# Movies u loved that critics and/or the public mostly hated. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090 "2004-04-15T01:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/21 "2004-04-15T13:36:18Z")
I may be alone in this, but _Gods and Generals_. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/22 "2004-04-15T13:57:22Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Sylvester Stallone’s “Oscar” made almost all the critics’ Ten Worst lists, and it hardly made a dime at the box office… but I thought it was hilarious. This movie was a riot! I think one of my favorite scenes is when his wife is berating him to find their daughter a husband (and his day has already been bad enough) and when she stalks off, he leans against the mantle with his feet crossed and his arms spread (like he’s being crucified). I didn’t catch that reference the first few times I saw the film, but when I noticed it, I nearly died laughing. I don’t know how the critics rated this film, but a lot of the people I seen _Noises Off_ with don’t seem to like it. I think this movie is just TOO funny! Michael Caine’s portrayal of the harried and harrassed director of the play was brilliant! But some of the humor is subtle–not just “out there,” in-your-face stuff, and I guess some people don’t enjoy that. (I made the mistake of trying to find it on eBay right after John Ritter died and people were asking $30 or more for VHS! Fortunately, I looked on Amazon and they had DVDs available for pre-ordering for about $12, so next month, I’ll finally own this fantastic flick!) ---
**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 15, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/23 "2004-04-15T14:00:00Z")
Good, I’m the first to mention _The Last Action Hero_, worth the price of admission for the Hamlet scene alone. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/24 "2004-04-15T14:25:58Z")
Oh, I think I’ll get some brickbats for these, too…: Costner’s _The Postman_. _Starship Troopers_. Both of these were somewhat serious and somewhat self-parody. I don’t think most people could accept this blurring, without being able to pigeonhole them into one or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/25 "2004-04-15T14:27:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Once upon a time, I’d have added _Joe vs. the Volcano_, but it seems to have had a renaissance in the last few years: everyone says it’s the film they love that everyone else hated. But I think we’re talking about the _general_ public as opposed to the obviously intelligent and cultured folks here at the SDMB [/facetious] and JVtV wasn’t well received at all with most people. So it definitely counts. **The Cable Guy** is the first movie I thought of when I saw the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/26 "2004-04-15T14:29:57Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > but most of all _Hudson Hawk_. . .I judge people by whether or not they like _Hudson Hawk_. Oh yea. (Though I tend to do that more with _Seinfeld._) I didn’t see HH for years after it was released and famously lambasted. . . then when I finally caught it on TV, was so pleasantly surprised it almost made me angry! (That such a fun movie could be picked apart so pettily.) Always figured the critical reaction had more to do with people being sick of Bruce Willis at the time. My offering to the OP- John Frankenheimer’s _Island of Dr. Moreau._ :eek: Thought it was brilliant when I saw it in the theater, and by the hair o’ Kilmer, I still do. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/27 "2004-04-15T14:51:45Z")
I’ve always been fascinated by the movie, _Caligula_. The critics went beyond just panning it and basically called it a crime against humanity but I think it’s riveting. Malcolm McDowell _is_ Gaius Caligula Caesar to me. I think the over the top sex and violence of the movie and greatly underlooked performance by McDowell do a good job of depicting the decadence and the therror of Caligula’s reign. It’s even reasonably accurate, historically (I think the original screenplay was written by Gore Vidal, although I’m sure he didn’t write the porno scenes). For a dumb comedy that’s fun to watch with friends and drink beer, I recommend _Men at Work_ starring Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. It captures a certain kind of slacker mentality very well. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/28 "2004-04-15T15:00:28Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > I may be alone in this, but _Gods and Generals_. Yes, you probably are. 😃 That said, I liked **Eyes Wide Shut**. Ditto to AI, Death to Smoochy, Fight Club, and Unbreakable. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/29 "2004-04-15T15:56:24Z")
J.D.: Judith’s escaped! Wayne: (sarcastically) Dur! **Saving Silverman**. Oh, my beloved **Saving Silverman**. Best movie EVAH! I’ve watched it a zillion times. I even bought the DVD and watched the director’s commentary. I watch it on TV and point out the changes that were made (including the black cartoon underpants on Steve Zahn during the yoga scene!) But everybody hates it but me. ☹ Half the comments I’ve seen on it say that it’s “misogynist.” I just don’t see it. I’m totally a knee jerk feminist type, and I can’t see what’s misogynist about it. So, Judith was a total bitch. Can a movie not show a negative female character? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/30 "2004-04-15T15:58:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Once upon a time, I’d have added _Joe vs. the Volcano_, but it seems to have had a renaissance in the last few years: everyone says it’s the film they love that everyone else hated. I’ve always said that. I still thought it was true. I’ll second. . . **Gangs of New York** Also seen it MANY times. Love it. **Starship Troopers** People REALLY missed the point here. **Eyes Wide Shut** I’ll add. . . **A Knight’s Tale** Although, do people really dislike this? I always thought they did but now I’m not so sure. Also, **The Phantom Menace** **Attack of the Clones** I suppose for how much money they made its hard to say that people didn’t like them, but regardless of their flaws, I still find them filled with imagination, action, epic plots and acting no more wooden than it was in the original three. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/31 "2004-04-15T18:56:54Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Malcolm McDowell _is_ Gaius Caligula Caesar to me. Nahh… Caligula is John Hurt. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/32 "2004-04-15T19:14:29Z")
