Season 2 · Episode 1 ·
Wild Wild West
The One With the Giant Mechanical Spider
- Rotten Tomatoes
- 16%
- Budget
- $170 million
- Box office
- $222.1 million
Rotten Tomatoes score via Wikidata. Budget and box office via TMDB.
About the episode
This week on The Worst Movie Podcast, Ade and Aaron saddle up for Wild Wild West — the $170-million steampunk western that tried to mash together TV nostalgia, Will Smith swagger, and a giant mechanical spider.
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld at the peak of Will Smith’s 90s superstardom, the film reimagines the classic TV series as a gadget-stuffed action comedy where Jim West and Artemis Gordon race to stop a disgruntled Confederate villain from literally selling off the United States. Along the way, the movie delivers baffling tonal shifts, deeply uncomfortable jokes, Salma Hayek doing absolutely nothing of consequence, and one of the most infamous third acts in blockbuster history.
So grab your whiskey, dust off your boots, and saddle up for a deep dive into one of the most expensive misfires of the 1990s — because if Wild Wild West taught us anything, it’s that not even Will Smith’s charm could save a terrible script.
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About the movie
Legless Southern inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President Ulysses S. Grant. Only two men can stop him: gunfighter James West and master-of-disguise and inventor Artemus Gordon. The two must team up to thwart Loveless' plans.
- Director
- Barry Sonnenfeld
- Starring
- Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek Pinault, M. Emmet Walsh, Ted Levine
- Runtime
- 106 min
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction, Western
Movie details via TMDB.
