# I Want to Avoid the Worst Movies of 2004
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 14, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780 "2005-01-14T22:56:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/21 "2005-01-15T16:43:16Z")
Contrary to most opinion, I thought **Kinsey** was a big yawner.
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### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/22 "2005-01-15T21:00:06Z")
I kept watching Irma in “Ladykillers,” and thinking, “They’ve put my grandma in a movie!” Except for the fact that Irma was black, she was exactly like my grandmother. So I got a kick out of the movie for that reason.
I can’t think of any truly awful movies I saw in the theater this year, though I rented a few stinkers.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/23 "2005-01-15T21:29:09Z")
The only thing I liked about The Ladykillers was J.K. Simmons’ performance, but that guy is always good. I thought it was a pretty abysmal movie otherwise, probably the worst from the Coen Brothers.
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### Author:  [@The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Cat)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/24 "2005-01-15T21:38:13Z")
I’d definetly agree that the Ladykillers is the worst Coen brothers movies. In now way do I think it belongs on the list of the worst movies of 2004. I thought it was a fun movie. I liked tom hanks performance, and unlike most movies you see where they make the bad guys the good guys, all the bad men got what they deserved in the end.
Watch the chronicles of riddick and then tell me that the ladykillers belong on this list.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/25 "2005-01-15T21:38:20Z")
I’d completely forgotten about Ladykillers. The [original](http://imdb.com/title/tt0048281/) is on of my favourite films.
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### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/26 "2005-01-15T21:43:12Z")
The only truly HORRIBLE movie I saw this year was **Team America**.
I wanted to like that movie. I am a HUGE Parker/Stone fan and the type of comedy shoudl have rung my bell.
I wanted to leave halfway through (I did laugh hard at a few parts…like Puppet pile-driver.)
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### Author:  [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/27 "2005-01-15T23:07:44Z")
I actually liked **Sky Captain** _because_ of the cheesy acting and silly storyline. I felt like the hamminess was perfect, considering the movie’s setting. I don’t think this was a “you get it or you don’t” film - I mean, there’s nothing subtle or especially clever about it - but I think that if you’re intrigued by the antique aesthetic of the movie, you’ll like it. And the chase scene through New York is sweet.
The worst 2004 movie that I can think of is **Ocean’s Twelve**. I liked the first movie quite a bit, but this one was just a mess. I get the feeling that the makers felt they were being clever by
having Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis play themselves, and not having a proper heist as expected
but instead it just felt _stupid_. I’d be angry if I spent money on it, but I got in on a free ticket.
Although I haven’t seen it, I’ll include **Shrek 2** as well because there’s no way they could possibly have improved on the original enough to make it worthwhile.
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### Author:  [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/28 "2005-01-16T05:26:53Z")
I guess I’ll be the only one to mention **Collateral**. I saw it not knowing anything about it and was amazed to come home and read good reviews. Anybody who couldn’t figure out the final twist at the time of the intial set up has never been to a movie before. It was ridiculously implausable…which is a fine thing for a movie to be, but it tries to be just gritty and realistic enough that the implausability is really annoying. And the whole Cruise character’s Hip Existential Killer thing that people have praised? C’mon, it’s been done.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/29 "2005-01-16T05:38:21Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#):
>
> I get the feeling that the makers felt they were being clever by
>
> having Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis play themselves, and not having a proper heist as expected
>
> but instead it just felt _stupid_.
And it was so damned obvious. Julia Roberts doesn’t look like anybody except Julia Roberts. With another actress maybe it wouldn’t seemed clever, but not her.
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/30 "2005-01-16T06:56:51Z")
Just caught Ebert & Roeper’s Worst Films of 2004 show.
Their picks (many of which have already been mentioned here) are:
Roeper
1. Connie and Carla
2. Taxi
3. Saw
4. Thunderbirds
5. Catwoman
6. The Stepford Wives
7. Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
8. Godsend
9. The Whole Ten Yards
10. White Chicks
Ebert
11. The Village
12. The Whole Ten Yards
13. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
14. White Chicks
15. The Grudge
16. New York Minute
17. Dogville
18. The Girl Next Door
19. Christmas With the Kranks
20. Tie: Troy and Alexander
Of these, I’ve only seen Stepford Wives, The Village, and Troy. I actually liked Troy, and though The Village is truly awful I would watch it again just for Bryce Dallas Howard. Stepford Wives is one of the worst movies I’ve EVER seen.
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### Author:  [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/31 "2005-01-16T08:45:30Z")
> [@Tangent](#):
>
> Of these, I’ve only seen Stepford Wives, The Village, and Troy. I actually liked Troy, and though The Village is truly awful I would watch it again just for Bryce Dallas Howard. Stepford Wives is one of the worst movies I’ve EVER seen.
Oh my. How could I possibly have forgotten **The Village**? I suppose I must have blocked it out immediately after viewing that piece of utter, utter garbage. When I saw it I thought it might have been the worst theatrical movie I’ve ever seen. Of course, passions tend to run high right after watching a film. Now that I’ve had time to cool off and take a calm, rational look at the movie…well, I still think it might be the worst film I’ve ever seen in a theater.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/32 "2005-01-16T11:56:24Z")
I liked several of the films mentioned. _Ladykillers_ was fun. _Team America_ was a scream.
