There are actors, and there are movie stars, and Denzel Washington, with two Oscars to his name, is both. Since beginning his career nearly 50 years ago, Washington has appeared in over sixty films. With such extensive filmography, even a gifted actor like Washington acknowledges that not all his movies have been hits. He openly admits that some of his films weren’t great.

“After ‘Malcolm X’ I made some real clunkers,” Washington revealed in an interview with The Times. Although he didn’t specify names, he pinpointed the ’90s as the decade when some of his lesser films were made, candidly mentioning financial reasons. “I was earning. I had responsibilities,” he said, framing life into thirds: learning, earning, and giving back. He elaborated, “So in that era I was earning … with a great agent, my career built into making money and so the earning kicked in, and then life also kicked in, with bills, four kids, and a house.”

Washington’s ’90s era included both forgettable action films and some not-so-great sci-fi flicks. However, even some of these movies deserve a rewatch, despite his own criticisms. Most of Washington’s top films came post-’90s, yet critics suggest he might be underestimating his earlier work. His period of earning did produce flops, but his most criticized films might date back further.

While Washington chose not to specify the films from his ’90s low point, it’s not difficult to surmise which ones he meant. In the aftermath of “Malcolm X,” he starred with Julia Roberts in “The Pelican Brief,” which didn’t fare well with critics. Then in 1995, he played a prisoner coerced into testing a virtual reality program in “Virtuosity,” a sci-fi flop with a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of his poorest reviewed movies.

While the ’90s had its setbacks for Washington, his recollection might be harsher than reality. The same year “The Pelican Brief” drew criticism, he shone alongside Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia.” Though “Devil in a Blue Dress” in 1995 wasn’t a box office hit, it was critically acclaimed.

Washington has mentioned that his pressing responsibilities led him to those ’90s missteps, but they also catalyzed some of his standout performances. This period laid the foundation for monumental films in his career, such as “Deja Vu” and “American Gangster.”

Critics and moviegoers alike disagree with Denzel Washington about when his worst movies debuted. Washington remembers the flops of the ’90s because that was the decade in which he was most focused on making money as an actor. According to Rotten Tomatoes, however, his two worst films actually came out before the decade really got started.

In 1990, Washington starred as a lawyer named Napoleon Stone in “Heart Condition.” Stone dies and his heart is transplanted into a racist cop named Jack Mooney (Bob Hoskins), who starts seeing Stone’s ghost and changing his outlook on life after the operation. At a whopping 10% approval rating, “Heart Condition” is Washington’s worst movie according to critics by a full 16-point margin.

General audiences, on the other hand, have named 1988’s “For Queen and Country” as Washington’s worst film with a 28% score. Washington plays a British former paratrooper named Reuben James. When he returns to his home in London, Reuben finds the neighborhood overrun with crime, and as he settles in, things go from bad to worse. Both movies are among Washington’s lowest-grossing of all time, and, though personal tastes may vary, both are a good deal worse than anything the actor put out in the mid-’90s.