Doesn't it make you crazy when there’s a movie out that’s real popular and all your friends love it but you don’t? It’s like you're totally out of step with pop culture – and is there a worse fate than that? I’ve listed some movies that were boxoffice dandies and zeitgeist zeniths but just didn’t do it for me. You’re going to look at this list and be outraged over a couple. But that’s the whole idea. I KNOW you and most everyone in the world likes these movie but for whatever reason I hate 'em. Sorry. I do. I’ve also left out films from genres I just don’t care for, so it’s unfair to dump on SAW III. And I won’t go to see a Katherine Heigl or Nancy Meyer romcom. Just loathe ‘em. I know what I’m going to get. And I’m never not being disappointed in being disappointed.
So this is my partial list. I’d be curious. What’s yours? And I’ll make you a deal. If you don’t rip me for not liking LINCOLN I won’t attack you for not liking AMERICAN BEAUTY (although, seriously, what’s wrong with you?).
ENGLISH PATIENT
Last Batman movie
Last Superman movie
CRASH
MATCH POINT
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
NEIGHBORS
LORD OF THE RINGS
LINCOLN
THE NATURAL
NEBRASKA
THE DESCENDENTS
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
LES MISERABLES
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
MOULIN ROUGE
LUCY
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
154 comments :
While it's apparently against some law to not love everything related to Joss Whedon without question, I fucking hated THE CABIN IN THE WOODS.
"It's a Wonderful Life" ?????
Maudlin
Forrest Gump. Hated it from the minute I first saw it. Just don't understand how anyone can like the lesson that being stupid and passive will get you a great life.
Anything by James Cameron
I have a funny story that relates to this. Back in the olden days when I was in High School, the big movie was ET. It played forever. My BFF was not allowed to see any R rated movie, so whenever we went to see an R rated movie we would tell her mother we were going to see ET. "Yes, I know I saw it already, but Stacey really wants to see it, so we're going with her." The best part about it was the fact that my BFF never actually SAW ET, even though her mother probably thought it was her all time favorite.
Years later in college ET was released on video, and we rented it so she could finally see it.
She absolutely hated the movie.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is responsible for clearing up my acne. Who knew Windex did more than windows?
Just about any CGI film during the summer turns me off. Have to wait until October to get any films with a plot.
Man, between Ken Luciusisley and norm, you've named a lot of movies that don't do it for me either.
I've got to say put in "Out of Africa" in the mix. I've seen Meryl Streep carry a movie before, but I think this is first time I've seen an accent carry a movie.
Don't have The Lord of the Rings movies, just thought they were enjoyable films, not the greating things since Citizen Kane. (Now that's a movie that holds up).
This is one of my favourite topics!!
Here are a few of mine:
AVATAR - Bored the fuck out of me. I remember checking my watch after what had felt like an hour and saw only 25 minutes had passed. That's how dull I found it. How it became the highest grossing film of all time remains a mystery to me.
CITY OF GOD - I don't hate this, I thought it was just OK. I had heard it's amazing, a groundbreaking piece of cinema, an incredible work of art etc etc. On seeing it, I concluded that anyone who thinks it's amazing can't have seen many movies.
DELIVERANCE - Again, I don't hate it, I just couldn't see what the fuss was all about. Maybe it was shocking for its time.
MOONRISE KINGDOM - I'm so over the whole 12 year olds talking like 40 year olds affectation.
THE SEARCHERS - Boring. Sorry, but it is. UNFORGIVEN is the greatest Western ever made, not this.
Carol said...
Anything by James Cameron
I have a funny story that relates to this.
Carol, James Cameron didn't direct ET, Steven Spielberg did.
"Titanic"
"Gone With The Wind"
"Scarface"
Avatar
Hurt Locker
Titanic
Moulin Rouge
The Godfather (all of them)
The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Hangover both spring to mind. Raunchy humour just doesn't appeal to me.
Also, to answer the inverse of this question (a movie that I like that everybody else hates): The Wiz. It certainly has issues, but on the whole I think it receives a lot more hate than it deserves.
P.S. It'd be a bit of a stretch to say that everyone loved Man of Steel. In the circles that I follow it received plenty of criticism.
To take this a step further, how about movies you enjoyed when you first saw them, but were laughable years later?
We rented Close Encounters of the Third Kind 15-20 years after first seeing it at the theater...wanted our kids to see it. I laughed and laughed at how hokey and silly it was. Seriousy, it's ridiculous. Jeeeeesh.
And, uh, It's a Wonderful Life made your list, Ken??? Never would have expected that.
"Gone With the Wind" and "Brokeback Mountain", both for the same reason. They are both numbingly endless melodrama that go way longer than they need to tell their not-very-compelling stories.
Forest Gump for sure.
Every single person I know looooooves "The Shawshank Redemption." I thought, meh.
So... I ask them--what Rita Hayworth movies did you discover after seeing it, since they were so adamant in how superior a film actress bombshell she was? Perhaps "Gilda"? Perhaps "Pal Joey"? "The Lady From Shanghai"?
I get blank stares. Every time.
Avatar
Hey Ken,
GREAT Post- this is an easy one for me. First off,
Inception- please, just please with this movie- and I usually love Chris Nolan's work.
2 more that haven't aged well at all IMHO.
Rosemary's Baby- other than seeing old NYC it's horrible, bad special effects, bad make up, bad everything. I dare you to watch it and tell me it's scary.
The French Connection- I usually don't mind slow movies, but, NOTHING, nothing, nothing happens for 2 hours. Don't know how this is considered a classic. --LL
Ken, out of your list I'd say I like/love about half of the movies. Two of them (The English Patient and No Country For Old Men) I consider to be absolute masterpieces!. The rest range from "meh" to "what the hell is that crap", so you're definitely not alone in your opinion on some of them.
As for which movies I hate that everyone else loves, I'll go with the following (off the top of my head):
- THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
- THE DARK KNIGHT
- AMELIE
- SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
- PAN'S LABYRINTH
- THE AVENGERS
- BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy
- E.T.
And probably GONE GIRL as well. I'm not sure if it belongs in the category of "films everyone out there loves" (though it definitely feels like it), but I freakin' hated it!
I remember when Punch-Drunk Love came out, and I felt as if I had to go see it, since it was a departure from what Adam Sandler's normally done. I came out thinking it was a conspiracy among film critics, who were laughing at us behind our backs.
I certainly don't hate it, but I find "Vertigo" overrated. And I really don't like "Braveheart", though I don't know if that one qualifies as generally loved?
Nick Alexander:
Every single person I know looooooves "The Shawshank Redemption." I thought, meh.
So... I ask them--what Rita Hayworth movies did you discover after seeing it, since they were so adamant in how superior a film actress bombshell she was? Perhaps "Gilda"? Perhaps "Pal Joey"? "The Lady From Shanghai"?
I get blank stares. Every time.
I don't quite understand your logic here...?
