Put a diva in front of a microphone and she'll blast out a smash hit, put her in front of a film camera and there's only one thing she'll create - a stinker! Hold your nose, here are some of the very worst

Britney Spears - Crossroads (2002)

The 24-year-old mother-of-two made her film debut as Lucy Wagner, one of three school friends who embark on a coming-of-age journey across America with a mysterious hunk. Britney gets more press for appearing in her bra and panties than for her acting prowess. Provoking boos from fans by snubbing them at the London premier only added to the barrage of abuse from critics.

Killer Line: Spears: 'All we have is now, and right now we have each other.'

Critical Damage: 'Oops, she's really done it this time! That chirpy songbird Britney Spears has popped up with more mindless drivel. This is less of a movie than a mind numbingly dull road trip.' - LA Times

Box Office: $40m

Jessica Simpson - The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

Jess was eager to prove she wasn't just a blonde bimbo by taking on films as well as music. Unfortunately, she chose to play a blonde bimbo. Daisy Duke was actually a brunette in the old TV series but Jess insisted on her own look for the film version of the hillbilly hit. She was upstaged not only by Johnny Knoxville but also the car.

Killer Line: 'I think something bounced up into my undercarriage.'

Critical Damage: 'Simpson's body is unimpeachable, but her thespian talent is still undiscovered country. It's as if the director told her to treat her performance like a photo shoot: Turn. Smile. Pout. Primp.' - Rolling Stone

Box Office: $80m

Madonna - Shanghai Surprise (1985), Shadows of the Fog (1992), Body of Evidence (1993), The Next Big Thing (1993), Swept Away (2002)

The Material Girl has a cast-iron resolve if nothing else. She's come back from more flops than can be listed here and still insists on mixing her undisputed pop talents with her less obvious acting prowess. We'll take her latest, and arguably biggest flop, as an example. In Swept Away, directed by hubby Guy Ritchie, Madge plays Amber, a 40-year-old, beautiful, spoiled, and arrogant playgirl. When her husband Tony takes her on a private cruise from Greece to Italy, Amber is unimpressed at this no-frills vacation, and takes out her anger on the ship's first mate, Giuseppe (Adriano Giannini). When a storm leaves the two shipwrecked on a desert island, however, the tables suddenly turn...

Killer Line: 'I did not fly all the way from New York City to wherever the f*** we are to get on that!'

Critical Damage: 'Amber, the pampered wife of a pharmaceutical magnate, is a kind of nightmare construction of Madonna's public image. She's a horror. If it were only just a little worse, Swept Away could have been a so-bad-it's-good classic.' - San Francisco Chronicle

Box Office: $1m

Kylie Minogue - Street Fighter (1994)

The girl with the best bum in pop chose a right duffer with this violent video game franchise. Kylie plays Cammie, one of a group of elite warriors led into combat by William F. Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme), against an evil dictator.

Killer Line: Kylie: 'Cammie here, are you alright?'
Van Damme: 'Yes. I'm just half dead.'
Kylie: 'And Bison?'
Van Damme: 'All dead.'

Critical Damage: 'Kylie Minogue - the worst actress in the English-speaking world.' - Washington Post

Box Office: $35m

Melanie Blatt, Natalie and Nichole Appleton - Honest (2000)

Three of the four All Saints star in what is said to be an edgy black comedy set in swinging London in the late sixties. The girls play three streetwise sisters who head 'up West' to rob and generally cause trouble. Nicole falls for an Oxford undergrad. Natalie is the tough one - an angry, gun-toting, justice-seeking tart, who shags greasy bikers, punishes the wife beater next door and trades oral sex for weapons, while Mel is the sweet and innocent one. One boob-baring scene helped attract a straggle of drooling teenage boys to otherwise empty cinemas.

Killer Line: Nicole: 'What...you mean...that...our muvva... was...murdered?'

Critical Damage: 'Melanie Blatt does a half decent job but the Appletons are truly terrible. Nicole seems to think you can come across as an East End gangster simply if you chew gum and loudly say things like 'nuffink' and 'feevin'.' - Filmview.com

Box Office: $1m

Mariah Carey - Glitter (2001)

Another flop movie and another pop star playing - wait for it - a pop star. Billie Frank (Carey) is a shy, young, mixed-race girl who is sent away by her alcoholic mother at a very early age. At an orphanage, she befriends Louise and Roxanne. Flash forward to 1983. Billie and her friends are spotted by a record producer, who wants them to sing back-up for his latest pop music discovery. But DJ Dice (Max Beesley) has bigger plans for Billie's incredible voice and inevitably her body. Playing herself was obviously harder than expected because release of the movie was postponed for three weeks when Mariah was hospitalised as a result of an 'emotional and physical breakdown'.

Killer Line: Mariah (Lying in bed after making love): 'You know, I don't usually do this.'
DJ Dice: 'I can tell.'

Critical Damage: 'Carey can act after a fashion, though dialogue gives her trouble. But her performance alternates between two basic modes - a sort of porn star, come-hither sexiness and a little-girl-on-the-verge-of-tears. That gets very old, very fast.' - TV GUIDE.COM

Box Office: $6m