Most overrated movie of all time?
 

In your opinion what is the most overrated movie of all time?

Citizen Kane, I guess. I don't think it's bad or anything, I just don't love it.

I don't know about "most", but for me, Gladiator is definitely up there..

I think Titanic was waaaay overated.

I second Gladiator. All that hype for nothing. Maybe if it was a different starring actor.

I also think that anything with Vin Diesel in it is automatically overrated- he makes every movie look bad.

I second Titanic. That and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I just didn't understand why it was funny or unusual.

Scarface

I agree with Titanic.
Leo is the suck...

Fight Club.

Amen.

The Last Samurai. Tom Cuise ain't that good an actor to pull off such a movie

Psssh!

Not sure about the most but SPIDERMAN is way, way, waaaaay up there, sure it as a good film, but great? Hardly, dunno what the fuck was up with it blowing away the Box Office.

Perhaps America just needed a hero...

I agree with fight club

saving private ryan too

I'll second Brandon. Come on, you knew that ending was coming.

http://www.unca.edu/housing/images/s...fight-club.jpg

Gladiator was definitely NOT overrated. One of my favorite movies (small bias there) and one of the best movies of all time.

My vote: Spiderman

I kinda liked this but the thought running through my mind was that it felt more like "Dances with Samurai". I wonder, could Costner have pulled off that roll?

the hulk sucked big time so im voting that way

2001: A Space Oydyssey...I want those two hours back NOW!

I may be alone on this, but:

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Maybe its because I didn't read the book when I was a child, but I thought these movies were terrible.

Another vote for Gladiator.

Scarface? Oh, oh, it's up there, but for mindless violence with minimal payoff that people just go gaga over, that's got to be Resivoir Dogs. OK, it's not a bad film, but great? I think not.

As for LOTR - take that back before I beat you senseless! jk :D You miss 3/4 of those movies if you haven't read the books. I have been waiting for them for 20 years, and I don't see how they could have been done better. (I will even go so far as to grant that the story could have been better, but it was really the first of its kind, and the nostalgia value glosses over pretty much any flaws - like the interminable ending of ROTK - that might be there.)

I don't think Fight Club is overrated. Maybe it's because I read the book before I saw the movie.

I definately think Spiderman is overrated,

He didn't make Saving Private Ryan look bad.

Titanic is definately #1. It's the movie of teenie-boppers, which is the only reason it made any money.

The blair witch project gets my vote.

I'll second My Big FAt Greek Wedding, when I finally got around to seeing it, I found it quite boring and stupid for all the hype about it. *shrug*

Add one more to the Titanic Vote. And Big Fat Greek Wedding...absolutely terrible.

Spiderman! Jesus, the acting in that movie is terrible aside from a few good performances (Willem Dafoe).

Some people actually enjoyed Terminator 3 more than the first two. Considering those people, I'd say that Terminator 3 is incredibly overrated, especially considering it sucked.

The first two Batman movies are seriously overrated. There's only so much Danny Elfman can do.

-Lasereth

Forrest Gump. It's good, but it's nothing earth-shattering.

Anything by Tarantino.

I would have to go with LOTR. Now I'm a huge fan of LOTR and peter jackson. The movies were amazing spectacles and I love watching them, but featured some of the cheesiest scenes I have seen in a movie from the past 15 years.

All of the slow motion, dropping to your knees, screaming "GANDALF" stuff... It was just funny like the fourth time it happened.

They are great to watch, but so is Meet the Feebles, and I don't hear people calling that one of the best movies ever.

I'm not going to be presumptious as to say "of all time" because it's my own opinion, but I thought LOTR was overhyped and dull.

*runs away*

Kill Bill and any documentary by Michael Moore. Psssh...

I have to agree with you on this (regarding RotK) and had I seen Titanic I think I would have to vote for it.

I'm going with Kill Bill, everyone is all up on this films nutz and it is annoying.

Star Wars: the Phantom Menace.

A big disappointment to me.

Titanic. jeesh.

and Casablanca. never could understand the fascination with it. it's such a...product.

Anyone who voted Fight Club is now dead to me

but moving on....

