Most Overrated Films of All Time?

[Rushmore]

In an effort to avoid having to change the name of this forum to "Terrorism Today," or "Zionism--Right or Wrong?," I thought something a little more innocuous might be in order. So let's try this:

I was being utterly and absolutely lazy this past Saturday. I had the remote control in my hand, and happened across an Academy Award-Winning Masterpiece on AMC or TCM or wherever. This film is called Marty.

I recalled that John Turturro's character in Quiz Show makes mention of the brilliance of this celluloid gem.

So I says to myself "Self, let us endeavor to investigate the source of these accolades."

I would have preferred to scrape the enamel off of my teeth with freezing cold razor blades.

So, I ask: What other purportedly "great" films are actually from the Emperor's New Clothes School of Cinematic Gorgeousness and Grandeurosity?

You know what I mean.

I put in additional votes for Driving Miss Daisy, Out of Africa, and Life Is Beautiful.

[Ray Zee]

it seems you may be biased against movies that arent action oriented.
but marty was a great movie but mostly for the performance of ernst bourgnine. which i think he got his only award for.

[andyfox]

Gone With The Wind and Titannic

[nicky g]

Blue Velvet

[Chris Alger]

Gone With The Wind has to win the prize. Titanic's a good choice, but audiences are more sophisticated now. I remember my wife's reaction when we saw it, that it wasn't as awful as we expected, at least until she throws the diamond into the ocean.

My runner-up is Dr. Zhivago. And of course Star Wars and ET.

[Rushmore]

No, Ray. I love films of all genres.

To wit: The Philadelphia Story, Sling Blade, Dr. Strangelove, Gone With The Wind, It's a Wonderful Life, Eraserhead, Citizen Kane, The Shining, The Fountainhead, The English Patient, The Wizard of Oz, Il Postino, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The Sheltering Sky, The Man Who Would Be King, The Remains of The Day, Jean de Fleurette, The Belly of An Architect, Koyannisquatsi, Salo, My Dinner With Andre, Dr. Zhivago, and, of course, How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

OK, there might be some action in some of these films, but they sure aren't "action films."

[Rushmore]

[Rushmore]

Gone With The Wind, although overly-hyped, is still a great film. It is a definitive epic film.

Titanic is quite possibly one of the worst films ever made. Pure rubbish.

But hey--it "taught me how to love again," so I guess it was great.

[elwoodblues]

Over-rated Award winners: I cast my vote for Gladiator. Entertaining - sure; best movie of 2000 - no way.

Over-rate audience favorite: There's Something About Mary. I swear I only laughed twice during this movie and once was because I felt like I was supposed to, not because of anything genuinely funny.

~elwood

[nicky g]

Lol. I'm not. It's crap. Wild at Heart is way way worse, but I'm not sure if it qualifies as "rated."

Star Wars is a good choice. Another incredibly overrated film is The Big Lebowski. Haven't we discussed this before, though?

That's not to say the directors are overrated. Mulholland Drive is good. The Hudsucker Proxy, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink and Fargo are all brilliant (though The Man Who Wasn't There was awful). And... well, I've probably not seen all of Gerogee Lucas's films.

[Rushmore]

OK. I'm calm now.

Blue Velvet is an excellent, beautiful film. I cannot be convinced otherwise, so do not bother trying.

Wild at Heart is a comedy of sorts, and has some very good bits, but all in all, a disappointment.

Lost Highway, which you somehow forgot to mention (along with Eraserhead and Dune--but that's a whole other story), is a truly creepy and disturbing piece of work which I quite enjoyed.

Mulholland Drive was, in my humble opinion, a big piece of crap. I thought Lynch was reading his own reviews and got a little carried away. I wasn't interested in anything about anyone in this movie.

Except maybe the lesbians, but, again, that's another story.

The Big Liebowski was awful. Never understood the clamoring to praise it. Barton Fink and Fargo were, indeed, brilliant, but you can't tell me that The Hudsucker Proxy and Miller's Crossing are "great."

