# What Are the Most Divisive Movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289 "2005-08-30T17:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/41 "2005-08-31T02:42:33Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > Huh. I saw it once, thought it was OK. Wouldn’t watch it again. My friend thinks it’s High Art. We’re both women. Speaking of **High Art** , does anybody like _that_ movie? ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/42 "2005-08-31T03:47:00Z")
I think **Stuart Saves His Family** is divisive. There are a lot of people like me who think it’s like recovery for people who don’t know whether to vomit or laugh at the term “recovery” but who really need it even though they think it’s stupid and embarassing. But most people just think it’s one of the dumbest movies ever made and they draw the line at barfing. I know there are people who love it because they said so on imdb. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/43 "2005-08-31T03:47:18Z")
The one that immediately came to my mind was **Sideways**. In my little circle of friends there are two of us that loved it and two more that think it’s probably the worst movie ever made. I’ll second Napoleon Dynamite and Passion of the Christ. I thought Passion was okay the first time but the second time I watched it, I absolutely hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/44 "2005-08-31T07:30:56Z")
Early U.S. releases of “Akira.” ---
**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:** [August 31, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/45 "2005-08-31T12:38:02Z")
I wouldn’t call it “divisive,” because everyone seems to hate it but me–_Saving Silverman_. This is one of my favorites of all time. I think it’s completely hilarious. I even got the DVD and watched the director’s cut. Boy was I surprised to find out that other people dislike it so much. And I was really surprised to find that so many people took it as misogynist, because I totally didn’t, and I tend toward the knee-jerk feminist side of things. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/46 "2005-08-31T13:04:05Z")
Yikes, **Saving Silverman** is awful. But I love **Fight Club**. And I got women’s parts and such. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/47 "2005-08-31T13:13:03Z")
**Citizen Kane** If you’re a critic, you think it’s the greatest thing produced by the hand of man. I saw it once and wondered, “just what is the big deal?” Boring story. What did Rosebud mean? I found myself not caring. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/48 "2005-08-31T15:21:03Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > What movies o you think are in the either you “love it or you hate it” category and rarely falls into the “It was ok/not awful” on people’s meters? > . - Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.\* I loved \*Fellowship \* beyond description and saw it an embarrassing number of times, and felt it got gypped on the Oscar. I thought _Two Tower_s was flawed but still excellent, and saw it an equally embarrassing number of times. I found \*Return \* to be a stinking pile of donkey vomit that was so bad it actually reached backwards in the space-time continuum and ruined its predecessors. When it won the Oscar for best pic I nearly had a stroke. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/49 "2005-08-31T15:35:12Z")
**Birth Of A Nation** both created modern movies as we know them, and is as ugly as a firebomb through a bedroom window (which actually happened to my family, in Maywood, Illinois, in 65). ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/50 "2005-08-31T15:48:03Z")
**The Big Lebowski**? Everyone else seems to have not heard of it or thought it completely unfunny, my friends and I think its hilarious and try and quote it as often as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/51 "2005-08-31T15:57:05Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I thought this thread was going to be about stuff like > Birth of A Nation > A Clockwork Orange > Lolita (both versions as well as the book) > The Last Temptation of Christ > Blue Velvet > Happiness > Hail Mary > which are more controversial morally, religiously & politically. Yes, but many of the elements that made them so divisive _in their day_ now seem quaint. I also liked _Saving Silverman_ and it includes the only major role I’ve seen Jack Black play that I could stomach. “They’re cornholin’ ya?!” ---
**Author:** ![Psycho\_Pirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Psycho\_Pirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psycho_Pirate)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/52 "2005-08-31T15:57:35Z")
My vote goes for **Unbreakable**. Comic fans tend to love it, art snobs tend to find it pretentious. Which are you? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/53 "2005-08-31T16:07:52Z")
> [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > My vote goes for **Unbreakable**. Comic fans tend to love it, art snobs tend to find it pretentious. Which are you? I’m a comics fan who finds it pretentious. The ending was… flawed. Incomplete. ---
**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/54 "2005-08-31T17:08:09Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > I’m a comics fan who finds it pretentious. The ending was… flawed. Incomplete. I’m neither a comic fan or an art snob, and I love the ending. Another few, all in the same group: **Billy Madison,** **Tommy Boy,** and **Big Daddy**. And, in a somewhat separate group: **Man on the Moon.** Now, THERE is a genius film that people just don’t get. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/55 "2005-08-31T18:31:33Z")
[Hearts and Minds](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0071604/) ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/56 "2005-08-31T18:51:05Z")
Thelma and Louise. One of the few movies whose discussion will cause me to nearly burst blood vessels. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/57 "2005-08-31T18:59:23Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > …as ugly as a firebomb through a bedroom window (which actually happened to my family, in Maywood, Illinois, in 65). Dude! You are THEM? I remember when that happened! ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/58 "2005-08-31T19:03:43Z")
Showgirls. Definitely a love it or hate it movie. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/59 "2005-08-31T19:18:29Z")
FTR, it was a discussion of _Showgirls_ that got **lissner** banned. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289/60 "2005-08-31T19:28:16Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > **The Big Lebowski**? Everyone else seems to have not heard of it or thought it completely unfunny, my friends and I think its hilarious and try and quote it as often as possible. I too like **The Big Lebowski**. I also enjoyed **Real Men** , **What Planet Are You From** and \*\*Big Trouble \*\* but have watched with friends who were less than impressed. Meh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-divisive-movies/319289.md?page=4)