What are some movies you hated when you first saw them, but grew fond of after multiple viewings?
For me a lot of Cohen Brothers movies are like that. The first time I saw Fargo I was bored out of my mind. I thought the accents were too heavy handed, the characters too cartoonish, the action not very interesting. But then sometime later I happened to catch it on cable, and something just clicked. I couldn’t stop laughing, and even the next day at work I had trouble keeping myself from chuckling when I thought back on it.
2001: A Space Odyssey was another movie I detested when I first saw it. I was just waiting for something to happen, and was extremely disappointed when they didn’t show what the aliens looked like. But it’s one of those movie that just sticks with you and the more I thought about it, the more I appreciated its spartan approach. And having read some books about the space program I realized that really is what long-distance space travel would be like (minus the psychedelic space portal of course).
Beetlejuice didn’t do much for me when I first saw it, but repeated viewings have made it a favorite.
Aliens was pure junk the first time I saw it. It’s the movie that taught me that sometimes how good a movie is depends on where you’re sitting in the theater.
I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t impressed by A Christmas Story the first time I saw it. Now it’s a big favorite.
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. If I’d seen this in a movie theater, I’d probably still dislike it, since I’d have never bothered to watch it again. However, I missed it there and bought it sight-unseen when it was released on LaserDisc. Really was let down when I first watched it, it didn’t seem to be as funny as their sketch show. It was OK, but seemed like a waste of $35, or however much the LD had cost.
A week or two later, one of the lines popped up in my head (“Bird in my eye!”) and I thought it was funny, so I watched it again. Again, a little disappointing, but there were some funny bits. After a week or two, my wife and I realized we had spent the last couple of days making each other crack up by quoting other lines from the movie… and we watched it again. Funnier again. Rinse and repeat. Ended up being one of the best $35 I’d risked on an unseen LD.
Forrest Gump. Saw it at the theater when it first came out and my assessment of it was: movie = crap.
Now that it’s in regular rotation amongst the TBS / AMC cable channels, I like it just fine.
High Fidelity.
For some reason when I saw it, I was in a big anti-John Cusack stretch and I just coudln’t enjoy anything he was in. Now it’s one of my favorites.
Le dîner de cons. I was furious when I left the movie theater after watching this the first time around. (I don’t really like movies when everything that can go wrong, actually goes wrong)
I now find it hilarious.
And it’s one of the few times I’ve actually given movies I hated a second chance. There are enough good movies out there without needing to give movies I didn’t like a second viewing.
My wife and I were more or less ambivalent about Stardust our first time through it. I mean, we liked it enough but as we quoted it to each other over the week following our initial viewing, we fell in love with it.
It has now joined our top tier of favorite movies…and I highly recommend it to everyone.
Ordinary People. You just have to be in the right mood to watch that movie. First time through was a frustrating experience as I didn’t expect such a somber movie. With expectatations properly set, when I watched it again I found it to be a beautifully made movie with some superb acting. Not surprisingly it won multiple Oscars.
Didn’t really care for Anchorman the first time I saw it. I thought it was alright, but it was kind of weird and I didn’t really get the characters. After repeated viewings, it’s one of the most-quoted movies among my group of friends and I love it.
And I love lamp.
“Remains of the Day” left me cold when I first saw it. But I must have sensed that I was wrong. I can’t explain that. I re-watched it a few weeks later and felt completely different about it. It’s now one of my favorites.
Finding Neverland. Not sure why I didn’t like it the first time, just thought it was very slow and boring. I’ve watched the DVD several times and it has become a favorite.
The Big Lebowski.
Went from one of the worst movies I have ever seen to “OMFG I am an ass for not immediately loving this movie with my entire heart and soul”.
Syriana - I thought it was dull, boring and confusing. Now it’s one of my favorites.
Babel - I thought it was trash, but after my second viewing it grew on me.
Battle Royale. It took the first aborted viewing to get past the premise, but now it’s one of my favourite movies.
I had a hard time watching the first Lord of the Rings due to me not being mentally prepared for the onslaught of fantasy style names of all the characters, races, creatures, places, weapons, and objects that it seemed that you needed to know. It seemed that everything had a goofy name and all the characters had to say the name a few times with a reverent, fearful, or awestruck tone. “Look below the hills of whatever, it is the prince of the whoever swinging the sword of whatever while crossing the fjord of wherever holding the shield of whatever in front of the statues of whomever before going into the caves of whatever.” It made me roll my eyes on more than one occassion.
Now, I am used to it all, I understand the signficance of all the goofy names, and I enjoy watching the DVDs, especially with the home theater turned up loud (this is one of the best sounding movies I own).
Every Coen bros movie, especially O Brother. And even though I love Wes Anderson, I generally am underwhelmed by each movie the first time I see it, and then enjoy it more with each viewing.
This Is Spinal Tap - I’d read the most fantastic review of this movie when it was shown on TV (I was about 16) and I just didn’t get it at all. In some ways, a growing appreciation of just how true the movie seems to have been for many bands helped but also I think it is a movie that somehow gets funnier on repeated viewings.
I was also very disappointed in Citizen Kane on first viewing but that one is harder for me to explain - now I can’t understand why I didn’t always adore it.