I must admit to being one of the only Cohen Bros. fans who didn't fall all over myself loving the hell out of Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou.

But Blood Simple was pretty damned good.

[XlgJoe]

'On Golden Pond' should be on this list.

Actually I don't remember how high the movie was rated, but that Henry Fonda finally got his Acadamy award for the movie.

[Vehn]

This thread really begins and ends with Titanic but also:

Anything by Michael Moore. Duh. Actually mildly entertaining but still way over rated. Same with Christopher Guest (best in show et al).

Anything by M. Night particularly the 6th sense.

The Usual Suspects/Memento - in the top twenty films of all time on IMDB. Hardly. The Godfather - best movie of all time? Cmon.

But by far the most overrated in my mind is the LOTR stuff. Did everyone else on the planet watch a different movie, because I swear I was watching Willow 2.

How about overrated actors? One that immediately comes to mind is Anthony Hopkins. I caught that Chris Rock spy movie the other week and was appalled by him sleepwalking through. Thought he sucked in Red Dragon too.

[Utah]

I'd vote for Saving Private Ryan, which is one of the most overrated films of all times - although the grandiose nature of this film is a very different, it certainly fits the "Emperor's New Clothes School" bill.

The story was lame and there was no real message to the movie, other than war is violent.

Spielberg got so much credit for this movie and all he really did was ratchet up the violence.

Band of Brothers kicked butt over this piece of trash.

Does Forest Gump fit the type of movies we are discussing? If so, that would also be on my list?

[J.R.]

[ QUOTE ]
The Big Liebowski was awful. Never understood the clamoring to praise it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of those leveling praise for this film are on a 'higher" plane.

[nicky g]

"OK. I'm calm now.

Blue Velvet is an excellent, beautiful film. I cannot be convinced otherwise, so do not bother trying."

Just to state my opinion: it's deliberately whacky arthouse nonsense. There's no logic or sense to it - it just tries to be as "out there" as possible. There's no reason to have Dennis Hopper in that ridiculpus mask, or the absurd musical sequence with what's his face from Quantum Leap. It's garbage. I am open to persuasion, however, so if you want to try to convince me go ahead. Noone in the class I took on Lynch managed to say anything remotely intelligent in its defence; they just shouted "it's really good" and "you just don't get it" and muttered something about "Lynch's universe", while the teacher said "That's right".

"Wild at Heart is a comedy of sorts, and has some very good bits, but all in all, a disappointment."

It's awful. I would have walked out when they start doing that kick-dancing in the desert, but I had to watch it for a class. It isn't remotely funny.

"Lost Highway, which you somehow forgot to mention (along with Eraserhead and Dune--but that's a whole other story), is a truly creepy and disturbing piece of work which I quite enjoyed."

I wasn't trying to review every work by each film-maker - just a few examples. Lost Highway is pretty good. Haven't seen the others.

"The Big Lebowski was awful. Never understood the clamoring to praise it. "

Hurrah. I'm not alone.

"you can't tell me that The Hudsucker Proxy and Miller's Crossing are "great.""

They're very good. Not great as in "best films of all time", but very enjoyable, intelligent films. Though it's years since I saw HP. Better than Blue arseing Velvet /images/graemlins/blush.gif

"must admit to being one of the only Coen Bros. fans who didn't fall all over myself loving the hell out of Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou.

But Blood Simple was pretty damned good."

Not seen either of them.

[Rushmore]

Same with Christopher Guest

I guess you haven't seen This is Spinal Tap, truly one of the funniest films of all time.

Anything by M. Night

Agreed about The Sixth Sense, but I thought Signs was actually really good.

The Usual Suspects was very entertaining. That's about it.

How about overrated actors?

I don't want to give myself carpal/tunnel.

[Rushmore]

I'll give it a shot:

Blue Velvet is about generally-unseen horror, alienation, and perversion, particularly as it is juxtaposed against Jeffrey Beaumont's mundane and caricaturishly naive world-view. Lynch's use of artistic license as regards Frank Booth's pathological and, again, caricaturishly evil nature is just that: artistic license.

