# Movies that you thought you'd love but wound up hating. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900 "2010-04-04T11:38:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Flip\_Pancake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f1d935/32.png) [@Flip\_Pancake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flip_Pancake)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/61 "2010-04-05T15:26:30Z")
_X-Files: Fight the Future_: I was dead excited to see Mulder and Scully on the big screen. At the end of it, I just felt… underwhelmed. It wasn’t as bad as the second film (why did they bother with that one?) but I wished it did more with its bigger budget and supporting cast. The inclusion of the Lone Gunmen felt contrived to me. ETA: I’m browsing through the reviews on IMDB and am surprised at the number of positive comments. Maybe I should stop being a petulant fangirl and give it a second viewing. ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/62 "2010-04-05T15:33:29Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I don’t remember any boobies in Lost In Translation, and [Mr. Skin](http://www.mrskin.com/lost-in-translation-girls-t2556.html) says it contains no nudity. I thought there was a scene where Bill Murray was at a nudie bar. The dancer was wearing pasties, I think. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/63 "2010-04-05T15:43:52Z")
_The Hurt Locker_. I thought it would be a realistic look at the current war but it turned out to be a series of highly improbably situations badly shot. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/64 "2010-04-05T15:47:28Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > **Windtalkers.** Silly me. I actually thought it would be about the Navaho Code Talkers. Instead, it was a big, dumb Nicholas Cage explosion fest. This is a good one (well, not a good movie). I had forgotten about it completely, but I was very disappointed. Silly me, I expected the title of the movie to have something to do with the actual movie. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/65 "2010-04-05T15:50:06Z")
**Ishtar** …This for me felt like a movie I was sure to enjoy. I really enjoy buddy comedies, Dustin Hoffman was wonderful actor and did comedy well. Up to that time he had not had a “bad” movie. As for Warren Beatty, even his bad films were entertaining. I was ready for it. I mean, the worst it could be was a fair rip off of Crosby and Hope’s “Road” films. It was the first movie I took my wife to as my wife and I was so worried she might divorce me just because of the movie. It was that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/66 "2010-04-05T15:56:58Z")
**The Exorcism of Emily Rose** - the ads made it look creepy. It starred Laura Linney and Campbell Scott (two actors I usually like), it had demonic possession & exorcism! I thought it’d be a blast. Turns out to be a plodding court procedural with the occasional ‘spooky door slamming by itself’ non-scares. But what was worse than the boring court scenes IMO was the final denouement when Linney’s “heroic” lawyer delivers a summary where she argues that cold hard facts aren’t enough on which to base a decision about a manslaughter case, and that vague feelings based on wacko religious doctrines ought to be counted as equally valid. As one review I read (after seeing it unfortunately) commented “In a time when creationists argue that ‘intelligent design’ be taught in schools in place of evolution, this is not the message movie America needs to see.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/67 "2010-04-05T16:03:47Z")
To me, [Contact](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7186108&postcount=27) is the #1 with a bullet entry for this issue. Loved it until the final 5 minutes when Zemeckis, et al, pulled their punches. Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/68 "2010-04-05T16:09:11Z")
**The Colour of Magic**. It had Tim Curry, Jeremy Irons, Christopher Lee as **Death**! How could it fail? Hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/69 "2010-04-05T16:28:48Z")
[The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Skeleton_of_Cadavra). My husband and I grew up on Saturday reruns of old 50s and 60s horror/monster films, and this is a modern spoof filmed on a low budget. It got a lot of rave reviews from people who like the older monster movies so I figured this must be awesome. Oh no. We were both really, really bored. Reading the plot summary at that link, I can’t even remember exactly when we turned it off, so I must have repressed much of it. I really wanted to love this film, and I was so disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/70 "2010-04-05T16:53:43Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > _The Hurt Locker_. I thought it would be a realistic look at the current war but it turned out to be a series of highly improbably situations badly shot. I didn’t _hate_ the movie, but I too had really high expectations for it and felt let down. It had some interesting moments, but I just couldn’t get myself to care for Jeremy Renner’s character and for the most part I was like “meh.” ---
**Author:** ![Jorge\_Burrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Jorge\_Burrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorge_Burrito)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/71 "2010-04-05T17:34:31Z")
The Matrix Reloaded is probably my number one. The Matrix is (still) in my top 5 favorite movies all time. I had high expectations for the sequel and while I realized that often sequels pale in comparison to the original, there was still so much they could do with the series and so many awesome direction to take it. Needless to say I was thoroughly disappointed in the movie and after leaving the theater had an intense desire to punch something. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/72 "2010-04-05T18:05:49Z")
