# Is there any movie we ALL would agree is good (if not great)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [January 2, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271 "2026-01-02T14:18:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/381 "2026-01-06T06:58:37Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > everyone came out uplifted I saw what you did there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/382 "2026-01-06T08:18:07Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > My specific nixes from that list are _The Lord of the Rings_ (not interested in elaborate fantasies) … I generally like fantasies (say, _The Princess Bride_, and whatever happened to _Willow_?), but I draw the line at _The Lord of the Rings_. Friends loved it, and encouraged me to read it, but I only got about twenty pages in before I decided “This is a waste of time,” put it aside, and picked up a Stephen King or an Arthur Hailey novel. So when the movies came out, I decided to give them another chance, and got the trilogy on DVD. Same thing happened twenty minutes into the first: “This is a waste of my time.” And I put in a Hitchcock movie. Or maybe a Capra movie. Or a drive-in B-picture, such as _Two-Lane Blacktop_. Doesn’t matter; whatever DVD I put in was a helluva lot more entertaining than _Lord of the Rings_. So if your vote doesn’t nix _Lord of the Rings_ once and for all, I hope my nix does. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/383 "2026-01-06T08:59:55Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I only got about twenty pages in before I decided “This is a waste of time,” For what it’s worth, most fans of the book think that the first twenty pages are not the best part of it. That part is about establishing the world of Middle-earth. Those pages are about what is going on in the Shire, which is a peaceful place at the time. The really interesting parts of the book are later on in it. Sometimes that happens with great books. That doesn’t mean that I can absolutely promise that you will be happy reading it all. i can’t promise that with anything. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/384 "2026-01-06T12:47:15Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Along those lines, might **Romancing the Stone** also be a contender? **Romancing the Stone** is kind of a Temu **Raiders of the lost Ark.** ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/385 "2026-01-06T14:33:32Z")
I watched it last year for the first time in at least 20 years (ok, maybe that says something in itself) and it’s good corny fun. The chemistry between Douglas and Turner is terrific. DeVito is, well, DeVito but is very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/386 "2026-01-06T14:40:17Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > **Romancing the Stone** is kind of a Temu **Raiders of the lost Ark.** Maybe if _Raiders_ was a Rom-com. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/387 "2026-01-06T15:41:39Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Yeah, I don’t think you get nominated for “best writing” for being “monumentally unimaginative”. Disclaimer: I like the movie. It has issues, but it is a good movie. But taking the movie as a stand alone, no reading the book or post-film analyses, HAL is just another robot-gone-bad, that kills for no reason. We all know, we who have read the novel, why HAL did what it did, and _that_ reason is not unimaginative; in fact, it is far from unimaginative, and makes perfect, logical sense. But that’s not in the film! In the film, a killbot goes on a murder spree, just like countless robots of old films. Very unimaginative. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/388 "2026-01-06T15:47:11Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > But taking the movie as a stand alone, no reading the book or post-film analyses, HAL is just another robot-gone-bad, that kills for no reason _2001_ became a much more comprehensible film after viewing _2010_. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/389 "2026-01-06T16:42:29Z")
At this point I am completely convinced that the answer to the OP is “nope.” There are some movies that not enough people weigh in on, but of course there isn’t anything that meets universal acclaim. Vive la difference. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/390 "2026-01-06T17:05:31Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > > [@GargoyleWB](#): > > > > Christmas Story > > Oh **GOD** no. My family last year put this on, and Lord it is definitely the worst movie I have ever seen. Hopelessly written, acted (as such), and directed. Yet it supposedly echoes people’s actual holidays of their childhood. Not mine. Huh—my family absolutely loves this movie at Christmas. We’re not the only ones—there’s a reason it plays on a 24-hour loop on Christmas Day. But it’s set in 1939 or 1940 and was based on [Jean Shepard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Shepherd)’s humorous and exaggerated recollections of his childhood many decades later. So it’s not based on the actual holiday of very many people who are still alive. They would be in their late 90s now. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/391 "2026-01-06T17:22:23Z")
I remember watching **The Lion King** with our kids, but in one of the earliest scenes, I had one thought that ruined the whole movie for me: Why are all these PREY animals gathering at Pride Rock to exalt a newborn apex predator who will one day be EATING them? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/392 "2026-01-06T17:33:58Z")
