How about the Matrix? Won’t be popular for saying this, but for all the hype it was just a waste of my time.
The most overrated movie is of course Debbie Does Dallas for obvious reasons.
Blair Witch Project, probably the most un-scary scary movie I’ve seen.
I would add Star Wars and Titanic to my list, but I’ve never seen 'em and probably never will.
Im sure if you have said u didn’t like the movie, what you’ve heard is “You’ve got to see it a few times before you get it.” I’m gonna have to say that, for me at least, it was true. The first time I saw it I was dissapointed. After watching it a 2nd and 3rd time I caught more of what was going on and liked it more.
The Usual Suspects. Okay, it had a great cast and decent dialogue. But, I’m sorry, a gimmick ending does not turn a quickie genre flick into a Great Work of Art.
Gladiator. Okay, I loved it. But I don’t think it is Great Art, either. The computer graphics are worth a Special Effects Oscar. Possibly the costumes and set design. But I don’t believe you should give a nomination for Best Original Screenplay to a script that is basically a remake of The Fall of the Roman Empire, with a few elements of Spartacus thrown in for good measure.
I should clarify, good point.
When the movie came out, I was overseas, kind of doing this war stuff. I had never heard of it when I got back and rented it off a back shelf 
I have to agree. I can’t figure out what the big deal about the graphics is either. The looked fine to me. I thought the movie was okay, but I can’t believe it was nominated for any Oscars. It wasn’t that good.
Um, I suppose you could come away with that conclusion if you watched the movie with your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed, but there was no such premise.
The FBI (well, Crawford, anyway) sent Starling into a state institution to interview Lecter on her own, but the FBI did not send her out alone to “face crazy serial killers.” She was suspended by the FBI director after offering the fake deal to Lecter. She went to Memphis to interview him on her own, then went to Belvedere, Ohio on her own to interview locals after she realized that Buffalo Bill must have known her first victim.
Only when she realizes what Bill’s motive is does she call Crawford, who is en route to intercept Jame Gumb in Illinois, where the FBI thinks he is. Crawford tells her to keep interviewing people so they can link Gumb with the first victim and get him on murder charges rather than simply kidnapping (since they assume Katherine Martin is still alive). They have no way of knowing that when she knocks on Mrs. Lippmann’s door, Gumb is going to answer.
Sheesh.
IMHO, the most overrated movie is “Dances With Wolves”. What a load of hooey that movies was! It was a boring, way too artsy, simpleminded movie with virtually no plot and hammy acting.
PLD, let me rephrase for you. The FBI does not send rookie agents to interview serial killers on their own even if the interview subject is already in jail. The FBI does not send rookie agents to the bathroom alone, let alone out on investigations or interviews. As I said before, the movie proceeds from a completely flawed premise.
Another vote for Usual Suspects here,
Boring and from start to finish, average acting, mediocre dialogues, a pointless plot and a suprise ending that isn’t much of a suprise…
A gimmicky end does not a good film make.
Dead Poets Society.
Anything with a shark.
I forget the rest. Maybe Titanic, but that’s a sappy genre anyway.
I’m probably going to get slammed for this, but having just sat through it, I’ve got to say…Citizen Kane.
I mean, this is almost unanimously considered the best movie ever made, but why? I mean, sure it’s a psychological portrait of a man through the eyes of those who knew him…but was the identity of “Rosebud” really such a suspenseful plot? I didn’t think so. I got bored of all the trips down memory lane halfway through, sat through the rest hoping to find out why it’s so beloved, and came away with very little.
Actually, I was thinking about ET the other day. It was enormously overhyped in its day, and, like you say, it was though of as being the next wizard of oz. Funny, but it seems to me that no one really watches it anymore. Compare it to other movies made around the same time- “Wrath of Khan,” “Blade Runner,” even “The Goonies” and “Gremlins” seem to have aged better than “ET”.
-Ben
the perfect storm- OMG that movie was the biggest thing to hit this small maine community since lobster rolls- I could not even watch the whole thing i was so bored- I was labled as insenstive to the tragedy yikes
Man on the moon- yet again big hype here- i was bored to tears
And my personal fave
TITANIC
that movie was sooo overated. There were so many bloopers in that movie it drove me nuts- My friends were all crying- I offered my then boyfriend to give him 2 hours of head just to take me home.
Pulp Fiction. Start with plenty of casual violence to carry the movie, and instead of a screenplay, just tell the actors “I want you to try as hard as you possibly can to outcool each other as if you were in the cafeteria during 7th grade” and then surf the PC-backlash trend all the way to film infamy.
I was bored out of my mind, and instead of going to see a real movie next time, everybody wants to go see this again? Although I liked Urge Overkill’s cover of “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon.” And you have to admire Uma Thurman’s ability to participate in the “look how big my dick is” competition without actually having a penis.
-fh, who is excited about the DVD release of “Big Trouble In Little China.”
They explained this, also. They had, for years, sent experienced agents in to interview Dr. Lecter, and he had always seen right through them and their methodology. Crawford thought that by sending in a trainee, a greenhorn, if you will, that Lecter might respond to her. They also touched on the fact that they thought she might sexually interest him, also leading him to giving up some information. The hidden agenda, which Clarice guessed, was to attempt to pry information about Buffalo Bill from Lecter.
Forrest Gump (he’s a much more interesting character in the books)
Erin Brockovich. Would have been far better as a Lifetime “Victim of the Week” TV movie, and suddenly it’s up for an Oscar, and its inane star wins a Golden Globe and is up for the Best Actress Oscar?
Heh. I think Godzilla actually flopped, due to word-of-mouth. It was, incidentally, one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.
American Beauty and Fight Club. Two films that began with such promise and delivered little. Two films that feel like two movies squashed together. Sensationalist anarchistic bollocks. I’ve seen better episodes of The Simpsons, but then that’s a stupid thing for me to write!
And Three Kings. Utter tripe. Anything with Clooney really. Not blaming him though…
Most over-rated director has to go to Steven Soderbergh for Out of Sight and Erin Brocwhatever and The Limey and all the way back to sex, lies and videotape. Traffic? Not seen it, and not bloody likely to. Pants! (trust I’ve upset enough people by no)
Braveheart?! They dare to insult Braveheart?! My Scottish blood boils in my veins and… well, ok, maybe.
Add me to the growing list for The Blair Witch Project. If any film truly qualifies for being over-hyped, then that must be it. It sucked big time to a band playing. My brother and some of his friends actually fell for the “yhis is a true story - this is actual video footage” line, until I patiently explained how the movie industry works to him.
I liked American Beauty and I managed to see it in a preview before all the hype started, so I didn’t have my hopes built up.
I love Gladiator, and I am not surprised that it has been nominated for all those Oscars. It is an epic, and is the first big picture for a while that is set in the Roman Empire - or course it was going to get nominated. Hey - you don’t think a film actually has to be any good to be nominated for and win an Oscar, do you? 