Critically panned films that are loved by many

BuilderPlumber

What films come to mind as critically panned (and generally deserving to be!) but yet are loved by many. For me the Fifty Shades of Grey films come readily to mind. They are considered trash by the critics and deserve their reputation but yet find an audience and are genuinely popular. I'm not a fan of these 3 films and they are among the worst films but are popular with many.

Outkast_IRE

The greatest showman is a great recent example . Really won over people by good word of mouth , critics were not enthusiastic

Lorelli!

I don't know if these were popular with many but just a few people told me before that they thought they were good and they are not...White Chicks and Dude Wheres My Car!

And of course...Showgirls :pac: (ive actually never seen it)

Slydice

Had a quick look..

I knew about Bright cos it was recent.

Equilibrium came out when scifi dystopia didn't feel as popular as now so that made sense to me.

I wasn't expecting Fear and Loathing

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bright/


https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/equilibrium/


https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fear_and_loathing_in_las_vegas/

Last Action Hero and Waterworld.

quintana76

Apocalypse Now was not liked by the critics at the time of its release. That is now all forgotten. Yes it is !

Harry Palmr

quintana76 wrote: »

Apocalypse Now was not liked by the critics at the time of its release. That is now all forgotten. Yes it is !

To roughly quote Tony Crawley in 1979 "Apocalypse Now opened Cannes this year after which they could have cancelled the rest of the festival".

Some disliked it but mainly because they didn't get it and regarded it as indulgently costly, rather than thinking it bad film. To accurately quote Roger Ebert from June 79

"Apocalypse Now" is a good and important film -- a masterpiece, I believe. Years and years from now, when Coppola's budget and his problems have long been forgotten, "Apocalypse" will still stand, I think, as a grand and grave and insanely inspired gesture of filmmaking -- of moments that are operatic in their style and scope, and of other moments so silent we can almost hear the director thinking to himself.

valoren

I think the OP is referring to movies that actually deserve the critical panning but are loved in spite of that.

The ultimate example for me is The Room. A monumentally terrible film but absolutely loved because of it.

Oasis1974

Anyone watch Forrest Gump recently its the most atrocious movie i have ever seen yet won Best Picture etc. I know I'm reversing the thread topic but what a stinker in every respect and Tom Hanks performance is puke inducing.

HandsomeBob

Would mostly be films from my childhood that I'll still watch and enjoy them for half nostalgia/genuine entertainment felt. Hook being one example.

Wouldn't class Last Action Hero as such an example as I think history has already been kind to it. A head of its time.

eviltimeban

The Da Vinci Code.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Harry Palmr wrote: »

To roughly quote Tony Crawley in 1979 "Apocalypse Now opened Cannes this year after which they could have cancelled the rest of the festival".

Some disliked it but mainly because they didn't get it and regarded it as indulgently costly, rather than thinking it bad film. To accurately quote Roger Ebert from June 79

Ebert was almost never wrong.

i71jskz5xu42pb

IMDB films scored over 8.5 with more than 250k votes.

51 movies in total.

You can't sort by Metascore (which I think is critic aggregate score) but there are a few in the 60s (not panned granted) - Leon, The Green Mile, Gladiator, Se7en, Fight Club, The Prestige and American History X.

Untouchable & Life Is Beautiful in the 50s

DaeryssaOne

HandsomeBob wrote: »

Would mostly be films from my childhood that I'll still watch and enjoy them for half nostalgia/genuine entertainment felt. Hook being one example.

Hook was the very first film I thought of when I read the OP, probably one of my favourite films as a child and was surprised to read only a few years ago that it wasn't as widely adored by critics on its release as it was by an 8 year old me :pac:

HandsomeBob

DaeryssaOne wrote: »

Hook was the very first film I thought of when I read the OP, probably one of my favourite films as a child and was surprised to read only a few years ago that it wasn't as widely adored by critics on its release as it was by an 8 year old me :pac:

That Christmas film with Jon Lithgow being a dastardly dick is another one I loved but never knew was panned. :pac: I'd still watch it if it came on.

faceman

HandsomeBob wrote:

That Christmas film with Jon Lithgow being a dastardly dick is another one I loved but never knew was panned. I'd still watch it if it came on.

