Movies you just don't get why they're so popular.

[bif]

"The Gods Must be Crazy". I thought it was painful to watch. Maybe it was because my friend and I were the only to people in the theatre. But I didn't find a single thing funny about it.

[Mike Nelson]

1. The one with the...

... "Dude" played by - I think - Kurt Russell. I thought it was okay, but there are people who are real crazy about this movie (or movies?). It's like Eraserhead or Rocky Horror-level big. Maybe I should see it again?

[genxlib]

6. The Big Lebowski

I thought it was only OK as well.

[ms liberty]

7. Jeff Bridges.

[JoseBalow]

17. Yeah, well you know...

[Vadergator]

43. Perfect

Perfect response, lol. Would love it if someone would drop "shut the fuck up Donnie" on you know who.

[Redleg]

88. LOL- perfect meme response

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

63. Yes. I hated the big lewbowski

[AllyCat]

133. Amazing perspective on this one. This is one of our favorites!

But people either love it or hate it seemingly!

[50 Shades Of Blue]

2. Sooo many. But first that came to mind was "Pretty Woman."

[Dear_Prudence]

28. Funny thing is

I have watched that movie many times, and I am mystified as to why I enjoy it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

34. I'm that way about "Pillow Talk"!

[JPK]

84. The story is meh...

But the acting is so good. Bridges, Goodman and Buscemi are all funny as hell, specially Goodman's character.

[Ferryboat]

3. Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.

Complete waste of time.

[yourout]

4. Some really awful movies are actually pretty funny when you add rifftrax

The Happening was just flat out awful but it's pretty damn funny with rifftrax.

?si=_rqAu3Tay-R37fhG

[bif]

8. Rifftrax makes anything funny!

[MIButterfly]

5. Silence of the Lambs

I know that will be an unpopular choice since everyone thought it was so great. Meh.

I agree with Pretty Woman. I don't know why Hollywood is so enamored of the "hooker with the heart of gold" thing. It was just so unbelievable. A wealthy, handsome man like Richard Gere can't get a date so he picks up a hooker who looks like Julia Roberts who's just a poor, sweet working girl. Uh huh.

[3catwoman3]

9. Never saw Silence of the Lambs and never plan to.

I’m not a fan of creepy, scary stuff, and it sounded awful.

[Ilsa]

35. It was triggering for me.

The criminality, the abuse, the viciousness were terrifying. I had trouble sleeping the first night.

[Hieronymus Phact]

90. That's why they call it a horror movie.

[yellowdogintexas]

101. Same. Not even the actors could make me bother to see it nt

[buzzycrumbhunger]

127. We were camping with our scout troop...

… and it got COLD. I ended up having to make the drive home for more blankets, sweaters, gloves, etc. and ended up warming up with a cup o’ tea and a movie—Silence of the Lambs.

Making the drive back to the wilderness in the middle of the night was ridiculously creepy and I did not sleep well for the rest of the weekend. I don’t recall a movie creeping me out like that one.

[NJCher]

52. I have a brother

Who looks like Richard Gere and he gets dates all the time with attractive women. He has an obnoxious personality and is completely devoid of charm.

My other brother and I just shake our heads in disbelief.

[Ilikepurple]

57. Not a fan either. Had high hopes after Manhunter and the accolades.

Not generally a Michael Mann fan, but really enjoyed Manhunter when it came out. Also preferred Brian Cox’s Lektor to Hopkins’s Lecter.

[Diamond_Dog]

82. I agree 100% with all you said about Pretty Woman.

Besides, it glamorizes prostitution.

[rurallib]

10. "Blair Witch Project" really stands out in my memory

what a piece of overhyped junk

[DBoon]

39. yes

[Bayard]

44. AHA!

Glad I'm not the only one. Totally stupid and boring, not scary at all.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

64. I saw it in theater when hype was at fever pitch. At end, auduence sat stunned "is that it"?

News had reported people needing to be walked to their car "it was so scary"

[MorbidButterflyTat]

112. I liked it

[gay texan]

11. Terms of Enderement

Streetcar named Desire, The Big Chill

[3catwoman3]

33. Terms of Endearment totally sucked.

I was ready to scream at the screen, “Just die already so this damn movie can end!”

