# Movies that were overrated garbo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2020, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319 "2020-08-05T11:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/61 "2020-08-06T06:26:36Z")
Inception. Stupid and a waste if time and SFX. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/62 "2020-08-06T06:47:48Z")
Not a fan of cyberpunk? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/63 "2020-08-06T07:51:25Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > > > I really have to object, though this is certainly not at the top of my list of favorite films, but it was well-made and enjoyable. I’m male and I do recognize it as basically a woman’s film (dare I say “chick-flick”?) with the general theme that many men are assholes, but some are not. I felt that the HD version was worth preserving in my archives and I wouldn’t mind watching it again. IMDB and the Rotten Tomates critics’ rating – which can be radically different – both rate it quite highly. > > > > Wait. > > > > It seemed to me it was one stupid decision after another. Nothing those women did made sense. I watched with a woman who agreed. She said they were just being reactionary. > > So what? Know who else did a lot of things that didn’t make sense? Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Which was sort of the point. One critic who enthusiastically praised the film called the women’s actions “preposterous”, as indeed they were by most common standards, but that didn’t stop _Thelma and Louise_ from being nominated for six Oscars, including Ridley Scott for best director and both lead actors for best actress, and winning for … best original screenplay. Based on overall critic reviews, it’s now considered one of the two best films of 1991, bested only by _Silence of the Lambs_. What you seem to feel is off-putting is in a sense a significant dark point of a great and entertaining film. And A Thousand Acres won a Pulitzer. It’s still a jaw-droppingly bad book. A friend who saw Thelma & Louise before I did called it “2 bimbos with guns”. I said “but it’s so critically acclaimed” . She said “go see it”. Yep. 2 bimbos with guns. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/64 "2020-08-06T10:08:07Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > A friend who saw Thelma & Louise before I did called it “2 bimbos with guns”. I said “but it’s so critically acclaimed” . She said “go see it”. Yep. 2 bimbos with guns. Right, and _The Godfather_ was just a bunch of Italians with guns. 🙄 Look, if you didn’t like the movie, pointing you to a whole bunch of critical acclaim isn’t going to make you like it. And you’re certainly entitled to your opinion, which is always a subjective thing. I myself often disagree with critics, although I’ve long had great respect for the late and great Roger Ebert, and I will say that Ebert stopped just half a star short of giving _Thelma & Louise_ a perfect score, only because he had a minor quibble with the way the ending was edited. Incidentally, I am generally not a fan of testosterone-laden “action” movies mostly made for guys who like car chases and explosions, and even less a fan of “social commentary” movies as a genre. But filmmaking is an art, and sometimes all the right ingredients come together in capable hands to craft a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining film. You might be interested in this retrospective on the film more than 25 years later: > **[Thelma and Louise revisited: Six things you didn't know about the classic...](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/thelma-and-louise-revisited-six-things-you-didn-t-know-about-the-classic-movie-1.4201995)** > > Over 25 years after Thelma and Louise hit movie theatres, a new book contextualizes the film's role in the history of women in Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/65 "2020-08-06T13:06:02Z")
OK, I actually have a movie that I think everyone but me liked - Moulin Rouge! Just could not get into the movie, and the use of modern songs performed in an 1890s style was offputting. I’m sorry, but “Smells Like Teen Spirit” did not work in any way, shape, or form. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/66 "2020-08-06T13:23:40Z")
To the contrary, just not a fan of pointless and stupid, plotless movies. I really, really hated that movie. Really. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/67 "2020-08-06T13:25:24Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Know who else did a lot of things that didn’t make sense? Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Which was sort of the point. One critic who enthusiastically praised the film called the women’s actions “preposterous”, as indeed they were by most common standards, but that didn’t stop _Thelma and Louise_ from being nominated for six Oscars, including Ridley Scott for best director and both lead actors for best actress, and winning for … best original screenplay. Based on overall critic reviews, it’s now considered one of the two best films of 1991… Pointing out that it was highly rated doesn’t really detract from the point, which is “movies that were overrated.” By definition, a movie must be highly rated to be significantly overrated. Unless your position is that all well-rated movies are beyond criticism, this isn’t much of a counterargument. As it happens, I agree “Thelma and Louise” is a really good movie, but I’d make that argument on its own merits. “It’s a great movie because other people think it was great” is not much of an argument when the entire discussion is “movies many people say are great that really were not.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/68 "2020-08-06T13:27:54Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > I’m sorry, but “Smells Like Teen Spirit” did not work in any way, shape, or form. That wasn’t actually in it, but I take your point. I liked it, it established pretty early on it would be a very anachronistic kind of film, and I think it had great style layered in to transport you away from any expectation of logic. It’s like a pop-up book by way of vintage French postcards. Anyway, as for me, I think _Jaws_ is overrated. Not a bad film (though I really do not enjoy it), just not worthy of the praise it gets. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/69 "2020-08-06T13:29:07Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > That wasn’t actually in it, but I take your point. Well, a sample of it was. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/70 "2020-08-06T13:35:16Z")
