# Name some completely "unremarkable" movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289 "2016-01-15T23:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [January 16, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/21 "2016-01-16T12:45:43Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Spielberg’s _Empire of the Sun_. What a boring boring movie. Couldn’t wait for it to be over. If you want an unremarkable Spielberg movie, choose from _Always_, _Terminal_, or _Catch Me If You Can_. ---
**Author:** ![Willcross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Willcross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Willcross)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/22 "2016-01-16T13:05:34Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I think I skip a lot of these sorts of films, so I suspect that you could find many more in the oeuvres of Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis, and Keanu Reeves, but here’s a few I’ve seen: > > I Am Legend > War of the Worlds > The Last Samurai > Mercury Rising > Cop Out > Point Break Also the movie **Hitch** starring Will Smith was perfectly…fine. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/23 "2016-01-16T13:17:15Z")
Accidental Tourist ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/24 "2016-01-16T13:21:33Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > If you want an unremarkable Spielberg movie, choose from _Always_, _Terminal_, or _Catch Me If You Can_. _Catch Me If You Can_ was great! I saw one recently which was wildly adequate - _Age of Adeline_. Saw it in theaters. I remember Harrison Ford, bad narration, and … that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/25 "2016-01-16T16:21:03Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Accidental Tourist Great choice. I’m going to be disagreed with, but Interstellar would be my pick. Was expecting too much I guess. Both my Wife and I wanted it to be just OVER. Just bought from Amazon - Annie Hall Das Boot Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Galaxy Quest American Graffiti Dr Strangelove Wanted all of those in my collection. ETA - Agree that Catch Me If You Can was great. Very fun. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/26 "2016-01-16T16:51:26Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > Kevin Kline has been in a number of good to mediocre films that are oft forgotten: > > \*Grand Canyon > Dave > The Ice Storm > In & Out > Orange County \*Obviously we’re going to disagree on some - mine will be with Grand Canyon. I think that’s a great film, and I own the DVD. Are you surprised, but not appalled? 🙂 I totally agree with Interstellar, and will add Gravity. I was surprised two space movies, which I would normally be inclined to enjoy, could be so meh. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/27 "2016-01-16T16:55:47Z")
There’s a film with Dustin Hoffman, Alan Alda and John Travolta which cost $50 million to make… **Mad City** , anyone? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/28 "2016-01-16T16:56:26Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > \*Obviously we’re going to disagree on some - mine will be with Grand Canyon. I think that’s a great film, and I own the DVD. Are you surprised, but not appalled? 🙂 > > I totally agree with Interstellar, and will add Gravity. I was surprised two space movies, which I would normally be inclined to enjoy, could be so meh. Grand Canyon is great. I also have it. The ending is a bit sappy, but Kevin Kline and Danny Glover work great together. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/29 "2016-01-16T17:00:45Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > A friend and I were trying to think of the most middle-of-the-road, “unremarkable” movies of all time. Here’s the definition we came up with: > > - Neither a very good or bad film > > - Nothing in particular stands out about the performances, story, cinematography etc. > > - It wasn’t offensive, surprising, or terribly memorable > > - You never hear anyone regularly referring to it, or quoting from it > > - You’d be surprised, but not appalled, to learn that a friend owns it on DVD **The Book of Love** (1990), about a young guy running around with his buddies in the 1950s, getting into the usual cliche shenanigans and looking for a girlfriend, would fit perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/30 "2016-01-16T18:43:36Z")
I recently watched Sin Dejar Huella. Absolutely unremarkable. (Except to remark that it is unremarkable.) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/31 "2016-01-16T19:25:19Z")
Thought of one, so I can actually contribute to the thread. 😛 _Memoirs of an Invisible Man_ John Carpenter directing Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, and Sam Neill, with Chase in the title role. It had potential. It frittered it away, mostly because it couldn’t decide whether it was a drama or a comedy, I think. It had some witty moments, but no real laughs. It had some decent invisibility effects, but nothing really exciting. The actors couldn’t wring enough drama out of the rather weak and clichéd plot to make up the difference. (To be fair, Chase had an uphill battle–a mostly comic actor trying to convey serious emotion while invisible can’t be easy.) In the end, it was a mostly invisible movie about an invisible man. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/32 "2016-01-16T19:43:24Z")
