John Travolta's 'Gotti' earns rare zero per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Actor John Travolta's new film Gotti has earned a rare zero per cent rating on review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

The film, which features Travolta in a lead role as notorious crime boss John Gotti, debuted with a zero per cent score on the site and has remained as such with 23 negative reviews posted.

Gotti earned a slightly more favourable score on Rotten Tomatoes competitor Metacritic, with a 27 per cent rating based on five reviews.

The film was panned by New York Times critic Glenn Kenny who dubbed the movie a "dismal mess."

The Hollywood Reporter's Jordan Mintzer added, "The film is pretty terrible: poorly written, devoid of tension, ridiculous in spots and just plain dull in others."

While the Gotti project was first announced in 2011, it went through several iterations of actors and directors.

Initially Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) was set to direct the movie, but left because of creative and scheduling conflicts; then Barry Levinson and Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) signed onto work on the film, but also departed.

It was ultimately Kevin Connolly (Entourage) who ended up directing the film.

Al Pacino was originally set to play the Gambino crime family underboss Neil Dellacroce, Stacy Keach ended up portraying him.

Lindsay Lohan was once slated to play Gotti's wife, but actress Megan Leonard ended up filling that role.

Even Joe Pesci was attached to the project, but he filed a $30m lawsuit against Fiore Films alleging his role was cut after he gained 30 pounds for the role.

The lawsuit was settled and Pruitt Taylor Vince ultimately took on the part of Gotti's childhood friend and enforcer.