You’re right, I stand corrected. It’s part of Zidler’s Can Can song. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAzJKk6t6S0) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/71 "2020-08-06T13:46:05Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@kitap](#): > > > > A friend who saw Thelma & Louise before I did called it “2 bimbos with guns”. I said “but it’s so critically acclaimed” . She said “go see it”. Yep. 2 bimbos with guns. > > Right, and _The Godfather_ was just a bunch of Italians with guns. 🙄 Look, if you didn’t like the movie, pointing you to a whole bunch of critical acclaim isn’t going to make you like it. And you’re certainly entitled to your opinion, which is always a subjective thing. I myself often disagree with critics, although I’ve long had great respect for the late and great Roger Ebert, and I will say that Ebert stopped just half a star short of giving _Thelma & Louise_ a perfect score, only because he had a minor quibble with the way the ending was edited. > > Incidentally, I am generally not a fan of testosterone-laden “action” movies mostly made for guys who like car chases and explosions, and even less a fan of “social commentary” movies as a genre. But filmmaking is an art, and sometimes all the right ingredients come together in capable hands to craft a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining film. > > You might be interested in this retrospective on the film more than 25 years later: > > [Thelma and Louise revisited: Six things you didn't know about the classic movie | CBC Radio](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/thelma-and-louise-revisited-six-things-you-didn-t-know-about-the-classic-movie-1.4201995) “Watching the characters fight back” was not immensely satisfying. Another vastly overrated movie? **Gone with the Wind**. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/72 "2020-08-06T14:03:12Z")
_Gravity (2013)_ 7 Academy Awards… anybody ever bother watching it twice? The CGI is excellent, the characters and story not so much. Both main characters are like cardboard cutouts. The female astronaut played by Sandra Bullock spends most of the movie either panicking or flapping around uselessly. Astronaut Chris Hadfield tears it to shreds: > **[NASA Astronaut Looks Back at ‘Gravity’: It’s Harmful for Girls Who Want to Go...](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/nasa-astronaut-gravity-review-1202220444/)** > > While reviewing recent space films like “Interstellar” and “Ad Astra,” NASA astronaut Chris Hadfield ripped into Alfonso Cuaron’s Oscar winner. > Much of “Gravity” is so far from reality that I want to turn my head. > I think it set back a little girl’s vision of what a woman astronaut can be an entire generation. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/73 "2020-08-06T14:07:44Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > 7 Academy Awards… anybody ever bother watching it twice? I find that’s true of a lot of movies. Some movies are worth seeing even if only once (and I think this one was worth seeing in a movie theater) and other movies are worth seeing multiple times, sometimes just because they’re fun. For example, in 1982, three of the biggest pictures of the year were Tootsie, E.T. and Gandhi. The last won the Best Picture Oscar but I’ve never been tempted to rewatch it. But I have revisited E.T. and Tootsie multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/74 "2020-08-06T16:18:22Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > I have often said that The Producers is a Mel Brooks movie for people who don’t like Mel Brooks. > > Every other movie of his is a farce - it is intended to be so utterly unbelievable that you can under no circumstances suspend disbelief and truly fall into the movie. If you go in expecting a believable plot with believable characters acting in some way believably, then you will hate Mel Brooks movies. Kinda like 3 Stooges - you either love it or you hate it. > > That being said, there’s a lot of social commentary in Blazing Saddles. The whole “black sheriff” thing to start with; the line-up of thugs at for Headly Lamar; [Governor LePetomane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A9tomane). Yes, I will admit, if you don’t like farces, you won’t like Blazing Saddles. The 12-year-old in me can laugh at the campfire scene; my mature adult can understand the mistreatment of the railroad workers; my satiric adult loves the “But we don’t want the Irish!” line. > > (snip) Excellent post. But even the infamous campfire scene has subtext. On the surface, it’s pure scatological humor; Brooks does love a good fart joke. But he said he wrote that in response to all the Westerns he grew up watching, that always showed cowboys around a fire, eating coffee and beans, but never showed the inevitable outcome of such a diet. _Blazing Saddles_, which I think is one of the greatest comedies I’ve ever seen, is all about subverting and mocking conventions; the campfire scene is subverting what TvTropes calls the [“Nobody Poops”](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobodyPoops) trope. Interesting bit of trivia - Mel Brooks created all the fart noises himself, with soapy water and a balloon. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/75 "2020-08-06T16:38:16Z")
