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Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
Premiere recently published its list of the 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time and the list is sure to tick some folks off. In fact, most of the flicks on the list are more frequently found on ”Greatest Movies” lists. Here are a few listed:
American Beauty
Clerks
Fantasia
Chariots of Fire
Good Will Hunting
Forrest Gump
A Beautiful Mind
Mystic River
Moonstruck
Easy Rider
Gone with the Wind
Agree? Disagree? What movies would you put on the most overrated list?
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Comments (21)
Comment
In The Magazine
I agree with Fantasia, Chariots of Fire and Gone with the Wind.
I disagree with Clerks and Forrest Gump.
The only one I would add is Jerry Maguire.
posted by Dan H. on 11-27-2006 at 12:09 pm
To me, some of the most over-rated films are:
“Citizen Kane” – too much over-acting and the shadowing gets on my nreves.
“2001 – A Space Odyssey” – Just plain boring.
And pretty much ANY Kubrick film.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 11-27-2006 at 12:27 pm
I’m with Dan on Jerry Maguire. Entertaining, and Cuba was great, but come on…..
I completely disagree with Clerks, and I might have to poke someone who does agree… (Then again, as a teen in the mid to late nineties, I was and still am in love with anything that Kevin Smith has done. Even Jersey Girl.)
I also don’t think Good Will Hunting is overrated. The Matt and Ben hype around it aside, it’s full of solid performances and the struggle to evaluate where you are in the world and what truly determines success in life and love. Boo, Premiere. BOO!
posted by Lyssa on 11-27-2006 at 2:02 pm
Titanic?
posted by Kate on 11-27-2006 at 2:14 pm
Considering Titanic’s insane box office sales, it’d be hard to say it’s not overrated, unless you truly think it’s the greatest movie ever. So I’m with you, Kate. And I also agree with Sheldon’s addition of Citizen Cane. I understand that it was a revolutionary movie but I thought it was pretty absurd when AFI put out it’s list of greatest movies and they somehow got a handful of huge actors to claim that Citizen Cane was their favorite movie ever. I’m not saying that either movie was bad, but I agree that they’re overrated.
posted by Will on 11-27-2006 at 2:21 pm
Terms of Endearment
The Searchers
The Third Man
The English Patient
and, yes, even after it lost the Oscar…
Brokeback Mountain
posted by DW on 11-27-2006 at 2:33 pm
Napolean Dynamite!!! yes it has some very funny moments, but come on! It’s not THAT funny!
posted by Humaira on 11-27-2006 at 2:37 pm
The Matrix and its neverending sequels. It seemed like an adaptation of Brave New World or 1984 with a ridiculous love story thrown in to attract the teenage girls who wanted to see Keanu in a romantic role.
posted by Becky on 11-27-2006 at 2:38 pm
The Shining.
I think I’m the only person I know who did not like this movie. Jack is great (Jack is always great), but I made the mistake of insisting that I would not see the movie until I had read the book. Result? Total disappointment with the film.
I heard there was a made-for-TV version of it made sometime in the past few years. I wonder if that one was any better? I doubt it.
posted by Bill T. on 11-27-2006 at 2:53 pm
I thought “Crash” stunk, long before it won the Academy Award for Best Picture (at which point lots of people started saying it stunk, because that’s what people do).
posted by Karen on 11-27-2006 at 3:04 pm
I have to agree with Bill T. I read The Shining in HS in 3 days, thoroughly engrossed in the story. The disappointment I felt after seeing the movie was crushing. I felt betrayed.
posted by KJ on 11-27-2006 at 4:10 pm
I agree that American Beauty was overrated. It was OK, but I never figured out what the big deal was. I was also disappointed when i finally saw Fantasia. I thought Chariots of Fire and Good Will Hunting were both good movies and not overhyped. I thought that A Beautiful Mind was real good, the best of the bunch in the list. I never made it through Easy Rider, although I’ve tried several times. I guess I have a hard time watching drug use.
The movie I’ll add to the list is Million Dollar Baby.
(Spoiler alert)
While the acting is good, it is about killing the handicapped, and it being a good thing. I’m sure pretty much everyone is depressed when the become paralyzed, but to suggest that putting them out of their misery is the answer is the wrong message. This movie is not just bad, it is evil.
posted by Beirne on 11-27-2006 at 4:52 pm
How about “Diner,” the Paul Reiser/Kevin Bacon movie from the early 80s? This may be an instance where the film was overhyped just to me, and the insane expectations could never be met.
But I no longer take calls from the guy who insisted I see it.
posted by Jason on 11-27-2006 at 5:37 pm
LEGENDS OF THE FALL. I saw it in Toronto but I can’t remember now whether it was the Toronto premiere or a pre-release screening. Given the praise it received, and still recieves from the students I teach, I often wonder if it was re-cut after pre-screenings. I was so thoroughly disappointed that I’ve never tried to watch it again to see if it was, in fact, cut into a good movie.
posted by Worrals on 11-27-2006 at 8:17 pm
1. o brother where art thou
2. sixth sense( oh he’s dead) ..so
3. magnolia.zzzzzzzzzzzz
4. the mummy ( if you want to watch indian a jones, watch indiana jones, this was boring)
5. the departed…lets just shoot everyone in the head….
6. halloween.. was i supposed to be scared?
posted by th1 on 11-27-2006 at 9:33 pm
one word, whispered:
>
posted by creesto on 11-27-2006 at 9:44 pm
“American Beauty” is one of my favorite films ever, so boo to that one.
I agree with “Napoleon Dynamite” being overrated. Approximately one joke in that film could even be called a joke (”your mom goes to college”), and it wasn’t even a funny one, at that. The rest of the film is simply a guy acting weird. Exactly what is so funny about that?
And also, Beirne, “Million Dollar Baby” was about a special circumstance. It doesn’t support doing it in every event, only in the event that the disabled person wants to die.
As for my own overrated film, “Match Point.” It wasn’t Woody Allen’s best in years; it was a rehash of “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Why everybody salivated over it is beyond me.
posted by Sillstaw on 11-27-2006 at 10:32 pm
Dances With Wolves!!!
(Or anything with that no-talent assclown Costner in it, for that matter…)
posted by Greg on 11-28-2006 at 10:24 am
I have to agree with the comments already made. Citizen Kane, Titanic, Most of the movies that have won oscars in the past 10+ years, and Nearly any movie made from a good book (The Shining etc)
posted by Sara on 11-28-2006 at 10:36 pm
The few you listed, I agree with whole-heartedly. Those movies are absolute crap. I’d go read the entire list but would prolly just end up agreeing more – I’d keep nodding and then my head would fall off.
Everyone, keep in mind the movies that are so hyper-rated are done so cause they’re meant to appeal to such a broad demographic and need to be touted as such to set in motion the snake-eating-its-tail process of movie-goers patting themselves on the back for watching quality films. And the broad demographic tend to be uneducated mouthbreathers who wouldn’t know anything good unless I personally put a gun to their face. I’d be all, “If you don’t think Coming To America is the best comedy ever, you’re gonna get pistol whipped!”
posted by Amanda on 11-28-2006 at 11:46 pm
Definitly agree on Clerks. One of the shittiest movies ever. OVerrated garbage thats love more for being a cult classic than a good movie.
posted by Ben Wade on 5-11-2009 at 4:46 pm