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
American Pie
District 9
Bullitt
French Connection
Marathon Man
Rear Window
Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid
Mrs. Doubtfire
Indiana Jones (Temple of Doom and Crystal Skull)
Beverly Hills Cop
Christmas Vacation
Lord of the Rings
The Thin Red Line
Pet Sematary
"Slumdog Millionaire" was a HUGE bummer for me. (But I'm glad it brought Dev Patel to the attention of Aaron Sorkin.)
I don't care much for the J.J. Abrams treatment of "Star Trek"
"The Passion Of The Christ" especially after it became such a fave of some radio right-wingers.
"Eyes Wide Shut" did absolutely nothing for me but I was laughing my ass off when it was recently spoofed on "The Simpsons".
Now, I don't really hate "It's A Wonderful Life" but I could have a merry enough Christmas without seeing it again. I live close to Seneca Falls, New York; a town that likes to imagine itself as the real Bedford Falls during the holiday season complete with a screening hosted by Karolyn "Zuzu" Grimes.
I see a common theme. Pretension and cliché annoy you.
If "Mystery Science Theater 3000" ever gets rebooted my first choice would be "The Exorcist"! SERIOUSLY! Time has not been kind!
About a year after it came out, I happened to see the last 90% of The Hangover on cable TV while traveling, not knowing what movie it was until the end; found it stupid and not funny at all.
The Natural was an abomination because of the ending, if you're a fan of Bernard Malamud, who wrote the 1950s novel it was based on.
I saw E.T. in the theater and have never wanted to see it again - in fact I find it hard to believe it was (for a while) the highest-grossing movie ever. And I do like Close Encounters (the original 1977 version above all others - they got me to pay to see the "Special Edition" in 1980 and I felt ripped off).
No Country for Old Men? Come on, what's the matter with you? Lucy? Not Luc Besson's best, but you have to admit he still has the chops and it's worth a matinee ticket. It's A Wonderful Life? We've all seen it so many times that it's hard to like it anymore. I can understand that. The rest I agree with and I concur that Spielberg and everyone else somnambulated through Lincoln.
I hated, hated, hated every minute of the Lord of the Rings. Smug, twee, self-satisfied, unwatchable.
I'm with you on MATCH POINT - a horribly slow and pointless film. I didn't care for TITANIC and, in terms of comedy, I hated ANCHORMAN for a long time.
I also found THE DEER HUNTER to be long and tedious.
I have to ask about IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, though. Not because it's a classic but because it seems to use a lot of the core emotions and story beats that make up a good sitcom - love, family, depression, frustration, redemption, forgiveness, community. Hence why so many sitcoms have plundered the story for their own interpretations.
What is it about the film that you don't like?
I’ll add my name to the list of “It’s a Wonderful Life” haters. (And “Lord of the Rings”, for that matter.)
I wouldn’t describe it as “hate”, but “Frozen” definitely didn’t do a thing for me. Okay, we get it. It’s cold, there’s CGI snowflakes everywhere, and everyone is singing about building snowmen and letting it go. Move on.
The one that people do seem to love (even if it’s not a great movie) that I hated was “What About Bob?”. I’d never seen it until a co-worker raved about it. Meh.
True story: the same co-worker (who actually does have really good taste in movies) and I had a discussion about great movies recently, and I let him watch my DVD of “Citizen Kane”. His opinion was that “it was probably pretty good…for its time. But today? Not really.” Wouldn’t even make his top ten list today. So I guess I’ll post that on his behalf in absentia.
(This is still better than the other co-worker, who couldn’t stop talking the other night about how great “The Matrix Revolutions” was.)
Almost every movie from the 1980s, especially John Hughes ones. Doubly infuriating since so much cable programming is saturated with it.
And they are actually going for Halloween nostalgia by running "the Friday the 13th" movies.
"I looovve the eighties!"BANG
Whenever I tell anyone this they look at me as though I have two heads but I HATE both the Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins. Also, I cannot stand It's A Wonderful Life, and basically anything Jack Nicholson has made in the last 30 years.
I'm in agreement with most of these postings. Here's three I have not seen yet.
Independence Day
Breakfast Club
2001
As a change of pace, here are three semi-obscure movies that had a chance to be good but were spoiled by awful endings.
Career Opportunities
Keys to Tulsa
Eddie and the Cruisers
"The Shining." I love Kubrick , but don't you think a movie that's (at least nominally) based on a scary story should be just a little bit,y'know, scary?
Instead, we get a plodding plot & Jack Nicholson at his scenery chewin' finest.
I'm not a big movie watcher to start with. But the James Bond and Star Wars series to me are tedious at best. And any war picture. When did war and murder become entertainment?
The Notebook!
I concur with "Forrest Gump", and add "Castaway".
Not that I dislike Tom Hanks or anything, it's just these are poor ideas for movies.
I did see "ET" when it came out and it was decent, but I've never had a desire to see it again. (Wait - I did. It's called "Super 8" and it wasn't better that time.)
Also, "Zero Dark Thirty" was a poor movie by pretty much any criteria - not sure how that came up for a "Best Picture" Oscar.
I did see "Le Miz", and decided that while I'm not against a good musical, this turned out to be pretty tedious.
Pulp Fiction. I will never understand Quentin Tarantino's success.
The Shawshank Redemption. My eyes roll just typing its name.
I know Ken loves this movie, but to me it's maybe one of the two worst I've even seen. Arthur. Gawdawful.
City of Angels is the only movie I've ever walked out of. The most depressing POS ever.
Mine would be "There Will Be Blood"
snore!
Never seen "Terms Of Endearment" so I have no opinion on it but the late Steve Freedman, who hosted the "Mister Movie" talk show on radio in Philadelphia, always referred to it as "Terms of Excrement".
Mary Poppins
Wizard of Oz
I just never got why people think they're so great. I love Sound Of music, though.
Oh and when I was little all my friends LOVED the Swan Princess. I hated it, but I ended up watching it at least once a week for like a year, just so I would have some friends left.
I'll throw my name in for both IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and LORD OF THE RINGS. The first is maudlin sentimentality and the second felt utterly lifeless. It didn't help that, even though I've never read the books, the "shock" of Christopher Lee's character changing sides at the beginning was obliterated by the simple fact that, well, it was Christopher Lee! The man is not known for playing a lovable snuggle bunny.
And then I'm going to say A CHRISTMAS STORY. Hoo boy. I don't know where to start except that it felt like a really twisted "nostalgic" ode to bullying. I know it's supposed to be heartening and whatever, but I couldn't find the laughs or the warmth or whatever people dig about it. Never again.
For me, that'd have to be THE BOONDOCK SAINTS. I liked the characters well enough, but the plot felt like a giant excuse for itself, and a lot of the dialogue seemed like it was trying too hard to be Quentin Tarantino.
I would probably say "Avatar" if I could stand to sit through it all. I saw about 20 minutes of it on a cable channel, and that was all I could take. Most moronic drivel I ever heard. I've seen better scripts on Saturday morning cartoons that were badly translated from Japanese.
