# Movies you have watched with low expectations only to be surprised by how much you like them. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609 "2014-04-21T14:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/61 "2014-04-22T12:53:29Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I dunno why you guys are so surprised about Fight Club, Brad Pitt is one of the few actors who actually reads the script first, and it was before Ed Norton fucked with them. It was very poorly advertised. The promos didn’t portray the film accurately. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/62 "2014-04-22T13:15:12Z")
The Red Sox got rained out, they aired “The Missiles of October”, with Bill Devane as JFK, good flick. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/63 "2014-04-22T15:11:51Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > It was very poorly advertised. The promos didn’t portray the film accurately. Of course once you start watching it, that’s a plus. But it didn’t look like a film with thinking characters. They could have made that more obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/64 "2014-04-22T15:16:48Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Of course once you start watching it, that’s a plus. But it didn’t look like a film with thinking characters. They could have made that more obvious. As I said earlier (and in other threads in the past), I’ve wondered if that was on purpose. But OTOH, I assume they really hurt their numbers that way, at least the first few weeks worth of ticket sales. I mean, to this day, I’ll still hear people say they’re not interested in seeing a movie about people beating each other up. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/65 "2014-04-22T15:58:49Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > As I said earlier (and in other threads in the past), I’ve wondered if that was on purpose. But OTOH, I assume they really hurt their numbers that way, at least the first few weeks worth of ticket sales. I mean, to this day, I’ll still hear people say they’re not interested in seeing a movie about people beating each other up. My wife saw _Fight Club_ before I did. Of course, she knew the actors and the director and knew that, at worst, if it were a failure, it would be an interesting one. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/66 "2014-04-22T15:59:15Z")
A few years ago we went through a string of “surprisingly good” movies. The only one I recall is **Get Smart**. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/67 "2014-04-22T16:01:45Z")
Alien surprised me. I thought it was gonna be just another ‘monster eats people’s faces’ horror flick based on the ads and years later I saw it on cable and it was a topnotch science fiction flick. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil – I thought it would be a Jim Carrey level hillbilly horror flick, instead it was a fairly entertaining film about class and cultural expectations DISGUISED as a hillbilly horror flick. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/68 "2014-04-22T16:01:48Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > “Rocky Balboa”: Okay, let me get this straight. Rocky is an old man, who was advised never to box again in Rocky V. But he’s going to do it anyway… vs a champion boxer in his prime?!? No wonder Talia Shire said “NO WAY” this movie. > > Afterwards, I thought it was the second best movie, with lots of shout-outs to the first one. They even made the big fight plausible, I daresay the movie could’ve even worked without the fight. People forget, Stallone won the Oscar for writing the first one. My only problem was his vanity. Retired boxers do not have people carefully shaping their eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![Nauplius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nauplius/32/51_2.png) [@Nauplius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nauplius)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/69 "2014-04-22T16:56:07Z")
The two that immediately came to mind were **Kick Ass** and **The Boondock Saints**. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/70 "2014-04-22T16:59:32Z")
Tremors. I’ve heard claims that it was envisioned to be a straight-up monster movie before the cast realized it could not be taken seriously, and went for comedy. The end result is a very self-aware, funny film, with a twist of genuine tension as the characters try to survive an unusual kind of threat. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/71 "2014-04-22T17:06:48Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > As I said earlier (and in other threads in the past), I’ve wondered if that was on purpose. But OTOH, I assume they really hurt their numbers that way, at least the first few weeks worth of ticket sales. I mean, to this day, I’ll still hear people say they’re not interested in seeing a movie about people beating each other up. > [@gaffa](#): > > My wife saw _Fight Club_ before I did. Of course, she knew the actors and the director and knew that, at worst, if it were a failure, it would be an interesting one. After I made that post I read the wiki article on Fight Club. It seems even the Executive Producer said the marketing for the movie was a failure. Of course, he wasn’t on board with it from the beginning, but my guess was right in that it didn’t do well at the box office. > **[Fight Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Club#Marketing)** > > Fight Club is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with a soap salesman, Tyler Durden (Pitt), and becomes embroiled with an impoverished but beguiling woman, Marla Singer (Bonham Carter). > Palahniuk's novel was optioned by Fox 2000 Pictures producer Laura ... ---
**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 22, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/72 "2014-04-22T17:08:36Z")
I had such low expectations for _Armageddon_ that when I found out it was merely mediocre, I enjoyed it more than I would have expected. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/73 "2014-04-22T17:16:01Z")
It may seem odd now, but I went to see the first of Jackson’s _Lord of the Rings_ movies only because a friend of mine hectored me into coming with him. I’d never read the book and had low a low opinion of sword & sorcery movies; if he hadn’t insisted, and if the theatre hadn’t been within walking distance of my apartment, I’d never have bothered. I was gobsmacked by how wonderful it was, and it got better with re-watching. The above should not be misinterpreted to mean that I don’t hate _Return of the King_. I’d say that THAT one gets worse with every viewing, except that I refuse to watch it any more. Even the four good scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Lydia\_Phalfav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lydia\_Phalfav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lydia_Phalfav)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/74 "2014-04-22T17:18:45Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I also mocked the idea of Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was a phenomenal movie. > > Pitch Black and the Riddick sequels all seemed like stupid ideas. Each one has been better than the one before and are great movies. The third Riddick(2013) was, no kidding, the best movie of 2013. I’m not a big fan of over the top macho crap in most guy action movies, but I also enjoyed the Riddick movies. I just imagine a hot guy as Riddick. I rewatch The Chronicles of Riddick once in awhile for the Necromonger scenes & the escape from Crematoria. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/75 "2014-04-22T17:25:34Z")
I thought _Limitless_ with Bradley Cooper would be a cheesy little technothriller. Now it’s one of my favorite movies - smart, unpredictable, stylish, scary and fun. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/76 "2014-04-22T17:27:42Z")
_Galaxy Quest_. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/77 "2014-04-22T17:42:41Z")
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. Met two of my criteria for bad movies: pretentious title, and ham-fistedly contrived character name to create cutesy rhyme. Only watched it because my kids wanted to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/78 "2014-04-22T18:33:57Z")
I thought _In Time_ was much better than I expected it to be. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/79 "2014-04-22T18:40:12Z")
[Daybreakers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daybreakers) is a vampire movie from a several years ago, set in a world in which most people are vampires. I thought it was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609/80 "2014-04-22T19:38:57Z")
**My Little Pony: Equestria Girls**. I thought it would be nothing more than a cheesy high-school-musical-knockoff cash grab; in fact, it turned out to be a rousing critique of high school social structure, with an incredibly funny premise (when you really think about it, it’s basically “I have to win this popularity contest to get back the nuclear football” - watch it with that in mind and it becomes hilarious) and some of the catchiest musical numbers I’ve ever seen. It’s been months and I still can’t get “Helping Twilight Win The Crown” out of my head. So much fun. **Frozen**. I thought it was disney princess pablum aimed at little kids; it turned out to be the best animated movie I’ve seen since **Up** with amazing visuals, a song which allowed the academy to engrave one of their trophies months in advance, an amazing story, and… need I say more? You’ve all seen it (OR SHOULD BE SEEING IT VERY SOON). Okay, let’s be honest, I don’t know _why_ I thought it would be aimed at little kids - none of the Disney movies from my childhood pulled any punches. Even Bambi was pretty brutal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-have-watched-with-low-expectations-only-to-be-surprised-by-how-much-you-like-them/686609.md?page=5)