Tom Holland Was 'angry' That He Missed Out On This Awful Crime Thriller

Stage 6 Films / Vertical Entertainment

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

It's likely that you haven't heard of Sascha Gervasi's 2017 crime drama "November Criminals." It kind of got a raw deal. It sat on a shelf, fully completed, for a few years before being given a small VOD push, followed by a very, very limited release. This is an odd way to treat a film with a notable director — Gervasi had made the great documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" and the Anthony Hopkins-starring biopic "Hitchcock"— just to name a few. Ansel Elgort and Chloë Grace Moretz played the lead characters in "November Criminals," and the flick featured Catherine Keener and David Strathairn in supporting roles. Despite any star power it might have had, "November Criminals" tanked, and critics hated it. It has a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Elgort, at the time, was a rising star, having appeared in the "Carrie" remake, three of the "Divergent" movies, and in the YA romance "The Fault in Our Stars." It makes sense that someone would want him to lead their crime drama in 2015. His last movie was Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story," and its release came with multiple accusations of sexual assault, so Elgort is very much out of the public eye in 2026. 

While the film was being made, however, British actor Tom Holland — the star of "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" — was really gunning for the lead role in "November Criminals." Back in 2021, Holland spoke to Backstage Magazine, and he traced his career from on the stage (playing Billy Elliot) to his explosive breakout role as Spider-Man in "Captain America: Civil War." He remembered "November Criminals" very well, especially the emotional wound of losing the role. Luckily, some advice from his dad pulled Holland through. 

Stage 6 Films / Vertical Entertainment

Tom Holland, of course, couldn't have predicted that "November Criminals" would remain a barely watched and terribly reviewed movie. At the time, he just saw it as an opportunity wasted. Holland remembers the sting of losing the role, really hoping that a crime drama would raise his profile. His dad was there, though, to have "a really, really informative" conversation with him. Holland said: 

"I was auditioning for it, and I got really close. [...] I thought that that film for me was going to be, like, my steppingstone into a young-adult career. And I didn't get the role, and it really beat me up. I remember being really angry about it. My dad sat me down, and we spoke about dealing with rejection. He's had to deal with rejection his entire life in his career, and he was really kind and said, 'Son, that's part of success. If you won every single time, winning would become losing.' It's like, if I can shoot 4-under in golf every single day, that would become really boring. You need to lose so that the win feels like a win." 

Holland's father, incidentally, is Dominic Holland, an author, writer, and stand-up comedian of some renown who has appeared on British TV and radio. Dominic has penned several books about comedy, and even wrote an autobiography in 2013 called "Eclipsed" all about how his son skyrocketed to fame. Tom Holland has appeared in two of the highest-grossing movies of 2026, with "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" being one of the highest-grossing of all time. One can see how an aspiring British comedian in the 1990s might want to comment on that.

Stage 6 Films / Vertical Entertainment

So what was this awful, obscure movie that gave Tom Holland an existential career crisis? "November Criminals" is based on a novel by Sam Munson and stars Ansel Elgort as a teen named Addison Schacht who, just before leaving town for college, must investigate the murder of his close friend, Kevin (Jared Kemp). Addison is best friends and would-be lovers with Phoebe, a.k.a. Digger (Chloë Grace Moretz), and they find that Kevin was shot in broad daylight while working a shift at a local bakery while he and Digger were having sex for the first time. 

Addison pokes around, and, as is the case with most murder mysteries, finds that nothing adds up. His school counselors and parents suspect that Kevin's murder was gang- or drug-related, but that doesn't feel right to Addison. The murder is somehow connected to an older student (Danny Flaherty), a drug dealer named D-Cash (Cory Hardrict), and a rich a-hole in a wealthy neighborhood (Philip Ettinger). David Strathairn plays Addison's dad, and Catherine Keener plays Digger's mom. 

Only 12 critics reviewed "November Criminals" on Rotten Tomatoes, and all gave it negative reviews. Glenn Kenny reviewed it for RogerEbert.com, and he gave the film only one-and-a-half stars (out of four), writing that: 

"[A]ll of the personages in this slight movie are relatively one-note. It's a shame that actors as searching and scrupulous as Strathairn and Keener are so ill-used. Elgort seems at sea; as youthful as he looks, he hasn't a real clue about acting 'high-school.' Moretz is appealing as always, although there's not much for her to do other than look up pleadingly at Elgort, who's way taller." 

Would Holland have saved the movie? We can only speculate.