"There's Something About Mary" - People I respect (or used to) actually think this is one of the greatest comedies ever made. Only positive thing I can say about it is that I've always liked Jonathan Richman.
In fact, any Farelly Brothers-influenced gross-out comedy, like "The Hangover," etc. Vomit and excrement stopped being funny to me when I passed the age of five. And if "Bridesmaids" is your proof that women are funny, please choose one of the hundreds of other films that make the argument better. An old Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly short would do.
I didn't find "Anchorman" as funny as most people did, but it was one of the few Will Ferrell movies I could sit through at all. Compared to him, Adam Sandler is Buster Keaton.
General rule: the more CGI a movie has, the more I hate it. The current glut of loud, repetitive superhero movies says something very disturbing about the arrested development of our culture.
I will die happy knowing that I'll go to my grave never having sat through the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy or anything with a Hobbit in it. If I want to see hairy feet, I'll bend over.
I didn't hate "Match Point," but it was way overrated. It was basically just the heavier half of Woody's masterpiece, "Crimes & Misdemeanors," with the humor and meaning removed and the running time extended.
Going way back, I couldn't possibly hate "An American In Paris," but giving the Best Picture Oscar to it instead of "Singin' In the Rain" was insanity. And "Vertigo" is probably my least favorite of Hitchcock's major films. Some great set pieces, but overall, the plot is ridiculous.
"The Deer Hunter" was an overlong, boring, pretentious, inaccurate and bafflingly overpraised piece of crap. It took "Heaven's Gate" before anyone dared point out that Michael Cimino couldn't direct a kindergarten Christmas pageant, and if he tried, it would last six hours and go $100 million over budget.
This will probably stir up the hate mail, but I thought "The Shining" was a beautifully-photographed snorefest. By casting Nicholson, who seemed bedbug crazy from the get-go, Kubrick destroyed all the suspense of the dad slowly being driven insane. I spent most of the movie looking at my watch and waiting for him to go all Jack Nicholson on his family. This will also tick off a lot of people, but to be honest, "Dr. Strangelove" and "A Clockwork Orange" were probably the only Stanley Kubrick movies I actually liked.
I hate movies that are showered with praise and awards because they're long, slow and "important" ("The English Patient," "Gandhi," etc.) or a political cause celebre ("Brokeback Mountain") but a torture to sit through.
Also, could we please pass a law to ban Hollywood from ruining hit Broadway musicals ("Hair Spray," "Mama Mia," "Sweeney Todd," probably the upcoming adaptation of "Into the Woods") by filling them with big name stars who are tone-deaf? The producers should be forced to write on a blackboard 100 times, "Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp are NOT singers." And don't get me started on the vocal stylings of Pierce Brosnan.
Finally, just to be extra contrary, I'll add that "Citizen Kane" is one of my favorite movies of all time. I have it on DVD, and if I happen across it on TV, I always stop and watch it to the end. The script is pure genius, and more quotable than the Bible.
The last Superman movie (MAN OF STEEL) was not "loved by everyone". It was divisive. I hated it. Didn't care for the first of Nolan's Batman trilogy either.
Others that didn't wow me:
Once
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
Lost In Translation
Inception
Match Point
I agree with you about all those listed. I'd argue thought that most have not (or will not) age well in posterity. I can't recall anyone mentioning THE ENGLISH PATIENT and I wonder how many people watch it *now* who hadn't seen it when it was released?
It's a Wonderful Life is probably the one entry that I think qualifies as a popular classic, yet people aren't surprised that I don't like it.
Hamid:
Unforgiven is better than The Searchers? That'll be the day.
I went with friends to see A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001). I was so bored that I was counting the ceiling tiles. I remember telling someone that I would rather have my leg severed than to sit through that horrible film again.
I agree, English Patient - I tried, I really did.
Also, Independence Day, everyone was cheering throughout the movie when I saw it. I only cheered when it was over.
The absolute, without a doubt worst offender is THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS! (Just kidding - it's a perfect movie).
Anything that's a musical. My daughter loves musicals like they're manna from heaven; me, I'd rather stab myself with a rusty pitchfork than suffer thru an hour and a half of someone trying to make me swallow the notion that people just break into a song and dance about something.
Except I will concede that the "Step In Time" bit with the chimney sweeps in 'Mary Poppins' was a pretty impressive bit of mass choreography.
- Gone With the Wind
- The Searchers
- Anything directed by Norma Efron, although it seems she was a lovely person
- Victor/Victoria
- The Neverending Story
- Home Alone
- There Will Be Blood
- The Master
- Se7en
- Anchorman
- Alien
- French Can Can, Toni, The Lower Depths (by French director Jean Renoir)
- Sleeping Beauty (the Disney one)
- Horrified at what Peter Jackson has done to The Hobbit
- With ya on "It's a Wonderful Life"
So fed up with comic book 'reboots' I rarely even bother anymore
Whoops, I forgot a couple:
- Crimes and Misdemeanors
- Hannah and Her Sisters
Now, I think there's a difference between not liking a movie and not thinking it's very good. There are lots of movies I appreciate, but just don't like, based on my taste. It always bothers me when someone complains a movie is bad, when it was simply they didn't like it.
However, two movies I could simply never understand the praise for were Knocked Up and History of Violence.
Knocked Up felt like being locked in a room with two people who hated each other. Yes, there were some funny moments, but most of it just felt like I was watching two people who argue for two hours.
My wife and I saw an advanced screening for History of Violence before there were any reviews and left the theatre in agreement that it just wasn't very good. Many of the scenes didn't ring true and seemed almost amateurishly directed and written.
I was shocked when the reviews started coming out praising the movie. It didn't seem like we were talking about the same movie.
And I also think people not liking Titanic, Crash, Forrest Gump and The English Patient is so common, now, that it's not even worth mentioning.
Ken, I looked at your list and decided that I agree with you on about half of the list because I actually saw them. I still see the "English Patient" in my DVD rack and battle the impulse to toss it in the trash. The other half I decided to hate just by the "buzz," so I avoided them, but I trust your judgment. By the way, "Casablanca" to me is the funniest film ever made. I don't think a room full of writers could come up with as many cliched punch lines as that film. "Here's lookin' at you Ken.
Avengers
Avatar
Any of the Spiderman movies
A Beautiful Mind
Lost in Translation
Sideways
Midnight in Paris
Avengers
Avatar
Any of the Spiderman movies
A Beautiful Mind
Lost in Translation
Sideways
Midnight in Paris
- The Maltese Falcon (I've forced myself to watch it about 4 times, convinced I keep missing something, and each time, I dislike it even more)
- The Lady from Shanghai
- Mean Girls and My Big Fat Greek Wedding are two comedies I find less and less funny and/or entertaining the more times I catch it on TV
- Ted
Having read the original novel by Winston Groom, the movie plays straight the story of Forrest's life (not to mention, heavily rewriting it) where the novel is somewhat darkly satirical.
