Canada’s Worst-Rated Streaming Hits

Bad reviews aren't stopping some movies from becoming streaming hits in Canada. A new study by Spin Casino looked at more than 450 movies that landed in Netflix Canada's weekly Top 10 between January 2025 and September 2026, hoping to spot which poorly rated titles still managed to pull in viewers.

Ladies First came out on top. Its IMDb rating is just 5.8, but it still hit No. 1 on Netflix Canada, and Canadians searched for it more than four times as often per person as Americans did. Thrash took second with an even lower 5.0, yet it held the top spot in Canada for two weeks. The Last House rounded out the top three with a 5.5 and also spent two weeks at No. 1.

A couple of others showed real staying power too. Back in Action, rated 5.9 on IMDb, stayed in Canada's Top 10 for five weeks, the longest run of any film on the list. Office Romance also stood out, spending three weeks in the top three despite its 5.8 rating.

To make the list, a movie had to be rated below 6 out of 10 on IMDb, have at least 5,000 votes, and spend three weeks on Netflix Canada's Top 10. The takeaway is pretty simple: a low rating doesn't always mean low viewership, and plenty of poorly reviewed films are still doing great on Canada's streaming charts.

Here’s a look at the 10 poorly rated movies on Netflix that Canadians still love to watch:

You can access the complete research findings here.

1. Ladies First 

• Average spot in Canada’s Top 10: 2.3

• IMDb rating: 5.8 out of 10

• Weeks in Canada’s Top 10: 3

• Weeks at No. 1 in Canada: 1

• Canadian interest vs. the US: over 4 times higher per person

• Worldwide views: 40.8M in the first half of 2026

Ladies First takes the top spot as the poorly rated movie Canadians love the most. IMDb users gave the comedy a 5.8 out of 10, but it stayed close to the top of Netflix Canada’s chart, hitting No. 1 for a week. Canadians were even more into it than their neighbours, looking it up online four times more often than Americans. The movie also topped charts across the world, not just in Canada, and got 40.8M views in the first half of 2026.

2. Thrash

Thrash comes second, and it’s the lowest-rated movie on the list. IMDb users gave the horror thriller a 5.0 out of 10, yet Canadians made it the No. 1 movie on Netflix for two weeks. About 40K people look it up online each month, so the hype around it is still there. Abroad, it found a huge crowd as well, with around 100M views across the world in the first half of 2026.

3. The Last House

The Last House ranks third with an average chart position of #3. More than 65K IMDb users rated this action horror mystery, and they settled on a 5.5. Against that big crowd of haters, Canadians made it their No. 1 movie for two weeks. Beyond Canada, it attracted over 80M views worldwide across its weeks on Netflix’s global chart.

4. Office Romance

Office Romance takes fourth thanks to a long run. The romcom is rated 5.8 out of 10, but it stayed on Netflix Canada’s chart for four weeks, and three of those weeks were in the top three. Canadians are still curious about it, looking it up online about 2.5 times more often than Americans. Around the world, it passed 58M views in the first half of 2026.

5. Plankton: The Movie

Plankton: The Movie rounds out the top five. The animated adventure comedy has a 5.3 on IMDb, but that score comes from about 5K voters, a small crowd next to the roughly 50M views the movie got in the first half of 2025. Canadians weren’t put off by the rating. The movie spent three weeks on the chart and hit No. 1 for one of them.

A spokesperson for Spin Casino commented on the study: 

“Netflix has said for years that about three-quarters of what people watch starts with one of its recommendations. That means a movie doesn’t need good reviews to find an audience. It needs a spot on the home screen. Once a film lands there, viewers see a familiar genre, a recognisable cast and a trailer, and many press play without checking the rating. Light comedies and thrillers are easy to finish in a single evening, which helps them stay on the weekly chart.”