# 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:** 7
**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 11, 2020, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/121 "2020-08-11T08:09:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Oh, yeah I grew up in the 80’s, and even at the time Chuck Norris was considered a second-rate action star at best. See also Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Dolph Lundgren. None of whom’s stars have risen above their long-standing reputation during the 80s either. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/122 "2020-08-11T11:12:03Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > (though I have to add, in complete disclosure, that I believe I am the only person other than Mr Speilberg, to understand and/or like the ending of A.I. I thought it was perfect. Make of that what you will.) Interesting comment here. Spielberg was shooting a script written by Stanley Kubrick and Ian Watson. Were there re-writes? Sure, some. But the bones of that movie belong to someone besides the Director of record. [The story behind the film “A.I.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence) Back to the O.P. I hated “Meet Joe Black”. I hated and to this day detest " Forrest Gump ". Gump is manipulative, banal, insulting, base, devoid of all humor save that aimed at people who are mentally challenged, racist, sexist, filled with stereotypes. It deserved zero, and I mean zero, accolades. The one saving grace is that the bus stop sequences made use of the much-beloved Town Square studio setting also used in “Back To The Future” and dozens of other films. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/123 "2020-08-11T12:27:53Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > See also Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Dolph Lundgren. None of whom’s stars have risen above their long-standing reputation during the 80s either. To be fair, they were up against Jackie Chan. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/124 "2020-08-11T13:32:17Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Interesting comment here. Spielberg was shooting a script written by Stanley Kubrick and Ian Watson. Were there re-writes? Sure, some. But the bones of that movie belong to someone besides the Director of record. I heard Brian Aldiss say that the only reason he agreed to sell the movie rights was because he wanted to see his story made into a Stanley Kubrick film. I don’t remember the details of all he said concerning the writing and re-writing, but somewhere along the line he felt screwed by the movie people, something like that he was supposed to get $1 million, but if they needed to hire more writers he would get squat. In any case, he said he would never work with those people again. I hope he ended up with his million dollars, or at least enough for a nice yacht like he was fantasizing about, and that he was not too disappointed with it not ending up as a Stanley Kubrick film. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/125 "2020-08-11T14:54:31Z")
_Casablanca._ Supposedly it’s on just about everybody’s list of the Top Ten Movies Ever Made. It’s … not. It’s a war movie with nor war, a love story with no love. It gave me absolutely nothing. ---
**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 11, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/126 "2020-08-11T14:59:02Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > _Casablanca._ > > Supposedly it’s on just about everybody’s list of the Top Ten Movies Ever Made. It’s … not. It’s a war movie with nor war, a love story with no love. It gave me absolutely nothing. You could also complain that it’s a heist movie with no casino robbery and a teen sex comedy with no bikini car wash scenes. _Casablanca_ is a story about character growth. ---
**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 11, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/127 "2020-08-11T15:07:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I have friends that I love dearly that think his movies are just the best thing since cotton candy. I don’t give them shit for it, because, I mean, of _course_ he does what he does very well, brilliantly even. > > It’s just that what he does fills me with inchoate rage and makes me want to see all the characters messily devoured by tigers. I really like Wes Anderson’s movies. But I can fully understand why some people hate them and even agree that everything the people who fun of them say is true. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/trWLY6NrS2Q/maxresdefault.jpg "Honest Trailers - Every Wes Anderson Movie") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trWLY6NrS2Q) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gfDIAZCwHQE/maxresdefault.jpg "Wes Anderson Horror Trailer - SNL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfDIAZCwHQE) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/UngE0qn3VRY/maxresdefault.jpg "What if Wes Anderson Directed X-Men?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UngE0qn3VRY) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/128 "2020-08-11T17:52:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I really like Wes Anderson’s movies. But I can fully understand why some people hate them and even agree that everything the people who fun of them say is true. The Honest Trailer of Every Wes Anderson movie really shows it, doesn’t it? But I really don’t think Isle of Dogs has any of that, does it?\* I guess I’ll have to rewatch. - except for the cast. Ed Norton! Bill Murray! Tilda Swinton! Do they smoke or ride small. motorcycles? