I absolutely LOVE “The Legend of 1900”. It has such a deeply melancholy feel to it. The setting is early 20th century. I love the sets, the clothes, the music, just everything.
I’ll second Heart and Souls and Pleasantville (which was unjustifiable snubbed in the major Academy Award categories). I also liked Buffalo 66, but it was too “out there” for me to recommend to mainstream audiences. I haven’t seen any of the others listed in this thread (yet).
I’ll add:
All of Me (1984) - Steve Martin and Lilly Tomlin. This movie hardly ever gets mentioned when people talk about Steve Martin’s body of work, but I think it’s his best (and funniest) performance.
Almost Famous (2000) - Not overlooked by critics, but the box office was very low. I think if they would have publicized the “true story” aspect of it more it might have gotten more attention (it’s the story of director Cameron Crowe’s teen years as a writer for Rolling Stone).
Point of No Return (1993) - hardcore fans of La Femme Nikita will undoubably disagree, but I think this is one American remake that really hits the mark. Bridget Fonda (in her last solid perfomance) and Dermot Mulroney (in one of his first).
Lots of good ones in this thread. I’d also like to nominate Leaving Normal, with Meg Tilly and Christine Lahti, as two preipatetic women longing for something worth sticking around for in life, and finding the courage to create that something for themselves.
I haven’t heard much about A Quiet American, which I just saw last night. It was very powerful and timely.
I don’t know how wide its 1983 release was, but Tender Mercies did receive five Oscar nominations, included Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (which Duvall won that year). While the movie-going public may have overlooked Tender Mercies, film critics did not.
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I second About a Boy and Brainstorm. I was pretty surprised that About a Boy only recived one Oscar nomination (for adapted screenplay). About a Boy did manage to obtain a smattering of nominations and awards at several other award presentations, however – including Golden Globe noms for Best Musical/Comedy and Best Actor (Hugh Grant).
Boondock Saints
It’s worth mentioning again. Watch it, and you’ll never look at Willem Dafoe the same way again. Hee.
“Midnight Run”
DeNiro and Grodin make this one of the funniest action movies ever. Also quite touching in parts (DeNiro’s absolute inability to have a conversation with the daughter he hasn’t seen in years is heartbreaking).
Very, very good and rarely mentioned these days.
“Jackie Brown” was yummy Tarentino fun. “Local Hero” made me want to move there.
I saw “Brainstorm” on mushrooms in Westwood when it first came out. Uberwow. Even the opening credits, not to mention the great score by James Horner. Natalie Wood’s last role.
I think this year’s “Gods and Generals” will become a cult classic, especially when the 6hr DVD comes out. Stephan Lang shines.
EQUILIBRIUM!
It came out about a year or so ago to a very limited release and surprisingly poor reviews. It’s a futuristic sci-fi action type flick. Think The Matrix except with a plot that makes sense. And fewer special effects.
The last 10 minutes of fight scenes are simply amazing. Very well done. It comes out on DVD in about a month. Check it out.
Midnight Run is a great one! The bad news is it’s out of print on DVD. The good news is, there’s Ebay.
Speaking of Grodin, I’ll add Seems Like Old Times (1980) to the list. Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn reading Neil Simon’s great dialog. Very funny and very underrated.
That makes three Charles Grodin films on the list so far. The first one to mention Beethoven (1992) gets an automatic invite to the pit. 
Pash
**Gambit ** (1966) starring Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine.
Magic, a 1978 movie directed by Richard Attenborough (the first American movie he directed, I believe) and starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margaret, and Burgess Meredith. It’s a pretty bizarre movie about a magician/ventriloquist who can’t seperate himself from his alter-ego. A quasi-horror/thriller, doomed-romance type of movie.
I liked Happy,Texas which came out about 2 years ago, starring Jeremy Northam and Steve Zahn as escaped convicts in Texas. They’re mistaken for a gay couple who specialize in producing children’s beauty pageants. There’s a subplot involving William H. Macy as a closeted gay sheriff sweet on Jeremy Northam, and a bank robbery as well. This was a sweet, funny flick.
I may be alone in this one, but I really enjoyed “Young Sherlock Holmes.”
Anyone?
Hello?
Galaxy Quest never got the attention it deserved. I absolutely delight in loaning it to friends and hearing how much they liked it.
Running on Empty is my favourite River Phoenix role. Very, very touching.
Saving Silverman was hi-freaking-larious! Nobody seems to have seen it!
I’d like to nominate The Gods Must Be Crazy
One of the nicest comedies I’ve ever seen. And good for the family too.
i thought ghost world was brilliant.
House of Games. I really enjoyed this psychological study, as did Roger Ebert.
I love Joe Mantegna. Apparently, I am in a minority. This fine film (directed by David Mamet) grossed less than $3 million.
Hopscotch (1980; Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston, and Herbert Lom. Matthau plays a disgruntled, soon-to-be-ex CIA agent who decides to humiliate both his incompetent bosses and his bumbling counterparts in the KGB by writing his memoirs – which he procedes to mail, chapter by chapter, to the intelligence agencies in question. A mostly nimble-fingered comedy, more weighted toward curmudgeonly cynicism than formulaic action.
[“Hopscotch” is kinda like what you’d get if you crossed “The President’s Analyst” with “Charley Varrick” (also starring Matthau) – both fine films but not truly overlooked.]
The Dish (2000; Sam Neill, Billy Mitchell, and Patrick Warburton). The promised live TV images from the first Apollo moon landing are jeopardized by a series of technical glitches suffered by the giant radio-satellite dishes in California and Australia, and NASA ends up relying on our good friends Down Under (rural Parkes, north of Melbourne, to be exact) to save the day. Based on a true story. A lovable cast of “characters” (hint: mostly-lovable nerdy radio-astronomers, benignly amusing public officials, and various earnest locals), lovely Aussie scenery, a good script, and an even better soundtrack send this one into the upper atmosphere. Good vibrations, indeed.