"Hook" (one of only three movies I ever walked out on in a theater -- the others were Grease and Saturday Night Fever, but hey, I was 16 and those movies could not have been LESS cool).
"Titanic" (James Cameron version)
"Eyes Wide Shut" and for that matter, just about anything with Tom Cruise, the most overrated actor of this or any generation.
The Royal Tenenbaums and Lost in Translation are two movies that I not only think are overrated, but among the worst movies ever made. Right down there with most Adam Sandler movies. I have no idea what people see in them.
Sometimes the crowd gets it right:
The AVENGERS
OUT OF AFRICA
MOULIN ROUGE
INDY 2 and 4
THE DEER HUNTER
And sometimes they get it wrong:
THE SEARCHERS
GODFATHER
FRENCH CONNECTION
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
THE HURT LOCKER
-30-
Forrest Gump
Avatar
Steel Magnolias
Fried Green Tomatoes
Titanic
Gone With The Wind
40 Year Old Virgin
Borat
Lincoln
Slumdog Millionaire
Annie Hall (Play It Again Sam was the same movie but MUCH better)
The Hobbit (the book was great;, Jackson didn't need to make new stuff up)
Gravity
The Assassination of Jessie James by the Dread Pirate Roberts (or whatever the heck was the stupid title of that horrible movie)
Doesn't it make you crazy when there's a movie out that's real popular and all your friends love it but you don't.
No.
I'm right. They're wrong.
Why should that make me crazy? Nothing could be more straightforward.
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Avatar
3. Anything Joss Whedon touches
4. The Hangover
5. The Hunger Games
6. The Dark Knight
7. Inception
8. The Departed
9. Little Miss Sunshine
Gone With The Wind.
I don't give a damn either.
Nobody loves The English Patient.
I completely hate Clockwork Orange.
And I think that, perhaps, the most overrated thing in the world is the whole Star Wars thing. The first movie isn't bad for a war flick, but as science fiction it doesn't have much going for it.
I had read The Exorcist and The Shining and eagerly anticipated the movies. I was horrified by both. They are NOT the scariest movies, they are pure camp. Horrible acting and Kubrick ruined one of my favorite Stephen King books.
I love Jack Nicholson but his "Heeeere's Johnny" still, after 30+ years, pisses me off.
Pam, St. Louis
Most of the "shoot em up" / "blow em up" recent movies. (Expendables 5, Dieharder again and again, etc. etc.). Yes there's lots of action, but we save seen it before.
started to watch LUCY just recently and turned it off. Hated it!
The English Patient- feh
AVATAR!!! AKKKKKKK!!!
and, while we're at it
TITANIC- if she yelled "JAAAAACK" one more time while slogging through the water, I was gonna drown her!
Metropolis- just ick
silly, but RATATOILLE... rats... in a restaurant kitchen... my skin crawled through the whole thing!
PULP FICTION- violence and F-bombs punctuated by the absurd. feh
WOLF OF WALL STREET
GANGS OF NEW YORK
not to slam Leo, just hated those movies!
A Clockwork Orange- It was years before I could listen to Gene Kelly do Singin' In the Rain without becoming nauseated!!!
Sorry, I must take Mike Botula to task for calling Casablanca" cliched. Incredible film, well-acted, beautifully shot by Michael Curtiz,
brilliantly written. "Here's looking at you,Kid" is NOT the punch line. Amazing achievement to have an unpatriotic cynic at the center of the film, during World War Two, the most supported war in American history. Also, Claude Raines as a sleazy, French Officer taking advantage of refugees, and making the character likable, is also a sign of just how great the acting, writing and Directing was.
Unfortunately, there is so little passion left in films, that the passion of the past no longer resonates.
I am, apparently, the one geek on the planet who can't stand The Lord of the Rings. I tried to make it through the books. I really did. But after several hundred pages of dreadful poetry and people walking for miles and then walking some more, I had to put it down.
Later on, I tried to watch a few minutes of the trilogy on cable, but the first thing I saw was Muppety trees, and I couldn't take the film seriously. I say that as someone who loves the Muppets.
But the film I really hate is Traffic. There's the drug czar who doesn't know the first thing about drugs. There's the security team that doesn't take the most basic security precautions. There's the elite, respected assassin who gets taken down in about five minutes. And yet we're expected to treat the film as an intelligent look at United States drug policy. I could say more, but I'll start ranting and foaming at the mouth.
I made the "mistake" of reading Jurassic Park before the movie came out. I HATE that movie, Jeff Goldblum's awesome performance notwithstanding.
I hated Avatar, but liked The Last Airbender (mostly).
I prefer to approach every movie thinking that there's something there that makes it worth watching, even if it's just one frame.
Now I can understand someone not caring for Mary Poppins, but to hate it? Hate it? Someone might want to seek therapy and see what the real problem is.
FORREST GUMP should have never won an Oscar (PULP FICTION was more original, much more entertaining and its all-star cast did solid work.).
TITANIC was just utterly ridiculous.
INDEPENDANCE DAY was entertaining at times, but overall crap nevertheless.
THE SIXTH SENSE, THE VILLAGE and SIGNS never struck a chord with me. I always thought that M. Night Shyamalan wasn't quite honest with his audience. I never liked his gimmick endings.
But I very much enjoyed MATCH POINT and I also liked NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Went to a preview screening of Titanic at Paramount before it opened. The film was pretty infamous for the cost overruns and delays, and people were plenty curious about how the thing turned out.
My wife and I laughed ourselves silly through the whole 3 plus hours. We were convinced this ridiculous turkey would sink both Cameron's career and the studio.
Never looked at the box office - anyone know how it did?
I agree with you on a bunch of those.
Agree:
ENGLISH PATIENT
Last Batman movie
Last Superman movie
NEIGHBORS
THE DESCENDENTS
LES MISERABLES
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
MOULIN ROUGE
Disagree:
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
THE NATURAL
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
the rest I'm either neutral on, ie. didn't love or hate Lincoln, Nebraska Crash or Matchpoint. The rest I didn't see.
But the film I've always hated that everyone seemed to love was The Big Chill. Boy did I despise that movie.
Newest on the HATE list is Gone Girl. What a piece of trash.
Just to clarify when people keep mentioning "The Avengers" they mean the super hero movie and not the british spy movie ( 1998 Uma Thurman and Ralph fiennes) /series of the 60's.
Can't defend the movie but the series with Diana Riggs did occupy a certain role in my early teen years (male)
I'm glad someone else besides me hates "No Country for Old Men," though I think it could have been brilliant if they'd ended after the accident where Chigurh paid off the boys on the bikes. Moulin Rouge, just couldn't make it through that muddled fever dream but loved Nebraska. Could have been using my family as inspiration for that one.
Totally agree about "Ted"!!!!
I'm not much of a Family Guy or Seth McFarlane fan (he's waaaaaay too into himself on talk shows, magazine interviews, etc), but it seemed everyone and their mother thought Ted was hilarious and genius and original, blah, blah, blah.