All of this becomes even more permissible if you view it in the context of the overriding theme of the film: a dream.

Yes, art/film-school types will climb on board bandwagons and make statements they cannot begin to defend. I have never taken a class in film or art in my life, but I can certainly evoke a vision of that Fleeber guy from The Freshman. ("Guns and provolone," indeed!)

Anyway, I loved it. I thought it was, as intended, a fantastically alienating film.

[Baltimore Ron]

[ QUOTE ]
Gone With The Wind

[/ QUOTE ]

Andy,

In the interest of Equal Time, I'll nominate "Dr. Stangelove. Or how I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." /images/graemlins/grin.gif

BR

[andyfox]

No argument from me. GWTW and Titannic were super-hits in terms of box office and at the Oscars, that's why I felt the distance between the hype and the actualitiy was greatest for those two.

As far as I'm concerned, all of Kubrick's movies stink. I loved 2001 when I first saw it, but I saw it recently and I realize it's not quite as good when you're not on speed.

[andyfox]

I watched about 45 minutes of Mary and didn't laugh once. I thought it's probably an age thing (I'm 50).

[Ray Zee]

well okay rushy. but with movies alot has to do with the time frame. people that watch them years later after being subjected to the newer movies of the period see things differently sometimes. once a time frame passes for a movie then it needs to no longer be judged as its value changes to something else i am not sure of.
except for westerns most big hits have more action than in the past.
take citizen kane for instance. if you dint know the past history and why and what it really was about back then, it would be hard to think it was a good movie. but i guess that can be said for alot of shows.

[andyfox]

Lost Highway lost me. Simply incomprehensible and virtually unsatchable.

I liked Blue Velvet, if only for Dennis Hopper. My favorite Lynch film is The Elephant Man. Too bad he hasn't stuck with Mel Brooks.

[baggins]

maybe you've never read the book(s). maybe you haven't seen the last movie. maybe you don't have a high literary aptitude. maybe you don't like fantasy movies.

also - Willow was a great movie, but ripped off Tolkien!

[DanS]

I can understand if one was to not find Christopher Guest movies funny, I guess. But how can you not be amused by satire that brilliant, i.e. Best in Show and This is Spinal Tap.

And how could you not like The Big Lebowski, under the influence of anything or otherwise:

"Walter, they pissed on the Dude's rug."

"This isn't about the fuckin' Chinaman! Oh, and Dude, that's not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American."

Dan

[elwoodblues]

I don't know about that...I'm 28 and, like I said, only laughed twice.

[elwoodblues]

Russell Crowe...god awful.

[Vehn]

I like Christopher Guest movies. They're not bad. Just overrated by critics. I can't imagine anyone disliking the Big Lebowski though. Wasn't a big fan of Fargo mostly because I'm from there (Minneapolis) and the stereotypes were ridiculous. Imagine if the film was called "Harlem" - enough said.

[Vehn]

WTF? Reading your post immediately made me think of this:

http://www.connect-dots.com/Poofs/chewbacca.jpg

Take a second to think of a cohesive argument before posting.

[Rushmore]

Hey! This thread is about ART, man! No need to try to stir things up with your vitriolic provocations! Save that for the--

--oh, yeah. The "Other Topics" forum.

Hehe. Never mind.

[dsm]

The 1955 Borgnine version of 'Marty' is a piece of Sh_t, no question about it.

It's too bad you didn't see the original version with Rod Steiger and Nancy Marchand first, which aired on NBC's Philco Television Playhouse in 1953. If you live in the Los Angeles area you could probably rent it at Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee, but it's probably too late for you. By that I mean, once a movie/story has been ruined for you by watching an inferior production the first time around, you may be hard pressed to enjoy ANY version. That's a shame.

