# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/141 "2026-01-02T19:45:21Z")
One that I would add is _Ocean’s 11_ (2001). The ensemble cast of course makes it work, but the way the story is told and the visuals are what take it a step above. You can predict the outcome, but the fun of the movie is the execution, which is well done. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/142 "2026-01-02T19:45:49Z")
**The Shawshank Redemption** is perfect. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/143 "2026-01-02T19:47:21Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > But I think if you actually gave people a choice, 95%+ of people would probably choose to watch Jurrassic Park or Wall-E over Citizen Kane. I think most people would watch Jackass the movie over Citizen Kane. ---
**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 2, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/144 "2026-01-02T19:49:39Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > No one has dumped on my Blues Brothers idea yet. Consider it dumped upon. Not a terrible movie, but something that we would **all** agree is good? No. > [@Sitnam](#): > > **The Shawshank Redemption** is perfect. _The Shawshank Redemption_ is a very good movie, but it’s also damn depressing. If I had a choice between re-watching that and re-watching my beloved _Jurassic Park_, it’d be the dinosaurs every time! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/145 "2026-01-02T19:50:49Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Honestly, I think all of the raving over Citizen Kane / Casablanca / all those old classics is mostly because people have heard those movies are great over and over again rather than that those are movies people would actually like to sit down and watch today. I will grant that _Citizen Kane_ is a bit of a slog, though it’s objectively a good film. But _Casablanca_? I think that one is timeless. ---
**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 2, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/146 "2026-01-02T19:52:57Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > expressing opinions like yours (maybe interesting, but not really helping either identify a consensus winner or nixing every nominee.) Fair point. I’ve gone through the thread, to see if there are any films which others have nominated, and which I have (a) seen, and (b) feel that said film is not at least “good.” The only film I see mentioned in the thread that I have to nix is **Blue Velvet**. I saw it when it was first released (I was in college), and it was way too strange and disturbing for my tastes. I did not enjoy it at all. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/147 "2026-01-02T19:55:31Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone bash **Groundhog Day**. Yeah that’s a contender ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/148 "2026-01-02T19:58:18Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > So, for example, no one yet has dissed Apollo 13 or Forrest Gump. You can take those off your list, I can’t stand Tom Hanks. I think he’s a terrible actor who plays the same role in every movie. He does, however, seem like a genuinely nice person. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/149 "2026-01-02T20:02:05Z")
I hated Groundhog Day. Bill Murray’s character is too misogynistic and manipulative. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/150 "2026-01-02T20:05:20Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The only film I see mentioned in the thread that I have to nix is **Blue Velvet**. I saw it when it was first released (I was in college), and it was way too strange and disturbing for my tastes. I did not enjoy it at all. I loves me some Lynch, and _Blue Velvet_ runs a close second to _Lost Highway_ as a favorite. But I did a double-take when I saw it nominated. Not that I would nix it myself, but I have to recognize that Lynch, in general, is a niche taste. > [@madmonk28](#): > > You can take those off your list, I can’t stand Tom Hanks. I think he’s a terrible actor who plays the same role in every movie. He does, however, seem like a genuinely nice person. I don’t think Hanks is a terrible actor, but I’ll agree with taking _Forrest Gump_ off the list. That one just rubs me the wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/151 "2026-01-02T20:06:34Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > There is no way you’re going to get people under 30 to enjoy very many movies made before the 1980s. They’re just too slow, they lack a lot of refinement that movies have made over the years. Citizen Kane? You think anyone under 50 or 60 has Citizen Kane among their favorites? > > Sound of music is a terrible pick because a lot of people don’t like musicals, so any musical is automatically and easily disqualified. > > I’ve never actually seen Casablanca but I bet it, like almost all movies made in that era, would hold little appeal for younger audiences. > > **. . .** > > Honestly, I think all of the raving over Citizen Kane / Casablanca / all those old classics is mostly because people have heard those movies are great over and over again rather than that those are movies people would actually like to sit down and watch today. > > **. . .** Speaking for myself, I’m 46, a child of the 80s and 90s. I grew up watching not only the modern stuff, but also the (often) black and white classics with my parents – often on “Saturday Night at the Movies”, a program that aired on the weekend on TV Ontario, a public broadcasting channel where I grew up. _Casablanca_ is definitely a classic and while obviously dated, I don’t have one bad word about it. I last saw it when I was maybe 13, but I would love to re-watch it as an adult. _Sound of Music_ is one of my all-time favorite movies! Yes, it’s a musical, but it’s a musical done _right_. Good actors with on-screen synergy, lavish sets, Alpine scenery, and _good_ music. Yes, it’s a musical, but it’s not sung-through and the songs are of high quality. _Citizen Kane_ though, was a bit of a disappointment. I watched it around the age of 18 precisely because a teacher – a teacher I esteemed – recommended it. Mr. C., my grade 12 English teacher, also taught a film or media subject, and liked to make film references from time to time. In a context that now escapes me, he said (during the 1996/1997 school year) that some people said _Citizen Kane_ was the best film ever made. When I watched it, though, my impression was rather “meh”. