An ironically-titled fantastical failure draws in curious streaming crowds

After a constant string of serious allegations justifiably derailed what was previously one of the most respected and consistently acclaimed Hollywood careers of the modern era, you absolutely could not concoct anything more ironic than Kevin Spacey’s final lead role pre-scandal being called Nine Lives.

Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver arrived mere months before the Academy Award winner fell from grace after a series of accusers came forward, but it was Men in Black director Barry Sonnefeld’s fantastical family comedy that holds the unwanted distinction of listing Spacey first in the credits and on the marketing materials, with the thoroughly awful flick dropping in the summer of 2016.

The story follows Spacey’s workaholic billionaire, who finds himself constantly favoring work over family. Naturally, when his son picks up a cat from a local pet store, the old man winds up trapped inside a feline body with the caveat that if he doesn’t reconnect with his increasingly-estranged loved ones within seven days, he’ll live out the rest of his existence as Mr. Fuzzypants.

Nine Lives scored less than $60 million at the box office on a $30 million budget, garnered an embarrassing 14 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, with several reviews even more ironically claiming that the film was so terrible it could severely impact Spacey’s prospects moving forward.

However, for inexplicable reasons, iTunes subscribers have been actively revisiting a Kevin Spacey movie on streaming this week, with FlixPatrol naming Nine Lives as one of the platform’s most-watched titles, which is arguably worse than anything that unfolds onscreen.