# This movie is not what I expected it to be **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298 "2019-05-21T16:03:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/121 "2019-05-27T00:55:23Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > yes but he came to fame mostly based on his standup work and Mork and Mindy. And the only movie I saw him in prior to Dead Poets Society was Good Morning Vietnam. One of the funniest movies I have ever seen even now 32 years later. I hope you learned your lesson after Dead Poets. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/122 "2019-05-27T01:04:31Z")
I certainly expect the rest of his career to be dramatic roles. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/123 "2019-05-27T03:13:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Quentin Tarrantino’s\* Inglorious Basterds\*. Based on its advertising, I assumed it was an action movie about Jewish soldiers fighting Nazis. In fact, the movie had virtually no action, and the soldiers in question were almost incidental to the plot, constantly being sidelined in favor of non-Jewish characters. I thought it was a remake of The Inglorious Bastards. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/124 "2019-05-27T22:18:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _Early Man_: The trailers made it look like it was a comedy about cavemen (which it was) while trying to minimize the fact that it was also a sports movie. I think the issue was that the sport was soccer and the marketing people were afraid that this would turn away American viewers. It did me. Well, it wasn’t _just_ the soccer. The trailer made it look stupid. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/125 "2019-05-28T15:02:31Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I saw no ads but I assumed it was a comedy because Williams was the star. Even if you saw the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQwVQzs9pHk) you would have thought it to be a comedy because that is how it was marketed. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/126 "2019-05-28T16:01:20Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > _Dead Poets Society_ was advertised as a Robin Williams comedy, with the trailer showing the 5 funny lines Robin has in the whole movie. So I rented it expecting to laugh. > A great movie to be sure, but definitely not a comedy. > [@Spoons](#): > > Robin Williams did a few such movies, where the first half was a side-splittingly funny comedy, and the second half was a drama, usually with a dark ending. In addition to _Dead Poets Society_, I think _Good Morning Vietnam_ and _Patch Adams_ fit this mold. As I recall, the trailers for those also showed the funny parts, and left out the sad drama. > [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Same with \*Jack. \* Trailer: Robin Williams being silly playing a 10 year old. Actual movie: 10 year old coming to grips with the fact that he’s probably going to die in another 10 years. > [@commasense](#): > > Here’s what I posted in a similar thread a few years ago (slightly edited): > > The trailers for _Bicentennial Man_ (1999) made it look like a stupid futuristic comedy with Robin Williams as a robot. I gave it a miss in theaters and it wasn’t until I saw it on cable years later that I realized it was based on an Isaac Asimov story\* I had read\*. I hadn’t made the connection to the title. > > In fact, the film was a fairly accurate and thoughtful adaptation of the story, about the struggle of a robot to understand what being human means, and ultimately to become human. It was nicely written and acted, and the ending was quite moving. > > But the moron marketing people positioned it as a comedy by excerpting just about the only 30 seconds of the film with any laughs. In so doing they drew in people looking for a comedy and undoubtedly disappointed most of them, since they probably weren’t expecting a 130-minute inquiry on human nature. At the same time, the marketing also kept away the Asimov fans and others interested in the serious theme of the film. > > Thus, many of the people who saw the film didn’t like it, and many who would have liked it didn’t see it. Brilliant. > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > yes but he came to fame mostly based on his standup work and Mork and Mindy. And the only movie I saw him in prior to Dead Poets Society was Good Morning Vietnam. One of the funniest movies I have ever seen even now 32 years later. > [@xizor](#): > > Even if you saw the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQwVQzs9pHk) you would have thought it to be a comedy because that is how it was marketed. Clearly Hollywood had a hard time marketing Robin Williams. However, after watching the _Dead Poets Society_ trailer, which IMHO does not misrepresent the film quite as much as **xizor** implies, I found the [trailer for _Bicentennial Man_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ7HxlhVDyM) that I referenced above. I see that it, too, is more balanced and accurate in portraying the theme of the film than I remembered. However, the pattern seems clear: for most of the serious films Williams made, the trailers highlighted virtually every laugh in the picture, trying to draw in fans of _Mork and Mindy_ and his standup, even if the film wasn’t going to deliver on the promise of a Robin Williams comedy. Good marketing or deception? (Or is that redundant?) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/127 "2019-05-28T18:42:12Z")