So I went in expecting a 2-hour laugh riot, but wow, was it overrated!
All of Wes Anderson's self-indulgent, weak story movies.
I like some of Wes Anderson's movies, but I can't watch either The Royal Tenenbaums or The Life Aquatic.
When Get Shorty was out my wife and I went to see it. We left after about two minutes and snuck into another movie--I think it was Father of the Bride II.
I didn't realize anybody actually liked NEIGHBORS.
The one not on this list that I really didn't like was FARGO. I hated it when I saw it. I am older now and should probably watch it again.
THE DARK KNIGHT: Two identical chase scenes ate up 30 minutes of the movie. I found myself looking at my watch.
I agree with ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE. Boring, boring, boring. The hero should be Mr. Potter.
THE HOBBIT: sucked!!!!!!!!!!!
SUPERMAN: I am talking about the original Christopher Reeve version, found it slow and boring.
PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE: Didn't have the special effects I was expecting. :)
Your list is a good start. I am in complete agreement on:
ENGLISH PATIENT
CRASH
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
LINCOLN
THE NATURAL
LES MISERABLES
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
MOULIN ROUGE
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
I would probably add the Hobbit stuff and your Batman and Superman movies, but I haven't seen any of them. I really, really hated the second Christian Bale Batman movie if that was the one with Heath Ledger as the Joker. Really, really hated it.
I'm picking up FORREST GUMP from another comment and adding THE MATRIX. Why would they want to eat slime and live in misery when they can pretend it's all wonderful and sunny? It's the opposite of THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO.
Hi Julie,
Totally agree with the Matrix.
I had friends tell me it was the greatest SCi-Fi movie of all time.
I watched and didn't hate it, but found it very average.
Hi Ken!
Can you do a "What TV shows do you hate that everyone else loves" post?
What I find interesting about The English Patient is that I don't know anybody who actually liked it.
I only know people who think they should have liked it.
The Godfather(s)
GoodFellas
Beautiful Mind
Amelie
Chinatown
and the final sacrilege:
Citizen Kane
There I said it.
The English Patient, Titanic, Avitar - the worst movies to win an academy awards!!
Lincoln was awful. Schepeelberg should have read the book.
A baseball fan that doesn't like "The Natural"?!? Whaaaaaa? That doesn't compute, Ken. Explanation required.
And it's so hip and cool to hate 'It's a Wonderful Life' these days, but, I'll give you a pass as you are neither hip nor cool. (oh, I kid, I kid).
CLAY
The beloved Stanley Kubrick version of Lolita. It strayed so far from the tone and meaning of the book that the film was pointless. Peter Sellers took a role that was supposed to be shadowy and nearly invisible, and turned the character into an upstaging showcase for his comic talents. He was hilarious, of course, but it was the equivalent of filming Julius Caesar and turning Brutus into a laff-riot central character. And Sue Lyon was too old to believably play Lolita.
The Adrian Lyne version of Lolita was so much more faithful to the novel, telling the story as a multi-layered tragedy. It also had a beautiful Terrence Malick-like beauty. The Lyne version was derided by critics, but I assume this was due to bias toward Kubrick's body of work. Most of Kubrick's other films were inspired and visionary, but no critic seemed to be able to view the Lyne version with objectivity.
Out of Africa - snooze fest. I literally fell asleep
The English Patient - Kill. Me. Now.
Avatar - WTF did I miss? "Unobtonium!" Really? That's just balls to get away with that.
MARY FUCKING POPPINS - Mom dragged me to it as a child. Couldn't wait to bolt from the theater and play softball.
Ken, I think your own response to this would make an interesting blog post:
M*A*S*H
I love most of Robert Altman's films, but I've watched this one thrice, each time hoping to discover what made it such a groundbreaking film. Every viewing leaves me confounded. For instance, that long football game at the end. Why? That ending could have been slapped on to any movie. "The Player: a bunch of studio executives play football for half an hour. The end." Or, "Goodfellas: A bunch of mobsters take a break from thieving and murdering to play baseball for 45 minutes. The end."
A rare instance of a TV show improving on the source. Agree or not?
I was one of apparently just several thousand people who saw Glenn Gordon Caron's WILDER NAPALM in theaters. I saw it in a sneak preview, so there weren't any reviews available to dissuade me. I liked it, it was kooky and inspired, and the only disappointment was that it looked more like a TV show than a feature. (Remember the rivalry in MOONLIGHTING between Curtis Armstrong and Jack Blessing? Give that a bigger budget, outdoor sets, and pyrotechnics, and that's this movie.) The review from the NYTimes summed it up, describing it as, IIRC, "sitting on the cusp between truly inspired and flat-out unreleasable".
Oops, I totally misread the topic.
Oh, I LOOOOOOVE the Lord of the Rings movies. And I'm amazed by all the hate for A Clockwork Orange. I love it.
Two lists, movies every one loves that I think are terrible movies, and movies everyone loves that I concede may be good movies but I just don't like them.
Terrible Movies:
The Shining.
Any movie starring John Wayne.
It's a Wonderful Life.
Forrest Gump.
The Passion of the Christ.
Eyes wide Shut.
All James Bond films starring either Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan.
Anything starring Will Ferrell.
Pulp Fiction in particular, but actually ALL Quinton Tarantino movies.
Avatar.
Sweeney Todd (Hurts especially, as the stage show is my all-time favorite musical.)
Hook.
Both movies named The Avengers
Perhaps Good Movies That I do Not Like:
The Shawshank Redemption.
The Sound of Music.
Mary Poppins.
Terms of Endearment.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Sorry, Marty, I just rewatched Kubrick's Lolita last night, and I still find I adore it. Since Nabakov wrote the screenplay, I have to assume he signed off on the changes from his unquestionably great book. I found the remake Meh, though it was momentarily amusing to see Frank Langella's dick onscreen.
I hated The English Patient, Top Gun, and Pretty Woman. I appreciated the performances in Match Point. I loved Moulin Rouge and Les Miserables (seriously, what's wrong with you?). I liked Once very much because the principals managed to collaborate and maintain a friendship without (predictably) having an affair. I was so glad the movie didn't go there.
I don't remember liking either Crash or Traffic that much. What I do remember is that Benicio Del Toro won the best supporting actor Oscar for his role in Traffic beating out Joaquin Phoenix's far more complex, memorable, and deserving performance in Gladiator. WTF?
Christ! Now I have "A Spoonful of Sugar" rolling around in my head. Thanks!
Folks - Please don't spoil the ending of "Lincoln." Some of us haven't seen it yet.
AMERICAN HUSTLE A WONDERFUL LIFE, FOREST GUMP, LETHAL WEAPON, UMBFRELLAS OF CHERBOURG
Oh, Ken. How could you hate THE NATURAL? Say it ain't so! Well, anyway, here's my list - WILL PENNY, GIANT, GONE WITH THE WIND, EASY RIDER THE PLAYER.