It was the same thing with "Requiem for a Heavyweight." The Playhouse 90 television version (Live) was absolute perfection staring Jack Palance, Ed and Keenan Wynn. Then six years later in 1962 they decide to turn it into a movie and re-cast it with Anthony Quinn...geez.

[oneeye13]

forrest gump

[Rushmore]

You're too damned old.

I have similar conversations with upstart kids about music:

"You think THAT version of "Inflammable Material" is good?! Bollocks! You should have heard Stiff Little Fingers do it on their tour right after the album came out, etc. etc..."

But I know what you mean.

[Baltimore Ron]

[ QUOTE ]
I loved 2001 when I first saw it, but I saw it recently and I realize it's not quite as good when you're not on speed.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's funny. It's exactly how I feel about Mel Brooks' High Anxiety. Though I do confess to liking most other MB fare.

BR

[dsm]

"You're too damned old."

Holy sh_t, if I'm too old at the age of 36, then Sklansky and that Zee fellow must be considered friggin' ancient!

[Whitey]

[Aceshigh7]

A Beautiful Mind

Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

Platoon

[nicky g]

I was 20 or 21 I think when I saw it and hated it. I only laughed once, when Matt Dillon was trying to woo Cameron Diaz and explained that he loved working with kids with learning difficulties because "those goofy bastarrds just crack me up." That's kind of funny. All the other jokes had been so heavily trailed before (sperm in hair etc) that I can't say whether they were funny or not cos I'd already seen them a dozen times. Kingpin IS funny, though.

[Rushmore]

Fair enough.

But please don't trouble us with your Mary Pickford film festival remembrances.

[elwoodblues]

As a fellow twin-citian I would respectfully disagree about Fargo. Maybe it's because I am a transplant, but when I originally came up here from Chicago for college I remember how thick I thought the accents were and how strange some of the local verbage was (I still can't appropriately use Uff-dah in a sentence).

I think the Minnesota caricature is part of the charm of Fargo...watching it I couldn't help but be struck by how the film shows us images that your gut tells you shouldn't go together --- a pregnant female police officer investigating a bloody crime scene --- the image of a single asian man with a minnesota accent hitting on a pregnant police officer --- people who "sound" so nice and getting mixed up with people whose preferred weapon is a wood chipper. That's why I like Fargo.

~elwood

[Six_of_One]

I'm responding only because no one has stepped in to defend this movie yet...

I think I was 23 or so when I saw it, and I have never laughed harder in a movie theater. Comedies depend so much on one's sense of humor, making the enjoyment of them a very subjective thing. I have friends, otherwise very intelligent people, who can watch Monty Python and just stare at the screen. I'll never understand that, but hey, to each his own.

[andyfox]

I loved Fargo.

While the filmmakers do have fun with the accents and the small-town concerns of most of the people, in the end, they celebrate the virtues of the good people. The heroine and her husband were the only happy people in the movie, because they appreciated the good things in their lives and dealt with the bad things.

The hardest I ever laughed in a theater was when Buscemi says, "You should see the other guy."

[TAFKAn]

Top five

#1. Citizen Kane
#2. Tie: Wall Street/Platoon
#3. Dogma
#4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
#5. Good Will Hunting

[Rick Nebiolo]

Andy,

Regarding "Mary", given I'm 49, it probably is an age thing. Unfortunately, I didn't have the good sense to limit myself to the first 45 minutes.

~ Rick

PS How can 2+2 have a movie thread without John Cole? Has he been barred?

[John Cole]

Rick,

No, I haven't been barred, but I feel I should be spending time in bars.

I'd say any movie nominated for an Oscar is overrated, but that might be going a bit too far.

For two good recent comedies, I'd recommend Rushmore and Election.

[John Cole]

Hey Rick,

I'm still 49, and I'm not crying about my lot, quite yet. At least until Monday.