_[Dogville](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276919/)_. My wife loved it, and it sounded fascinating with the schematic design of the set and filming the overhead shot by stitching the images from a dozen cameras together. I came out of that film _pissed off_, ready to hunt down the director and kick his ass. _[Funny Games](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808279/)_. Another film by a European asshole. His [most recent film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1149362/) is getting rave reviews, but after the annoyingly vague _[Caché](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387898/)_ and incredibly annoying _Funny Games_, he’s burned his bridges with me. He can go fuck himself. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/73 "2010-04-05T18:49:38Z")
I didn’t hate The Hurt Locker, but I didn’t see what everyone else saw. I also didn’t hate The Hangover, but I didn’t find it to be nearly as funny as everyone else. I think it was because I saw both of them after the hype and was expecting a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/74 "2010-04-05T18:57:53Z")
Many come to mind, but one rises to the top: **Punch Drunk Love.** I am not an Adam Sandler fan (to say the least), but I had read glowing reviews and thought it sounded interesting. I like off-the-wall stuff, but it has to be _good_ off-the-wall. I hate this piece of garbage. It was only by stubbornness and sheer will that I endured the entire movie. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/75 "2010-04-05T19:13:39Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I mean I had heard a ton about _Lost in Translation_ and decided to watch it to see what I thought but at no point was I particularly convinced that I’d necessarily like it. It was after all an unapologetic artsy nuanced character study which don’t always tend to be crowd-pleasers. I don’t think “my friend loved it” really gets at the point. But if I tend to like Oscar-bait, artsy-fartsy, character studies - (or at least I’m pretentious enough to think I do), then Lost In Translation is a perfect example. Based on what I heard and based on the fact that people who tend to recommend movies I like recommended that. I hated it. Recently, _An Education_. Great reviews. Supposedly exactly up my alley (based on what I’d heard about the story an dplot) I was expecting to at least like it. Instead, it was an Afterschool Special with period clothing and British accents. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/76 "2010-04-05T19:31:40Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > Agreed. But, visually, [_Bram Stoker’s Dracula_ is] a tour-de-force. I think it’s among the ten most beautiful-_looking_ films I’ve ever seen. It does have some nice visuals. Particularly the castle scenes. But we hardly get to enjoy them for all the quick cuts. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/77 "2010-04-05T19:41:32Z")
“Gladiator”. I like books/Hitler Channel specials on Ancient Rome and I think “I, Claudius” and “HBO Rome” are two of the greatest TV series ever. With Derek Jacobi it seemed like a winner. But except for the opening battle and two fights in the Colosseum, it’s a dud. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/78 "2010-04-05T21:04:05Z")
_Good Will Hunting_, _Good Will Hunting_, _Good Will Hunting_, and _Good Will Hunting_. Lord, I hated that movie, at least the first 50 minutes or so that I saw of it before I walked out of the theater. Maybe it turned absolutely fascinating after that, in which case the joke’s on me, because I’m sure never going to take the risk of trying to watch it again. I thought _Good Will Hunting_ was going to be an interesting exploration of mathematical discovery and the influences of social class and formal credentials on the research process and the academic environment. And I would have been fine with a nice love story and a young man’s coming-of-age struggle thrown into the mix. But Og help us, what a load of flatulent ignorant crap. In typical Hollywood style, the actual ideas they were talking about were nothing more than scriptwriter’s code for “LOOK AT THIS CHARACTER HE’S REALLY SMART!!” And the names of famous results and institutions were just reduced to ammunition in tedious dick-waving contests. And most of the females had no function in the movie whatsoever except to gaze adoringly at the alpha males who were REALLY SMART. The city of Cambridge MA should just pass an ordinance banning Hollywood film crews entirely within its municipal boundaries, and then we’d be less likely to be subjected to squirrel-squicking abominations like _Good Will Hunting_. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/79 "2010-04-05T21:24:34Z")
**The Royal Tennenbaums** … I just ended up hating all the characters and wondering what the heck was THAT all about? Even after hearing how Wes Anderson was SUCH a good movie maker. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900/80 "2010-04-05T21:30:30Z")
> [@Rafe\_Hollister](#): > > I thought there was a scene where Bill Murray was at a nudie bar. The dancer was wearing pasties, I think. Oh yeah, I remember that. You are indeed correct. I loved Scarlett Johansson in that scene; her reaction of mild disgust while gamely being a trooper was spot on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-thought-youd-love-but-wound-up-hating/534900.md?page=5)