I didn't mention Hook earlier because I didn't think it was that 'beloved' - but yeah... it may not be the worst movie ever made but its one of the worst movies I ever paid to see.
Stuart Best - good call on the original M*A*S*H. I always loved the TV show and didn't see the movie till many years later and I was amazed by how much I hated it.
Anything that has Russell Crowe in it. He NEVER sells his character.
Sound of music... ZzzZzZ
Surprised to see two of Alexander Payne's movies (The Descendants, Nebraska) in such a short list. I haven't (yet) seen the latter, but I've really appreciated those others that I've seen (Election, Citizen Ruth, Sideways).
I usually have no time for pious biopics or "kitchen sink" films that try to show "real life", warts and all. I already have a real life, I don't need to watch someone else's "real life", I think there needs to be an angle of some sort, like what Scorsese did with Howard Hughes in The Aviator.
I rarely come out totally against a movie, but one that totally turned me off was Bound, by the Wachovski brothers (as they were then). I made it about halfway before I had to leave - it seemed to me a film that had absolutely no reason to exist. I've had much more genuine fun watching Jackass movies.
Election or any other Alexander Payne directed movie except The Descendants for some reason
Napoleon Dynamite
Anchorman
The Hangover
Get Shorty-the only movie I have ever seriously considered walking out during
Lord of the Rings
I was an avid reader of the late Roger Ebert's reviews and, for the most part, agreed with them. Three years ago he absolutely gushed over "The Tree Of Life" so I bought it on-demand. What a waste it turned out to be! Oh well, nobody's perfect.
You're all way too harsh on It's a Wonderful Life, which is bleak, not cheerful -- all about frustration and loserdom that's just BARELY holding together.
Anyway, inexplicably praised movies that suck steak through a straw:
EASY RIDER
MIDNIGHT COWBOY
SEX, LIES, and VIDEOTAPE
BLUE VELVET
Ponderous, formless, shapeless, pointless, all.
It's not a movie, but I hated TRUE DETECTIVE.
Usual Suspects. Husband fell asleep 10 minutes in, and I figured out the gimmick, and got ticked because I felt cheated. Then since all my friends went on about how good it was, I kept watching, since I figured I had to be wrong...and I wasn't... ad then I was really ticked...
How about the opposite:
I loved "The Gods Must be Crazy" so much, I did not want to ruin it by watching the sequel. Everybody else I knew, hated it.
I needed new friends, anyway.
D. McEwan: Ha, I get to educate you for a change. Yes, the Lolita screenplay is credited to Nabokov, and he did write one - but its only close resemblance to the finished movie is the idea of starting with the confrontation between Humbert and Quilty (which occurs at the end of the novel) and then doing the rest as a flashback. Whether he "signed off on the changes" is illuminated in the introduction he wrote for the published version of his screenplay (McGraw-Hill, 1974). After seeing the finished product, he concluded that "Kubrick was a great director, that his Lolita was a first-rate film with magnificent actors, and that only ragged odds and ends of my script had been used."
One trouble with any dramatization of Lolita - including stage versions, such as the Edward Albee adaptation with Donald Sutherland and the earlier musical Lolita My Love - is that the other characters are obliged to refer to Humbert as "Humbert," whereas in the novel Humbert Humbert is a symbolic name the narrator's given to himself after rejecting other alternatives. Despite the occasional few sentences of narration verbatim from the novel (voice-over by James Mason in Kubrick's version), the whole artifice of the novel itself - the unreliable narrator in the hands of a writer of Nabokov's skill - is untranslatable to screen or stage, and the self-creation of Humbert-the-narrator is the whole point of Lolita the novel, it seems to me; that is, the plot serves the narrator rather than the other way around.
Pulp Fiction (I walked out on it)
Pirates of the Caribbean
A Christmas Story (the kid - and the narrator - get on my nerves)
The Terminator
The Sound of Music (I'm a fan of Julie Andrews but the Von Trapp children were insufferable - "They're hiding behind the tombstones!")
I'll pile onto the venom for Lord of the Rings. You could read all of what Tolkien wrote aloud in the time it took to sit through those three movies.
Jurassic Park was obscenely violent for what was marketed as a kids movie. Jaws was great - it had a plot and characters.
Frozen was incredibly popular, but I was incredibly disappointed - any female character in an animated movie has to be a princess, and this one had two
Two movies I finally got around to seeing this year...Hated them both..
Top Gun..my God, why is that movie so popular?
The Graduate..Ponderous without depth. No one to root for. No one to care for..and it felt so out of touch with the rage and REAL uncertainty of the 60's. Complete waste of time EXCEPT the soundtrack.
As Good As It Gets. Terrible. And the dog! Ugh.
ENGLISH PATIENT - Agreed, painfully boring.
Last Batman movie - WB's cash cow
Last Superman movie - WB's cash cow
CRASH - You're crazy! Crash was emotionally deep...
MATCH POINT - Watching wealthy families makes me sick.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN - Fair enough.
NEIGHBORS - Agreed, Seth Rogen is a stoner man-child who got lucky.
LORD OF THE RINGS - Sci-fi sucks. I'm a realist.
LINCOLN - Read the script before it was released, zzzzzzzz...
THE NATURAL - Anything set before the 1960s puts me too sleep.
NEBRASKA - Anything with Will Forte puts me too sleep, his FOX show "Last Man On Earth" will be a great bedtime show for me.
THE DESCENDENTS - Couldn't bring myself to care for the characters.
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING - I hate weddings!
LES MISERABLES - I hate musicals!
YOU’VE GOT MAIL - Agreed, loved Tom Hanks as kid since I saw Forrest Gump, begged my mom to see it because of him, awkward...
MOULIN ROUGE - Musicals infuriate me!
LUCY - Scarlett Johansson is a cash cow.
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE - Misleading title, life is never wonderful!
American Beauty
The Artist
The Hurt Locker
Pulp Fiction. Didn’t do anything for me and I thought what little plot there was stupid.
Years ago there was a short-lived drama series starring Michael Madsen. I don't remember a thing about it except the following exchange:
(Some guy) Have you ever been beaten half to death with bamboo rakes?
(Madsen) Well, I sat through "The English Patient."
Yeah.
Citizen Kane and I Love Lucy both suffer from the same problem: they are full of clichés.
No one gonna make the 'Volunteers' joke? Pfff
Which version of Neighbors does everyone hate? The Belushi/Aykroyd masterpiece?
"gottacook said...
[Nabokov] concluded that 'Kubrick was a great director, that his Lolita was a first-rate film with magnificent actors, and that only ragged odds and ends of my script had been used.'"
It's been 50 years since I read the novel, so beyond its opening paragraph, I don't remember it too well. But Nabokov's words "Lolita was a first-rate film with magnificent actors" sounds like the movie as I see it also. And it sounds like he wasn't exactly upset by it either. I'll have to reread the novel.
"Albert Giesbrecht said...
Which version of Neighbors does everyone hate? The Belushi/Aykroyd masterpiece?"