[Intractable]

53. I saw Terms 40 years ago in a college auditorium.

As a 20-yr old man, I was so embarrassed in front of my jockish friends. It was the only time I cried during a movie. They seemed less affected.

[Diamond_Dog]

83. Agree with you on Terms of Endearment.

[Thunderbeast]

12. Everything Everywhere All at Once

Butt Plug Hallucinations were hard to watch.

When it won the Best Picture oscar, I was astonished.

[bif]

13. I tried to watch it

But gave up about 20 minutes into it.

[Ilsa]

37. Agreed. Great acting. The best actress and best supporting

actress oscars were rightly earned, though.

[Intractable]

54. I thought it was atrocious.

The classy and beautiful Michelle Yeoh pulling on people's butt plugs was a bit much for me.

The whole movie was crass, in poor taste, and another unnecessary romp into the multi-verse.

[3catwoman3]

94. I've not seen it, and your 2nd sentence is sufficient to...

…make sure that will not change.

[electric_blue68]

109. I was thinking of streaming it if it landed on one of my apps, but maaaaybe not

😄

[OldBaldy1701E]

14. Well... 'Titanic' is one.

And, to a lesser extent, any film that was made about any major event in the last 50 years.

I watched it go down. I don't need to see it again through the 'Hollywood glasses'. They will just sensationalize it/sanitize it for their own ends.

(Example... 'The Doors' starring Val Kilmer. Their appearance on Ed Sullivan. I have watched the footage many times. Morrison stands there and sings. That's it. Yet, poor Val was made to leer and mug at the camera, like a snotty five year old, when Morrison did not change the lyrics in 'Light My Fire' that the show's people wanted him to change. The moment was about artist integrity. Not 'trying to score points with the rabble by being a brat'. Morrison was way more sophisticated than that, despite his desire to be as trashed as possible whenever he could.)

[Abolishinist]

60. Sorry, I'm obviously missing something.

You watched the Titanic go down?

Well... 'Titanic' is one.

I watched it go down. I don't need to see it again through the 'Hollywood glasses'.

[OldBaldy1701E]

70. 'It' refers to recent historical events.

But, there are times where I feel like I could have been there.

[Paladin]

72. Absolutely shameful that "Titanic" took Best Picture that year...

...rather than "L.A. Confidential," a 110% better movie.

[AllyCat]

134. Just did not see the appeal on that one.

[Coventina]

15. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris is a jerk!

[LogDog75]

21. The premise of the movie is silly

but overall it was fun to watch. IMO, the best part of the movie was the parade scene where Ferris "sings" Twist and Shout.

[Wiz Imp]

78. Agree with this

There are a couple decent moments, but the biggest problem is there is not a single likeable character in the entire movie. EVERYONE in the movie is a jerk.

[Midwestern Democrat]

92. It's a movie where high school aged audiences enjoyed watching Ferris make fools out of adults, but an adult viewer

would be like "I would not put up with that snot nosed kid's crap for one second".

[Emile]

16. Chariots of Fire (boring)

I loved "The Gods Must Be Crazy"

[NJCher]

55. Well then

You should read this book about gambling called The Odds Must be Crazy.

The writer made millions as a gambler. He came up with a system for betting on horses and then he made millions off his system.

[B.See]

18. "Gone With the Wind." But then again,

never saw it, and never will.

[milestogo]

20. It was a good movie for its time.

I actually read the 1200 page book when I was 12. There is so much more to the book than the movie - you can't condense 1200 pages into 4 hours. So the movie was a disappointment when I saw it.

But then I learned that if you read the book first, the movie always feels like a disappointment.