Spiderman

I saw it, and I walked out and said "so.......... that was really disappointing"

Bigtime.

dreadful boring movie I sat/grimaced through once in the theatre; would have been better if the village idiot that Hanks plays had fallen through a portal and drowned with Leo in the 'freezing' warm mexican water in Titanic. (ok, just a bit of sarcasm - seeing the idiot die onscreen or implied offscreen by other means would have worked as well).
And Kill Bill vol. 1 wasn't worth the $3.48 I spent for the DVD rental but I have seen worse films; the camera work and the beautiful sword Uma carries barely made that watchable. Very little desire to see Vol. 2 after suffering through the first one that almost put me to sleep more than once.
Titantic, Gladiator, and basically any Van Damme film after Timecop or most any Steven Segeal film after the early-90's spring to my mind for the "even worse" category. Just thought of Underworld as well; that put me to sleep twice before I finally watched the majority of it and felt it was a bigger waste of time than the average presidential campaign speech.

------
the main reason that Citizen Kane is 'classic' is that Orson, much like D.W. Griffith before him, used new techniques and styles (e.g. wonderful transitions, going through the skylight to a tight shot, etc.) that were unheard before. The compelling storyline/very thinly veiled William Randolph Hearst autobiography do give it a timeless feel that rank it with Charlie Chaplin films, Bogart film noir, and others.

Gone With the Wind

I just couldn't get into it. I like Civil War era stories, too.

matrix

There's a difference between overated and disappointing. Overated means that the media incesantly spoke about how great the film was, when TPM came out hardly anyone said that, it was hype that built up anticipation for the film which ultimately lead to many being let down.

Yeah, people are mentioning movies that were a disappointment, and not overrated. Episode 1 was sorta disappointing, even though I liked it a lot. It's most certainly not overrated because everyone and their mom hated it. :)

-Lasereth

donnie darko, boondock saints, usual suspects

the first time i saw donnie darko i really liked it, i really felt for the characters, but the second time they seemed kind of empty, i think the plot is way overrated, nonsense sci fi crap

boondock saints is corny as hell

usual suspects sucks, when you realize the dudes story was a complete fabrication

and ill just reiterate fight club and saving private ryan

i tried wading my way through that bog of contrived vulgarity and edginess that is chuck palaniuks writing, but i couldn't do it

I can say that Kill Bill was not very likeable to me. I love Tarrentino but the cartoon montages and the bad Matrix-like fight scenes were too much for me.

Totally correct. Being dissapointed by a movie and a movie being overrated are 2 very different things. Don't get them confused. I'm sure that every person has walked out of a movie and thought that there should've been something else in the film that would've made the entire movie better. However, a movie being overrated is just that a general sense of hype surrounding a film that just isn't that damn good.

I'll give Big fat greek wedding and Titanic votes for being overrated.

--jaded

Kill Bill and...


ok, everyone's going to hate me now...

The Godfather!


*runs away*

Matrix

Crapping Tiger Shitting Dragon

Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions

Titanic and Fargo are way overrated.

As for the mentions of Resivoir Dogs, well that's just a brilliant movie, but hey, everyone's got an opinion. Same with Fight Club and Kill Bill. All great movies and not overrated IMHO.

Overrated? Jesus, Revolutions has like 30% on RottenTomatoes.com. I think 5 people liked the Matrix movies, and all 5 are on TFP. :) Those movies are underrated, if anything.

-Lasereth

I agree with Spiderman
And Titanic
And crouching tiger hidden dragon sleeping me
But I still say that Vin Diesel makes anything overrated.

Couldn't agree more. Those movies are most fuckin' excellent, and really good continuations of the original. Dammit. It's my opinion that people hate these movies because they wanted them to be remakes of the original. Nobody who rated the movies terribly can accept that they're continuations of a pre-established story. The mythology of the original can't be recreated, it can only be acted upon. I guess that's what people who didn't like the movies were expecting, that there would be something earth-shattering and unexpected like in the original. Hell, if that was my expectation, then I would have hated them too, but since I was expecting these movies to be a continuation of the original story, then I wasn't dissappointed at all. In fact, I still think that there's an overwhelming amount of good things about these movies that few people can appreciate.

