Stan Lee and I am unable to see him.

Wow.

I've got one:

David Mamet's draft of HANNIBAL.

That such an accomplished writer turned in a draft so completely terrible is astonishing.

Tough call but loads of great options provided, should the choice of a movie be based off of dialogue? Plot? Character?

Not sure why A-Team should be reviewed, 11+ writers screams major problem! I did not go to the movie hoping the script would be fantastic! It's the A-Team! I went for action and a good time. I think it would be interesting though to compare the variety of drafts by the writers!

I think Dune would be a great choice. Loads of voiceover and backstory, which by today's standard of screenwriting is frowned upon.

I lean towards that one, but I am sure the final choice will be a great learning experience!

@thefirstreel: "Dune"

Oh, great pick! A perfect example of how bad screenwriting can doom a great story. Dune is perhaps the greatest science fiction novel ever written, but the 1984 film adaptation fails on many levels.

I agree with the suggestion of "Dune." I loved the book and thought that the movie missed the point altogether.

On Crash--it's set in California. I was a token white woman and target of reverse racism in a highly politicized public housing agency, in California. While people might be more subtle on a college campus in the southeastern US, the tongue-in-cheek irony in the dialogue was authentic enough to carry me through the story.

I remember the hue and cry when Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing hit theaters. How many people were offended by the fact that the entire black experience was not portrayed in the film? Now I think it's a period piece. It accomplished something, or perhaps many somethings.

Re Dune: First, is there a PDF of the script floating around the web? Second, would a major basis of critiquing it be a comparison to the book? If so, wouldn't that necessitate people reading both the script and the book?

Yeah, there's a pdf of DUNE's script right here:

http://www.duneinfo.com/caladan/dune-script-5th-draft.pdf

Regarding its connection to the novel of the same name, I don't think anyone analyzing the script would have to read the source. An adaptation always stands on its own, and must be judged by its own merits.

I'd like to nominate "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" (http://db.tt/hj061y)

Imagine a Farrelly Brothers gross-out comedy, where the characters, humor, satire, warmth and humanity is sucked out and replaced with misogynistic fantasies of a sexually frustrated frat boy.

You want bad. This is bad.

Deleted a duplicate post. Sorry.