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really sympathize with the main character, all the research to answer the question of what “Rosebud” meant didn’t really make sense. OK, there was storytelling going on there, (and I know that the movie used filmography techniques that were revolutionary _for its time_), but seriously, after seeing anything by Kurosawa, or by Spielberg, calling this “the best movie ever filmed” seems almost obscene. That said, I would give _Citizen Kane_ a second chance. Like I said, I didn’t hate it. When I have some time I may watch it again and see if I like it more the second time. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/152 "2026-01-02T20:09:31Z")
_King Kong_ (1933) _The Third Man_ (1949) _Seven Samurai_ (1954) - If you haven’t seen it on a big screen, you haven’t seen it ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/153 "2026-01-02T20:11:33Z")
I could watch Casablanca every year for the rest of my life. But I’m 66 years old. I think a lot of younger people today weren’t taught as much about the events leading up to WW2 to fully appreciate _Casablanca_. I think a lot of teaching of that era was drowned out by WW2. I once loaned the DVD to a friend of mine, an educated fellow about fifteen years younger than me, who liked war movies. I had to explain to him the background reasons why Rick could not return to America. While the script states explicitly that Rick ran guns to the rebel side in the Spanish civil war and Haile Selassie’s forces in Ethiopia, you had to understand that since the U.S. was officially neutral in those conflicts, Rick had essentially committed treason. My late mother also hated _Casablanca_, probably for similar reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/154 "2026-01-02T20:19:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > How so? Over on the ATMB, it says there are only 1000 or so active posters. How is it “impossible” that 1000 folk cannot agree on something? (Provided folk opine only on films they have seen, and eschew joke answers.) I dunno; if I haven’t seen a movie, then I’ll refrain from saying that it’s bad, but I also can’t really agree that it’s good. I’m not sure how to fairly account for this: If we just say that “haven’t seen it” counts as “good”, then the winner would be some movie so obscure that only one person here has seen it. But if we count “haven’t seen it” against a movie, then any movie will have some folks who haven’t seen it. > [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > I could watch Casablanca every year for the rest of my life. But maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/155 "2026-01-02T20:22:16Z")
> [@chela](#): > > 007 At least five Bond movies are good enough. No way these are contenders, even the best bond films seem super predictable and derivative now (because they basically invented so many action film tropes). That’s an issue with a lot of the really seminal classic films, they just seem predictable and boring when watched for the first time now Also boy howdy so much misogyny! Like actual misogyny, as in hatred of women, not just being sexist. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/156 "2026-01-02T20:22:49Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone bash **Groundhog Day**. My next-door neighbor said she didn’t like it because it’s the same thing over and over again. No, I am not making this up. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/157 "2026-01-02T20:24:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I dunno; if I haven’t seen a movie, then I’ll refrain from saying that it’s bad, but I also can’t really agree that it’s good. IMO this is being pedantic and fighting the OP. If one Doper has never seen a movie, or dislikes all film, does that mean we cannot all agree? Sure, this post can be overly parsed in all manner of ways. Or folk could just go along with the clear and often repeated intent. ---
**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 2, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/158 "2026-01-02T20:26:50Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I’ve never actually seen Casablanca but I bet it, like almost all movies made in that era, would hold little appeal for younger audiences. I saw it once, on DVD (so you know the minimum timeframe). Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it, remember very little about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/159 "2026-01-02T20:26:52Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > _Citizen Kane_ though, was a bit of a disappointment. I watched it around the age of 18 precisely because a teacher – a teacher I esteemed – recommended it. Mr. C., my grade 12 English teacher, also taught a film or media subject, and liked to make film references from time to time. In a context that now escapes me, he said (during the 1996/1997 school year) that some people said _Citizen Kane_ was the best film ever made. When I watched it, though, my impression was rather “meh”. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really sympathize with the main character, all the research to answer the question of what “Rosebud” meant didn’t really make sense. I don’t think you were expected to sympathize with the main character of Charles Foster Kane. And the bit about researching the origin of Rosebud as his last word was, I thought, just a framing device to review his background. Though learning that he missed the innocence of his childhood did make him a _little_ sympathetic. ---
**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 2, 2026, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271/160 "2026-01-02T20:27:44Z")
> [@Topologist](#): > > _Bringing up Baby_ I have to say, we turned this movie off after 15 minutes, it was soooo stupid. I’d heard so many good things about the classic screwball comedy, and …boy what a letdown. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-movie-we-all-would-agree-is-good-if-not-great/1026271.md?page=9)