Dare I start a thread on movies that were huge hits that you really did not like?
My biggest one was 'There's Something About Mary'. I watched that after hearing people at work go on and on about how funny it was. Not only did I not find it funny at all, but I was appalled that someone had made a comedy about a woman being stalked. How many women are killed annually by stalkers?

Skunkee, I agree with you 100%. Quite a number of my friends recommended this movie, saying it was the funniest movie they'd ever seen. So I hired the video and I've never been so disappointed in my life. I didn't think it was funny at all. The so-called humour was peurile and tasteless. And I really wondered about my friends' judgement!

How about Armageddon. I saw it in theators and about half through, I whispered to my friend "Armageddon outta here" (sorry, terrible joke). I can't tell you how many people love and adore this film. I found it to be cinematic fluff. Plus it didn't help that the dastadly Ben Afflec had a big role in the film. To tell you the truth, the only part of the movie I liked was when Areosmith played 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" (a very moving beutifull song).

2005
Broken Flowers
Cinderella Man
Crash

2004
Finding Neverland
Hotel Rwanda
The Phantom of the Opera
Primer
Ray
Shrek 2

2003
Cold Mountain
The Last Samurai
Mystic River

2002
The Hours
The Pianist
Signs

And easily the biggest...

2001
Shrek

Urgh, the Matrix follow ups. As a self respecting nerd (is there such a thing?) I loved the first Matrix film. "Ah," I thought, "How refreshing, a film that makes me think AND has scantily clad women!" (OK, that's not what I thought, but I thought the concept was great).

But when I went to the cinema with a fellow nerd to see the second one, I cannot tell you how bored I was. Not only was I surrounded by the largest gaggle of geeks I have ever seen (all overweight, all spotty, all dressed like Trinity (eew), and I hated it. I sat through 20 minutes of it and then took an unscheduled 1 hour trip to the bathroom. It stank.

Least liked hit movies- To name a few:
"Titanic"
"Twister"
"Sweet Home Alabama"
"Armageddon"
"Jerry Maguire"
"Good Will Hunting"

I really enjoyed "Something About Mary". I thought it was hilarious. The only part of the film I didn't like was the cop-out ending with Ben Stiller's character.

I dislike Ben Stiller and almost everything he's ever been in, including all the hits, to include Something About Mary, Meet the Fockers, etc.

I hated Twister. I live in Nebraska. I see real tornados every year. I watch the clouds do creepy things over my house. I live within an hour's drive of a town that was COMPLETELY destroyed by a tornado just last year. (Completely as in there were 7 buildings left standing. Seven.) I know people who are storm chasers, researchers and enthusiasts, and I myself have been known to strike out in my car upon hearing the sirens blaring, just to make it to where I know I might be needed before danger strikes. Why, oh WHY, would I want to watch an over-effected, over-dramatized bit of fluff like that?

Disliked Signs very much. Wanted to be scared and wasn't.

Many, MANY Disney movies are hits, and there are some that I like quite well, for nostaligic or childish reasons, but some of the tripe that's been coming out of Disney studios lately is overwhelmingly bad. Hercules? Pocahontas? Just.. just UGH.

And the live-action versions of Dr. Seuss stories has simply got to stop. And then whoever thought of it in the first place should be beaten soundly about the head and shoulders. And while they're at it, they can go ahead and take Jim Carrey out there as well and do the same to him. I'll leave Mike Meyers alone for now. Though I AM getting tired of Austin Powers (getting? Got at the outset I think) and Cat in the Hat bothered me on SO many levels, I still think the guy can be terribly funny.

Yeah Disney animation has pretty much ceased, save their excellent streak with Pixar, which ends after Cars. But for their actual films:

Mulan, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hunchback of Notre Dame - Yes. I'll do without Pocahantas, Lilo and Stitch, Hercules, and anything involving Dalmations.

Not sure about Twister, Armageddon, The Core, etc. I guess they are box office hits but they're goofily bad and everyone knows it.

I STILL think "Pulp Fiction" was wildly overrated. Rapes and needles stuck into your breastbone and all that harshness overall? Not a great film, if you ask me. It simply hurt to watch it! Anyone tell me what the point was of it I'll likely change my mind .

I hate the movie Closer with every fiber of my being. I honestly don't know if I could think of a movie more awful. If the point of it was to make the viewer want to kill him or herself or never see the light of day then I'd say it was successful. It's just about horrible, awful people doing horrible, awful things to one another. FOR NO REASON. And could some one tell me why Clive Owen's character went back to Julia Roberts' character?? I just didn't see what was so great about her. AND the scene where he comes home from where ever he's been and discovers her affair? Then he proceeds to ask all pf these disgusting and personal questions which she ANSWERS. Why would someone treat another human being like that? And not even care? GRRR! This movie made me angry!!! *sigh* It's nice to get that off my chest, though. I mean, yes, I realize that relationships aren't all rainbows and kittens but this is just over the top.

I have to jump on the "Something About Mary" bandwagon. I really don't enjoy Ben Stiller films. I hope that there's a hell for actors like him, where he can trade inane scatalogical pre teen jokes with Pauly Shore...

Pauly Shore was perfectly funny, back when I WAS a pre-teen, which was during his peak. Handy that. Now I watch movies like BioDome and wonder if I was ever that young and immature, really.

I despise most hit films. I've seen two films tonight, actually, one of which being 'The Life Aquatic', and the other being the 'XXX' sequel, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the first (it was bizarre, I was so happy), I hated the second. Why is this kind of film so popular? It was weak. Seriously, who wants to watch that kind of thing? It was just one explosion, a big car, some attractive people, and OH! Another explosion... *sigh* Hollywood.

