# Movies that underwhelmed you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403 "2018-12-01T16:38:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/61 "2018-12-03T02:06:00Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > There have been many I’ve been disappointed with, but top honors for having the lowest ratio of enjoyment compared to hyper-emphatic recommendations goes for these two: > > - ‘Borat’. Sold to me as groundbreaking-ly funny…exponentially so, was horrifically un-funny. Almost anti-clever. I could tolerate it only in half-hour hunks. My 80 year old mother cracked a rib, laughing so hard at ‘Borat’. (No, she was not senile, sharp as a razor and loathed fundies and republicans, all her life). She also adored ‘Two and A Half Men’, ‘Family Guy,’ and Joan Rivers, whenever she was on tv. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/62 "2018-12-03T02:23:59Z")
“Best Movie Evah” that was meh award. Fargo. Very ordinary Most false advertised movie: Magnolia. There wew no OMG coincidences. Two Days in the Valley and Grand Canyon did this genre so much better Most Anticipated Movie -\> Horrible Movie award. The Force Awakes. I know what you all are saying and you all are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/63 "2018-12-03T02:38:51Z")
Although I have been disappointed by many movies, the one with the biggest gap between Positive Expectation and Negative Reality, for me, has to be **Avatar**. $200 million for a movie and NO budget for a script? Astonishing. I won’t watch anything with Will Farrell, Adam Sandler, or Jim Carrey in it. For balance, the movie I was expecting to hate, but ended up enjoying enough that I’ve seen it more than 50 times now… \*\* Joe vs The Volcano\*\* Brilliant. Every scene is a gem. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/64 "2018-12-03T03:15:02Z")
All of the Christopher Nolan “Dark Knight” series. I thought they were boring, had plot holes the size of freeway tunnels, and were so dark and humorless that I just didn’t see the point. “Jurassic Park 2” - I loved the first one, and had extremely high hopes for the second. I was very disappointed. “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” - I am a huge Harry Potter fan, loved all seven original movies, and I literally fell asleep twice during this one. Boring movie, nonsensical plot, and Johnny Depp was annoying. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/65 "2018-12-03T06:02:43Z")
I had heard that “Pan’s Labyrinth” was terrific, albeit violent. It was violent, all right, but not so terrific IMNSHO. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/66 "2018-12-03T14:39:33Z")
Agree with everyone about _2001_. My dad raved about that movie throughout my childhood but I didn’t get a chance to watch it until I was in my late teens when we finally ponied up for satellite TV. I found it the most boring movie I had ever watched. Also agree with the above comments about Will Farrell and Adam Sandler. I’ve always found them incredibly stupid, even when I was a sophomoric idiot myself. Even _Elf_ doesn’t do much for me, and I’m a sucker for Christmas movies. Agree with the above posters re: all superhero movies. Boring, mindless action sequences. Yawn. All the Star Wars movies except _The Last Jedi_. (I once foolishly started a thread on my ambivalence to the Star Wars movies, and the ensuing uproar ended up with **Miller** of all people pissed at me, two posters pitting each other and **pepperlandgirl** leaving the board in a huff, never to return. I still feel bad about that.) Avatar. It’s Dances With Wolves — in space! Racist tripe. Of course… I think _Waterworld_ is one of the most entertaining movies I’ve ever seen, so take all the above with a large grain of salt. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/67 "2018-12-03T14:42:18Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > All of the Christopher Nolan “Dark Knight” series. I thought they were boring, had plot holes the size of freeway tunnels, and were so dark and humorless that I just didn’t see the point. Same. Too-serious attempts at a genre that’s inherently silly that couldn’t live up to the gravitas he was trying to create. I can live with the plot holes and suspend disbelief for a film that’s a bit more self aware but the Nolan films were taking themselves too seriously as Very Important Things to give them the benefit of the doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/68 "2018-12-03T15:16:05Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood tried too hard to appeal to film aficionados. They both were ok, but I would never tell anyone they’re MUST SEES. Heh. When Tommy Lee Jones was giving his little monologue at the end of _NCfOM_, I was so bored I tuned it out as I waited for something more interesting to happen. Then the credits rolled and I thought, ‘well, I guess I should have paid attention as his little speech must have wrapped things up.’ I’ve never gone back to find out what he said. It’s on Netflix and I just can’t be bothered to look at that last two minutes. I just don’t care enough to take the time as no matter what he says, it’s not going to make the rest of the movie at all intersting. I concur with _Inception_. ---
**Author:** ![jerseymule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jerseymule/32/3155_2.png) [@jerseymule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerseymule)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/69 "2018-12-03T15:50:05Z")
The original 1968 movie [The Thomas Crown Affair](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063688/) with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Somehow I had never seen this one and saw the more recent one (1999) with [Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155267/?ref_=nv_sr_2) and thought it was not great but enjoyable. I was really looking forward to seeing the original version, but quit watching probably less than halfway through the movie. It just bored me to tears. I am willing to give it a try sometime in the future if somebody can convince me that the 1968 movie is just slow to get started and will be worth watching until the end. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/70 "2018-12-03T16:13:01Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > **Amelie** : It was very clever. Problem is, clever is all it was, to not much point. Okay, she affected other people’s lives, but to what purpose? What was the use of getting those two people together, if they just kept sniping at each other the same way they’d been doing? The fake letter from the dead husband could easily have backfired and made the wife/widow feel even worse. And the guy Amelie chose for herself? I’ll never understand why she pretended **not** to be who he was looking for when he came to the cafe. Well, I’m not sure the point was to make a specific moral or something. It’s about a person who’s amusing and does things we all kind of wish we could do, but is also flawed (like all of us). In fact, regarding Amelie’s guy, that’s completely the central part of the movie: she was completely confident when turning other people’s lives upside-down, but too terrified to follow-through when it came to her own life. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/71 "2018-12-03T17:03:15Z")
