wet firecracker

plural wet firecrackers

1. idiomaticinformalA person, event, or object lacking liveliness or failing to generate excitement, especially when there was a prior expectation of liveliness or excitement.

   [A]udiences sensibly enough found Lollobrigida and Sinatra to be a wet firecracker of a team.

   2009, Tom Santopietro, Sinatra in Hollywood: The Film Career of a Screen Icon, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Coming after a fast, colorful movie like Super Fly, a follow-up called Super Fly TNT is a wet firecracker.

   1973 June 16, “Movie Review: Super Fly TNT Continues With His Adventures in Rome and Africa”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Oct 2017

   After Bernanke's first semiannual testimony before Congress in February, I wrote to my clients that his appearance was essentially a wet firecracker—he did not jolt the markets.

   2006 June 18, Richard Yamarone, “Confusion From the Fed Head”, in Washington Post, retrieved 16 Oct 2017

   Synonyms: dud, damp squib