[LogDog75]

22. It's hard to condense a large story into a movie

I've read the unabridged version of Les Miserbles twice and there's a lot of things in the book that never made it into the movie.

[milestogo]

24. Gone with the Wind is a great story of the Old South,

and what the Civil War looked like from that angle. And there's a lot about Ireland and Irish immigration in there too.

[B.See]

68. Exactly. And judging from

what Wiki says about controversies surrounding that point of view I'm certain it'd be something I'd be disinclined to entertain.

[milestogo]

75. It was written in 1936.

Long before the civil rights movement. The Old South is romanticized and then it is lost. The blacks in the story stay loyal to their plantation owners and even rescue the main character. The main character is gloriously unaware of the reasons for the war - she sees it as an attack on their way of life.

It kind of reminds me of today's Republicans, who long for the glory days of the forties and fifties, when men were "manly" and women knew their place (and liked it).

[B.See]

113. Yes, and when more than just women

"knew their place" I think. I've long known of the elements/themes that made the film (and the less sanitized original) objectionable to some.

[Xavier Breath]

36. Still, that's the order in which to do it.

I've done the opposite before: saw the movie first and then gone back later to read the book. Rather than your mind casting the characters and building the sets from your reading, all you can see is the actors and sets from the movie.

[milestogo]

49. Yup

Or else just read the book and take a pass on the movie!

[sheshe2]

58. I read the book before I saw the movie.

The books are always better than the movies.

PS. The clip was from the movie and not directed at you, B.See.

[JoseBalow]

62. Never having seen it may explain why you don't get its popularity

[Paladin]

71. 1939 was the greatest movie year in history.

More classic flicks released in that year than any other. And of all those movies, I place "Gone With The Wind" at the very bottom in terms of quality and satisfaction. Just a big, long melodrama, in the service of Confederate-era racism. I trust I've made my feelings clear.

[milestogo]

19. Scarface

Such a violent film.
Love the actors, could barely sit through the movie.

[Iggo]

30. Once was enough, back when it was new. The lead actor's bullshit accent takes me out of it every time I try to watch it.

[Hieronymus Phact]

119. ha ha that bad accent is a feature, not a bug.

[Iggo]

120. LOL...For comedic effect, yeah. I can't do it for two hours, though.

[LogDog75]

23. The Godfather

When it came out I saw it and after about 30 minutes I left. It was boring to me.

[Harker]

25. The Deer Hunter.

[3catwoman3]

46. Hated that movie. Had I been there by myself...

...I probably would have walked out, but I was with other people and wasn't the driver. Excruciatingly grim.

[Jeebo]

66. I HATE The Deer Hunter.

It's absolutely the WORST Best Picture winner I've ever seen. IMHO. Grim, brutal, depressing, ugly. The whole first half-hour of that movie was just a bunch of NOISE. Not something that would put me into a receptive mood to be watching a good movie.

— Ron

[Iggo]

26. When I was a high as a kite teenager, The Gods Must Be Crazy was the funniest thing I ever saw.

That faded.

[rsdsharp]

27. The Thin Red Line

How anyone could make the battle of Guadalcanal boring is beyond me, but they managed it.

[Iggo]

29. That was a horror movie, not a war movie.

[rsdsharp]

32. Somebody shoulda told James Jones.

Oh, yeah — he’d been dead for 22 years.

From Here to Eternity is a classic.

The Thin Red Line is trash.

I shudder to think what they’ll do to Whistle if they ever make a movie of the last book in the trilogy.

[milestogo]

76. I loved it and have watched it several times.

[rsdsharp]

95. I came close to walking out. I loathed it.

[RandySF]

31. The Godtfather

ET
Titanic
Top Gun
Lincoln
Field Of Dreams

[chowder66]

42. Lincoln was the first one that came to mind for me.

[Midwestern Democrat]

96. With the exception of "Jaws", I've never been all that wowed by Steven Spielberg.

I'd say that after "ET", I've basically viewed Spielberg as a highly skilled craftsman but one lacking an especially interesting point of view (and he was never an actor's director.)