John

[nicky g]

I saw About Schmidt the other day. Not sure if it qualifies as overrated, but everyone told me it was very good, and I found it depressing and dull. Coincidentally though, yesterday I signed up for a "sponsor-a-child" programme similar to the one he does in the film, so perhaps I can write to an Ndugu of my own telling him how much I hate my job and that my wife won't let me move to Vegas or Beirut so I have to sit in miserable London all year round. Maybe I'm just too grumpy myself to be amused by a grumpy old man.

[nicky g]

"I'm still 49, and I'm not crying about my lot"

heh, very good

[ripdog]

Speed, and almost anything else featuring Keanu. Blue Velvet was excrutiatingly bad. I found House of Games impossible to take seriously. Also, when I have to listen to George Lucas talk about his films, I want to choke the life out of him. What a pompous ass he is. I thought The Big Lebowski was very funny. Best in Show and Rat Race were on the same plane--entertaining, but not great.

[Oski]

Of recent vintage, I would put a vote in for Training Day. The movie was very silly. The acting was good, but was wasted because the story falls apart and morphs into a cartoon.

[John Cole]

Rushmore,

You're off to a good start--although I think a few on your list are fluff. (As an aside, I'm not sure anyone can "love" Salo.) Now, go immerse yourself in everything you can find by Preston Sturges (although John Sturges's Bad Day at Black Rock is a great film) and Ernst Lubitsch.

John

[Gus Contos]

Here are the top ten Most Overrated Films of All Time:

1. Titanic
2. Titanic
3. Titanic
4. Titanic
5. Titanic
6. Titanic
7. Titanic
8. Titanic
9. Titanic
10. Titanic

GC

[dogsballs]

You need to have Manon des Sources in there, if you have Jean de Florette. It's the second half of the film which JdF is the first half of.

[Rick Nebiolo]

John Cole take notice! I'm feeling blue after watching the Sox get beat so now you learn my secret.

I thought "Titanic" was a great movie (but not a great "film") and I saw it twice. It even made me cry (a little).

IMO the story was compelling and they did a great job intertwining the fictional romance with the real history. The special effects were breathtaking. And it oouldn't have been done if France.

~ Rick

[Cyrus]

There's an easy way to distinguish between over-rated movies and, well, good or interesting movies. Most over-rated movies are popular blockbusters where you have your typical happy ending, albeit today it comes with a bit of a twist, since we are soooo modern. Now any time you have a happy ending, your stomach is happy! Relaxed, contented and all is well in the world. This is a prime indicator of a movie overrated, if not outright bad.

On the other hand, there are movies that leave you without much to fall back on, no instant "redeeming qualities", no happy endings, nothing to flatter your world perspectives. The ol' stomach feels threatened, hollow, empty and sometimes a little kicked in! This is a prime indicator that the movie was, at the very least, interesting!

Trust your stomach.

[Rushmore]

Manon of The Spring is, indeed, worthy of note.

I was, however, only endeavoring to exhibit to Mr. Zee a diversity of taste not solely action-based.

In fact, I don't much care for action films at all, excepting the gangster/historical genre (Once Upon a Time In America, Goodfellas, etc.).

[Rushmore]

To the contrary, John. I do "love" Salo. I especially love this film when viewed in the context of Pasolini's disturbing life and fairly topical death.

Life imitates art, etc.

But as a film, I think it qualifies as one of the most profoundly disturbing and, obviously, visceral movies of all time. Many have derided it as merely prurient, but I tend to disagree.

In the same way as I disagree with those who dismissed Sade (on whose work the film is based) as a pornographer.

But hey. That's just me. If people prefer Porky's III--The Revenge or whatever, who am I to judge?

[RollaJ]

Most overated
1)Titanic-it was ok, but way too much hype
2)Flintstones-I walked out, and that movie was big when it came out
3)Backdoor Beauties 17-waste of time, Shanda didnt even seem interested, a real let down to the franchise....just didnt "work" for me
4)A Fish Called Wanda-How the hell is this always called one of the funniest movies?

