# What's your most overrated movie?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 1, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272 "2003-12-01T15:42:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/1 "2003-12-01T15:42:43Z")
For me, it’s _The Untouchables_. How the hell can this hammy, inaccurate piece of tripe be so highly rated?
> **[The Untouchables (1987) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094226/)**
>
> The Untouchables: Directed by Brian De Palma. With Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia. During the era of Prohibition in the United States, Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone and,...
It’s inconceivable for this to receive nearly an 8 on imdb. I used to think that it was a decent movie. I watched it last night and couldn’t believe how shitty it was. Waaaay too schlocky.
I’ve read many people poking fun at Orson Welles’ “Lucky Charms” Irish accent in _The Lady From Shanghai_. I still find it more believable than Sean Connery’s _Scottish_ being passed off as Irish.
Feel free to pile on, or name one of your own (with a small explanation, of course).
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### Author:  [@Anaclaidiabhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaclaidiabhal)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/2 "2003-12-01T16:10:48Z")
For myself, Titanic. From my point of view, it was a good movie, but I don’t think it deserved the insane number of Academy Awards that it got. On the other hand, the Titanic was never really a compelling point of history for me, so my judgement is probably flawed.
That, and Shakespeare in Love. I’m still angry that it won best picture over Saving Private Ryan. There are times that the latter movie still haunts me, and it’s over five years old now.
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### Author:  [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/3 "2003-12-01T16:13:28Z")
2001: A Space Oddysey. An interesting curiousity at best. It’s beautiful but falls short when it comes to characters or plot. The special-effects finale was especially boring. Yet it made the Sight and Sound top ten all-time list.
Other films on that list which are over-rated: Rules of the Game, Sunrise, Singing in the Rain. Decent enough films but not masterpieces let alone the ten best films of all-time.
From the IMDB list I think the most overated are Star Wars and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest. Both are slightly above average films which wouldn’t make my top 200 or ever close.
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### Author:  [@Baby\_Fish\_Mouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baby_Fish_Mouth)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/4 "2003-12-01T16:17:18Z")
Never understood all the hysteria over _The Matrix_. It had some groundbreaking special effects, but the plot didn’t blow my mind the way everyone said it would. The overanalysis of the movie’s plot by Matrixphiles became very tiresome as well.
My friends all said _The Ring_ was one of the scariest movies they had ever seen. I found the acting terrible, the plot derivative, and absolutely nothing scary at all. What a disapointment.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/5 "2003-12-01T16:32:18Z")
Gone With the Wind.
Happy slaves, horrible Yankees in the “old south.” The film is a soap opera with an unsympathetic lead set to false history.
Oh, I almost forgot “I don’t know nuthin 'bout birthin no babies!”
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/6 "2003-12-01T16:39:32Z")
“Shakespeare in Love”
Well said. However, my beef with it is that it beat “Life is Beautiful”, and not “Saving Private Ryan”.
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### Author:  [@Anaclaidiabhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaclaidiabhal)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/7 "2003-12-01T16:42:21Z")
Munch, I didn’t see “Life is Beautiful” so I can’t comment on that.
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### Author:  [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/8 "2003-12-01T16:42:30Z")
Definitely the Matrix. Snoooooore.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/9 "2003-12-01T16:43:39Z")
Detract from it all you want, but “Shakespeard in Love” is the single best script in the history of film and a truly great movie. It probably doesn’t appeal to fanboys who like explosions, but for people with brains, it’s amazingly good.
My choice would be **Alien** , definitely a film for people without brains, since no one in the entire film has one. If the alien was a brain sucker, he’d die of starvation, and why people want to see these idiots running around is beyond comprehension.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/10 "2003-12-01T16:56:48Z")
I’ve got no problem with _2001_; it’s as much about image and sound as it is plot, but the plot is actually rather deep for a movie, and after all, it was intended for a gigantic Cinerama screen.
Most overrated in my book: _Gone With the Wind_. I’ve tried and tried to watch that thing, but never seem to make it past the ten minute mark.
Runners up:
_American Beauty_: a bunch of suburban cliches masquerading as insight.
_Star Wars_: yeah, the effects were spectacular at the time, but the dialogue and most of the acting are simply awful.
_Titanic_: probably the most blatantly corny screenplay of any Best Picture winner since, er, GWTW.