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/129 "2020-08-11T18:22:37Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Oh, yeah I grew up in the 80’s, and even at the time Chuck Norris was considered a second-rate action star at best. You wanted to see a good action flick, you went to something from Arnie or Sly or (sigh) Mel Gibson; Norris’s films were disposable crap (although _the Delta Force_ was 2/3 of a good film, pretty much despite him). I think that was kind of the point of all the Chuck Norris memes; they weren’t meant to be taken seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/130 "2020-08-11T18:48:09Z")
Ah, **Casablanca**. Apologies if I’ve posted about this recently. My mom saw Casablanca when she was what is now called a tween, and cried her eyes out. This was in the days when most theaters showed a movie a week, Sunday to Friday, with a break for Saturday double features. Usually no deviation, but if a movie was a sensation, like **Gone With The Wind** , it would be held over another week, brought back at some future time, or both. **Casablanca** was another such film, so my mom saw it a second time, brought tissues, and soaked them all. Flash forward to the mid-80s. In the intervening four decades, the movies my mom has rewatched on pre-cable TV and at revival houses have mostly been musicals; comedies and dramas not so much. But the turn of the 80s brought a lot of best-movies lists, with **Casablanca** in the top five of every one. And the library is loaning VHS, so she decides to check it out. Now cut to a half hour into the viewing, and [this is my mom](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vhe3vSe-mmw). “_Why_ is this a _classic_?” was the gist of her comments. She chalked up her earlier reaction to a) being at an emotionally vulnerable age and b) like everyone else, a sucker for anything that romanticized the war. Still, how does that explain all the other people who’ve kept it alive even today? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/131 "2020-08-11T19:24:04Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Still, how does that explain all the other people who’ve kept [Casablanca] alive even today? Because your mom is wrong. Casablanca is still a great movie. You can not like it, she can not like it, that’s fine. That’s life. But it doesn’t “romanticize” the war. It “romanticizes” romance, and the problems of two people in a crazy mixed up world. The war is just the background. The story is timeless. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/132 "2020-08-11T19:41:14Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Now cut to a half hour into the viewing, and [this is my mom](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vhe3vSe-mmw). “ _Why_ is this a _classic_ ?” Maybe your mom was a victim of too high expectations? It was such a big experience for her as a tween that re-watching it again as an adult just couldn’t match up. I’m not a fan of old movies but I’m with JAQ: Casablanca still holds up. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/133 "2020-08-11T20:10:26Z")
I may be speaking out of school here, but I think the majority of the hate for “Starship Troopers” isn’t for the movie itself, it’s for the way it butchers the book’s story and points without actually satirizing THEM. I mean, in what way does the movie satirize the book’s exploration of armed conflict? Or of the nature of responsible citizenship? Or why soldiers fight? It was busy doing silly stuff like having Doogie Howser dressed up like an SS officer torturing bugs instead. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/134 "2020-08-12T00:50:40Z")
Another great Wes Anderson parody: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7BDdHEMFiw) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/135 "2020-08-12T01:27:57Z")
“Harold and Maude.” Friend to me, back in college: “You’ve never seen it? Really? Well, you can come see it with me one of the six times that I go.” (It was a three-day engagement at the local Art Cinema, two shows a night.) I went with her. Once. It was _more_ than enough. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/136 "2020-08-12T13:09:32Z")
_Harold and Maude_ was a big cult movie at the Blue Mouse theater in Salt Lake City, overshadowed only by Rocky Horror Picture Show (which played at midnight every weekend). The Blue Mouse was an Art Cinema that published a quarterly broadsheet listing which movies were coming up, and when. Harold and Maude was at the end of each broadsheet, playing 2-3 days every quarter of the year. Of course I saw it. I think it’s worth seeing once, at least. But I’d never go to all the shows at an engagement. Heck, I had to watch the trailer for it multiple times every year. Sadly, the Blue Mouse in SLC is gone. (although apparently there’s an art cinema by that name in Tacoma now. It shows Rocky Horror regularly, or it did until CoVID) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/137 "2020-08-12T13:29:08Z")
Harold and Maude was a huge favorite for the various film societies on the UW-Madison campus; I must have seen it 5 or 6 times. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/138 "2020-08-12T18:11:21Z")
Well, it was one of those movies where I wanted my two hours back after I’d seen it. plus interest. Just a terrible film. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/139 "2020-08-13T07:53:20Z")
I felt like that after watching the live action Scooby Doo movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar. ---
**Author:** ![And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/and_his_buzzer_goes/32/377_2.png) [@And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/And_his_buzzer_goes)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319/140 "2020-08-13T11:35:42Z")
I had been putting off watching [Birdman](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2562232/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0), but watched it a week or so ago. As I tend to ignore reviews to avoid spoilers, I just went with the high 7.7 IMDB score and some actors I liked. About half an hour in I hoped it wouldn’t just be a “tormented actors in a broadway show”-movie. There could be some interesting twist lurking beneath, maybe using the main character’s _extra talent_. That hope was in vain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-overrated-garbo/917319.md?page=8)