[Morbius]

38. Mrs. Doubtfire

Man disguises himself like a woman so he can see his kids. I don't get why people think it's funny for a man to dress like a woman. Robin Williams was much funnier as himself.

I also dislike ET, mostly because of the scene where Elliott, a ten year old boy, is drunk as a result of ET drinking beer. I distinctly remember wondering why people in the theater with me were laughing uproariously at a drunk kid. Maybe because my mother was an alcoholic.

[Hieronymus Phact]

91. Agree

Carried by the great robin Williams though I never found the movie funny.

[Ilsa]

40. I didn't care for Wicked that much.

The performances for excellent, and Cynthia Eribo has a fantastically rich voice. But the music was forgettable for me. The only tunes I remember are short phrases used in TV ads.

Visually, the sets were very rich in color, but I generally don't like that kind of intensity. I was also visually over-stimulated by Moulin Rouge, but I preferred the music and singing of M.R..

[3catwoman3]

47. I went to Wicked with a friend. I kept looking at my watchand wondering...

..."How much longer?" After it was over, we found we were in complete agreement as to having no idea what the story was really about.

I think may have slept thru part of it.

[Ilsa]

74. ITA! At first, I thought

the story was about bigotry, but then the story became about authoritarianism or some kind of power, etc. And I don't understand why Elphaba was the only one who could read the grimmoire, and immediately upon seeing it.

[MIButterfly]

97. "I think I may have slept thru part of it."

That made me LOL!

I had/have no interest in seeing it myself. I'm a little too old for Wizard of Oz characters. And now, of course, there's a sequel I will never see.

[Cirsium]

41. The Gods Must be Crazy

The Gods Must be Crazy is pro-apartheid propaganda, not very well disguised. The fact that it was so popular with white audiences the US and Europe is telling.

[DBoon]

45. American Beauty

[3catwoman3]

48. Forest Gump. It required too much willing suspension of disbelief.

Totally unrealistic.

[MIButterfly]

98. Agreed. That Forrest Gump won Best Picture over Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption

is one of the biggest travesties of all time.

[Lifeafter70]

130. The book was even worse

This is maybe the one time that the movie was better than the book

[betsuni]

50. "Love Actually"

But great fun to complain with other hate-watchers. A classic here (before whoever bought Jezebel completely wrecked it):

http://www.jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388

[Beatlelvr]

51. Blazing Saddles!

Walked out of "Departed", then it won Best Movie. Really?

[JoseBalow]

56. This thread is proof that there truly is no accounting for taste

[Bobstandard]

107. And lack of same.

[JoseBalow]

121. Yes, that's exactly what that means.

I love so many of the films being underappreciated in this thread!

[Bobstandard]

124. Especially those that haven't even been watched

What hubris!

[Ilikepurple]

59. Make me travel by underside of car, but Cape Fear (1991) was a total miss for me.

I don’t know if it just didn’t match the hype for me or if it was just as dull and hackneyed as a Garage Sale Mystery episode (which I’ve enjoyed in virtue of very low expectations).

[boonecreek]

61. Armageddon.

Total Michael Bay crap. There's a story that early on in its production someone
asked "wouldn't it be easier to train astronauts to be drillers than drillers to be
astronauts"? To which Bay replied "fuck you".

[Jeebo]

67. Armageddon is awful.

Especially the outer space scenes. YOU CANNOT HEAR SOUNDS IN OUTER SPACE. But even if you could, you couldn't hear those sounds from hundreds of miles away simultaneously with seeing the explosions that caused them. This is one of my pet peeves. I WISH Hollywood would get this right.

— Ron

[Intractable]

65. The most recent Superman movie, with a 90% Rotten Toms audience score.

What an awful movie.

After a long trend of Marvel and DC movies made for an adult audience (but that kids could enjoy), this Superman movie is kiddie crap.

