Oh, and my ultimate movie that fits this category: The Color Purple. I didn’t think it would lack talent or filmmaking style, but just the back of the video box made me need Prozac- I thought it would be horribly depressing with a slant towards pretentious. I watched it, it’s one of less than a dozen movies that ever made me cry, returned the video several days late and bought that and the book on the way home.
Wet Hot American Summer. I thought it looked stupid, but it was a very good send-up and had some really great lines and moments and twists.
Sliding Doors. I have a weakness for alternative-reality stuff (time travel too), and Gwyneth carried multiple parts better than I thought she would.
Another vote for *I, Robot *. I hadn’t heard a single kind word about it, but I actually enjoyed the campy action and the fact that the female lead doesn’t end up naked/tied up/in Will Smith’s bed. I also thought I’d hate Cellular, but it, too, was the best of its kind. You know it’s been a slow year when I’m praising brainless action flics for being at the top of their game.
School of Rock
I’ll agree with that. Also, The Truth About Cats & Dogs. I like Janeane Garofalo, but I expected the movie to suck. It didn’t.
I also found The English Patient and Remains of the Day would be horrible agonizing chick flicks. I really enjoyed them both and absolutely loved the cinematography.
I also thought they would be agonizing chick flicks.
Excuse me.
Joe Dirt. Seriously.
And a second for Pirates of the Caribbean. I kept expecting Captain Jack Sparrow to start ranting about giant bloodthirsty lizards at any moment, though.
I’ll second Super Troopers, for sure. I was pestered & pestered for months to see it, finally gave in, still thinking it’d be every bit as retarded as the premise… well, it was retarded, but the endearing kind, meow. 
Pirates of the Caribbean, too. I mean, how could a movie… based on a Disneyworld ride(and a boring one at that)…not suck with all the suction of suckdom? and lo, it did not. and I was pleased.
I’ve been avoiding it for the same reason. IIRC, you have at least good taste in anime, so yay, maybe I’ll check it out now.
mine is Troy. I went with FinnAgain pretty much just so I could make fun of him for being so worked up about it, but in the end was pretty impressed. stop throwing things; it was damn good entertainment.
and that is not at all influenced by the profile of Brad Pitt’s smooth, firm, naked a–
well. not totally. ^_^;;;;
You know it’s not anime, right? 
Seriously though, it’s a funny movie. Plenty of clever moments, like
“Beth, Today is the least of our worries.”
“Oh God, Don’t tell me you have crabs…”
“Well, yes, but that’s not the point. Meet me at the picnic table in ten seconds and i’ll explain it all.”
Orgasmo and Rocky Horror. I was told about both at an early age and never thought much of them. Now they are both favs (after The Nightmare Before Christmas and Fight Club).
How is that possible? Seriously – how is that possible?
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! I thought it was going to be an insipid chick flick romantic comedy. And while it certainly has a lot of chick-flickiness about it, it also had Topher Grace, who’s IMO a pretty good actor, and Josh Duhamel, who played an arrogant movie star to the hilt. It also struck me as pretty well-written.
A girlfriend and her son once forced me to take them to a cutesy kiddie flick full of talking animals.
Babe most certainly did not suck, despite all my dire predictions.
I know this was about 1,000 years ago, by cracky, but when **Road Warrior ** came out, I thought “guys with cars and weapons in the desert. This should suck.” Loved it. (I loved Mel, too, before he turned out to be such a jerk. But that’s another story.)
I was also surprised by how cute Zoolander was. Not a great movie, but the “walk off” in the “old Members Only warehouse” with the cameo by David Bowie made it worthwhile. That, and the part where Derek tries to go back to his roots in the “coal mining country of New Jersey.”
**Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ** surprised me because I thought the first two movies sucked, and it didn’t. They blew a couple of good opportunities to clarify things for people who hadn’t read the book, but overall it was a good movie. The only genuinely sucky part was the actor who plays Harry’s pathetic attempt to act like he was crying; then again, it’s not exactly an easy thing for any kid his age to pull off, unless they are a hell of a lot better actor than that kid could ever dream of being.
Adventures in Babysitting It sounded like such a stupid movie premise. And my sister, who saw it in the theatres, was about 12 at the time, and not very good at expressing why it was so good. It’s now one of the movies I want to preserve for all time.
Same here! I usually hate Jack Black but I just laughed and laughed and laughed through this one. Joan Cusak is really good in it too.
This might seem like a strange pick, but Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. Before it came out, I hadn’t even seen a trailer. I had been crazy busy for the months before at work so I didn’t make it to the theatre and hadn’t had high speed internet for the last 8 months because it wasn’t available at my new appartment yet. I didn’t even have time to read reviews but I was sure of only two outcomes. I would absolutely love it or Peter Jackson would screw things up beyond recognition. I was sure it would be the later because I had just seen a string of bad movies.
My friend saw it opening day and I asked him what he though, he said he loved it and it was the best movie he’d seen all year. I told him to fuck off, was then I was positive it would suck but went to see it anyway. As it happens, waiting for the next two installments becamse the focal point of my life over the next two years.
Other picks,
Pirates of the Carribean
I, Robot
Back in the prehistory of time when I was 14, my sister took me to see a science-fiction movie at one of the now-vanished cinemas in downtown Oshawa.
I had seen Logan’s Run a few months earlier, and I thought it sucked. I remember looking at the small ads for another movie, something called Star Wars. I figured that, with a name like that, it would be crappy as well, but what the hey, why not go and see it anyways. So we went.
The movie started. I read the introductory words on the screen, and thought, “Could be bad, could be good. But I’m keeping my guard up.” Then the starfield and planetary horizon appeared, a small ship appeared, fleeing from some unseen menace. Then the Imperial cruiser came into view… and got bigger and bigger and bigger… and my jaw progressively dropped. And I fell into the movie.
We did not drive home. We flew. 
Buffy the Vampire Slayer