> [@robby](#): > > So it’s not based on the actual holiday of very many people who are still alive. Born in 1961. There is so much of that film that is true to my childhood, it’s scary. Get out of my head, Mr Shepard! Uneven trees, too many plugs in the socket, licking the light bulbs to get them to work, dressing for winter like “extended deep sea diving”, “the bell rang” as the ultimate inviolate answer, “saving electricity”, fuse replacement, the look of the classroom, the type of fire truck (my town has no police force, though. Too small), the “Fred Flintstone” invective of the Old Man, and probably more things I can’t think of right now. A Christmas Story Christmas was set in 1971 but seems less “right” than the original. None of this, of course, means anyone has to like the film. But this is one big reason I do. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/393 "2026-01-06T17:44:18Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > At this point I am completely convinced that the answer to the OP is “nope.” On seeing the thread title I was completely convinced that the answer was “nope”. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/394 "2026-01-06T17:50:31Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > I remember watching **The Lion King** with our kids, but in one of the earliest scenes, I had one thought that ruined the whole movie for me: Why are all these PREY animals gathering at Pride Rock to exalt a newborn apex predator who will one day be EATING them? [![](https://i.imgur.com/SM4qYJD.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/SM4qYJD.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/395 "2026-01-06T17:51:10Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > tl:dr version: as @wolfpup’s observation would suggest, many of the films we’ve discussed have IMDb ratings in the high 7s and low 8s, and none of the ones I looked up were below a 7.0. Quite a few substantially above the 7.9 threshold, in the mid 8s to low 9s. It’s not really “quite a few” when you consider that it has to be measured relative to the set of “all the movies ever made”. From that perspective, it’s a very very small number of movies indeed that are rated above 7.9. Consider, for example, the 2023 film _The Holdovers_. A terrific film, regarded by many as the best film of the year, with 137 wins and 211 nominations in various award venues and nominated for Best Picture in the 2024 Oscars along with Oscar nominations in four other categories. It has a 97% rating on RT. Its IMDb rating? 7.9. Which is a fantastically good rating, and a very tough threshold to exceed. As an aside, as I said earlier, for my purposes at least, I consider IMDb ratings more useful than those on RT. My rule of thumb is that anything rated higher than 7.0 is likely to be very good, and depending on subject matter and my personal preferences, I’ve found many fine movies rated below 7. Generally, my cutoff point is 6.0. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/396 "2026-01-06T18:04:06Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I’d put _Hudsucker_ MUCH higher than that. So would I. It’s for the kids, you know? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/397 "2026-01-06T18:57:37Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The Coen brothers weren’t particularly impressed by _The Big Lebowski_. To them I would say: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/j95kNwZw8YY/maxresdefault.jpg "Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion, man.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95kNwZw8YY) ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/398 "2026-01-06T19:07:20Z")
Have we found ANY movies we all agree to be “good”? _Groundhog Day_? _Ghost_? _Memento_? _Sixth Sense_? _Titanic_ doesn’t live up to the hype but is still “good.” _Fargo, Mystic River, Cuckoo’s Nest, Good-Bad-Ugly_ are among my top favorites – I suppose they’ve all been vetoed. Chronos linked to movies with 100%RT. I’ve never heard of most of them, but let me veto _Singin’ in the Rain._ There are at least a dozen better musicals. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > > [@Gordon\_G](#): > > > > May I ask how old you two are, and what movies from the 1930’s or '40’s you do like? > > 55; Gaslight’s a good one. The reason I asked about age is that, unlike Vietnam, Iraq, etc. WW II was a heroic war of Good vs Evil. Us old-time _Casablanca_ lovers have a visceral connection to that era that you 55-year-old young’uns may not have! It’s hard to take the astounding “boring” complaint seriously. “Melodrama” is often used as a pejorative but the first Google hit is > [@Oxford Languages](#): > > ### **mel·o·dra·ma** > > a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions. By that definition, most of my favorite movies are melodramas. I’d never heard of _Gaslight_ but watched it now and agree it’s a good movie (and now I know where that modern slang verb comes from). But _Gaslight_ will never be one of my favorite movies. I like cheerful movies! I can tolerate evil, horror and dread but want occasional relief, NOT over an hour of UNRELENTING and exasperating gloom. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/399 "2026-01-06T19:11:04Z")
Eh, it’s been a few years since I watched Casablanca. All I remember is endless discussions about papers that may not exist (?), a nice scene where everyone sings as a fuck you to the Nazis, and Bogart (ick). Maybe I’d get it if I watched it again. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/400 "2026-01-06T19:22:16Z")
On a scale of 1 to 10, _Casablanca_ deserves at least 18. Every scene is perfect. [This 6-minute clip is almost the only scene with this girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd2PK6OTDj0), but lets us know that Rick appreciates true love even if “nobody ever loved [him] that much.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271.md?page=21)