But _Troy_? _Troy_ would’ve been overblown and stupid even without the horrible miscasting of Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom.
And _Anchorman_ was gawdawful. And I like Will Ferrell.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/33 "2005-01-16T12:11:25Z")
I imagine I see 50 to 100 movies a year and cleverly I have only seen:
Ocean’s 12
Troy
Van Helsing
Christmas With The Kranks
all while on outings with my 15 year old son. I thought the first 3 were not great but were serviceable entertainment.
By a long way the worst movie I saw was **Christmas With The Kranks** with it’s almost psychotic reverence for conformity. I told anyone thinking of seeing it to get the large popcorn - you’ll need the bucket to vomit in.
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### Author:  [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/34 "2005-01-16T12:56:25Z")
**Ocean’s Twelve** was so irritating – the cool part of **Ocean’s Eleven** was seeing how the heist all came together and how the details were all worked out and how everything got pulled off. There was none of that in **Ocean’s Twelve**. Did they think that people who enjoyed the first movie would LIKE it if they completely changed the second movie around? If you’re going to try something like that you have to make it _better_ than the first movie, not just _different_. What, we’re just supposed to have grown to love those quirky characters so much that we’ll watch a movie just to see what zany escapades they get into? Criminy.
**Troy** was just so boring, I couldn’t watch more than half an hour of it. I don’t know, maybe it got better after that.
**The Village** was irritating as well. Like **Ocean’s Twelve** , it was completely different than what we’ve grown to expect from an M. Night Shyamalan movie. In his previous movies (well, the previous three big movies, that is: **The Sixth Sense** , **Unbreakable** , and **Signs** ), there actually WERE strange things going on – dead people WERE speaking to the kid, the guy WAS a superhero, there really WERE aliens… but this movie ruined all that and only had the instantly-obvious SETTING as the twist. Not cool!
Plus there was that whole business about the story being stolen from a book. What was the verdict on that – was it really a stolen plotline? I stumbled onto an essay by Orson Scott Card claiming that it absolutely definitely 100% positively was, but he first claimed that **The Sixth Sense** was stolen from his book **Lost Boys** , which was a hilariously ridiculous claim, so I don’t know how accurate his assessment of **The Village** being stolen is.
**The Grudge** was highly disappointing after seeing **Ju-On**. And I say this as somebody who liked **The Ring** better than **Ringu** – **The Ring** was just scarier to me, with its better special effects. **The Grudge** was insufficiently better than **Ju-On** ; in fact, it was barely different at all. The better special effects were just not put to very good use. Grumble.
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### Author:  [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/35 "2005-01-16T15:21:37Z")
While on a plane and having nowhere to run I was subjected to **Garfield**. Boy, was that ever awful, I can’t even begin to describe it. Then again, you probably weren’t going to watch it anyway so I don’t HAVE to describe the awfulness of Garfield breakdancing, Breckin “Ham” Meyer and Jennifer “Love” Hewitt. And I guess Bill Murray really really needed some extra cash.
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### Author:  [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/36 "2005-01-16T23:27:08Z")
Heh heh … I actually didn’t think **Garfield** was too bad. Obviously it was incredibly stupid, but I went into it having read all the reviews and I was expecting it to be the worst movie I had ever seen. It was dumb, and it irritated me that Garfield was CGI while Odie and Nermal were not, and I found it totally counter to the Garfield universe that LIZ actually had a crush on JON!!! … but then I realized that the real Garfield universe is kind of depressing[sup]1[/sup], and the movie was much more upbeat. I liked that aspect of it.
* * *
[sup]1[/sup]In the same way that the universe is kind of big.
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### Author:  [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/37 "2005-01-17T01:54:45Z")
Heh, I’ve only seen two of the movies mentioned thus far: _Resident Evil: Apocalypse_ (the first one was fun, this one was…meh) and _Collateral_ (agree that it was implausible, though it was well-done).
One disappointment: _The Terminal_
Overlong and manipulative dreck, but damn did Catherine Zeta-Jones look fine.
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### Author:  [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/38 "2005-01-17T02:37:49Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#):
>
> The worst movies I saw this year:
>
> \*\*Eurotrip
> \*\*
??? I realize that it won’t make the 10-best list of anyone who isn’t a 16-22 year old male, but it was pretty darn entertaining for what it was, and it was very honest about what it was going to be. I fail to see how one could look at the ads, think that it would be worth watching, and then go and see it and be disappointed by the end result.
Unless you were pissed that Dawn kept her top on 😉
-lv
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### Author:  [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/39 "2005-01-17T03:53:20Z")
Any tweener movie with Hillary Duff/Lindsey Lohan/any other overly made up wannabe popstar.
**Garfield** sucked rocks.
**Little Black Book** was ba-a-a-d
**Scooby Doo 2**
(I _try_ so hard to get the kid into decent movies, but I’m still stuck with the parental obligation to see the “cool” movies, which almost always blow chunks)
**Starsky & Hutch** meh
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-avoid-the-worst-movies-of-2004/284780/40 "2005-01-22T00:36:11Z")
Well, this thread is only about a week old, but if it was three years old it would still be worth resurrecting just to have an opportunity to say what a reeking pile of steaming shit **Ocean’s 12** is. I finally got around to seeing it today and I want my money and my time refunded. What dreck. What unmitigated crap.
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