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Movies you find to be overrated and why?

posted 5 years ago by BurningSun (717)
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Opinions are like buttholes: everyone has one and they all stink. Share some of your overrated films below! Here are some of mine...

RETURN OF THE KING - Ungodly long, has too many silly comedic moments, and the last hour or so is dedicated to wrapping up every single arc, including endings that are just stupid. I still enjoy this film, but it’s actually my least favorite of the full LOTR/Hobbit series.

GREMLINS - Not funny, not scary. One second the film is a G-rated family comedy, the next a borderline R-rated horror film. I dont mind a film being more lighthearted or more horrific, but pick one! It has incredibly stark tonal shifts that come off as confused. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to include a scene where a character explains how her father was killed pretending to be santa, complete with eerie music, a single take, and a slow camera zoom inon her face? Hilarious? Tremors is a film that balanced horror comedy infinitely better, yet Tremors will never get the same recognition or popularity of Gremlins.

TITANIC - Another ungodly long film. The whole idea of turning a tragic historical disaster into a cheesy and cliche fanfic romance is pretty insulting IMO. Billy Zane plays the most cartoony villain ever, in a film that doesnt even need a villain. All that’s missing a curly mustache and a tophat.

HALLOWEEN (1978) - The film has an exilerating first and third act, but it’s that pesky middle act the brings the film to a slog. How many times do we need to see Michael Myers creeping in the shadows? It’s scary the first 3 times, but after time 27 of him just standing there, you start to get a bit bored. Not to mention, the teen characters become very banal in this section of the film, and you wish it would just follow the infinitely more interesting Dr Loomis, but doesnt.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS - Despite excellent animation and design, this film is garbage. It features the most one demensional characters ever brought to the screen, made even worse by the lack of characterization in the script. Characters just feel and do certain things without any basic indication that they were feeling that way. Like when did Jack fall in love with Sally? Who knows! Suddenly he’s marrying her. The duckman should be the villain, but he’s suddenly cast out and replaced with the Boogeyman in the last 5 minutes of the movie, the the most pointless villain of all time. Not even the songs are that good, save maybe two. Most songs are just filler that stall the plot and add to the laughably short runtime. Pretty much everyone who I’ve told this opinion to has wanted to lynch me, and my post on TNBC board has been seen by everyone as a “sad attempt at trolling”. Sorry, you’re allowed to like it, but I think this movie sucks.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - Good movie, but certainly not the best Star Wars. Other than its ending I find it to be fairly underwhelming. Give me Ep 4 and 6 any day.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON - Not bad, but pretty cliche and paint-by-numbers, especially in its characters. How many times have we seen the dorky main character who’s an outcast and embarrassment because he wants to follow his dreams? How many times have we seen the hot love interest who slowly sees something deeper in the dorky protagonist? How many times have we seen the stoic dad who refuses to listen to his embarrassment child, only to learn the error of their ways in the third act? The film also follows a very basic plot structure that makes it all too predictable. It even has the “liar revealed / big misunderstanding” cliche in the 2nd act! How many times have we seen that??? One single 3D flying scene doesnt make this one of the best animated films in history.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD - DDL’s acting is far too over the top and ridiculous for a character who’s supposedly restrained. Anderson’s direction is the most obnoxious and in your face it’s ever been, and the film is just boring imo.

Sorry for triggering. What’re some of yours?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Inception.

The Hangover.

HEAT. Was one of my faves films for a long time but on about the 20th watch I really started to notice the flaws. Too long. Unnecessary and unrealistic love story that seemed bolted on. Some overacting. It's a four star film to me now instead of five.

The Conjuring.

[–] TheLovelyAnomaly (619) 5 years ago

Not triggered at all, although I respectfully have to disagree with you on "Empire" and "There Will Be Blood." :)

Some of my most overrated films, off the top of my head, are:

"Inception" directed by Christopher Nolan. I didn't dislike it, but it felt lacking to me.
"Slumdog Millionaire" directed by Danny Boyle. Basically the message I took from this film was: Have a terrible life and maybe, if you're really lucky, you just might get on a game show and become a millionaire!
"Crash" directed by Paul Haggis. It's just way too heavy-handed and preachy. I felt like the director was wagging his finger at me, screaming, "Racism is bad!"

[–] BurningSun (717) 5 years ago

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN - I just read a film magazine list that called this the 25th best film of the century, up there with some modern classics. Is this film really that good? I don’t care for it at all. I’m sick of the long winded bro humor spurts of people bragging about their sex lives or spouting foul language. Someone being called a “chodesmoker” or a “cockgoblin” isn’t a joke, even if it’s being shouted by an asian/middle eastern man. There are funny moments in this movie, but theyre overshadowed by typical frat house bro douche jokes where people just sit around and talk about nasty sex stories, mostly purpetuated by Rogen, Lynch, the token indian guy, and the token black guy. “This one time she farted on my dick!” Wow, hilarious...if you’re 9.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Wow. It's not bad but I doubt it was the 25th best film that year, never mind the century.

[–] chilone (17400) 5 years ago

Slacker - Absolutely pointless, boring, non-story

Bubba Ho-Tep - Just plain lame. I can't fathom what anyone sees in this.

Santa Sangre - Another "classic" for the art for art's sake crowd.

The Holy Mountain - Ooooo! Symbolism (of what?).

The Terminal and Castaway - Two ridiculously long nothing burgers.

Paris, Texas - I love Harry Dean Stanton but what a go nowhere, snooze fest.

Step Brothers - Completely obnoxious.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 5 years ago

A lot of movies that are of their time are the ones that are overrated imo, like Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, The Godfather, The Breakfast Club, etc. You really had to be there to get their popularity, but I mean, you should also be able to objectively state what makes them amazing today - if not, then overrated. I really want to add Pretty Woman to the list. Very overrated.

I agree with almost everything stated here, both in the OP and below it, except for Gremlins and Titanic. Gremlins doesn't have a big enough following to be overrated. Titanic gets hilarious with age; sometimes I find myself rooting for Billy Zane's character because it's so funny how serious the movie takes itself.

[–] Sandoz (2021) 5 years ago

AVATAR. Yeah it's nice to look at (and was cool seeing in 3d), but the story is simplistic and geared to the lowest common denominators. Which is probably why it was such a massive hit.