Top 20 Overrated Films of the Decade
November 28th 2009 23:03
Like Underrated, everyone has their different definition/opinion on which films are overrated and why. When researching this list, I found lists/opinions of overrated films of the decade that I simply could not fathom.. Ones I never in a million years would consider overrated, such as Mystic River, The Kill Bill movies (if anything they are terribly underrated!), The Departed, and Brokeback Mountain. Most of the films on this list are critically acclaimed and I feel are overrated either due to their undeserving recoginition by the Oscars, too high acclaim from critics, or simply circumstance surrounding the film which propelled it to a larger than life status and thus in turn made me so sick of the film. When that happens, it's sad because it's a film i did really like but now can't stand or just have some resentment toward because of how big it got (and very often because of an annoying add campaign by the studios and the constant talk by Oscar pundits). A few on here are not critically acclaimed but made the list due to the fact that the general public are sooo in love with these sucky films that it becomes beyond annoying and thus, makes the film overrated. These films were difficult to include on the list due to that reason.
Okay, here we go!
Top 20 Most Overrated Films of the Decade (2000-2009)
20. American Gangster
So I didn't get the Best Picture or Director or whatever else noms everyone had originally expected it to get -- it's still highly overrated in terms of critical reception. And it's just plain boring. It's really not a good film and I don't underrated how it's a 79% on rotten tomatoes with only 43 out of the 202 reviews being rotten. Nor do I understand why Ruby Dee got an Academy Award Nominations for 5 minutes of screen time. Oh I forgot, she's Ruby Dee...
19. Garden State
I saw this film when it premiered at a film festival near my house. I loved it as did everyone else. And I mean everyone. Then, I started to resent it because of how big it got. Soon I started to hate it and I sold my dvd. I felt it was prenentious and way to hippsterish. I rewatched it a few years ago when showing it to my boyfriend and decided okay, I do like it again. But I do still feel it is overrated and trying way too hard to be cool and clever. Thus, it's on the list.
18. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Here's one of those instances I mentioned above in which it's not a good movie yet still overrated. This piece of crap took America by storm. It was number one at the box office for like 3 weeks in a row. My boyfriend's parents loved it. The movie itself is so horrible, has maybe one laugh in the whole thing and is essentially about how fat people are pathetic and we should laugh at them.
17. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
I liked parts of the first Pirates film. But I hated the Elizabeth and Will stuff (they are both just so dreadful in their roles) and while I enjoy the Jack Sparrow stuff I was very underwhelmed by the first movie. Loved the second movie. Hated the third. Anyway, we're talking about the first and I think it's overrated because everyone flipped out over it, merchandise was everywhere and it made an insane amount of money.
16. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
The weakest of the 3 by far and yet it's the one that wins best picture? I understand they wanted to wait until the trilogy was complete but still, it doesn't mean it was deserving. Plus it robbed Mystic River of the win.
15. Gangs of New York
A great performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, a horrible accent by Leonardo DiCaprio, an actress I cannot stand (Cameron Diaz), a great director and I'm sorry, a film that did not deserve a best picture nomination. It's good, but nothing unbelievably incredible and not Scorsese's best film by a long shot.
14. Last King of Scotland
A great performance by Forest Whitaker in an incredibly mediocre film. Not sure why it was so well received.
13. Unbreakable
Everyone is so crazy about this film. I really cannot understand why.
12. Super Size Me
This is not the greatest documentary of the decade. Not by a long shot. Yet it was so freakin' huge. Yes, it did make an impact in the country's awareness of fast food, trans fat, and visible calorie consumption on menus. But Spurlock's reasons for making this documentary were completely self-serving. He just thought 'hey, this would be a cool idea' and he even admits that in the film. It's very self-indulgent and really shouldn't be as highly regarded as it is.
11. Juno
I love Juno. And I love that it was nominated for best picture. But the marketing campaign was so in your face and then the whole world was obsessed with it and now, I feel resentment towards it. And that's sad. But that's what Fox Searchlight seems to have a nack for doing..
10. Thank You For Smoking
And speaking of Fox Searchlight -- oh my god. Talk about overrated. Talk about self-aware of itself. Talk about trying to be too clever for its own good.
9. Michael Clayton
Was this film good? Yes, was it the best scripted film of the year as rotten tomatoes says? Uh, no. Was it even in the top 5 best films of 2007, which was a great year for film? Absolutely not. Should it have been considered a completely lock from the time it came out and been on everyone's top 10 list. Absolutely not.
