# Movies That Were A Lot Better/Worse Than You Expected **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639 "2010-09-13T19:13:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/61 "2010-09-16T14:52:21Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I thought The Hangover would be great, but it was the worst piece of crap I’ve seen in the past year. Man, the ads were saying “funniest movie EVARR!!” or something like that, and I barely chuckled through the whole thing. Real life hangovers are more fun. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/62 "2010-09-16T15:10:49Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > “Runaway Train” just sounds like a cruddy B-movie, doesn’t it? But it’s one of the most thoughtful, nuanced character studies I’ve ever seen … that just happens to take place on a train hurtling towards doom and explosions. 🙂 Oh yeah, big second for this one. Jon Voight’s performance is absolutely riveting. Not at all what I expected. > [@Jaledin](#): > > _Sorcerer_ – the remake of _Le salaire de la peur_ – with Roy Scheider. I don’t know why I thought it would be good, but I made a real effort to track it down and a few years later haven’t managed to sit through more than the first twenty minutes. It just takes too much time to get to the point. The first 40-50 minutes are spent on the characters’ backstories, which is excessive. If you can get to the point where they set out in the trucks, it gets pretty gripping and quite good. And the Tangerine Dream soundtrack is good. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/63 "2010-09-16T16:33:29Z")
_Spy Kids_. I got dragged to this by some friends, and I thought I was going to hate it–stupid title, and I generally don’t like most “kid” movies where the kids are doing grownup things. I loved it! Especially Alan Cumming as the villain–he was like Willy Wonka’s evil twin! Also loved _Pirates of the Caribbean_, and I was fully expecting to hate that one due to Disney’s previous inability to make a decent ride-based movie. And _Fight Club_. (Another movie I expected to hate due to stupid title.) But this one is kind of cheating because I fell in love with the book first and then saw the movie, so by that point I was pretty sure I was going to like it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/64 "2010-09-16T16:50:31Z")
**Freeway**. Turned it on one night about 10 years ago when there was nothing else on. Had never heard of it, looked like garbage but once it got rolling turned out to be one of the most entertaining films I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/65 "2010-09-16T16:51:16Z")
I was looking forward to Liar Liar as it seemed to be a brilliant idea for a plot, but Jim Carrey gurned, grimaced, rolled his eyes and shrieked his way through the movie and I gave up and switched over. I kept thinking that the people he interacted with were probably so bemused by his antics and speaking in falsetto and other strange voices that they probably didn’t even notice what he was actually saying. I still think that if the lead had played the role straight it could have been an excellent AND funny movie. Unfortunately it turned out to be neither. Sorry **Maiira**. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/66 "2010-09-16T16:53:24Z")
I didn’t think _The Ring_ would be my cup of tea, but I watched it beginning to end without being distracted by a book or something else, as I am usually wont to do. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/67 "2010-09-17T01:16:33Z")
Funny how different peoples tastes are. I see a couple of posters saying Hangover was not funny. I personally avoided thinking it would be just another unfunny gross out comedy. But when I finally saw it after renting it, I laughed my ass, I loved it. Simliarly, I’m, not a big fan of Russell Brandt, so was reluctant when my wife wanted to go see Get him to the Greek. But loved that one too. On the downside, agree with the Clash of Titans, I didn’t have high expectations going in, but it failed to even perform up to that level. And Avatar was just woeful, No disputing that it was a very pretty movie, but that’s where it started and finished for me. I was well and truely bored by the half way mark. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/68 "2010-09-17T04:24:49Z")
Slumdog Millionaire. I did NOT want to see this movie. I just thought it was going to suck so bad. Man is that a good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/69 "2010-09-17T05:35:48Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I was looking forward to Liar Liar as it seemed to be a brilliant idea for a plot, but Jim Carrey gurned, grimaced, rolled his eyes and shrieked his way through the movie and I gave up and switched over. > > I kept thinking that the people he interacted with were probably so bemused by his antics and speaking in falsetto and other strange voices that they probably didn’t even notice what he was actually saying. > > I still think that if the lead had played the role straight it could have been an excellent AND funny movie. > > Unfortunately it turned out to be neither. > > Sorry **Maiira**. Nah, I’m actually not a fan of him. I just liked _The Truman Show_ and _Eternal Sunshine_, really. 😃 (I’m also not a fan of his anti-vax views, either, but that’s neither here nor there.) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/70 "2010-09-17T05:50:00Z")
