# Awful but successful movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 13, 2001, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924 "2001-01-13T23:46:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2001, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/1 "2001-01-13T23:46:49Z")
Weekend at Bernies gets my vote. Both of them.
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### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/2 "2001-01-13T23:51:40Z")
Austen Powers.
Absolutely retarded, juvenile drivel and people think Meyers is a genius.
Give me a F\*\*\*ing break.
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### Author:  [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/3 "2001-01-13T23:52:01Z")
xmen…
“do you know what happens to frogs when they are hit by lightning… the same as everything else”
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/4 "2001-01-13T23:55:40Z")
Well, pretty much everything that’s been a hit this year.
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### Author:  [@Rally\_Vincent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rally_Vincent)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/5 "2001-01-14T00:00:14Z")
I’ll probably get flamed for this, but I really don’t like the message that comes across in “Pretty woman.”
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### Author:  [@nowalls99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nowalls99)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/6 "2001-01-14T00:04:26Z")
Dumb and Dumber. The name says it all.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/7 "2001-01-14T00:24:47Z")
_Dances With Wolves_
_Forrest Gump_
_Titanic_
To some extent, all three of those _might_ have been “okay” movies, but were all widely treated like they were the greatest thing since celluloid, so that the reality/hype ratio is low enough to make them equivalent to just plain “awful”.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/8 "2001-01-14T00:28:04Z")
Blair Witch Project, hands down.
Also, Dances with Wolves.
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### Author:  [@el\_mono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/el_mono)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/9 "2001-01-14T00:34:04Z")
Romeo Must Die. Can’t believe I handed over almost four bucks to Blockbuster to rent that POS. Dialogue? Plot? Believable acting? Nah.
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### Author:  [@socpro69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/socpro69)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/10 "2001-01-14T00:37:10Z")
Was **Showgirls** successful?
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### Author:  [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/11 "2001-01-14T01:15:16Z")
Don’t flame me–I remember the threads about this movie last year, but I’m following MEBuckner’s logic here–American Beauty. Very hyped, very overrated.
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### Author:  [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/12 "2001-01-14T01:34:51Z")
Armageddon & Deep\_Impact (Two movies with nearly the same plot, horribly lame acting and over-hyped special effects.)
Jurassic Park 2 (Eh, the first one wasn’t bad, the second one was terrible.)
…
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/13 "2001-01-14T01:43:14Z")
Forrest Gump
E.T.
Feel free to flame, I don’t care.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/14 "2001-01-14T02:23:04Z")
(Showgirls was a major flop.)
Liar Liar
Alien
The Phantom Menace
The Lion King
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### Author:  [@Brunetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brunetter)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/15 "2001-01-14T02:31:57Z")
What the hell was up with that Mary shit? That movie was SO hyped. Everywhere I went, someone was telling me how great it was and how they couldn’t believe I still had the will to go on living despite the fact that I hadn’t seen it yet.
Well my husband and a friend and I all rented it one night …
and it sucked SO bad.
The worst/funniest part of the story was that each of us was too stunned/embarrased to say that they didn’t like it until halfway through, because we were so sure the other 2 were enjoying it as much as all the other crack monkies.
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/16 "2001-01-14T02:57:48Z")
The epitome of “awful but successful movies”: **Titanic**. Awful!!
Did I mention that it was awful?
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### Author:  [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/17 "2001-01-14T04:31:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bill H. \*
> **Blair Witch Project, hands down.**
Will … not … become … violent.
Will … not … become … violent.
😉
I’d say just about anything billed as a “Summer Blockbuster” will be successful and awful.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/18 "2001-01-14T04:56:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Brunetter \*
> \*\*What the hell was up with that Mary shit? That movie was SO hyped. Everywhere I went, someone was telling me how great it was and how they couldn’t believe I still had the will to go on living despite the fact that I hadn’t seen it yet.
>
> Well my husband and a friend and I all rented it one night …
>
> and it sucked SO bad.\*\*
HEAR, HEAR!
I’m sorry, but I just didn’t get it. Everyone was talking about how it was the funniest thing since the invention of jokes, and I thought it was about as funny as a kick in the nuts.
Mrs. RickJay and I rented “There’s Something About Mary,” eagerly anticipating big yuks. Fifteen minutes in I started getting concerned that we hadn’t laughed yet. After thirty minutes we gave up.
I felt bad about paying $4 to rent a movie and not watch it so we tried to get through it the following night. After twenty minutes Mrs. RickJay says, “Isn’t The Simpsons on now?”
The next night I managed to sweat through the rest of it. Mrs. RickJay could not be convinced to watch.
I didn’t laugh at that stupid movie once.
Another movie that at one point was widely considered to be the worst box office hit was Eddie Murphy’s **The Golden Child.**
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### Author:  [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/19 "2001-01-14T05:15:48Z")
Matrix
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2001, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awful-but-successful-movies/49924/20 "2001-01-14T05:42:12Z")
Now, I don’t agree with some of these, but I know you won’t like my list, so it all works out 🙂
Titanic (of course, some parts were good, but only about 8%)
Hollow Man, if it was succesful. It was bizarre.
Phantom Menace, again like Titanic. The original trilogy at least was consistent (check MIPSIMS starwars threads)
That’s all I can think of now.
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