[John Cole]

Rushmore,

When I first saw Salo in a theater nearly 3/4 of the audience had left by the end. Yes, profoundly disturbing, but important nonetheless. But, for me, it's a hard movie to love. Although the most people will remember the scenes of degradation, I still have in mind, nearly twenty years after seeing Salo, the closing scene and Pasolini's reference to Pound's Pisan Cantos. One of the geastest moments, for me, in film history.

John

[Rushmore]

Exactly. Truly a great sequence, even subtitled.

[Cyrus]

John, you mentioned in a similar thread a month ago that you find over-rated "almost anything which stars a Saturday Night Live cast member" but would that include Groundhog Day ?

I hasten to admit though that the movie fails my happy-stomach test.

--Cyrus

[John Cole]

No, I liked Groundhog Day, and I also really liked Rushmore, which also featured Bill Murray. Who knows, there may be a few more.

John

[Moonsugar]

I will challenge the orthodox and say that Citizen Kane is the most overrated film.

Forget Titanic, that was only a prepubescent chick flick.

[Rushmore]

It seems many find this film overrated.

I am not one of those people. I am captivated by it every time I see it. I think it definitely qualifies as a "great film."

Which brings to mind one of the most UNDERRATED films of all time: "A Face In The Crowd," which starred Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal.

It has only just occurred to me that there is a common theme which runs through these two great films.

Anyway, Kane is not overrated, IMO. Titanic shouldn't even BE rated. It is the film equivalent of the rock band Journey.

Please do not respond with fond remembrances of your high school proms.

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
It Anyway, Kane is not overrated, IMO. Titanic shouldn't even BE rated. It is the film equivalent of the rock band Journey.

[/ QUOTE ]

Gee, I hate Journey and that type of music but I liked the MOVIE (not flim) Titanic. Go figure.

~ Rick

[Eihli]

Here is a good review of Titanic...
http://maddox.xmission.com/titanic.html

[Cyrus]

The hardest I ever laughed in a theater was when Buscemi says, "You should see the other guy."

...which was a joke also in the movie. In other words, the Buscemi character says it as a joke to the other character, to make him laugh. We are usually not set up to laugh with those jokes.

[trillig]

In my limetime of moving going only 2 films I saw in theaters really left me wanting my money back:

I absolutely hated: Passage To India in the 80's.

I absolutely hated: Vanilla Sky last year.

Those are the 2 films I saw in the theatre that I should have walked out on, but I never do that.

-t

[Rushmore]

"Vanilla Sky," while not necessarily overrated (as I believe it was universally panned), was, quite simply, one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I watched it in a state of near-catatonia, agog at the majesty of its awfulness.

A sensation (or lack thereof) which I recall experiencing (or not experiencing) watching "Artificial Intelligence."

[trillig]

Yeah those 2 were just over-exposed I suppose.

Titanic I did see and would say it definitely was over-rated by a long shot, certainly not one of the greats of all-time, although it's box office sales record might not be touched for a while.
Movies no longer stick around in theaters very long.
I remember Superman #1 was in theaters for 6 months!

-t

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Elaine on Seinfeld was right!

[ChipWrecked]

Good movie? Sure. One of the greatest of all time (as it is widely considered to be)? No way. Overrated.

[Losing all]

It really pisses me off that anyone would put Lebowski on a worst movie list(Saving pvt Ryan and Platoon too for that matter) But Kubrick? Are you out of your faulking minds? Orange, Shinning, and FMJ are some of the best movies ever made. Sure he chewed dong with his last flick, but even then he threw in some Kidman nips and panties, always something from Stan. RIP dude.

What's next, everyone drop trou to dump on Apocalypse and resovior dogs?

AI could have been the biggest waste of time in my life, but no, I watched Lost highway. Blue velvet sucks, vanilla sky was horrible.. what else..hmm.. I never have or never will watch titanic, but I'll agree with the pannel on that one by default. Training day started off good, and was well acted as mentiond here, but the "plot twists" were aimed at drool bucket folk, or dumber.

Rushmore was great!