_The Rookie_ - Not the Dennis Quaid baseball film, but the cop film from 1990, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. It was ignored at the box office and trashed by critics, but I think it’s a fairly clever spoof of the buddy cop genre that was huge at the time. The naive rookie learning from and eventually imitating the grizzled veteran, the car theft ring as an excuse to have lots of expensive sports cars in the film (and one conveniently onhand for the escape jump from the exploding warehouse), two distinguished Latin actors (Raul Julia and Sonia Braga) playing kinky German eurotrash crooks (I’m sceretly convinced this was intensional rather than bad judgement like the critics mostly said), well done action scenes (including the homage to the airport chase in _Bullitt_ where people actually get tired after tons of running and shooting, Lara Flynn Boyle before she got creepy looking, and an awesome old-fashioned film score (that I wish I had a copy of) very reminiscent of the scores for films like _Fuzz_ and _The Taking of Pelham One Two Three_ and Eastwood’s own Dirty Harry films. _Posse_ - The Kirk Douglas directed later day western from 1975, not the Mario Van Pebbles one from the early 90s. It got mildly positive reviews, used to be constant weekend TV fodder, and was VHS tape cutout bin fodder. It works as an entertaining revisionist western with a clever and dark sense of humor. But what IMO makes it much better than it gets credit for is the political subplot of the US marshal using his office to slingshot his campaign for Senate with the conflicting interest support of a powerful railroad company that not so coincidentally happens to be the main victim of the gang leader played by Bruce Dern. Douglas’ marshal is even openly resented by most of his own men who know they are being used and will be discarded once he win office, despite his promise of cushy jobs with the railroad (at less pay than they already make). The characters are fleshed out with real and conflicting motivations, even minor characters on the sidelines like the jaded smalltown journalist and Civil War double amputee who sees what’s really playing out. It’s one of the few few I can think of that has as a central theme the question of “Who’s the worse bad guy here?” ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/33 "2004-04-15T19:28:36Z")
I loved Hideous Kinky. The [book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0880016884/qid=1082057221/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1_xs_stripbooks_i1_xgl14/104-4224963-2622320?v=glance&s=books) was better, but the [film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0136244/) was pretty good, visually anyway. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/34 "2004-04-15T19:35:34Z")
**The Matrix: Reloaded** and **The Matrix: Revolutions**. I have pretty good taste in movies (IMO), so I kind of feel embarrassed for liking these, since I’m evidently the only person in the world who did. Yeah, they weren’t as good as they could have been, but they weren’t bad… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/35 "2004-04-15T19:40:28Z")
Looks like I’m the first one to say **Pearl Harbor**. This movie is awesome. I don’t mind the cheesy love story or whatever historical details were wrong like that the sailors wern’t wearing the right color of shoelace tips or whatever. You can’t beat an hour-long action scene. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/36 "2004-04-15T19:51:15Z")
**Showgirls**. I just love, love, love that movie. And, NO, I do not think that it has any subtext or is a subversive classic like a certain other poster does. . . I enjoy the sheer, cheesy camp value of it all. It’s like the brain-damaged bastard child of **Valley of the Dolls** and **42nd St.** ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/37 "2004-04-15T19:58:25Z")
I’ve always thought that if you looked past the low-budget feel, _Vulgar_ was a brilliant film. [Many would disagree.](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Vulgar-1110384/) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/38 "2004-04-15T21:17:47Z")
\*Exorcist II: The Heretic Magnolia AI Licence to Kill Casino Royale Incubus\* ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/39 "2004-04-15T21:21:52Z")
> [@carterba](#): > > **The Matrix: Reloaded** and **The Matrix: Revolutions**. I have pretty good taste in movies (IMO), so I kind of feel embarrassed for liking these, since I’m evidently the only person in the world who did. Yeah, they weren’t as good as they could have been, but they weren’t bad… I actually liked them as well, and felt a lot of people were expecting too much. No, I wasn’t bothered by the CGI(though I was disappointed when the Twins just dissapeared after Reloaded0). They were better then a lot of sequels out there. Death to Smoochy: I never got why everyone hated this movie. I saw it much less as “making fun of Barney” as “insinuating that childern’s television is run by the mob”, which was an interesting angle. Robin Williams as an over-the-top nutjob was fun to watch, as well as Ed Norton. Mars Attacks: A great tribute to the B sci-fi movies of the 1950’s/1960’s, complete with Retro flying saucers, ray guns and little green men. But then again, I like CHEESE :D! Cable Guy: I’ll admit I’m a Jim Carrey fan, but I still enjoyed him as an over-the-top needy cableguy. Nice to see him in a dark comedy for once. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090/40 "2004-04-15T21:25:59Z")
People didn’t like **Magnolia**? Seriously? Sheesh. Well, add me in for that one, too. Okay, so let’s just say I like all of Tom Cruise’s odder films. I also seem to like anything with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He rules. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-u-loved-that-critics-and-or-the-public-mostly-hated/240090.md?page=3)