I’d just like to say that I was personally told that Thelma and Louise was a feminist movie, and through that lens I found it greatly disappointing. It wasn’t what I expected, and I might have let it influence the way I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/76 "2020-08-06T16:39:44Z")
I agree with RealityChuck here. It’s clearly about xenophobia and fascism. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/77 "2020-08-06T17:24:40Z")
…Well, yes, Starship troopers is about xenophobia and fascism. But it’s also about American politics, both obviously and from what the director says. It’s about the rise of xenophobia and fascism in a population that doesn’t realize it’s happening. To exaggerate the xenophobia from actual American politics, it substitutes actual aliens for human foreigners. To exaggerate the fascism from actual American politics, it dresses the government leaders in Nazi clothes and makes their flags look like Nazi flags. Nobody disputes that it’s about xenophobia and fascism. The argument is whether it’s a satire. RealityChuck and I disagree on his criticism of virtually every other science fiction movie, so I’m not surprised we disagree here, too :). ---
**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:** [August 6, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/78 "2020-08-06T17:29:37Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > OK, I actually have a movie that I think everyone but me liked - Moulin Rouge! Just could not get into the movie, and the use of modern songs performed in an 1890s style was offputting. I’m sorry, but “Smells Like Teen Spirit” did not work in any way, shape, or form. I felt it worked. A cabaret would have been using well-known pop songs in its acts. But if the movie had used pop songs from the 1890’s they wouldn’t have had the right effect; nobody in a 2001 audience would recognize the songs. So Luhrmann used modern pop songs that were current in 2001. As for the use of songs in general, it’s a musical. If you can’t accept the idea of cast members spontaneously beginning to sing and dance, you’re not going to like the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/79 "2020-08-06T18:15:52Z")
So rather than just snark on other folks, I should put in my own. Wes Anderson is overrated garbage. No, of course I know that he’s got an artistic vision, and he’s very precise, and o so twee and adorable. And a lot of people love watching rich self-centered white dudes have a middle-aged crisis about how useless they are, even when those rich self-centered white dudes are foxes or whatever. Cool cool cool, and I’m thrilled that other people like watching these adorable sad sacks be adorable in dollhouse sets. But if I never watch another of his movies, it’ll be too soon. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/80 "2020-08-06T18:19:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > Know who else did a lot of things that didn’t make sense? Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Which was sort of the point. One critic who enthusiastically praised the film called the women’s actions “preposterous”, as indeed they were by most common standards, but that didn’t stop _Thelma and Louise_ from being nominated for six Oscars, including Ridley Scott for best director and both lead actors for best actress, and winning for … best original screenplay. Based on overall critic reviews, it’s now considered one of the two best films of 1991… > > Pointing out that it was highly rated doesn’t really detract from the point, which is “movies that were overrated.” By definition, a movie must be highly rated to be significantly overrated. Unless your position is that all well-rated movies are beyond criticism, this isn’t much of a counterargument. > > As it happens, I agree “Thelma and Louise” is a really good movie, but I’d make that argument on its own merits. “It’s a great movie because other people think it was great” is not much of an argument when the entire discussion is “movies many people say are great that really were not.” I think that unfairly trivializes my two posts and the real points I was trying to make. The first post was a response to the idea that everything these two women did was stupid. Yes it was, but the fact that they were driven to it by societal norms beyond their control was kind of the point. My mention of the Oscar nominations was mainly to point out that it won for best original script, meaning that if someone thought the story line was trivially stupid, they should perhaps look more closely. My second post offered a further observation on my view of the film’s merits, when I said simply that “I myself often disagree with [film] critics … But filmmaking is an art, and sometimes all the right ingredients come together in capable hands to craft a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining film.” Again, to the view that this was just a movie about “2 bimbos with guns”, I say: look closer. > [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I’d just like to say that I was personally told that Thelma and Louise was a feminist movie, and through that lens I found it greatly disappointing. It wasn’t what I expected, and I might have let it influence the way I saw it. Thanks for the comment. I wasn’t criticizing you for your opinion, to which you’re perfectly entitled, just offering my own, because I really enjoyed the movie. I think the making of the movie itself did more in the service of feminism than the story line, which unrealistically portrayed almost all men as reprehensible assholes. But in a Hollywood context, it was the first time that both leads in a major movie were nominated for Best Actress Oscars, and the Oscar-winning script was a first-time script by another woman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319.md?page=5)