Geez, I haven’t thought about this movie for–well, since forever. The title doesn’t ring any bells and I only know I saw it because of the town-full-of-Yugos reference. However–about the only other thing I remember about it besides the Yugos is that it was a “Bette Midler movie,” only then her character dies, what, two minutes into the film, if that. Which was a disappointment as the Midler connection was the main reason we’d rented it in the first place. We kept waiting for her to come back (Ha ha! It was all a joke!). But she didn’t. I do wonder if the it’s-a-Midler-movie-oh-no-wait-it-isn’t aspect colored some reviewers’ opinions?
Anyway, I can’t say it was a badly reviewed movie that I loved, so I guess I’ll shut up about it.
The inspiration for the title of Roger Ebert’s book “I Hated Hated Hated Hated Hated This Movie!”: North starring Elijah Wood. (ZERO stars!) I thought it was really cute and funny.
Toys is a good example.
I’ll throw in Weird Al Yankovic’s UHF. Ebert gave it one star saying "I’m sure there’s an audience for this SOMEWHERE. " Most of it is chuckle-worthy, and parts of it are downright hilarious.
I often use reviewers comments to help me decide whether I want to see a movie or not. The more they pan a movie, usually the more I’ll like it. When they use words like “Original, beautiful, stunning, unexpected”. I know it’s going to be some depressing piece of artsy fartsy garbage.
Yeah, I can see why it has a following. The stylized violence has echoes of Pulp Fiction, The Professional, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. In fact, there was a sly wink toward The Professional in the script. (“No women, no kids.”) But while the violence was well-choreographed, the plot and character development were weaker than in those other films. I did like Willem Dafoe’s character, and the way they handled the crime reconstruction scenes.
Worth a look-see. Better than the critics’ reviews, not as good as the fan reviews, I guess would be my take.
Another mention for Joe vs. the Volcano, the only movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan together that I will ever watch.
I think I’m the only one in the world to actually like ** Dutch**. Yes it’s formulaic, but I found the Ed O’neill character to be multidimensional and the relationship between him and the spoiled kid genuinely believable. And there’s a very sweet, sentimental melodic motive that appears in the score throughout the film in different arrangements which I always liked.
I’ve said it before, but UHF is a great movie spoiled only by its pedestrian plot.
Two more that I liked were Soldier and Payback. Both were slapped around by the critics, but I liked both movies a lot. I acknowledge that neaither are perfect, of course, but I htink they’re both better than what everyone else says about them.