8. Million Dollar Baby
It's a great film, but highly disturbing. I remember loving it but I'll never watch it again. Still, should it be on top 10 lists of the decade? No way. It's not even Clint's 2nd best film of the decade. Or even third best. And should it have won best picture over the fucking Aviator? Ohhhh no.
7. Inside Man
I hated this film. It was beyond boring. Jodie Foster was great and that's it. The score sucked and the film seemed self-serving. And yet it got great critical acclaim.
6. Boondock Saints
Why is this such a cult hit? I just don't know. My boyfriend is obsessed with it and aside from Willem Dafoe, it's just abysmal.
5. Sideways
So utterly overrated. Best picture nom? Uh, no. Some acting recognition, sure? But for Virginia Madsen? She sucked. The film is just very pretentious and every critic loved it. A.O. Scott was a main exception and he got crucified for his descent.
4. The Incredibles
This got unbelievable reviews. It was also regarded as one of the funniest films of the year. Did I watch a different movie? I laughed maybe twice. If someone had told me this wasn't supposed to be a comedy, maybe I would have liked it more. Instead, I couldn't stand it and I just don't get why everyone loves it.
3. Slumdog Millionaire
Where to begin? I did love it. But why the mass phenomenon? The marketing campaign was annoying. The fact that it won best picture when it shouldn't have even been in the top 5 was ridiculous. The fact that it was even nominated... I just resent it now. And again, it's sad how that happens. It takes away from the film itself.
2. Ray
UGH. A great performance in a hack job of a film. Awkwardly filmed, abrupt ending, so totally mediocre. How on earth did this get nominated for best picture of the year? What a joke.
1. Crash
The most ridiculous upset in Oscar history (winning over Brokeback Mountain)? Yep. Also the most blatant instance of Homophobia. I hated Crash. Yes, there were aspects of it I liked but overall, I hated it and I hate Paul Haggis. He's incredibly manipulative (his Million Dollar Baby screenplay is the same way, which is another reason the film is not the masterpiece people think it is), his agenda was completely in your face, and the film was so heavy handed. Yes, people did recognize that Brokeback was robbed, but it still doesn't make up for the fact that this is still considered one of the greatest films of the decade when it is anything but. It also doesn't make up for the fact that a TV series would be pitched based on this film, much less made.
Okay, here we go!
Top 20 Most Overrated Films of the Decade (2000-2009)
20. American Gangster
So I didn't get the Best Picture or Director or whatever else noms everyone had originally expected it to get -- it's still highly overrated in terms of critical reception. And it's just plain boring. It's really not a good film and I don't underrated how it's a 79% on rotten tomatoes with only 43 out of the 202 reviews being rotten. Nor do I understand why Ruby Dee got an Academy Award Nominations for 5 minutes of screen time. Oh I forgot, she's Ruby Dee...
19. Garden State
I saw this film when it premiered at a film festival near my house. I loved it as did everyone else. And I mean everyone. Then, I started to resent it because of how big it got. Soon I started to hate it and I sold my dvd. I felt it was prenentious and way to hippsterish. I rewatched it a few years ago when showing it to my boyfriend and decided okay, I do like it again. But I do still feel it is overrated and trying way too hard to be cool and clever. Thus, it's on the list.
18. Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Here's one of those instances I mentioned above in which it's not a good movie yet still overrated. This piece of crap took America by storm. It was number one at the box office for like 3 weeks in a row. My boyfriend's parents loved it. The movie itself is so horrible, has maybe one laugh in the whole thing and is essentially about how fat people are pathetic and we should laugh at them.
17. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
I liked parts of the first Pirates film. But I hated the Elizabeth and Will stuff (they are both just so dreadful in their roles) and while I enjoy the Jack Sparrow stuff I was very underwhelmed by the first movie. Loved the second movie. Hated the third. Anyway, we're talking about the first and I think it's overrated because everyone flipped out over it, merchandise was everywhere and it made an insane amount of money.
16. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
The weakest of the 3 by far and yet it's the one that wins best picture? I understand they wanted to wait until the trilogy was complete but still, it doesn't mean it was deserving. Plus it robbed Mystic River of the win.
15. Gangs of New York
A great performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, a horrible accent by Leonardo DiCaprio, an actress I cannot stand (Cameron Diaz), a great director and I'm sorry, a film that did not deserve a best picture nomination. It's good, but nothing unbelievably incredible and not Scorsese's best film by a long shot.