I thought the 1999 film _Wild Wild West_ was going to be about forty seven dead beats living in the back street; north, east, west, south, all in the same house; sitting in a back room, waiting for the big boom. Instead it was some crappy sci fi western starring Will Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/128 "2019-05-28T20:17:26Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > I thought the 1999 film _Wild Wild West_ was going to be about forty seven dead beats living in the back street; north, east, west, south, all in the same house; sitting in a back room, waiting for the big boom. Instead it was some crappy sci fi western starring Will Smith. _You_ were disappointed? The rest of us thought it would be about that TV series starring Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/129 "2019-05-28T20:38:23Z")
I saw “Riding In Cars With Boys”, starring Drew Barrymore, while dating a girl who wanted to see it. It sounded dumb, but turned out to be a really good movie about a woman surviving, and thriving, despite coming from a tough upbringing. Surprisingly good. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/130 "2019-05-29T15:20:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _You_ were disappointed? The rest of us thought it would be about that TV series starring Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. Yea, that’s what I thought it was going to be about. The worst day of torture I ever spent was 12 hours in an overcrowded emergency room with my mom and hundreds of complaining people, and Wild Fucking West was on the communal TV. We went outside with the smokers. It wasn’t as offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/131 "2019-05-29T16:08:37Z")
Slumdog Millionaire Everyone was talking about how great it was and the trailers looked fun. Wife and I rented it from Blockbuster thinking it would be a fun Bollywood-style romp about a guy who goes on a game show and gets rich. Nope. The first part has little poor kids getting beaten and their eyes burned with hot spoons. Not at all what we’d bargained for, especially since we’d had our first kid recently and were in that phase where you are super sensitive to anything like that. Turned it off after 15 minutes. Still my hallmark for “misleading movie promotions.” ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/132 "2019-05-29T16:32:25Z")
[Go](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139239/). Even after seeing some trailers I thought it was going to be a teen Rom-Com. It kinda sorta is but it’s really a teen Pulp Fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/133 "2019-05-29T16:46:21Z")
Renaissance Man with Danny DiVito. Never saw a trailer, but it was listed in guide as a comedy. Still is on IMDB (comedy/drama). Not a comedy. I don’t recall any funny lines at all, but it has been a long time since I saw it. Didn’t agree with a character’s interpretation of Hamlet at the end, but I didn’t like Hamlet and may well have been misremembering parts about it when I watched movie. Movie was okay, if I recall correctly. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/134 "2019-06-02T00:48:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Pan’s Labyrinth](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/) > > It’s a very dark violent movie. It was presented as a fantastical story that despite an R rating seemed suitable for young children. I enjoyed it but I know several people who were disturbed by what they saw, not really the content itself, but the expecting a more upbeat feel good movie. > [@clairobscur](#): > > I love Pan’s labyrinth. An excellent movie, dark indeed. I had to watch the trailer, to see if you could actually think it would be suitable for young children, and honestly I don’t think it gives this impression. Even though you could have expected something less dark from it, indeed. The name of the director, however, should have been a hint. Yeah…having already been a fan of The Devil’s Backbone, it was almost exactly what I expected. The Boy and Shut In’s trailers were misleading in the same way they looked like haunted house movies. They are not haunted house movies ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/135 "2019-06-02T01:12:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The movie that I saw that was most completely misrepresented was **Arachnophobia**. One trailer seemed to be composed entirely of John Goodman appearances, and gave the impression that this was a John Goodman comedy. In reality, he’s only in a very few scenes, and most of the movie has nothing to do with him. You could actually cut out his scenes and still have a coherent story. I remember the exact scene when my wife got off the couch, turned off the VCR, and said “I’m not watching this anymore.” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298/136 "2019-06-02T04:29:45Z")
_Daddy’s Dyin’ . . . Who’s Got the Will?_ is allegedly a comedy-drama. Judge Reinhold appears prominently on the poster. I remember lots of drama, but no comedy whatsoever. And Judge Reinhold’s character is a minor supporting role. _Mark of the Vampire_ is possibly the least-scary horror movie I have ever seen. And, in the end, they are not even real vampires. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-movie-is-not-what-i-expected-it-to-be/834298.md?page=6)