# most overrated movie
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 26, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133 "2012-05-26T02:26:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/21 "2012-05-26T04:05:55Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> I apologize for being a picky stick in the mud, but threads like this always make me ask…
>
> OVERRATED BY WHOM???
>
> By the critics? By the public at large? By the Academy Awards voters? By your circle of friends? By SDMB regulars?
Also, how do define “overrated”? Do you mean a movie that’s actually somewhat entertaining but not, as some may consider, one of the best of all time? Or do you mean a highly regarded movie that, in your opinion, outright sucks?
---
### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/22 "2012-05-26T04:10:08Z")
Off the top of my head I’ll go with Dune.
As a non fanboy who had not read the books I found it a mildly entertaining yet somewhat odd movie. But to hear others talk about it, it should have blown my mind or sumptin.
---
### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/23 "2012-05-26T04:22:11Z")
American Beauty. There are only a couple of scenes in that movie that hold up over time.
---
### Author:  [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/24 "2012-05-26T04:22:46Z")
Avatar. _Cocoon_ did the “melding” better. I thought Avatar was more for kids—who don’t read.
---
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/25 "2012-05-26T04:41:52Z")
> [@Becky2844](#):
>
> Avatar. _Cocoon_ did the “melding” better. I thought Avatar was more for kids—who don’t read.
I agree. Certainly the most over-rated film of the millennium so far.
---
### Author:  [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/26 "2012-05-26T04:43:46Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> I apologize for being a picky stick in the mud, but threads like this always make me ask…
>
> OVERRATED BY WHOM???
>
> By the critics? By the public at large? By the Academy Awards voters? By your circle of friends? By SDMB regulars?
If you need a measuring stick, let’s say the public at large. I think the data on IMDB can reflect with relative accuracy the feelings of the general public, so let’s go with that.
If the movie is Howard the Duck, well, I don’t think anyone is over-rating it, so putting it on this list is a bit farfetched.
Also, if it’s a movie that your child loves to watch over and over, in his/her mind it’s the greatest and is probably over-rated by them. However, the movie is probably not over-rated by the movie going population, so that would also not be good for the list.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/27 "2012-05-26T04:48:13Z")
**The Usual Suspects** just didn’t do it for me. I saw it pretty early on, without knowing that it had a “twist,” and I didn’t find it nearly as clever as it thought it was. I guess I just generally don’t like these sorts of self-consciously clever movies. I didn’t _hate_ it, but it’s not a movie I ever need to see again. That said, it didn’t annoy me nearly as much as that Bruce Willis and the kid movie with the twist. I saw that one coming a mile away and it just actively pissed me off for some reason.
**Goodfellas** was all sorts of awesome, though. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/28 "2012-05-26T04:51:48Z")
_The Shawshank Redemption_, good though it may be, is NOT the best movie of all time. Either everybody has been boosting it on IMDB for years for some nefarious purpose or I’m completely out of step with reality, because it wasn’t even the best movie that came out that year, let alone the best ever. As such, it is the very definition of overrated.
---
### Author:  [@Mann\_Slaughter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mann_Slaughter)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/29 "2012-05-26T04:51:48Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> I apologize for being a picky stick in the mud, but threads like this always make me ask…
>
> OVERRATED BY WHOM???
>
> By the critics? By the public at large? By the Academy Awards voters? By your circle of friends? By SDMB regulars?
I’m going with “All of the above” and adding “Titanic” to the list.
My wife and I had heard great things about this movie… No, not great…FANTASTIC! (From critics, and word of mouth)
We went in thinking that we’d both want to have “Titanic” babies, and came out looking at each other asking, “Maybe they saw a different movie…?”
Totally underwhelming!
---
### Author:  [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/30 "2012-05-26T04:52:05Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> Also, how do define “overrated”? Do you mean a movie that’s actually somewhat entertaining but not, as some may consider, one of the best of all time? Or do you mean a highly regarded movie that, in your opinion, outright sucks?
sorry, didn’t see this until I posted the last note. How about defining “overrated” as it works for you?
The movie you select should be recognized by most of us as a movie that has been hyped or overhyped to the point that even if you didn’t see it, you know about it and probably have heard people discuss it. You should see your film, and compare it to the public at large, the buzz, or whatever makes sense to you.
For example, Titanic was hit by a number of people. Good choice for those that didn’t like it as it has been rated as a great movie by many people…
don’t think too much into it. You should know when you go see a movie and know anything about it, that when you leave the theater, it falls flat for you, whether it be Titanic, Avatar, Forrest Gump (an excellent choice in MHO) or whatever.
---
### Author:  [@Mann\_Slaughter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mann_Slaughter)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/31 "2012-05-26T04:58:33Z")
And how could I possibly forget “Drive” (2011)???
What a promising start: A Hollywood stunt driver has a side job as a getaway driver for whatever bad guys can meet his price. It has Ryan Gosling, so it’s guaranteed to be good, right? Right…? Umm… No!
For a movie named “Drive” you think there’d be more, I don’t know… DRIVING?? This movie is slower than turtle shit! :mad:
---
### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/32 "2012-05-26T05:50:24Z")
The Princess Bride.
It’s cute. It has some clever lines. But it’s definitely not the comedic genius I was expecting.
---
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/33 "2012-05-26T07:20:01Z")
**Blade Runner**. Ridley Scott himself is overrated. All visual flash, very little substance.
---
### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/34 "2012-05-26T07:39:04Z")
Dare I mention Citzen Kane? And no, I’m not one of those “dislike black-and-white” types. I’m a big fan of The Bicycle Thief, The Grand Illusion, Great Expectations (young Alec Guinness version), yadda yadda.
But Citizen Kane didn’t do it for me, and few films have received more praise.
---
### Author:  [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/35 "2012-05-26T07:55:34Z")
_Fight Club_ was, IMHO, a pretentious wankfest. I’ve grown to really dislike self-consciously “clever” postmodern films–there’s something smug and hipsterish about them.
---
### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/36 "2012-05-26T08:08:40Z")
**The Sand Pebbles** started off pretty good and made a sharp left turn at transparent political commentary around the ham-handed scene where the other sailors are demanding McQueen surrender himself to the Commie insurgents. The proper response to the closing scene of the film is a sarcastic scoff and a “Yeah, right.”
Fritz Lang’s **Metropolis** is a visual delight, but the closing scene with evil capitalist Rotwang and his lefty son teaming up to salvage what’s left of civilization requires the viewer to forget what an evil dickwad we had previously been told Rotwang was.
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/37 "2012-05-26T08:21:12Z")
_ **Return of the Jedi** _. Showed the series had run out of steam by the third movie and set the stage for the awful prequels.
---
### Author:  [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/38 "2012-05-26T10:18:01Z")
Star Wars.
Sure, loved by children, its intended audience. But people are remembering their childhood, not the film.
---
### Author:  [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/39 "2012-05-26T10:19:58Z")
Hmm. I haven’t yet thought of any film more overrated than _Blair Witch Project_ at least in terms of popularity rather than awards.
_Titanic_ and is way overrated too, but at least I can understand its appeal to those who enjoy emotional sappy quasi-historical films with the best special effects that a $200 million budget can buy. As far as Academy Awards go (eleven), this film probably should get the nod for most overrated. IMO, _The English Patient_ and _Lawrence of Arabia_ are similarly overrated.
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133/40 "2012-05-26T10:36:20Z")
JJ Adams’s _ **Star Trek** _, which that piece of dreck most certainly was not. Seldom in my life have I been so thoroughly underwhelmed!
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-movie/623133.md?page=3)