I find it interesting that, with The Matrix sequels, some people don't "get" how we didn't like them. It is unfathomable to some people that some other people didn't like the films, so...it must be bacause of "this" or it must be because of "that" or some other thing. The only reason some of us didn't like these sequels is because we are not all programmed the same, we have different tastes and interests. You thought they were phenomenal. Others thought they sucked, and were less than impressed, myself among them. Such is the case with every movie ever made.

I think the most overrated movie of all time is Mystic River. I also think every performance in the movie is completely overrated, with the exception of Tim Robbins'.

The main issue with people hating the Matrix sequels is the fact that they based their hatred on wrong facts. They said the plot is messed up. They say that the story is backwards...they say the movie "sucks" because of plot details that they said were wrong, and really weren't. I know that not everyone that disliked the movies expressed it like this, but an overwhelming majority did. Hell, I still get people that tell me they hated the last two because Agent Smith was more powerful than in the first one, and that that's very cheesy. Umm, "Agent" Smith isn't an agent, and if you paid attention to the first and second movies, it explains clearly why he's stronger.

If ya hated the movies, fine, but I can't stand it when people hated them based on facts that didn't exist. If someone has the justified opinions to back it up, then I'll accept it, but not when they're simply not paying attention to the plot.

-Lasereth

For me, most over-rated film of all time would have to be...

Star Wars

Appologies to those that may think that uttering such words amounts to blasphemy!

And I am not one of those people who hated these movies. I quite enjoyed them. But I find it absolutely ridiculous when I see them topping the polls in "greatest films ever made" lists. No way!
And the fact that some many people obsess over them is just ridiculous.

I feel it may be a generational thing. I'm only 20, so perhaps others of my age would agree with me?

I don't think a film can be "overrated" unless it's excessively popular for no credible reason. So StarWars is qualified to be overrated. Same with Titanic and the Godfather films. They are two of the most popular films (or series of films) of all time. However, a film like Kill Bill cannot be rightly called the most overrated film of all time because it is not one of the most popular films of all time. They may be overrated among friends and people that you've spoken to, but I think that hardly qualifies as "most overrated of all time."

I'll also say Star Wars : The Phantom Menace. That annoying kid...jeez. Not half as exciting as The Empire Strikes Back.

Everyone hated Episode 1. It's not overrated.

-Lasereth

Lord of the Rings, to me, is over-rated. In terms of fan reaction, definitely. They have inspired a devotion among these people which seems undeserved. They are good movies (well, the first two are, not seen the third - I was put off by the hype), but they are not the life-changing films everyone seems to think they are, and I think both are over-long and ponderous, and what I've heard of the third makes me think that is probably the same. But maybe I am basing this on the fact that although I think the plot of LOTR is a cracker, the books are a bit tedious to plough through. It took me almost eight months to read all three, and I really struggled with The Two Towers. I persevered to piece the story together, and in the end it was worth it.

I'm rambling.

But yeah, the books are over-rated and so are the movies.

Not true, my friend. :) I thoroughly enjoyed it, Jar Jar and all.

I punched my friend in the head after he made me see the "Best movie ever: The fast and the furious."

Is there a fast and furious 2?

I loved Episode 1 as well. When I say "everyone," I mean 90% of the people that saw it. :)

-Lasereth

2 fast 2 furious my friend

Scar Face.

Whenever the discussion of great movies comes up, it always gets mentioned and the movie is just so over the top ridiculous.

SPIDERMAN.... SPIDERMAN.... SPIDERMAN.

'nuff said. I am one of I guess a small handful who don't think this movie is the best comic adaptation ever. *shrug*

Anything Star Wars
Matrix trilogy
LotR trilogy
Anything Tarantino pulls out his ass

the organic webshooters completely killed it for me, with that kind of budget they could have managed to show Parker creating the webbing material and shooter. Always liked in the comic book how Spiderman had to carefully monitor his cartridges and reload when needed.

i dont watch crappy movies... id have to agree with fight club though

IMO, The Exorcist.