That was The Santa Claus Movie. Had Dudley Moore in it too. I enjoyed it as a kid too.

faceman

I'm partial to Best of the Best with Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones and Chris Penn. Makes me cry every time.

elbyrneo

Oasis1974 wrote: »

Anyone watch Forrest Gump recently its the most atrocious movie i have ever seen yet won Best Picture etc. I know I'm reversing the thread topic but what a stinker in every respect and Tom Hanks performance is puke inducing.

I loved it

Lorelli!

valoren wrote: »

I think the OP is referring to movies that actually deserve the critical panning but are loved in spite of that.

The ultimate example for me is The Room. A monumentally terrible film but absolutely loved because of it.

I didn't think op meant "so bad they're good" but critically panned films that are really bad and for some reason have a large following and are popular.

HandsomeBob

Forrest wasn't panned and for good reason.

Getting into the politics of it and trying to assess it by today's standards is a different story.

Oasis1974

Oasis1974 wrote: »

Anyone watch Forrest Gump recently its the most atrocious movie i have ever seen yet won Best Picture etc. I know I'm reversing the thread topic but what a stinker in every respect and Tom Hanks performance is puke inducing.

Better tuck that bitterness in, gonna get caught on a tripwire ;)

BuilderPlumber

Deleted User wrote: »

Waterworld.

Is Waterworld an underrated but flawed minor classic or the critically panned expensive flop it is known as? This and Kevin Costner's other one of the time The Postman are really frustrating as they have a good idea but are very flawed.

Would not call these 2 films loved. They are more hated I find and I cannot understand why Kevin Costner went from being a well respected actor and film maker to being shown no respect almost overnight. JFK, Field of Dreams, and especially Dances with Wolves were all very much respected whereas Wyatt Earp only got middling respect and Waterworld, The Postman, etc. none. The more lighthearted comedy Tin Cup is perhaps the only Costner film of the mid to late 1990s to get some love.

Keplar240B

Oasis1974 wrote: »

Anyone watch Forrest Gump recently its the most atrocious movie i have ever seen yet won Best Picture etc. I know I'm reversing the thread topic but what a stinker in every respect and Tom Hanks performance is puke inducing.

My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

Wedwood

Predator 2. Slated by critics for years, but an instant cult classic for many fans.

Star Trek III The Search for Spock. Blamed by many for starting the 'odd number bad' view of Trek movies. These days it's rightly recognised as one of the better entries.

Rambo III. Virtually every critic hated it, but it made a fortune at the box office.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Despite all the critical slaughtering this movie continues to get, it continues to maintain a relatively high audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (53%)

Tell me how

Oasis1974 wrote:

Anyone watch Forrest Gump recently its the most atrocious movie i have ever seen yet won Best Picture etc. I know I'm reversing the thread topic but what a stinker in every respect and Tom Hanks performance is puke inducing.

Ehh....Why?

Akrasia

Keplar240B wrote: »

My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

Look at the feckin card that tells you what's in every type of chocolate!

Forests mother was as illiterate as he was

Akrasia

Hawk the Slayer. Not great reviews, but we wore out the tape from watching it so many times. "Voltan, you will die by my sword!"

CrankyHaus

The Bruckheimer produced stuff from the late 90s comes to mind. Popcorn plots with top actors, sharp scripts and good direction :

Armageddon, The Rock, Con Air.

All have low to average critic scores but high audience scores on review aggregator websites.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was panned on release but saved by an obsessive audience and subsequently reappraised.

Scarface similarly bombed with the critics, did moderately successful box office and became a VHS and DVD bestseller before being retrospectively viewed far more positively by critics. Interestingly Ebert was well out in front again and gave it 4/4 from the start.

Church on Tuesday

Alien 3. Specifically the assembly cut.

Fans tend to look favorably upon the assembly cut versus the theatrical version which is, in fairness, a mess.

silverharp

the good the bad and the ugly was apparently panned by critics

BuilderPlumber

Wedwood wrote: »

Predator 2. Slated by critics for years, but an instant cult classic for many fans.