14. Last King of Scotland
A great performance by Forest Whitaker in an incredibly mediocre film. Not sure why it was so well received.
13. Unbreakable
Everyone is so crazy about this film. I really cannot understand why.
12. Super Size Me
This is not the greatest documentary of the decade. Not by a long shot. Yet it was so freakin' huge. Yes, it did make an impact in the country's awareness of fast food, trans fat, and visible calorie consumption on menus. But Spurlock's reasons for making this documentary were completely self-serving. He just thought 'hey, this would be a cool idea' and he even admits that in the film. It's very self-indulgent and really shouldn't be as highly regarded as it is.
11. Juno
I love Juno. And I love that it was nominated for best picture. But the marketing campaign was so in your face and then the whole world was obsessed with it and now, I feel resentment towards it. And that's sad. But that's what Fox Searchlight seems to have a nack for doing..
10. Thank You For Smoking
And speaking of Fox Searchlight -- oh my god. Talk about overrated. Talk about self-aware of itself. Talk about trying to be too clever for its own good.
9. Michael Clayton
Was this film good? Yes, was it the best scripted film of the year as rotten tomatoes says? Uh, no. Was it even in the top 5 best films of 2007, which was a great year for film? Absolutely not. Should it have been considered a completely lock from the time it came out and been on everyone's top 10 list. Absolutely not.
8. Million Dollar Baby
It's a great film, but highly disturbing. I remember loving it but I'll never watch it again. Still, should it be on top 10 lists of the decade? No way. It's not even Clint's 2nd best film of the decade. Or even third best. And should it have won best picture over the fucking Aviator? Ohhhh no.
7. Inside Man
I hated this film. It was beyond boring. Jodie Foster was great and that's it. The score sucked and the film seemed self-serving. And yet it got great critical acclaim.
6. Boondock Saints
Why is this such a cult hit? I just don't know. My boyfriend is obsessed with it and aside from Willem Dafoe, it's just abysmal.
5. Sideways
So utterly overrated. Best picture nom? Uh, no. Some acting recognition, sure? But for Virginia Madsen? She sucked. The film is just very pretentious and every critic loved it. A.O. Scott was a main exception and he got crucified for his descent.
4. The Incredibles
This got unbelievable reviews. It was also regarded as one of the funniest films of the year. Did I watch a different movie? I laughed maybe twice. If someone had told me this wasn't supposed to be a comedy, maybe I would have liked it more. Instead, I couldn't stand it and I just don't get why everyone loves it.
3. Slumdog Millionaire
Where to begin? I did love it. But why the mass phenomenon? The marketing campaign was annoying. The fact that it won best picture when it shouldn't have even been in the top 5 was ridiculous. The fact that it was even nominated... I just resent it now. And again, it's sad how that happens. It takes away from the film itself.
2. Ray
UGH. A great performance in a hack job of a film. Awkwardly filmed, abrupt ending, so totally mediocre. How on earth did this get nominated for best picture of the year? What a joke.
1. Crash
The most ridiculous upset in Oscar history (winning over Brokeback Mountain)? Yep. Also the most blatant instance of Homophobia. I hated Crash. Yes, there were aspects of it I liked but overall, I hated it and I hate Paul Haggis. He's incredibly manipulative (his Million Dollar Baby screenplay is the same way, which is another reason the film is not the masterpiece people think it is), his agenda was completely in your face, and the film was so heavy handed. Yes, people did recognize that Brokeback was robbed, but it still doesn't make up for the fact that this is still considered one of the greatest films of the decade when it is anything but. It also doesn't make up for the fact that a TV series would be pitched based on this film, much less made.
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Comment by Cinema Is Truth
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Comment by Cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
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Comment by Mr. Guy Person
However, I'm surprised that you praised Brokeback Mountain. I thought that was overrated. Not that I'm homophobic (my brother is gay, so I'm completely fine with homosexuality), but I find Ang Lee's directing to be seriously flawed. There were parts of Brokeback Mountain that felt like hours when they were minutes, and then there were parts where it seemed like the hit fast-forward without telling us, making the movies pacing a serious flaw. It was good, not great.
Comment by Cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
p.s. i hate Ryan Reynolds too but I do still want to see Adventureland
Comment by Boondocksaintsisawesome!
And why be racking down on films a lot of people love, instead of errhhhmm.. watching movies YOU like?