First off, the whole premise about god vs. devil is kinda silly to bring into reality, so it's not all that terrifying. The whole "it was based on a true story" thing just kinda makes me roll my eyes. Sure it is. Just as much as I believe Return of the Living Dead's "The events in this movie are based on a true story" warning at the beginning.

Second.. I was just utterly bored through the entire thing. The only scene that perked the slightest bit of interest from me is when she was running down the stairs like a spider.

A lot of times when I ask other horror fans about some of the best movies they've seen, this one comes up, and it usually gets the same reaction outta me everytime: "...you're joking, right?"

Another movie to go along with this: The Ring (pretty much for the exact same reasons above). It was just over-hyped. People who know I loved horror were all "omg, you gotta see this movie!" ... but I knew there was a catch with it's PG-13 rating, so it couldn't be that scary.

Went and saw it... booo! Horrible. Not scary. Some parts were interesting, but it certainly isn't a scary movie. Overrated!

lol you're right! But I really doubt that Costner could've pulled it off. His acting skills had faded as he's gotten older :rolleyes:

Totally.
I guess if you're a Christian, and believe that stuff like this actually happens, then I guess I could see why people find it so terrifying. But for those of us living in the real world, its just pretty crap. I actually laughed my way through a lot of. I mean, c'mon what other movies have a 10(?) year old girl spouting such classic lines as "your mother sucks cocks in hell!"? :lol:


Just wondering, are you reffering to the american remake, or the orignal. As cliched as it may sound, the remake isn't a patch on the original. "Ringu" is fantastic, and quite scary. "The Ring" wasn't terrible, but it was really nothing special at all.

Most Tarantino movies, and most definitely "Pulp Fiction." I couln't see a single thing special about that thing, but I've seen a lot of classic Hollywood and French film noir, which is where most of his ideas apparently came from. Quentin gets no points for taking some old plot ideas and hanging a little neon on them.

I did like his script for "From Dusk til Dawn," but that's nothing but a good times/no think action movie, and definitely not overrated.

Other overrated movies/directors:

Stanley Kubrick (except for Dr. Strangelove and his earlier work)

Steven Spielberg, who can't put real guts in anything, not even D-Day or the Holocaust. The original "Raiders" was great, but a lot of that came from Lawrence Kasdan, the scriptwriter, who worked hard to keep the movie from being too jokey. (He talked Spielberg and Lucas out of putting a ludicrous mining car sequence into "Raiders," the same one they later stuck in "Temple of Doom")

All Star Wars movies except the original. They're fun, they're not great. And in 20 years, you'll be able to do all those special effects yourself in your basement.

I think that does it for now.

Gladiator. I did'nt like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon much, but hell it is still better than Gladiator.

The reason gladiatior is overrated is because the chick from dead can dance did the music to it.

American Beauty, hands down

It's hard to come up with anything original, all the biggies on my list have been hit:

Matrix
Spiderman
Tarantino's
Bend It Like Beckham
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I'm sure if I ever saw LoTR I would include them.
Same for Harry Potter, but this is just a guess.

I realize these are all somewhat recent and therefore don't really help the whole "all-time" thing, but they're just ones I thought of.


EDIT: The Passion of the Christ

Ditto to that.

And I'll reiterate the Matrix as being overrated.

Lost in Translation. I couldn't figure out why this became so popular all of the sudden. I found it to be pretty damn boring, and the plot crawled at a horribly slow pace the entire movie. I even watched it a second time the next day to try and figure it out. Maybe i'm missing something, but it seems unlikely.


There are some amazing movies listed that really suprise me though. American Beauty, Fight Club and LOTR we're all excellent movies. I guess it comes down to personal taste, but from a non-bias standpoint, they were well done.

Whew, glad I'm not the only one that was thinking that... I was incredibly bored, fell asleep for a bit, woke up, got bored again, went to bed. Which sucks, because I really like Bill Murray :(

Also, another vote for American Beauty. I rented it after hearing/seeing all the media hype, the awards and all, and was like "...that's it? that was the greatest movie this year??"

