Pop Star Kelly Clarkson Deeply Regrets Her Widely Panned Romantic Flop

Few films are as notorious as Robert Iscove's 2003 musical romcom "From Justin to Kelly." The film was constructed as a vehicle for singers Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson, who were among the more popular competitors on the then-new hit competition show "American Idol." Clarkson was the winner of that show's first season in 2002, and Guarini was the runner-up. "American Idol," just for the record, is an elimination tournament, and viewers could vote for their favorite contestants by calling specialized telephone numbers. The winners are granted a record contract and given a cash prize, although the show was such a hit, that even also-rans became celebrities. 

Clarkson was "Idol's" first big success story, as ... well, she actually became an American idol. Clarkson's post-"Idol" debut album, "Thankful," entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, and her second record, "Breakaway," was one of the best-selling of the young century. She has a barn-burning voice, a lot of charisma, and fit into the pop idol mold easily. 

But part of her contract was that she and her runner-up, Guarini, were forced to star in a feature film together. This was a misguided idea from the start. "American Idol" was a big hit, but no one wanted to see that translated into a fictional feature film. The "Idol" contestants weren't all necessarily actors, and rushing a tie-in movie into theaters seemed like a crass, commercial maneuver. Which, of course, it was. 

The film was roundly rejected by fans and critics alike, making only $4.9 million on its $12 million budget. It was widely panned, and started to gain a reputation as one of the worst movies of the decade. It was awarded multiple Razzies, and regularly appears on bad movie review shows like "How Did This Get Made?" Clarkson has openly expressed regret about every aspect of "From Justin to Kelly," lambasting the film in a 2017 interview with Refinery 29.

It seems that Clarkson recalls weeping on the phone to the "American Idol" people, pleading to be set free from the movie contract. She also said, in a TIME Magazine interview, that she just wished the movie would go away. She knew it was notorious, hated that it failed, and kind of sensed from the start that it would be a terrible movie. Clarkson won a singing competition, and had no ambitions to becoming an actress. "I was like [tires screeching]! I was like, 'Ain't no Meryl Streep here, y'all.'" This became a strange obsession for her. In US Weekly, Clarkson stressed again that she cried over "From Justin to Kelly," about a decade after the fact. Evidently, when she was pregnant with her first child, she called her assistant that she could never be Meryl Streep. Clarkson, however, said she doesn't remember the incident. Her assistant told her about it later. 

Indeed, she seems to have blocked out a lot of "From Justin to Kelly." She said: 

"Can I tell you something? I don't even remember [filming] it, because all I did was cry. [...] I obviously tried to put my best foot forward but just that's my best foot forward."

She additionally pointed out on Entertainment Tonight that she will never, ever come around or change her mind on the movie. Past, present, and future, she said, will always be a "Nope." Clarkson is not a member of the cult audience the film has accumulated, and doesn't feel the film has any redeeming qualities. It doesn't matter that she's in it. Even back in 2006, she admitted to TIME that she only did the film because she was under contract. 

"From Justin to Kelly" has very few defenders, and even its lovers may only like it ironically. Owen Gleiberman, writing for EW, gave it an "F," saying that the film was instantly a classic stinker, feeling like a production of "Grease: The Next Generation" as performed by the staff at SeaWorld. He called it "Beach Blanket Idiocy," to coin a phrase. 

The crass commercialism of the product, and the fact that it was a tie-in to a reality competition show, earned "From Justin to Kelly" the lion's share of its hate, but it seems that it was a bad film to boot. The film was made in an enormous rush, with the non-actor lead actors having to learn new songs, new choreography, and constantly re-written lines within a matter of two and a half months. Clarkson hadn't been used to learning lines or acting in front of cameras, and now she was saddled with a six-week shoot. To repeat the thesis, the film was doomed from the start. There was very little chance something like this would turn out good. 

The film tanked so hard, plans for a high-profile soundtrack album were scrapped. The intended "hit single" for the film, a song called "Timeless," was repurposed for use on Guarini's debut album. The song "Anytime" migrated over to Clarkson's album "Thankful." 

In 2012, Total Film listed "From Justin to Kelly" as one of the 66 worst movies ever made. One only hears it referenced alongside films like "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever," "The Room," "Glitter," and "Spice World" (from the same screenwriter!). It may seem mean-spirited to dogpile on "From Justin to Kelly" and constantly list it as one of the worst if all time, but know that Clarkson herself encourages the dogpiling.