Sure, not every movie is for everyone. But even if a film gets panned by critics, you can usually trust the opinions of friends and the general public who are all rallying behind a new movie. It’s not often that everyone is wrong about a movie, right? Well… maybe not. If you look at any list of “Movies You Should See Before You Die” or “Everyone’s Favorite Movies,” you’re bound to find some incredible options: Psycho, The Godfather, Beauty and the Beast, The Shawshank Redemption, Die Hard. You get the picture (pun intended).
But sometimes you show up at a theater to see a film that everyone is raving about, and twenty minutes into it you begin to look around the room, confused, searching for someone else who is equally as un-entertained as you are. You long to make eye contact with another person with whom you can shrug, and perhaps make a gagging motion with. “I don’t get it. This was supposed to be good,” you say to yourself. And then you either completely give up and walk out of the theater, or play mind tricks with yourself to keep from falling asleep before it ends.
The following are movies that are completely overrated. They might be ok, but they were HUGE when they came out. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
7. Inception
I’m going to get a lot of flak for this one because for some, Christopher Nolan can do no wrong. But COME ON, PEOPLE! There were so many loopholes you could knit a sweater. At first glance, Inception might seem like a really cool movie about dreams, but if you really look at it, it makes NO sense.
6. Crash
This was a very neatly packaged movie about racism. It touched on the surface but failed to delve into anything meaningful. The only thing good about this movie was Michael Pena’s reaction when he thought his daughter was shot. For this one moment, I applaud Pena. The rest is just shallow.
5. La La Land
It was a generalized “if you work hard enough you’ll get all your dreams in Hollywood” movie, which does not happen. No one does a one-person show that four people see and becomes a giant star. However, that’s just a plot point. If you’re going to do a musical, cast singers and dancers. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling did a good job, but they plodded their way through the songs and dances. For reference, see Singin’ in the Rain.
4. Titanic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCy5WQ9S4c0
The Titanic probably sank in less time than it took to sit through this entire movie (3 hours and 15 minutes). There was nothing original about the formula: a boy meets girl story done with really cool effects. If you strip it down though, there’s not much left. And that song—catchy, but so saccharine. And for the love of God, why couldn’t Rose make room for Jack on her little piece of wood? Really now.
3. Unforgiven
How did this get so much press? It was nowhere near as good as the spaghetti Westerns Clint Eastwood was in when he was younger. This was not the second coming of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Sorry, not sorry.
2. Twilight
It’s hard enough to watch moody teens in real life, much less having to watch them on the screen. There are more emotions, in reality, than “sullen.” Plus, vampires and werewolves don’t make a story interesting if the people playing them can’t act their way out of a paper bag filled with garlic.
1. The English Patient
While beautiful, someone please put me out my misery while watching this unbelievably long and drawn-out movie. I believe Elaine from Seinfeld said it best: “Quit telling your story about the stupid desert and just die already. Just DIE!”
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