Comment by mendolyn
Comment by Neil Dunsmore
Also, another thing to those complaining about these choices: Overrated and bad are two different things! Just because a movie is good does not mean it has diplomatic immunity that prevents it from being overrated! If it garners way too much hype or receives way more praise than it deserves, than it may very well just earn itself the "overrated" stamp. For example, I remember someone once saying Naruto was an overrated show, and another person replied with "I think it's underrated" despite it garnering a much larger fanbase in the states than any other anime out there. This is the same case here. If you actually read the explanations, you'll notice she doesn't even hate/dislike all of these movies, she just thinks they get too much hype.
Comment by Cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
So, thanks
Comment by Anonymous
Paul Blart was un-watchable
I saw Return of the King...no big deal, Jesus
Gangs of New York was OK. DDL stole it.
Juno? Yep.
Felt let down with Sideways
The Incredibles, for me, lacked heart
Crash? Pffft. I felt a bit jipt of my $ for the ticket
Slumdog Millionaire? WOW. Hella-overrated. Quite campy and cheesy in bits. A better 2nd half though. But try telling Indian people that it's overrated and they'll look at you like you've got 9 eyeballs.
It is NOT better than The Reader, a movie I never expected to be so moving and well crafted.
NOT better than Frost/Nixon or Benjamin Button. No clue how it won Best Picture.
Will disagree with Michael Clayton. Damn fine movie. In fact, I think Unbreakable is/was underrated. Many people have that as Shamalalalalayananan's missing masterpiece.
If only my girlfriend had taste in movies like you.
Comment by Jon B
Otherwise, if you can't understand why Return of the King won Best Picture, then you really are fucking clueless.
Comment by M. T. Dalldorf
Hard Candy- A pretentious bore that somehow managed to pass as a "psychological-thriller," despite its shallow psychology and lack to thrills. Really the whole thing just consists of half-assed one liners, dull sarcasm and tiresome morality play "dialogue." Watch 'Freeway' or 'Death & The Maiden' instead.
Kill Bill- Like it or not, this movie does get more credit for his "originality" and "uniqueness" then it deserves. All it did for me was remind me off a bunch of other films I would rather have been watching. Also, I found the fights to be pretty lackluster for the most part.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre- Why are so many under the delusion that this generic, tedious crap-fest is somehow better than the original?
Little Miss Sunshine- Made me feel like I was spending my weekend trapped in a enclosed space with people I really didn't want to be around.
30 Days Of Night- Considering that this was made by the same team that brought us 'Hard Candy' it could have been worse, but that still doesn't make this one any good.
Open Water-Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
No Country For Old Men- The only reason people seem to like this movie is the fact that it won the Oscar and the only reason it seemed to win a meaningless piece of metal at a superficial ceremony, err, I mean, an Oscar is to make up for the fact that the Cohen Brothers never won one for all the movies they made that were better then this one. Anyway, this really Isn't a bad movie, but I'd take pretty much any other Cohen bros. movie over it.
Super Bad- Not great, not super-bad; just a run-of-the-mill teen-sex-comedy that all the critics when nuts for despite the fact that they've almost always hated this kind of movie. I found it pretty funny, but not so much that I'd ever watch it again; I'll stick to 'Porky's!'
Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings Trilogy- This is how to slow down a would-be exiting adventure trilogy; simply show every single action, step, gesture, sneeze, cough, blink and facial tick from every character from every possible angle at least 70 times. This will not only make you film tedious a hell, but it will help stretch out the run time to an unnecessary 2 or 3 hours!
The Jackass Movies- I always though critics hated low-brow toilet humor; I guess that's only when it's funny.
I'll probably think of some more latter.
Comment by Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Comment by M. T. Dalldorf
28 Days Latter- Run-of-the-mill zombie movie that gets large amounts of praise from people who have apparently never heard of George A. Romero (god, it's like 'Kill Bill' all over again).
Saw- The twist in the end was dumb, but not so dumb that I wasn't willing to suspend my disbelief (I've willfully fallen for some pretty absurd twists), but it's hard to suspend disbelief when the movie constantly goes out of its way to remind you that it's a movie; every time this movie is on the verge of creating some genuine tension they ruin it with over editing, bad music and worst of all, sped-up film. It's never a good sign when a horror movie could have included 'Yakety Sax' in the soundtrack and it wouldn't seem out of place.
Grr! Rage!
Comment by Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Rage, lol!