Independance Day, Blair Witch Project, Last Samurai, Dawn of the Dead 2004.

Titanic gets my vote.

If you mean over-rated by how they did in the box office; its totally in everyones perspective. Thats the main reason movie critics annoy me. It boils down to the directors talent to guide everything together vs the directors choice to be truest to themself in approaching the movie as a piece of their art. Like John Carpentor; the man has done some good stuff, but lately all hes putting out is shit. I dont understand how he cant look at his projects like Vampires and Ghosts of Mars and think he's creating something of value. Its like isnt there anyone around him saying what the F*** are you doing. The point is he doesnt seem to care as long as he's satisfied his eye. If a movie like Titanic or Gladiator do well; it probably means on the general level aside form any marketing they're good. Otherwise word would get out fast. Again Im referring to the term referencing peoples opinions. Believe me I have alot of "guilty pleasure movies" that I truly dont understand why I like them, I just do.

The other side of "over-rated" is movies that were built up in marketing and expected to be mega-block busters and just flopped. Thats where I see the term or as I view it.

The one that pops in my head first is Pearl Harbor. Even though I loved the effects during the bombing sequence. Another that I rememeber getting a ton of hype was The Scorpian King. Man I couldnt finish watching it. Im glad it was only rental.

True that! they didnt suck but i will never watch them again...

The term overrated means that it's rated too high. Previews have nothing to do with the definition. Marketing and expectations have nothing to do with the term overrated either. If a movie is overrated, it's simply said to be better than it is. Disappointing, misleading, or flopping are not synonyms of "overrated."

Sorry, just had to clear that up. A bunch of people are listing disappointing movies on this thread when it's not even about that. :)

-Lasereth

i think all of the Vegi-tales films blew. All of those religious folk talking them up, vegetables are for eating, not for singing and dancing and other silly schenanigans.

Finding Nemo. I thought it was boring as hell with lame characters. Pretty much every other disney or pixar movie is better.

Good call Noahfor. I was seriously unimpressed by Nemo. It was certainly not as entertaining as Monsters Inc. or either Toy Story. I don't understand its overwhelming popularity.

Donnie Darko...I mean it was a good movie and all, but everyone around me seemed to be obsessed with the blatantly obvious symbolism in the movie.

Those are my top two as well. At least a good many people soon realized that Titanic was an overhyped piece of crap, but I have no idea why Greek Wedding is so universally loved.

Everyone I knew acted as if it was god's gift to comedy. I guess none of them have ever seen the bajillion or so other vapid movies about some couple who gets married and their crazy families.

OH YES and Blair Witch Project. How could I forget that one? Cool concept, but FUCKING LAME ASS movie.

I certainly respect the ingenuity of whoever figured out that they could make millions by stumbling around a campground with a camcorder and then successfully market it as a horror movie, though.

Definately Titanic, as most clearly articulated by maddox... http://maddox.xmission.com/hate_titanic.html

Matrix
Matrix Reloaded

I haven't seen Matrix Revolutions and I don't plan on it.

All the Star Wars movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Aliens, The Exorcist, LOTR trilogy, Braveheart, Goodfellas, The Evil Dead series, a few more

ALIENS!?!? EVIL DEAD!?!?!? .....GOOOOOOODFELLLLLLAAAAS????
:-o

Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion. :) Anyways, I would have to echo KILL BILL as being overrated. Ole Quentin is basically splicing together a bunch of style and forgot any substance.

Independence Day by a mile. Thought it was a load of crap actually.

Both Kill Bill's.

And any "documentary" by Michael Moore. Me and Roger was pathetic. Isn't it obvious that if Moore was saying something the Hollywood elite remotely disagreed with he would be cast into the fiery lake of has-beens quicker than a minnow can swim a dipper?

The Hanabal Lecter movies. Best Picture of the Year? Geeeeez.

Star Wars, one and all.

All of The Hobbit stuff.

Harry Potter every one, top to bottom--bad.

Agreed! It's good, just not one of the best.

and I totally despise that piece of crap Titanic