I’ve just been reminded - no one (except **Anaamika** ) agrees with me on this, but I was majorly disappointed with _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_. Everyone I knew who’d seen it loved it, and I was really excited when it turned up as the in-flight movie on a plane. I thought it was _boring_. The dream sequences were wayyyyyy too long. The rest of the movie was pretty good and I would have liked it a lot more overall if that had been more of the movie, but watching someone else’s dream is about as interesting as hearing someone’s “you would not believe this crazy dream I had last night!” story - that is, not very. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/71 "2010-09-17T06:00:06Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > > [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > > > I thought The Hangover would be great, but it was the worst piece of crap I’ve seen in the past year. > > Man, the ads were saying “funniest movie EVARR!!” or something like that, and I barely chuckled through the whole thing. Real life hangovers are more fun. I guess to each his own. I saw the ads and thought, surely they’re overselling it. It’s probably amusing, but best comedy ever? Come on! I figured, after it was over, my wife and I would comment that we were glad we waited until it went to the $1 theater. I hadn’t laughed that hard at a movie in years. Funniest movie EVARR!! (OK, maybe not, but definitely top of the class). ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/72 "2010-09-17T08:57:04Z")
\*\*There Will Be Blood \*\*should have been named There Will Be Boredom. I expected a period piece about oil prospectors, not professionally made home-movies with no narration or plot or even a fucking explanation of what’s going on. I turned it off halfway through. The only thing even remotely interesting about \*\*Watchmen \*\*was the fight scene at the beginning. I could have just turned it off then. There’s plenty of movies out there about whiny emo protagonists, and 2.5 hours of blue wang and thin plot really made me wish I’d just turned it off or even not even bothered. Was the movie really just a masturbatory movie for comic book fans? I expected\*\* The Day After Tomorrow\*\* to be another awful disaster movie (meaning, the plot was disaster and the movie itself was awful) but I actually enjoyed it. Sure, it’s still impossible to have the cold of space directly piped to the earth’s surface naturally but I think it worked well. And of course it had good disaster porn. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/73 "2010-09-17T09:29:14Z")
I thought **The Losers** was going to be your basic mindlessly enjoyable shoot-em-up action flick, but it failed to even come close to meeting my already-very-low expectations. Unless you’re specifically looking for Zoe Saldana wankfodder, avoid by a mile. Really quite bad. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/74 "2010-09-17T10:03:34Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](#): > > I enjoyed “Showgirls” and have never really understood the critical junking it gets..doesn’t seem cinematically any worse than the “average” movie. I agree with you- it’s a perfectly decent, watchable film and I’ve never understood the critical derision of it. I had absolutely no expectations going into _Watchmen_ beyond knowing it was a Superhero film, so I was expecting a sort of Generic Superhero Adventure, and ended up absolutely loving it. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639/75 "2010-09-17T16:10:53Z")
I was expecting _Click_, with Adam Sandler, to be a juvenile piece of trash full of fart, sex, and dog-humps-everthing-in-sight jokes. While there was quite a bit of that, it turned out to be a very touching and moving film, especially the end sequence. I almost teared up a bit. _Benjamin Button_ was supposed to have been this amazing Oscar-caliber film. People were raving. I turned it off after 30 minutes. What a boring piece of shit (although I’m sure someone will come along and tell me that I just “didn’t get it,” or something). I had similar feelings about _Paranormal Activity_. The scariest movie in a decade? More like a fucking snoozefest. Watching this and _Benjamin Button_ together would put one into an irreversible coma of pure boredom. I’ve never seen _Ghost Dog_ but I’ve heard that, surprisingly, it was actually quite good. The title and premise sound stupid as hell, but I know people whose taste I trust that love this movie. I suppose I should give it a try sometime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-a-lot-better-worse-than-you-expected/553639.md?page=3)