# Favourite Box office bomb **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737 "2010-04-11T15:34:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/61 "2010-04-12T20:11:14Z")
I’m not at all a Jim Carrey fan, but, from the UK, not knowing that much about Andy Kaufman other than he was in Taxi , and the " dead or not/will come back type " rumours, I thought MOTM was a quite interesting movie - I kept wanted to see what happened next - even though he was playing an often irritating weirdo. How much was based on reality I’m not sure but Carrey’s best and most convincing performance IMO. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/62 "2010-04-12T20:28:45Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Ditto. I see it as a dark comedy masterpiece. My only complaint is that I’ve never been able to accept Catherine Keener as a sexpot. Ever. Watch _[Being John Malkovich](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/)_ and report back. Thank you. > [@joebuck20](#): > > _Last Action Hero._ To this day, I can’t understand why it’s so maligned. I think part of the problem is that it was marketed as just your standard, blow-shit-up-real-good, action flick when it was in fact a parody of genre, and a pretty good one at that. I know! Saw this in the theater and loved it, and have watched it several times since. Apparently some folks just don’t want to watch shit blow up real good and think at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/63 "2010-04-12T20:35:37Z")
I liked Death to Smoochy and The 13th Warrior too. I really loved the 2004 version of The Alamo. The Alamo was a huge box bomb but a great movie almost no one has seen. The movie has great action scenes, great dialogue and character development, and was about as historically accurate as Hollywood gets. I think one of the reasons more people didn’t give it a chance is that they expected it to be an over the top cowboy movie like the John Wayne version of the Alamo. It’s tangential but I feel compelled to briefly compare the two. In the 2004 version, Jim Bowie is pretty much a complete dick to his slave, as one would imagine lots of slave masters to be. Bowie’s slave points out to another slave that slavery is illegal in Mexico, and perhaps he shouldn’t be rooting for his master’s rebellion to succeed. In the Wayne version Bowie’s slave throws himself on top of Bowie, using his own body to shield his master from Mexican bayonets. In the Wayne version, Travis manages to take out half a Mexican regiment single handedly before succumbing to multiple gunshot and saber wounds, but not before first breaking his own sword. In the 2004 version, Travis unceremoniously catches a musket ball to the head early in the fight. If you enjoy historical epics at all, I urge you to check out the 2004 Alamo, it really is a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/64 "2010-04-12T20:41:16Z")
Well, I agree with you that **The Alamo** is by far the most historically accurate screen version of that event. (And that may be why audiences didn’t find it as entertaining. Accurate historical films can be kinda dry.) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/65 "2010-04-12T20:52:32Z")
Well, I’m surprised by how many of those on the list I saw theatrically, but I’d have to say almost all of them have earned their reputations as stinkers, and I feel most of them are genuinely terrible, not just “underappreciated” or denigrated unfairly (though perhaps disproportionately). But like most of Gilliam’s films, while _Baron Munchausen_ is a bit of a mess, it’s got enormous amount of heart, imagination, and visual inventiveness to make up for it. Out of all those films listed, it may be the only one I can imagine ever watching again. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/66 "2010-04-12T21:00:07Z")
> [@Estilicon](#): > > My favourite one is actually a pretty solid film with actors that would have diserved an Oscar nomination… if they had hired a good accent coach. The movie is, of course, K-19 the Widow Maker. Harrison Ford made a hilarious appearance, I think it was on Conan, to promote this movie. A clearly stoned Ford mocked the movie openly, asking why on Earth the Russian characters would be speaking in Russian accents to one another, rather than in Russian. I think he also slammed the godawful title. I’m not surprised by how many of those bombs have all-star casts. It seems that, once they’re done paying salaries, there’s often no budget left for a decent script. I hated most of the movies on the list that I saw (or started), except _Man on the Moon_. I enjoyed it, and thought Carrey was perfectly cast. If only they’d gotten to him before he could command five figures. And I think they also overestimated Andy Kaufman’s brand power, in terms of name recognition and teenage moviegoers. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/67 "2010-04-12T21:40:18Z")
Munchausen is the only one on the list that I’ve seen all the way through, and I did like it, although it seemed to be kind of sloppily put together, and Robin Williams was in it, but I liked it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/68 "2010-04-12T22:42:09Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Munchausen is the only one on the list that I’ve seen all the way through, and I did like it, although it seemed to be kind of sloppily put together, and Robin Williams was in it, but I liked it anyway. Personally, I think it’s one of the most carefully crafted films. It has a specific topic that it is discussing and accomplishes that quite clearly. There are few enough books that accomplish that, let alone movies. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/69 "2010-04-12T23:01:08Z")
_An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn_ - I laughed the whole freaking time. Gods and Generals - I like war movies and Lee’s phrase “_It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it_” at the right time, just sold me. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/70 "2010-04-12T23:10:45Z")
Not on the list but two of my favorite comedies _Office Space_ and _Saving Silverman_ were busts at the box office. They probably didn’t cost a whole lot to make though. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737/71 "2010-04-12T23:32:09Z")
If I interpret the numbers right, Office Space made a modest $827,813. Nevertheless, I believe it absolutely cleaned up on DVD. Same with Fight Club and many other cult classics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-box-office-bomb/535737.md?page=3)