Fargo was very good.

the worst blockbuster of all time just came to me, Independence day. A bigger piece of trash you'll be hard pressed to find.

[trillig]

OH yeah that one was pretty awful viewing too, thanks for reminding me, NOT!
/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[nicky g]

"
It really pisses me off that anyone would put Lebowski on a worst movie list"

It's not a worst movie list, it's an overrated movie list. Lebowski isn't completely awful compared, but it's hugely overrated IMO.

[trillig]

After further thought:

My #1 is Apocalypse Now, both my wife and I thought it was horrible and didn't understand what was so great about it, I thought it was so bad in fact I gave my DVD away, knowing I'd never be reaching for it again.

I've seen plenty of war movies, and this one was probably the worst.

Mind you I watched it completely sober, and perhaps this is the problem.
LOL!
-t

[brad]

that one movie where name of sled is rosebud.

awful movie imo.

[brad]

'
In the interest of Equal Time, I'll nominate "Dr. Stangelove. Or how I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."
'

so u dont like documentaries?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I don't think anybody called Titannic a great movie. It just amde a ton of money. 2/3 of the scenes were exact copies of scenes in "A Night to Remember"

[Eihli]

Matrix 2... hands down.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I'm sorry, but can you cite *one* critic who called this a great movie?

[imported_Chuck Weinstock]

I think I've seen all of these mentioned in this thread. The first overrated film to come to mind was 2001: A Space Idiocy. I saw this first run in a movie theater and thought it was awful. Being youngish at the time when all of my friends loved it, I thought I must have missed something so I went to see it again when a group was going--nope, still awful. This is probably the worst film I've ever seen more than once.

I will second Titanic as being among the worst films--but at least it held my interest most of the time.

I never understood the passion for GWTW, but it never bothered me that much either. (I saw that for the first time in a re-release to movie theaters before it ever appeared on television. I can't imagine seeing it on a small screen.)

I used to hate most everything with Meryl Streep or Jack Nicholson...but either my tastes have changed as I've gotten older, or they've changed as they've gotten older. (For example, I hated five easy pieces except for the chicken salad scene...but I loved the recent Nicholson film with Helen Hunt ... name escapes me at the moment.) Oh yes, I also disliked About Schmidt but I don't blame him for that.

On a more positive note, I love most anything I've seen written by Charlie Kaufman (e.g., Adaptation, Being John
Malkovich).

[nicky g]

"On a more positive note, I love most anything I've seen written by Charlie Kaufman (e.g., Adaptation, Being John
Malkovich)."

I though Adaptation was OK, notthing much more than that. Watched "COnfessions of a Dangerous Mind" on Sunday, which is a Kaufman film, and I thought it was fantastic -underrated, even, given that it didn't make much of a splash.

[andyfox]

I hated Adaptation. Hated it. Course I can't watch Nick Cage, so having to watch too of him was too much for me to bear. Couldn't talk to any of my friends or acquaintances about it, though, because they all loved it, without exception.

Loved the idea of Being John Malkovich, but disliked the movie. So Kaufman is obviously not for me.

[andyfox]

Citizen Kane is generally regarded as the greatest movie ever, so it would certainly therefore have the most chance to be the most overrated.

I find it stunning every time I see it.

[andyfox]

I agree. Bogie's got some great lines ("What's your occupation?" "I'm a drunkard.) and the last scene is fun and it's never bad to look at Ingird Bergman. But all those people running around in white suits in the middle of the war. I don't get it. A nice movie, but nothing more.

[brad]

a friend said it was great we should watch it (long time ago) and i really thought it was just so boring my god. i would estimate it at 3 hours at least.

checking on imdb.com - ok 119 min.

well i saw it at 19 maybe i was just too young but man i was bored.

[baggins]

Adaptation was simply brilliant. I'm not much of a Nicolas Cage fan, but this movie was absolutely perfect. a bit weird, i know. but brilliant. i wept when i saw it. in fact, i've wept every time i've seen it.