Well, I suspect folks are referring to the recent Sac Efron movie. As for "The Belushi/Aykroyd masterpiece," I have no idea what movie you are referring to. I recall a really terrible Belushi-Aykroyd movie titled Neighbors from 30 years ago that is practically unwatchable, but the only "Masterpiece" by that title I know of was a 20-minute short made by Buster Keaton in 1921.
I forgot to mention Skyfall, which I detest with a passion. It's a Bond film for people who hate Bond films. Instead of a suave and cool James Bond, we have a self loathing, unshaven drunk. The action scenes lack any bite and intensity. It's all hollow, anodyne, bloodless shootouts. The villain is suicidal with a reasonable grievance against his former boss for betraying him. The young Q is given unfunny lines, including an irritating wink of an in-joke about gadgets from past Bond films.
And the final travesty is the anti-climax of a climax. Instead of the sort of spectacular resolution we've come to expect, we get one copied from Home Alone in which Bond and his Super Spy Buddies set traps all over a house, followed by the suicidal villain begging M to kill him, in turn followed by Bond crying over M's death.
Nice cinematography though.
Ken, I am not going to list them but some on your list I have loathed and other I love. But that is ok with me. One in particular was a critical darling when it came out (I shall let you guess which one) and so I went to see it but it left me cold, I tried to rewatch it when it came out on video but felt the same the second time.
Here is a Friday Question for you. How can more than one new tv show every year be THE NUMBER ONE NEW SHOW OF THE FALL? I used caps as that always seems the way it sounds during a promotion.
There are many movies that Are sumptuous be "good" that I didn't really like or "get". But I can only think of one I hated: Tootsie. Not enjoyable in any way, and, in fact, pretty offensive really.
Movies I don't like:
The Prestige
The Dark Knight Rises
The Social Network (I give it a meh)
Young Adult
From Here to Eternity
The Deer Hunter
Fight Club
Forrest Gump
The Usual Suspects
Sin City
Contact
Easy Rider
Grump sez "The Way We were". Awful movie.
LINCOLN. The opening scene so turned me off. It seemed that scene was inserted by the writer for no purpose other than to tell us it was 1865, and that we shouldn't expect Day-Lewis to recite the Gettysburg Address and forget the Lincoln-Douglas debates.(At least the other Lincoln movies, Young Mr.Lincoln and Abe Lincoln in Illinois were upfront with their titles.) In the end it was just a movie about whether or not the 13th Amendment would be passed.
GANGS OF NEW YORK and CHICAGO also come to mind.
I'm going to add another "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE...??" comment, although I know it's pointless to do so.
This may not be the most popular stance in the world, but generally if something is highly regarded but I don't like it, I will try very hard to find a way to enjoy it, to the point of rewatching it again and again until I like it. It took me about five attempts to enjoy BLADERUNNER over a 10 year period, for example. But I managed it, and now I consider myself a fan (despite its flaws).
Some things I've picked up in my quest to avoid missing out on what everyone else is enjoying:
1. Watch your expectations. NEVER watch anything that you're expecting to be amazing. If you're expecting to watch your next favourite movie, or something that will knock your socks off, WALK AWAY. You are almost guaranteed to leave disappointed. Expectations can kill a brilliant movie that you would have otherwise enjoyed if you'd stumbled across it without any hype.
2. One watch is sometimes not enough. Some movies can be destroyed by your mood. ANCHORMAN is my go to example of a film that, if watched in the wrong mood, will have you wonder what's wrong with the world, but watched in the right mood can leave a big smile on your face.
3. Avoid everything. Don't watch the trailers, don't read the reviews, don't talk to friends about it. If you like the look of something, and it's gotten good reviews (a simple check on Rotten Tomatoes is always good) then just go see it. Don't risk spoiling things for yourself.
If you're like me, and love enjoying movies (note the wording), a great tip is to pick out movies you've never seen/heard of from regarded lists (like the AFI's Best Movies, or the IMDB's Top 250). Watching highly regarded movies you know absolutely nothing about is wonderful. By not having any preconceptions you will be completely open to what is usually an amazing experience.
Thanks to a cinema pass here in London, I once saw 80+ movies at the cinema in 12 months. I adhered to the above rules, only seeing films that were critically well received (a Rotten Tomatoes score is usually a good gauge), and I had LOTS of great experiences.
In short: Just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean you can't... if you really want to. Of course, you might just think life is too short to worry about any of this.
Moonstruck. Critics loved it, audiences loved it, totally didn't get it.
Some fascinating conversation here in the comments...
gottacook: Thanks for sharing your insight about Lolita. That was very interesting to read. I've never read the novel, but I've always had some issues with Kubrick's screen adaptation. Yes, in many ways it's brilliant. The guy was a master, afterall. But it's also incredibly stupid and unrealistic in places. It makes a lot of sense to hear that Nabokov portrays HH as an unreliable narrator, because surely that's the whole point of the story: A man imprisoned by his desires. It makes perfect sense he would be self-deluded, and indeed I understand that Lolita herself is barely present in the book itself, helping illustrate how it's really just the narrator's projection of her.
However, Kubrick literally decided to show Lolita "seducing" HH (Kubrick's word), which made zero sense to me (and turns a hideous crime into a distasteful make fantasy), but it makes perfect sense if it was actually the world as seen by HH.
On lighter note: To those who say they didn't enjoy THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, I'd recommend watching the SHORTER theatrical version (available only on Bluray). It turns a bloated, unfunny movie into a very sweet natured and enjoyable experience.
Johnny Walker, I agree with you on watching your expectations. All of the hype from the media and my friends/co-workers, kept me from going to see Forest Gump. The first time I saw it on cable, I didn't understand the big deal and was glad I hadn't wasted money on it. but over the years I have come to appreciate Hank's performance and laugh out loud at the situations they put him in. The remade video of Johnson cracks me up every time. Growing up during that time and remembering the people does help with the enjoyment, though. My daughter, 30, absolutely hates that movie.
And Mark, I didn't get the love for Moonstruck either.
As far as MASH, the movie goes...I guess you had to read the book or see the movie first. It is VERY faithful to the book and knowing Hawkeye, Trapper, Duke, and Spearchucker Jones from the movie you get the fact that Korea was just a giant cluster f***. I remember being annoyed that they changed the characters so much from the book for TV. And then dropped Duke. I understood why they dropped Spearchucker. Even in the Norman Lear Era of television that might have been too much, lol.
Pam, St. Louis
I've been seeing this chasm of a divide more and more, specifically between TV Sitcom writers and Feature writers, (even comedic feature writers, like myself). Though I started my carer as a Groundling's improv sketch player, I can't sit through sitcoms anymore. Respectfully. That said, MANY of the films you dislike would possibly make my top ten list. On the other hand, (for perspective) I own the Dick Van Dyke Show collection and can watch those shows on a loop for eternity. Go figure.
TRAFFIC
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANTS WOMAN
TREE OF LIFE
Keep the money. I want all those hours of my life back.
