# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/141 "2018-12-13T17:46:24Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > _Napoleon Dynamite_ Wow, holy heck yes. This movie caused my physical pain, and not in the “laughing too hard” way. Man, that thing was terrible. There’s a comic somewhere that I can’t find that literally contains the words “If this is as bad as Napoleon Dynamite, I’m leaving you.” ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/142 "2018-12-13T18:23:04Z")
(repeating what some have already posted) **This Is Spinal Tap** It’s so cool that I really really wanted to like it. I remember renting that movie on a couple of occasions thinking that maybe I didn’t “get it” the first time around. It had lots of quirky gags such as the “11” thing and the Stonehenge bit, but it just wasn’t entertaining. **Star Wars** and all of its progeny. It was a good movie in 1977. It was an awesome movie to see as a tween, but then again so were Close Encounters and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The plot is relatively thin though, and the special effects were nice but not worth crowing about for forty years. My problem with it is that so many better movies have been made in the intervening decades but people continue to go on about Star Wars. I have sat through some of the prequels, accompanying family members, but I got nothing from them. As far as space and effects, **2001** was a much better film with a far deeper plot in my opinion (notwithstanding the fact that many have mentioned 2001 in this thread). ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/143 "2018-12-13T21:35:13Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I’ve never liked Jerry Maguire…it was caught between being a sports movie and a rom/com. And fell flat on both counts. HATE this movie. Such a complete piece of crap. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/144 "2018-12-13T21:48:04Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > See, now that surprises me. I thought _Pan’s Labyrinth_ was amazing, with the interplay between the real-world story of Ofelia, her mother and her abusive stepfather, and the fantasy world. > > But, like all Guillermo Del Toro’s movies, the real stars are the set design, the effects, and Doug Jones. Del Toro is just amazing at world-building; the little throwaway scene at the beginning of the movie, where a preying mantis becomes a fairy, shows just how good he is at creating beings that are both realistic and fantastic, gorgeous and disturbing. And Doug Jones is just otherworldly; [the Faun](http://https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.mentalfloss.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fmf_image_16x9%2Fpublic%2Fpanhed.jpg%3Fitok%3DFWVKG0VC%26resize%3D1100x1100&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmentalfloss.com%2Farticle%2F79882%2F14-fantastical-facts-about-pans-labyrinth&docid=7N5HCzpi29xLaM&tbnid=pYqHYKdp0ldW1M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiE7on-34TfAhVQhuAKHY1CCsoQMwg_KAIwAg..i&w=1100&h=739&safe=active&bih=948&biw=1920&q=pans%20labyrinth%20faun&ved=0ahUKEwiE7on-34TfAhVQhuAKHY1CCsoQMwg_KAIwAg&iact=mrc&uact=8) and[the Pale Man](http://https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fvignette.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fvillains%2Fimages%2F7%2F7e%2FTheScaryPaleManHD.jpg%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20180422234843&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvillains.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FPale_Man&docid=X3PhCP9YgUXBZM&tbnid=VVglCMw-DXewGM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjZ-I3G34TfAhWFdt8KHcxBBDgQMwg3KAAwAA..i&w=2000&h=1500&safe=active&bih=948&biw=1920&q=pans%20labyrinth%20monster&ved=0ahUKEwjZ-I3G34TfAhWFdt8KHcxBBDgQMwg3KAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8) were both deeply unsettling, mesmerizing, and beautiful. > > YMMV, of course. Completely agree. I love this movie. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/145 "2018-12-25T00:31:28Z")
I didn’t find the late-1980s “Batman” all that great, either. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/146 "2018-12-25T14:15:29Z")
_Fight Club_. A bunch of stupid mentally ill people doing stupid mentally ill stuff. And a lot of fans took this to be some sort of how-to for life??? ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/147 "2018-12-25T14:42:47Z")
Most movies in general. There are a few that are pretty awful but that I love anyway though. But I guess that’s a different thread. ---