Two movies that were highly rated that I just could not get into: Anybody remember _Out of Africa_? I thought it would never end. My girlfriend and I walked out of _Prince of the City_ because we were bored senseless. That’s the only time I ever walked out of a movie. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I completely fail to see the appeal of Will Ferrell. He’s sophomoric and crass. I’m glad I’m not the only one. > [@XOldiesJock](#): > > **Avatar:** Was expecting to like this but found it completely uninvolving. Couldn’t bring myself to care about the characters. Just didn’t understand what all the hype was about. Characters? CGI was the star of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/72 "2018-12-03T17:20:40Z")
Another vote for “The Shape of Water.” I was bored beyond belief - and all the Oscar buzz it had gotten just baffled me. It was basically a serious version of “Splash” with the roles reversed. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/73 "2018-12-03T17:44:05Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > “Saving Private Ryan.” After the first 20 minutes or so, it was a bore. Yeppers. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I also didn’t think “The Big Chill” was that good, although it did have a nice soundtrack. Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!! I saw that movie with two friends when it came out in 1983. We all thought it stunk. And then we were stunned by everyone we knew, and everyone we didn’t know as well, saying what a great film it was. I’m not sure I’ve ever talked IRL with anyone (other than those two friends, who I’ve long since lost touch with) who didn’t think it was good. But to us, it felt like a made-for-TV remake of [Secaucus 7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_Secaucus_7), and not a very good one at that. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Citizen Kane. > > Okay, it was a revolution in film-making technique. Sets that actually looked like real rooms, instead of looking like sets. But I found nothing of interest in the actual story. Exactly. The sort of thing that should be of interest to students of film history, but why should anyone else care? > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > 1. Or, per the Mad Magazine parody, _201 Minutes of Space Idiocy_. > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I had to walk out of **An Unmarried Woman** as soon as it got to the “Maybe I’m Amazed” piano thing with mom and daughter. It wasn’t even that good in 1978, but I can’t imagine that it would be the least bit interesting now. It and _Tootsie_ (also mentioned in this thread) would be mostly interesting now as material for a sociology/women’s studies course, as examples of where American gender roles were at in the late 1970s and early 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/74 "2018-12-03T17:49:02Z")
Anyone mentioned the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy yet? You’d have to pay me to get me to watch them again. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/75 "2018-12-03T18:19:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Interesting. I love some of the films listed here as ones that didn’t move people, but I find many more that I agree with > I was underwhelmed by > > The English Patient > > Any Adam Sandler movie > > All Will Ferrell movies (except _Elf_). I’ll grant that he might be a great actor who gives his all, but that doesn’t mean I care about the movies he’s elected to act in. > > Although I love James Cameron, his commitment to film and his ability to get ambitious projects made with superb special effects, _Avatar_ didn’t move me at all. It’s Ferngully with money. If I liked it, I’d own a copy of the DVD. > > Most recent comedies don’t do a thing for me at all. Thank you for listing all but one that I intended to mention. My one addition is The Hobbit trilogy, which I wanted to like but couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/76 "2018-12-03T18:41:26Z")
Recently, **Annihilation**. I went on the strength of some recommendations from friends, but it was extremely pretentious, and it also felt to me like it started nowhere and ended nowhere. The premise is, frankly, dumb, the characters are dumber. You know how the least-popular part of **2001** is that extended trippy light show that’s supposed to mean something but damned if you know what? **Annihilation** has one of those too. From what I understand, the novel is even more pretentious; the characters don’t even have names, they’re just “the surveyor”, “the psychologist”, and so on. Because that’s how real people are, just a job with no identity. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/77 "2018-12-03T18:53:31Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Johnny Depp was annoying. Is annoying and has been forever. A surprisingly long career based on tiresome schtick. I don’t begrudge Melissa McCarthy milking her moment in the sun for all it’s worth, but I was underwhelmed by the first couple films she made and shan’t see another. And Hollywood? There are other funny actresses out there. Stars that underwhelm me so much I avoid their movies: Will Farrell, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carrey. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/78 "2018-12-03T19:01:16Z")
**Rushmore** - Went with three of my “artsy / more intelligent” friends and by the midway point, we were all so bored that we actually walked out of the theater. First and only time I’ve ever done that. Hell, I sat through “The Phantom.” **Gladiator** - This is a case of "I waited for a few weeks before going to see it, and by then, it was so over-hyped that there’s no way it could meet the expectations that people had set forth. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/79 "2018-12-03T19:05:18Z")
“Manchester by the Sea”, and that’s because of Casey Affleck who has my vote as the most mediocre actor ever to win an Academy Award. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/80 "2018-12-03T19:25:31Z")
Avatar? When it was first released I recommended people go see it in 3D theaters. It was a feast for the eyes. Nothing like that had ever been done in a mass market cinema experience. Yeah, the story is a lame ripoff of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Yeah the scenes with lots of humans up close in 3D made you feel ill. Still, it was an experience. The T Rex scene in Jurassic Park, the 3D Michael Jackson music video at Epcot Center when I was 16… Those three are the only times I can think of when visuals just made my jaw drop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403.md?page=5)