It says the audience score is 90%. But looking at the reviews on Rotten Toms, it seems a lot of people disliked it. The math doesn't add up.

[livetohike]

69. Forrest Gump. Did not like it at all. Still can't

understand why people loved it.

[Skittles]

116. I bailed after 15 minutes

pure schlock.....could not BELIEVE it won awards

[Paladin]

73. HEY! What about "The English Patient"?

I mean, we can't have a for-real Movie Hatred thread here at DU without the usual savaging of "The English Patient." And yeah, I know it was Too Long, and Too British. I still thought it was a good flick. The novel is excellent, as well.

[Chasstev365]

77. Raising Arizona

[lark]

79. Any Will Ferrell movie!

Just don't like him, he's not funny to me, more annoying.

[Diamond_Dog]

85. I don't think Will Ferrell is the least bit funny, either.

[Paladin]

87. Agree with you, completely. (nt)

[CanonRay]

80. Rocky Horror Picture Show

I never got it.

[Brother Buzz]

105. Me too

I saw a stage production of The Rocky Horror Show in San Francisco. The film was out, and people were talking about it, but I hadn’t seen it yet, and truth be told, I may not have seen it beyond YouTube clips.

I was gobsmacked to see the instant cult following. I didn’t really like, or even understand the play, but was amused by the audience participation; there were people quoting lines, and other people hoping up and down like Wack-A-Mole, applauding and hollering. Most bizarre.

I did learn something that night: Beware of comp tickets to something you know nothing about.

[flvegan]

122. Without the audience partici----pation, it's not a good movie.

Seeing it live at a midnight showing with a full audience is amazing. It gets better the more times you see it this way.

But yeah, on its own, the movie itself is...pretty poor.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

128. Rocky needs to be seen in a group to appreciate it

We used to go every couple weeks to a crappy theatre in Iowa City (college town and a concrete screen that could be hosed off) and it was a riot—especially one Halloween when they hired a horrendous punk band as the warm-up. They just went on and on and I finally dug into my props bag and pulled out my newspaper and held it up so I couldn’t see the band. In minutes, the lead was acting pissed off at something and I turned around and saw the whole theatre with newspapers up. The band stomped off in a huff.

It’s the audience participation that makes it fun. You yell at the screen, lob missiles, shoot your squirt gun, yell out dialogue, and it’s mayhem.

Tried watching it at home once when it finally ran on TV and I just couldn’t. The whole movie had a much different, almost sinister vibe. Clearly, it’s the group experience that makes it a great time.

[Katinfl]

81. Pulp Fiction.

I just don’t get it.

[MIButterfly]

99. I have to disagree with you there.

Pulp Fiction is a cinematic masterpiece. I saw it right after I saw Pret-a-Porter (Ready to Wear) which was a hunk of junk. When Pulp Fiction was over, I just sat there in the theater totally blown away.

It was the movie that made me like John Travolta. I don’t like dumb men and up until then, all the characters he played were dumb.

But to each his own. It's all good.

[Katinfl]

108. Yes, I know I am in the minority, but I still don't get the fascination with this film.

[Skittles]

118. it was robbed of the Oscar

yes indeed

[Skittles]

117. thank you for admitting you just don't get it

most people don't get that they just don't get it

[JPK]

86. Rocky

I thought it was a piece of boxing shlock. Can't believe Apocalypse Now lost to it.

[Midwestern Democrat]

89. "Apocalypse Now" was released three years later - it actually lost to an even less deserving film - "Kramer vs. Kramer"

[ProfessorGAC]

93. Titanic Tops My List

My wife and I were laughing out loud, and couldn't stop.
We were annoying those around us & we decided it wasn't going to get better so we walked out.
When it came out on HBO, we tried again. Same result.
Never got why people liked it.

[MIButterfly]

100. Magnolia.

Until that movie, I was a huge fan of Tom Cruise. That movie made me hate him. I hated his character and I've never gone back to liking him. Julianne Moore's character was a shrieking, hysterical shrew and what was up with all the frogs falling out of the sky?