**Author:** ![phxjcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phxjcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phxjcc)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/148 "2018-12-25T19:13:23Z")
Some Like It Hot One joke for two hours. Hah hah hah, men in women’s clothes. I like all three stars and Wilder…but this is atrocious drivel that Benny Hill would be embarrassed about airing. And don’t try to explain how groundbreaking it was; it was not… Red River Wayne and Clift Look, I get it. Some males have daddy issues. But this is constantly heralded as one of the great westerns…no doubt by critics with, ummmm…let’s see, I know…daddy issues. It is not in the top ten of the western genre, but is played constantly on broadcast and cable. If I give you $100, will you stop programming this soap opera on a horse? Avatar As my 84 y.o. Mother said, What was the point? Blue people? ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/149 "2018-12-25T20:10:39Z")
The Bond movie, Spectre. I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to it, and how disappointed I was. It was a complete mess from start to finish. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/150 "2018-12-25T20:57:13Z")
I couldn’t get through the first half-hour of _No Country for Old Men._ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/151 "2018-12-25T20:57:16Z")
I love many of the movies mentioned here, but I’ll agree with _Blair Witch Project_. I also saw that with a group of friends and we just found it a boring mess of a film. Absolutely nothing scary or suspenseful about it. It was like the sort of shit we’d do in high school, crawling around the “haunted” graveyards with a camcorder, except when we did that, we were actually a little bit scared, but watching somebody else do it. Boring as fucking hell. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/152 "2018-12-25T22:45:10Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Oh yeah, “Tootsie” definitely fits in that category. A silly plot and a hammy performance by Dustin Hoffman. Maybe you had to see it in the theatre at the time to appreciate it. The reason to watch Tootsie is to watch Jessica Lange undressing. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/153 "2018-12-27T04:25:03Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > The reason to watch Tootsie is to watch Jessica Lange undressing. And it’s the reason to _become_ Tootsie. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/154 "2018-12-27T04:37:20Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Superhero/Marvel movies. I haven’t seen all that many recently, but the ones I have seen, even though they’ve gotten rave reviews, have left me underwhelmed. I think maybe I’ve just outgrown the concept of superheroes. Me too. I’ve seem bunches of these movies, and this is the full list of comic book movies I have ever actually enjoyed: Batman Forever, Tank Girl, The Crow, the Blade Trilogy, The X-Men movies (2000-2006), Guardians of the Galaxy I & II. That’s it, end of list. My brother tried to convince me on Christmas Eve that I’d like the latest Thor movie and Ant Man…yeah, no. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/155 "2018-12-27T06:10:46Z")
Among films often hailed as towering masterpieces,the three that have left me underwhelmed: **Vertigo** **2001** **The Searchers** None of them is a bad film and each has scenes of great power but they don’t hold up as a whole IMO. Among more recent films, **Lost in Translation** stands out as a film that underwhelmed and indeed annoyed me. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/156 "2018-12-27T06:27:04Z")
I didn’t think “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was all that, either, but a lot of it was the implicit racism, due to Mickey Rooney being cast as the crabby Japanese landlord, instead of a genuine Japanese actor. “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” was pretty good, but here was my take on it: If my son or daughter came home from vacation and said that s/he was going to marry someone s/he had known for 10 days, with a significant age difference, I’d be a trifle bit upset too. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/157 "2018-12-27T15:10:20Z")
[Blazing Saddles Reference]The groom’s a n—\[/BSr] ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/158 "2018-12-28T04:14:58Z")
Two come to mind right away **Jaws** , absotely horrible, and **The Justice League**.The Flash portrayal was ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/159 "2018-12-28T04:17:25Z")
I honestly thought the whole _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy mediocre along with _The Hobbit_. Maybe that’s because I read the books and so found them far superior. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403/160 "2018-12-28T04:36:34Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > The reason to watch Tootsie is to watch Jessica Lange undressing. It’s been a while since I saw this movie but wasn’t that Geena Davis? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-underwhelmed-you/825403.md?page=9)