Unremarkable: JFK Underwhelming: Deep impact Un… something: Day After Tomorrow All decent enough movies. All entertaining. But none of them were especially good or memorable. > [@enipla](#): > > Dr Strangelove I’m with you on this one. After being led to believe it was some super clever work of wry comic genius and having my expectations built up so high, I was very disappointed with this movie. It had it’s good moments, but overall I found it very, very unremarkable. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/33 "2016-01-16T21:01:22Z")
If you look at movie listings from the past, it’s easy to find hundreds of unremarkable movies by just looking at a list of them, especially when the studio system was in play. Hollywood had a ready market for anything they made, so they did a lot of low- and medium-budget films that were meant to be disposable. Take this list of [movies from 1939](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_1939), a year often cited as one of the best in film. If you recognize over 10% of the titles listed, you’re a film historian. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/34 "2016-01-16T22:42:34Z")
I think damn near every Western ever made would fit into this category. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/35 "2016-01-17T02:02:19Z")
Couldn’t the same be said of just about every romance, sci-fi, fantasy, action, drama ever made? I haven’t seen a whole lot of westerns, so I can’t judge. Is there really a particularly heavy lean toward mediocrity in that genre? My first thought when I read your comment was, “what about The Unforgiven!?” Though I realize that one good movie in a sea of average movies doesn’t save the genre. I still haven’t gotten around to seeing the Fistful of Dollars series of spaghetti westerns, so I don’t know if they live up to their reputation. But hey, they do \*have \*a reputation. I was about to say I’ve never seen a buddy cop movie that impressed me, but then I remembered Beverly Hills Cop, which was dang funny. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/36 "2016-01-17T02:15:05Z")
Police Academy All SEVEN. ---
**Author:** ![Baine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Baine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baine)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/37 "2016-01-17T02:35:59Z")
My first thought was **Bad Company** (2002), which I found to be not quite funny enough to be a good spoof of the spy/action genre, and not quite riveting enough to be a great action movie. Overall I remember it being enjoyable enough, although I haven’t watched it since. I would probably say the same about **Showtime** , also from 2002. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2016, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/38 "2016-01-17T08:36:21Z")
The previous post reminded me of [In Good Company](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385267/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_35), which fits the bill for me. I disagree with many of the suggestions so far, sometimes strongly, but Gung Ho is such a perfect embodiment of what the OP is looking for I don’t have the heart to argue. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/39 "2016-01-17T09:08:34Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > [Evolution](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251075/) is one of those movies that’s perfectly okay. It was funny, but not particularly so. It was good, but not great. It did fine in the box office, but it never hit cult status, so it doesn’t get quoted. Good choice. Along the same line is Loaded Weapon [Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107659/) and Men at Work [Men at Work (1990) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100135/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2) Not bad, not great and probably not as funny as you remember them to be. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289/40 "2016-01-17T12:48:13Z")
Brooklyn (2015). > **[Brooklyn (2015) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381111/)** > > Brooklyn: Directed by John Crowley. With Saoirse Ronan, Hugh Gormley, Brid Brennan, Maeve McGrath. An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must... Many people here will undoubtedly disagree with me because this film was rated quite highly by critics and other people. Also, it was up for many “Best Picture” awards. So, what was my problem with this film? Here is a summary of the plot: IMHO, this film was extremely “unremarkable”. A young lady emigrates from Ireland to Brooklyn NY and gets a job, meets a “fellah”, falls in love, gets married, has some crises, finds some happiness, goes back to Ireland for a visit, decides she prefers Brooklyn, moves back to Brooklyn and ultimately, she lives happily ever after. My problem is that outside of a fairly nice story, nothing particularly interesting ever seems to happen. To summarize: Nothing ever happens. What a snore fest. I suppose it could be said this is a love story and the thing that happens is two unhappy people from very different backgrounds meet and makes each other happy and fall in love and live happily ever after. It’s something that most all of us long for in our lives. OK. I admit that. People who disagree with me will say the photography is beautiful. The story is so well done that it transports people back to the time in history around WW2. But still, … ZZZZZ … _snore_. I kept waiting for something to happen. I waited and waited and waited. But nothing really ever happens. Perhaps it would be better for me to say that nothing \*\*interesting \*\*ever really happens. I walked away thinking, “WTH? When is something going to happen? Is something ever going to happen?” But, nothing happened. Nothing ever happened, **SNORE … SNORE.** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-some-completely-unremarkable-movies/743289.md?page=3)