Titanic
Nashville - not sure I got it but I couldn't stop watching it.
Taxi Driver
Apocalypse Now - wanted to like it. Tried to like it. Didn't like it.
Gangs of New York
The Shawshank Redemption - Has there ever been a Stephen King movie worth watching? Not for me.
Amadeus
(Have you posted a list of movies that don't hold up over time?)
Thank you to Stephen for reminding me of "Tootsie," another film that everyone seems to love that I hated. The only thing I laughed at in it was Bill Murray, and I heard his lines were ad-libbed. Maybe it soured me up front by having Hoffman tell his agent that he would even stoop to doing radio voice work. "Down and Out In Beverly Hills" was also one I forgot. Praised as the funniest satire of the decade by Siskel and Ebert. I laughed at one throwaway gag, where homeless people sang "We are the bums" to the tune of "We Are the World." Otherwise, boring and pointless, and so desperate for an ending, it had people jumping into the swimming pool in their evening clothes, like a 1920s flapper comedy. "Shampoo" was another boring, useless film hailed by critics as a brilliant satire. I've learned that if critics call a film a "hilarious social satire," that usually means there's not a single laugh in it.
I'd also add "This Is 40," which I recently saw on cable and (aside from Graham Parker) suffered through like a sinus headache, but I don't know anyone who liked that. It was wildly overpraised, but only up to the point where it was released and people actually saw it.
"Lost In Translation" was lauded more for the director's lineage than for anything that appeared on the screen. They did give her the Oscar for Best Screenplay which also baffled me.
I remember being very disappointed with TIN MEN (Dreyfuss & DeVito) when I saw it in the theater. But after seeing it occasionally on cable through the years it began to grow on me. Now, if I stumble onto it I cannot turn it off!
Basil Fomeen says:
"Citizen Kane and I Love Lucy both suffer from the same problem: they are full of clichés."
@Hank, the reason both SEEM to be filled with clichés is because EVERYBODY stole from them so many times over the years.
Loved The Lion King as a Broadway show but never could warm up to the movie. Simba is a simp and the movie never gets to the root of that like the stage show does.
Sat through what seemed like hours of Titanic, watching two people with limited chemistry murmuring to each other as another preened, thinking, "Sink the ship already!"
I know there's no such thing as an objectively great film, but all this hate for IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE almost makes me sad. I'm with flipyrwhig -- it seems to be misunderstood by a great many folks who see it. You can only find it overly maudlin and sentimental if you ignore about half of what happens.
Most of the movies I hate are hated by most everybody, but there are a couple of exceptions. I couldn't stand the multi-Oscar-nominated MISSISSIPPI BURNING or the insanely popular SHREK (though I actually enjoyed the second and tolerated the third, mostly because of Puss in Boots).
Midnight in Paris
The Hangover
Bridesmaids (Melissa McCarthy is pretty much always funny, Maya Rudolph undersused and underrated, Kristin Wiig's appeal (to everyone but me) escapes me--same with Will Ferrell.)
The Chrisitan Bale Batmans, even the one with Heath Ledger, so boring and self-important
4 Weddings and a Funeral
and the only one I haven't seen mentioned: Muriel's Wedding. most depressing alleged comedy I think I've ever seen.
A lot of others on this list I liked, but was baffled by all the hoopla: Slumdog, Lost in Translation, a few others
Glad to see on this list a lot of movies everyone loved but I couldn't be bothered to see:
Forrest Gump-- the commercials made my teeth hurt-- Avatar, Titanic.
I'd be interested in a thread on the flip side: Movies everyone hated but I loved. A couple of friends of mine swear people just didn't get "Death to Smoochy" haven't run the experiment yet myself.
Boy, amen to gottacook, I like R Redford but that happy-sappy Hollywood ending that he did for the Natural is a crime.
Anything with K Hepburn in it is overrated, just as she is.
The Jerk with Steve Martin. A waste of time and money.
What was the name of the one with J Nicholson and H Hunt about fifteen years ago? Successfully blocked it out. Drivel.
Social Network= boring film about jerks.
Add me to the haters of Moonstruck. The night it won Oscars, I was at an Oscar party full of my fellow gay men, all of whom except myself seemed to think the sun shines out of Cher's ass, so after the Oscars ended, they turned off Baba Wawa (Fine with me) and made us watch Moonstruck. I was the only person there hating it, but honestly, that won Oscars?
Yeah, that Citizen Kane dreck is full of cliches. And those cliched plays by Shakespeare; he's always using famous quotes and expressions. Write something original, Shakespeare!
Sorry, I do not understand all the hate for Tootsie. Wonderful movie.
I know it's universally recognized as a comedy classic, but I for one absolutely hate The Graduate. I think Benjamin Braddock is one of the most boring and obnoxious characters in movie history. He's a lazy, arrogant, shallow, disrespectful, uninteresting, self-centered creep who treats everyone around him like crap. The movie's ugly misogyny really gets on my nerves too. The films main lesson appears to be: keep stalking that girl you like (even if she's a dullard with no personality) and she'll eventually fall in love with you. Also, older women turn into monsters when you stop sleeping with them.
I've only seen 2001 mentioned once, so I want to add my vote to that. It's perhaps not hate-worthy, but it's certainly not any kind of masterpiece. Having read the book first I couldn't stand the insanely drawn-out caveman scenes - they are far too long - and the completely unnecessary ambiguity as for what the ending means. The book contains no such nonsense, it's very clear what is happening and why. It's also very clear in the book why HAL is acting the way he is. I just find the movie extremely pretentious.
The Big Chill.
Most insipid movie ever.
All my fellow females seem to think Love Actually is so romantic and touching. I could.not. bear it. Horrible.
All the Parenthood movies, although I only fully sat through the first one. Really talented people embarrassing themselves. I cringed the entire time and didn't laugh once.
I liked the English Patient only because I wanted (want) a piece of Ralph Fiennes.
I also found Fight Club and The Unforgiven unwatchable, although I've been accused of having poor judgment on that score.
Movies I hate that everyone likes:
Spirited Away
Fight Club
The Patriot
Underworld
Lincoln
Life is Beautiful
Amelie
Neighbors
Dark Knight Rises
THE BIG LEBOWSKI... There I said it.
Awesome list
All "Star Wars" movies
All Star Trek movies
All Lord of the Rings movies
All Harry Potter series
All Superman movies after Christopher Reeve
Brave Heart
Titanic
Avatar
Anything by Judd Apatow
Anything by Zach Snyder
All Nicholas Cage movies
Wow, I really hate some movies and actors...
Matrix
The God Father
The pianist
The English Patient
Laurence if Arabia
Monty Pyhton
Zoolander
All Adam Sandler movies except Anger Management
Trainspotting (seriously? What did really happen in the movie that was so great?)
(Here it comes) Annie Hall and all Woody Alan movies
Jaws (wasn't even impressed as a kid)
I could list 75% of IMDB 250 list buy sime movies won't qualify into my "hate list".
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