MovieChat Forums > The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) Discussion > Why the low ranking ...

Why the low ranking ...

posted 15 years ago by johnps20
20 replies | jump to latest

I'm sure there have been similar topics on this board, I just couldn't be bothered to go looking for them. I'm befuddled that this movie is rated with a mere 6.2 when some of the absolute trash in the comedy genre being relentlessly spawned from Hollywood these days is being rated higher than that. This movie is literally one of the absolutely funniest comedies I have ever seen, and I've seen a fair share of movies. The plot is extremely amusing, not to mention clever; the acting is seamless (aside from "What About Bob" definitely my favorite Bill Murray film) and the combination of the two is overwhelmingly funny.

Anyone who does not get a kick out of this movie has a terrible sense of humor ... The absolutely only two things that slightly bothered me about the movie were the elderly anniversary couple and the somewhat unnecessary nature of their anniversary as well as the ending of the movie which was a little overboard in my opinion. But these mild criticisms pale in comparison to the brilliance of the movie as a comedy. Absolutely underrated ...

[–] jtf1986 14 years ago

6,2 is higher than the critics rated it. It is rated 40% with a 5.4 average on RottenTomatoes.

[–] franzkabuki 14 years ago

6,2 is pretty fair - it´s a small movie and while constantly somewhat amusing, the really funny moments are few and far between. It IS grossly underrated in the context of Murray´s filmography though as it is better and funnier than either the dull, inappropriately juvenile Where Buffalo Roams, the crude & boorish Caddyshack as well as the insanely, inexplicably overpraised sentimentalist morality play Groundhog´s Day. The failure of these films is not necessarily Murray´s fault though and here he finds the right approach by underplaying his character and having him sorta drift through the movie without resorting to Clouseau-styled mania.

There ARE worse ways to spend 90 minutes than watching The Man Who Knew Too Little. Don´t amount to much, but mostly fun while it lasts. 6,5/10.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] johnps20 14 years ago

Well to reply to you jtfl: The critics on RottenTomatoes are far too pretentious when it comes to the action or comedy genre for my taste which is also the reason I stopped visiting the site a while back - imdb has far more accurate ratings than RottenTomatoes in my opinion.

As for a response to you franz: I still adhere to my statement that the movie is considerably more than "constantly somewhat amusing" :P. It's one of the few movies that has consistently good humor throughout with only very few lapses. Anyone who rates this below a 7 or 8 has a dubious sense of humor as far as I'm concerned and I'm very critical when it comes to comedies and refuse to watch most of the rubbish being produced in the genre these days; this is definitely one of the best comedies I know.

[–] WermhatsWormHat 10 years ago

The rating was 6.2 now it's higher. I loved this movie when it came out but never thought to vote until they just put it on hbo and I finally watched it again after many years. It holds up. Great movie. I can't say anything bad about it so I give it a 10. I give every movie I like completely a 10 but some people don't think comedies deserve it and only give 10's to movies about runaway slaves with mild retardation falling deeply in love in a 3 hour epic story of the triumph of the human spirit with a soundtrack by Enya. I'll take this movie over most oscar nominees for best picture.

[–] shatteredx 10 years ago

yeah it's a shame how low this one is rated. I give it a 9/10. I show this flick to any and everyone who hasn't seen it before. a gem of a comedy.

[–] UndiesStyle 9 years ago

For some reason, I think people rate it low because it's not raunchy and doesn't have crude humor. For some reason, if a comedy doesn't have that type of humor, it is seen as a kids movie and therefore seen as bad by adults.

Forget Super Bad, this movie is so much funnier.

[–] Lokisgodhi 9 years ago

The obvious reason. Films where the lead plays a person who is totally unaware of the reality around themselves can be annoying to some people. Like fingernails on a chalkboard.