Mobsters regularly face worse than a hail of rotten tomatoes, but John Travolta’s screen portrayal of the New York City crime boss John Gotti has taken quite a pelting.

The film, directed by Kevin Connolly, has scored a rare zero on the well-known review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

Travolta, 64, plays the leading role in the story of the rise of the criminal known as the Teflon Don, who headed the Gambino family. It had been in production since 2016.

All 18 of the reviews on the website on Saturday had judged it thoroughly “rotten”. Scoring on the site is often harsh, but it is unusual for a film not to receive any positive feedback – aside from some favourable comments about the makeup.

Unfortunately for Travolta, he also stars in one of the few other films to have been rated so low, the 1993 comedy sequel Look Who’s Talking Now! in which he returned for the third time opposite Kirsty Alley.

Jaws: The Revenge, made in 1987, and The Ridiculous 6, a 2015 western comedy starring Adam Sandler, have also scored zero.

The verdict of the New York Times critic was uncompromising: “That the long-gestating crime drama Gotti is a dismal mess comes as no surprise. What does shock is just how multifaceted a dismal mess it is.”

Rolling Stone’s reviewer wrote: “Starring in this mobster biopic that deserves to get whacked is an offer Travolta should have refused.”

The industry magazine Variety was no kinder: “It’s almost laughable to see this iconic star trying so hard on behalf of a movie that is so clearly compromised in its intentions.”

Gotti also stars Travolta’s wife, Kelly Preston, in the role of his screen wife, Victoria. It does not yet have a British release date.