Those who don’t spend a huge of time online or aren’t up to date with the latest trends, crazes, and memes were no doubt left incredibly confused about the psychological horror Karen, which didn’t give away a lot from its title alone.
However, everybody else knew in an instant what writer and director Coke Daniels’ movie was going to be about, which is probably the only front on which it didn’t disappoint. Building an entire feature around a one-trick joke that’s led to pearls being clutched among an entire generation who resemble the antagonist is sound in practice, but the execution was dire.
On top of securing an unwanted Rotten Tomatoes score of just 17 percent, audiences resoundingly rejected Karen, with the current user average sitting on a dismal 20 percent. If that wasn’t bad enough, it would go on to land Razzie nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actress, and Worst Remake, Ripoff, or Sequel – the latter of which came after it was deemed to be suburban version of Cruella by the governing body of cinema’s lowest rung.
It might have been dubbed one of 2021’s most feeble efforts, but that hasn’t stopped Karen from speaking to the manager on streaming, seeing as the universally-panned cul-de-sac of crap has become one of the Top 10 most-watched flicks among iTunes subscribers in the United States, per FlixPatrol.
There might be an ounce of niche appeal, but trying to turn a real social problem into a nightmare-inducing assault on the senses definitely didn’t pay off in this instance.