I'll probably be flogged for admitting this, but I didn't like Braveheart. When it first came out, I went to see it at a very old theatre with an old sound system which I attributed to my not being able to understand a word anybody was saying. That, plus I got tired of bloody battle scenes so I left before it was over. Then when it came out on DVD, I bought my sister a copy and she persuaded me to try it again. And, once again, I couldn't understand a word, but at least I know now that it was me and not the speakers. And I still didn't like the battle scenes.

Flog me and fling me off the board if you like, but I admit to not liking "Lord of the Rings" (in fact, did not even sit right through it - luckily it was not at a cinema). Not having read the book probably doesn't help, although I did read the "The Hobbit". Yes, the special effects were amazing, but still couldn't figure out who was who. I don't like most fantasy anyway.

Agree about anything with Ben Stiller in it. Usually a few funny lines, but they don't make up for the rest of the inanity. <shudder>

Scottie, I'll put my hand up to not liking "Lord of the Rings" either. My husband and daughter are big fans of the books and movies, but I just couldn't get into them. My husband bought the videos but I couldn't sit through them. I am not into Fantasy as a genre, either.

I can usually guarantee that if the Hollywood critics love a movie I'll hate it. I also hate when all my family and friends "over-hype" a movie to me ("you've just GOT to see it," "that was the best movie EVER," etc). I usually end up expecting too much and being disappointed.

I'm actually undecided about Lord of the Rings myself. I've seen the first two, but haven't seen the last yet. They are beautifully done, but I was one who simply loved the books so well that no amount of cinemagic could match my imagination, and the results were a little disappointing. Which is not to say that I thought they were badly done. I think they are spectacular. But some of the artistic license led me a bit astray, and I found I'd rather just read the books and see it all in my own mind than sit for hours watching the movies. Although, I've always been a fan of Viggo Mortenson, and I will admit that his face has taken the place of the old hero-type I imagined when I was younger. Liv Tyler, on the other hand, has no place in my pictures, and Kate Blanchet will never be Galadriel in my world.

Lord of the Rings is a genre thing - I fully expect a number of people not to enjoy them. Older generations like fantasy less, and females doubly so, in general.

By the way, the XXX sequel doesn't really qualify as a hit, and disliking it is pretty much a side effect of seeing the film.

Pulp Fiction is hilarious and cleverly plotted, and I might as well add The Notebook to the list for 2004.

Now I'm compelled to stick up for one of my favorite films that got mentioned above ! What's not to like about Good Will Hunting? It certainly was a breezy couple of hours but harmless, I thought, and certainly full of heart. Just my 2 cents on that one.

It never occured to me to look at Pulp Fiction as a comedy! Maybe that's the misstep I took (especially since most seem to love that flick).

I also happen to like "Good Will Hunting" a lot, but I'm a Matt Damon fan, so I might be a little biased. "Lord of the Rings" also ranks high on my list, although I didn't much like "The Two Towers".

Quote:

---

And could some one tell me why Clive Owen's character went back to Julia Roberts' character??

---

Lol, thanks for spoiling the ending for me. Just kidding, I doubt I'd have watched it anyway... I dislike Julia Roberts. Clive Owen on the other hand...

I didn't like "The Fast and the Furious", "Pretty Woman", "American Beauty", & "The Godfather" movies. Plus other's that I won't remember I hate until I see them on TV.

I enjoyed Good Will Hunting as well.

It all depends on how you look at The Two Towers. Many think it has the same "problem" that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has where by the end, in terms of story, only a little bit has changed. IMO both are character pieces, and The Two Towers adds a whole other layer of complexity, expanding on relations between Frodo and Sam, Aragorn and Legolas, and Gollum and various individuals, including himself - and that's only to name a few! At this point it's tough to split the series apart again, since it's less like a trilogy and closer to one long film, but I would say The Fellowship of the Ring is the strongest chapter and Return of the King is the "weakest" - weakest being the best film of 2003.

Totally agree on American Beauty, and also on the Godfather, which I feel are good but overrated, except for pIII which was just mediocre. (Same with Coppola's Apocalypse Now actually)

Do older generations really not like fantasy as well? And females doubly so? I must live in a sheltered world. My mother's generation (she's 50, the old bat,) is the one who first embraced Tolkien's work. And in my family of 4, my mother, sister and I are the ones who like fantasy. My dad prefers to stay in the related genre of Sci-fi (which we girls also favor). Now, I've always known that my family isn't exactly normal (boy, howdy!), but I can't accept that we are that dramatically unusual. I just don't think the Lord of the Rings thing can be passed off that easy by age and gender. I'm not sure I liked them, not because they're fantasy, but maybe because I like fantasy SO well, Tolkien in particular.

I will say, that bit about the movies all being one long one is true. The Lord of the Rings isn't a trilogy, as Tolkien explains in a forward. It is one novel, containing six books, sold in three volumes. And I think Peter Jackson would have made one long film if the audiences would have sat through it. It was split into three for much the same reason the books were. The publisher/producer qualified audience attention spans and TADA, three volumes/movies.

Quote:

---

Lol, thanks for spoiling the ending for me.

---

I'm really sorry, Gemini. I usually don't post spoilers because (like most everyone else) I hate having things ruined like that. It didn't even occur to me that I was posting a spoiler because I was too busy ranting. Darn you, "Closer"! You win again!