Actually, looking over the list of Best Picture winners for the '90’s, there’s hardly a worthy picture among them. _Dances With Wolves_? _The English Patient_? _Forrest Gump_? Ugh.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/11 "2003-12-01T16:59:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \*
> \*\*“Shakespeare in Love” is the single best script in the history of film . . . \*\*
. . . I _iked_ the movie, alright, but . . . ???
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### Author:  [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/12 "2003-12-01T17:01:05Z")
La Vita e Bella sucks. As does An Affair to Remember.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/13 "2003-12-01T17:01:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Detract from it all you want, but “Shakespeard in Love” is the single best script in the history of film and a truly great movie. It probably doesn’t appeal to fanboys who like explosions, but for people with brains, it’s amazingly good.
Yeah, because all the explosions and death are really the exciting high points of movies like Life is Beautiful and Saving Private Ryan. SiL didn’t suck - it was just massively overrated. Hell, even “Elizabeth” was a better movie. I honestly can’t remember when the 4th best film won Best Picture.
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/14 "2003-12-01T17:43:39Z")
Moulin Rouge
Horrific, jarring film technique that require MTV viewer attention spans.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but someone should remake it in a decaffeinated version.:o
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/15 "2003-12-01T17:49:34Z")
Another vote for _Moulin Rouge_. Horrible, edited-by-a-tasmanian-devil-on-crack psuedo-artistic spider shit from the galaxy’s worst director, Baz Luhrman.
I mean, would you trust a multi-million dollar budget to someone with the name “Baz”?
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### Author:  [@Bucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bucky)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/16 "2003-12-01T17:53:58Z")
GWTW is truly over-rated. Pvt. Ryan is pretty much a well-done cliche: Bible-spoutin’ redneck sharp shooter, tough Brooklyn/Bronx guy, vaguely Midwestern leader, etc.
“La dolce vida” wins the foreign film award, beating out such crap as “Prospero’s Books” and “The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover” simply because of its length and Fellini’s world-wide reputation. Three hours to get to this?
“Pulp fiction” is one of the most over-hyped pieces of flabby dreck it has ever been my misfortune to see. On the basis of this he is acclaimed a genius? However, I must point out that I didn’t see “Moulin Rogue” because that director’s “Romeo + Juliet” was so filled with the “LOOK AT ME I’M A DIRECTOR” school of film-making that I hesitate to see more of his crap.
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### Author:  [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/17 "2003-12-01T18:08:53Z")
Oh, easy one. _American Graffitti_.
For years and years my friends were telling me how incredible this film was, how it was a manly car movie, how it summed up a whole era …
I finally broke down and rented once and was absolutely shocked at how phenominally boring and pointless the movie was. I actually dozed during most of it, just trying to keep my eyes open enough to actually be able to say I _saw_ it.
Blech on wheels.
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/18 "2003-12-01T18:09:24Z")
_Saving Private Ryan_. I found myself longing for it to end. It was terribly cliched and embarrassingly patriotic. (I might be biased because I saw it in London, which caused me to be…hyperaware, I guess.)
OTOH, I loved _Shakespeare in Love_. Clever and funny.
I’ve never seen _Life is Beautiful_ because it came out when I was living in Israel and didn’t want to figure out a movie in Italian with Hebrew subtitles. Oy.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/19 "2003-12-01T18:32:45Z")
Movies I have hated, and have been hated for having hated, ranked from worst to least worst:
_[ol][li]Schindler’s List[/li][li]Amastad[/li][li]Forrest Gump[/li][li]Good Morning Viet Nam[/li][li]Terms of Endearment[/li][li]My Favorite Year[/li][li]A Beautiful Mind[/li][li]Braveheart[/li][li]Barfly[/li][li]Dances with Wolves[/li][li]Saving Private Ryan[/ol]_[/li]Others that are not as violently ill-making as the above, but are WAAAY overrated:
[ul]_Ordinary People
Gone with the Wind_
Any Spielberg since _Jaws_
Any Disney (non-Pixar) animated feature
_Singin’ in the Rain
The Sound of Music
Star Wars_, all episodes\*
When Harry Met Sally\* (in fact, any Rob Reiner since _Spinal Tap_)
And every single Ron Howard film ever made, or ever _to_ be made.[/ul]
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### Author:  [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-most-overrated-movie/216272/20 "2003-12-01T18:38:58Z")
I listened to the hype about Life Is Beautiful, but upon seeing it I was extremely annoyed. It would’ve been a much better film with another actor other than Benigni. He killed it. It was such a damn good story, too.
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