# Misleading trailers that ruined the movie for you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466 "2010-08-06T23:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FrigidLizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3bc359/32.png) [@FrigidLizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrigidLizard)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/1 "2010-08-06T23:35:44Z")
I just came from a thread about Last Action Hero, and it was suggested that people didn’t like the movie because of the misleading trailer. I was wondering what other movies may have been ruined this way. For instance, when I saw The Cider House Rules, I was bitterly disappointed by how sordid it all was. The pre-Oscar hype made it out to be a heartwarming story about a doctor running an orphanage in the '40s. I really think I could have enjoyed the film on its own merits if I hadn’t been so misled by the trailer. Anyone else have a similar experience? ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/2 "2010-08-07T00:19:17Z")
Marley and Me: Trailer: Happyfun Doggie Movie! Woohoo!! Movie: Relationship woes abound, with life issues, and mortality crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/3 "2010-08-07T00:25:36Z")
Based on the teaser trailers for _E.T._, I was expecting scary aliens. I was disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/4 "2010-08-07T00:27:29Z")
The Bridge to Terabithia. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/5 "2010-08-07T01:27:44Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > The Bridge to Terabithia. I opened the thread to say this. It was marketed as a family movie where two kids enter a fantasy world. They didn’t tell us about the twist halfway through that made the three children (and at least 3 of the 4 adults) we were seeing it with break down in tears. My son still refers to it as “that evil movie” ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/6 "2010-08-07T02:34:01Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > > [@RikWriter](#): > > > > The Bridge to Terabithia. > > I opened the thread to say this. It was marketed as a family movie where two kids enter a fantasy world. They didn’t tell us about the twist halfway through that made the three children (and at least 3 of the 4 adults) we were seeing it with break down in tears. My son still refers to it as “that evil movie” I’m a third on that. We sat there waiting and waiting for the fantasy element, but it never came. ‘That evil movie’ is a reasonable description to me, but only because the trailers and posters lied. I was supposed to take my daughter and several of her friends to see it on her birthday, and am so glad we chose something else and saw BtT a few days later instead. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/7 "2010-08-07T02:36:28Z")
Bridge to Terabithia is a fine movie why are all kids wimps ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/8 "2010-08-07T03:03:39Z")
**The Man Who Loved Women** was marketed as a slapstick comedy. While there were a few scenes like that, it was actually a dramatic film about the nature of love. Similarly, **A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy** was a deeply serious film with the bleak outlook that no relationship will ever last. People thought it was a sex comedy, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/9 "2010-08-07T04:25:50Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Bridge to Terabithia is a fine movie > > why are all kids wimps You have to be in the right mood to watch a really sad movie about growing up and accepting mortality. That’s not the same mood you’re in when you go to watch a fun movie about two kids in a fantasy world. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/10 "2010-08-07T04:27:57Z")
should have read the book first ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/11 "2010-08-07T04:30:25Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > > [@RikWriter](#): > > > > The Bridge to Terabithia. > > I opened the thread to say this. It was marketed as a family movie where two kids enter a fantasy world. They didn’t tell us about the twist halfway through that made the three children (and at least 3 of the 4 adults) we were seeing it with break down in tears. My son still refers to it as “that evil movie” …It never occurred to me that there are people out there who made it past 6th grade without reading the book. You poor dears. To have gone so long… ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/12 "2010-08-07T04:32:24Z")
“What Lies Beneath.” I was mislead because I assumed the trailer saved some suspense or twists for the movie but I was wrong. It was literally a three minute summary of every plot point from beginning to end and completely ruined the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/13 "2010-08-07T04:34:31Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > …It never occurred to me that there are people out there who made it past 6th grade without reading the book. > > You poor dears. To have gone so long… You might want to be sitting down. Are you ready? I’ve never read the book. Nor did I see the movie. I have no plans to do either. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/14 "2010-08-07T04:48:09Z")
For me, it’s [_A Walk to Remember_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V96uhfQ0x9A). That trailer says to me ‘sappy romantic movie’, and NOTHING about the ‘let’s rip out their heart and stomp on it just for fun’ bit. Okay, maybe I’m overdramatic a bit but I hadn’t read the book (hadn’t heard of the book until the movie) and that one, along with City of Angels just made me cry and pissed me off when I was looking to lose myself in a sappy happy romantic haze. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/15 "2010-08-07T06:01:00Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > > [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > > > I opened the thread to say this. It was marketed as a family movie where two kids enter a fantasy world. They didn’t tell us about the twist halfway through that made the three children (and at least 3 of the 4 adults) we were seeing it with break down in tears. My son still refers to it as “that evil movie” > > …It never occurred to me that there are people out there who made it past 6th grade without reading the book. > > You poor dears. To have gone so long… I had never even heard of it until the movie came out. And I read practically everything in our local library growing up. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/16 "2010-08-07T06:02:50Z")
your local library maybe banned it for kids aren’t allowed to know that people die ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/17 "2010-08-07T06:38:36Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > your local library maybe banned it for kids aren’t allowed to know that people die Considering I was reading Judy Blume (including Tiger Eyes), John Saul novels, Where The Red Fern Grows, and many others featuring death, I seriously doubt that. But we’re getting off track here. Pan’s Labyrinth would have qualified, if I hadn’t heard what the movie really was like from other people before seeing it. The fantasy elements were so heavily played up from the trailers I recall that the full story would have been a bit jarring without that forewarning. (though I did actually love the movie) ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/18 "2010-08-07T12:21:55Z")
I must say [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf7h6o3I8yw) is the most misleading trailer of all time. Boy was I fooled when the actual movie was quite…different. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/19 "2010-08-07T13:38:39Z")
My wife and I saw an early trailer for Alien3, which had the alien making it to Earth. The actual movie was… disappointingly different. To say the least. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/20 "2010-08-07T15:31:36Z")
I, too, had never even heard of the book until the movie came out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466.md?page=2)