Dwayne Johnson's Lowest-Rated Movie Also Featured NSYNC And Britney Spears

Summary

• The Rock starred in Longshot with Britney Spears and NSYNC, but the celebrity-packed movie was poorly received due to flawed execution.
• Dwayne Johnson's early roles as a villain in films like The Mummy Returns and Get Smart set the stage for his transition to action hero roles.
• Despite early career challenges & typecasting, The Rock persevered in his acting journey to become one of Hollywood's sought-after stars today.

Dwayne Johnson has been in over 60 films, but one movie that went under the radar was Longshot, a 2001 movie that also featured several pop stars, including Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Before Dwayne Johnson became a Hollywood megastar worth $800 million, he was an up-and-coming actor trying to transition from the WWE into an acting career. At the time, it was difficult for The Rock to land meaningful roles, as he had come from a career in wrestling.

However, Dwayne Johnson was consistent, despite his earlier roles being small cameos in B movies that didn’t get much attention or showcase his acting talent. The Jumanji actor had guest roles in TV series like That 70’s Show and Star Trek before landing parts in films like The Walking Man and The Rundown.

These days, Dwayne Johnson is one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood, but in his early acting career, when he was fighting to get it, he appeared in a celebrity-packed movie that also became one of the lowest-rated films of his entire acting career.

In the following, we take a look at Dwayne Johnson's role in Longshot and how it played into his early acting history of playing villains. We also discuss why Longshot received poor reviews.

Dwayne Johnson Once Played A Villain In A Movie With Britney Spears And NSYNC

In the late '90s, when The Rock first started venturing into acting, there weren’t many projects where he was given a chance to showcase his talent. However, when an exciting script landed on his lap from disgraced talent manager Lou Pearlman, The Rock didn’t waste the opportunity to get on board. At the time, Pearlman was a big name behind Trans Continental Records, responsible for major musical acts like the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.

As a successful music mogul, Pearlman had the money to create the projects he wanted, so he set out to make a film that would help promote the careers of musical acts under his management. They included the likes of Britney Spears, O-Town, and NSYNC, of which Justin Timberlake was a member. Lou Pearlman co-wrote and funded Longshot, what many called his ‘vanity project’ with a $20 million budget and got as many famous faces as he could round up to appear in it.

In Longshot, Justin Timberlake plays a boyband-hating valet who asks, “What is this music?” after hearing NSYNC play on the radio, and Zachary Ty Bryan plays a school bully. In another scene, Britney Spears plays an air hostess who hands Kenny Rogers, and Harry Wayne Casey of K.C. and the Sunshine Band -the plane pilots, some coffee.

The Rock appears in the film at the 58th minute and delivers one of the best performances of his career at the time - at least according to every teen who watched the movie.

The Rock's character approaches Alex, one of the protagonists, and his girlfriend in a dark alley and tries to rob them. Surprisingly, he is beaten up by the high school teen whom he lifted from the ground a few moments earlier with his bare hands. The Rock gave the best performance as the movie’s villain because he acted like he was getting beat up by the teen.

The rest of the film is just cameos of other pop stars like singer Kenny Rogers, Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson, Paul Sorvino, Hunter Tylo, JC Chasez, and model Antonio Sabato Jr., among other famous 2000s personalities. Longshot opens up with O-Town boy band members watching a commercial of themselves promoting the Longshot movie before they begin watching it. The movie’s soundtrack sprinkles songs from Pearlman’s other musical acts, LFO, Innosense, NSYNC, and Take 5.

2001's Longshot Was Rated Very Poorly

Despite Longshot's famous cast, the film was poorly rated by critics and fans for its overuse of celebrity cameos and its incoherent storyline, which was all over the place. The film was released in German theaters in October 2001 but was so bad that it went straight to DVD in the United States before eventually securing a spot on the Disney Channel.

The movie follows teen heartthrob Alex, whose brother Jack is forced to go to New York to spy on widow Rachel Montgomery at the request of a mob boss who is blackmailing him to get the upper hand on a lucrative deal.

The seemingly exciting plot gets lost in the romance between Jack and Rachel until the last few minutes when Alex and Jack take down the evil mob boss and live happily ever after.

In the beginning, after Jack is caught cheating with a client's wife, he is kidnapped and thrown out of a helicopter but miraculously survives the fall unharmed. Another unbelievable scene that made the film's final cut was when the pilot and captain got their coffee from Britney Spears. NSYNC member Lance Bass delivers one of the cheesiest lines while looking directly at the camera.

“Captain…we’ve lost all communication with air traffic control. I don’t know what the problem is, but they’ve got to get in sync”

The fact that Pearlman appeared in the film didn’t make things any better regarding its reception. Lou plays Captain Lewis and must have had a hand in writing the epilogue because it mirrors his real life. “Captain Lewis moved to Florida where he used his pension to start a new business. Something in entertainment.”

If Pearlman had hired a writer and skipped appearing in the movie, maybe Longshot would have succeeded and not been a complete flop. To make matters worse, most stars who appeared in the film admitted they only did so because of the enormous paycheck they were promised.

Dwayne Johnson's Early Career Was Full Of Villain Roles

In Dwayne Johnson's early acting career, The Rock was typecast as a villain because of his wrestling history. While in the WWE, The Rock played a "heel" in different narratives. Dwayne Johnson’s big and menacing demeanor meant he was a very believable villain. So, it’s no surprise he fits perfectly as a movie villain.

In 2001, he appeared as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, a hideous scorpion-man with claws for limbs.

2008 saw The Rock star alongside Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell in Get Smart as Agent 23. The Rock played a double agent in the spy comedy, one of his first modern villainous roles. Dwayne Johnson also played ex-con Jimmy Cullen out for revenge in the 2010 movie Faster and Paul Doyle in Michael Bay’s film Pain & Gain. In the latter film, Dwayne’s character gets convinced to participate in a kidnapping scheme and robbery.

After several villain roles, Dwayne Johnson chose to go down the hero's path, where he felt most comfortable. In Moana, Central Intelligence, Jungle Cruise, and Race To Witch Mountain, Johnson always saves the day at the end.