I don’t like movies I have to have explained to me.

I actually talked a stranger out of renting that movie at Blockbuster for the first and only time in my life. I told her it was horrible and she put it back.

[Borogove]

102. I thought Love Story was pretty ridiculous.

[Paladin]

104. Gets my vote for stupidest line in cinematic history:

"Love means never having to say you're sorry."

My ass.

If you're a for-real, functioning adult, in a meaningful relationship, love means always having to say you're sorry, when circumstances call for it. If you believe otherwise, you deserve the results you get.

[Doc_Technical]

125. "Love means having to say you're sorry

every five minutes."

John Lennon

[3catwoman3]

106. "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

The whole idea of never having to apologize for having done something a loved one found troublesome or hurtful felt wrong.

Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal did make an attractive couple as the leads.

[MIButterfly]

110. Ali MacGraw was so beautiful but she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.

They were a good-looking couple though. I will give them that.

I was around 17 when that movie came out. It was tailor-made for teenaged girls.

[3catwoman3]

111. I just looked up the release date - Dec 1970.

I was 19.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

114. Ryan O'Neal made a movie in 1972 after Love Story

with Barbra Streisand called, "What's Up, Doc," a hilarious slapstick comedy. Streisand's character says to him, with batting eyelashes, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," and he answers, "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."

Great movie.

[drmeow]

132. Love "What's Up Doc"

What are you doing with Howard's rocks?

[MorbidButterflyTat]

136. 😆😆 Madeline Kahn is the BEST

And so is Barbra: "I know I'm different, but from now on I'm going to try and be the same."

[The Madcap]

103. The Jerk

I had a college roommate who idolized Steve Martin. I never got it, even though I love physical comedy.

[av8rdave]

115. I'm the first to admit that my taste in movies is weird

The ones that don’t do it for me:

Titanic. Come on, we all know what’s going to happen at the end.

Casablanca. Oh please. Campy script, wooden characters, predictable storyline. Yawn.

Mrs. Doubtfire. OK, this might have been good, but I was going through a divorce and custody battle at the time. It was hard to watch.

The Blair Witch Project. How did this dog ever make it to release? People freaking out over little bundles of sticks? Seriously? Really bad comedy at best.

Cold Mountain. A 25 minute story crammed into 2 1/2 hours.

I realize that most folks would disagree with this as much as they would a list of my favorite movies.

To each their own.

[flvegan]

123. Since Titanic has been mentioned already, the entire Fast & Furious franchise. Pick one.

I'm a car fanatic and they're unbearable to watch, even on mute.

[LisaM]

126. "Forrest Gump". I hated it with every bone in my body.

If there was a trope they missed, it was only by accident.

I hated it so much and my friend hated it so much that we held an Oscar-watching party of two (our partners were specifically disinvited) so that we could throw balled up napkins at the TV screen every time it won something.

Tom Hanks should have known better.

[GreatGazoo]

131. The "Bosom Buddies" version of "Flowers For Algernon".

Insensitive and exploitative.

[GreatGazoo]

129. Gump, Pursuit of Happiness, A Christmas Carol

Christmas Carol is like the film version of '99 Bottles of Beer on the wall' -- it just goes on and on.

Did like the 1951 UK version though...until they colorized it.

[EverHopeful]

135. Well, The Gods Must Be Crazy is a favorite that comes to mind often

but maybe I should re-watch it. It's been years and perhaps I've missed the point but for me, the fact that a manufactured object created such discord comes to mind whenever I feel any crankiness about some 1st-world problem.

To have so much and still find something to complain about always brings me back to thinking of those who have so little and manage to live peacefully. But then, I'm currently working my way through Goliath's Curse by Luke Kemp which explains the dynamic in great detail.

Agree with so many of the movies mentioned here and love streaming movies at home so I don't have to get up and walk out of theaters.