Star Trek III The Search for Spock. Blamed by many for starting the 'odd number bad' view of Trek movies. These days it's rightly recognised as one of the better entries.

Rambo III. Virtually every critic hated it, but it made a fortune at the box office.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Despite all the critical slaughtering this movie continues to get, it continues to maintain a relatively high audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (53%)

I think 3 out of these 4 films are good. Rambo III of course being the one I would not consider good.

The Star Trek film is good but just not as good as The Wrath of Khan that went before it. Crystal Skull is underrated imo and has enough classic Indiana Jones material in it to make it interesting. It may not be as good as Raiders or Temple or Crusade but it is still very decent. Like the Star Wars prequels are not as good as the first 3 or the later ones, but they still are very enjoyable and underrated, so same with Crystal Skull. Predator 2 is an acquired taste but very good when you get into the spirit of it.

Rambo III is an insult to First Blood, a really great and intelligent film about the postwar treatment of good soldier John Rambo. First Blood aka Rambo 1 deserved better than the very biased US propaganda sequels that came after it. Rambo III = kill as many Russians as you can. Russia = bad, USA = good. In the era of the Iraq war and the current US regime with hardliners like Steve Bannon and John Bolton, it is unlikely Rambo III will gain any revision. Sure, there is great action here but there are other films with a more intelligent message with great action.

IvySlayer

Space Jam

Crimson King

Starship Troopers.

Terrible movie. Its so terrible its great.

Drumpot

Crimson King wrote: »

Starship Troopers.

Terrible movie. Its so terrible its great.

If you mixed up your words and you meant to say “terribly great movie” then I agree.

astrofool

Crimson King wrote: »

Starship Troopers.

Terrible movie. Its so terrible its great.

It's a satire, and a decent one, the sequels, which didn't realise they were a satire, were awful. It's a solid 3/5 movie. I don't think the actors got the satire, and you'd wonder of Verhoeven knew what he was making either

smurf492

Blown Away... Thoroughly enjoyable even with the bad Irish accents

Outlaw Pete

It's a Wonderful Life was mostly panned by the critics and it was even suggested that it was nothing but communist propaganda by some (given how it negatively portrayed bankers and promoted community run credit unions).

Vertigo was similarly slated. I think Hitchcock refused to even allow clips to be shown for years. Always does well in greatest ever movie polls now though.

American Psycho I almost didn't go to see as I had read that it was basically a film based on a book about how shallow men in society had become, particularly rich business men and it was being directed by this feminist. Turns out this was a deliberate move as the author of the book had been accused of being a misogynist and so they felt it would help it at the box office. Certainly more loved now than at the time of release for sure.

jacksie66

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Optimalprimerib

Battleship. It is horrific but great fun and hilarious. I still use the quote "Not Today" when I can.

Drumpot

Optimalprimerib wrote: »

Battleship. It is horrific but great fun and hilarious. I still use the quote "Not Today" when I can.

The hero tries a tactic (Art of War) that is only confirmed afterwards that he completely doesn't understand the tactic that could of led to them all being killed . .

It only has one reference to the game battleship where there is a spaceship hopping around the water in the most unconventional manner. So awful, its brilliant . .

That is fun popcorn, brainless crack at its finest . . Wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but I enjoy it with the kids who love it . .

TerrorFirmer

astrofool wrote: »

It's a satire, and a decent one, the sequels, which didn't realise they were a satire, were awful. It's a solid 3/5 movie. I don't think the actors got the satire, and you'd wonder of Verhoeven knew what he was making either

Actually the third one is very much like the original movie and a proper sequel.

Unfortunately the special effects are beyond abysmal, which sort of ruins the potential, despite being made in 2008 it looks like it's from early 90s TV.

It's a decent 'b-movie' though in the spirit of the original and plenty of satirical elements.

loyatemu

Superman: The Movie got poor reviews for being ponderous and overblown, but is generally well regarded by audiences.

Slydice

Adding these after I found them on the Rotten Tomatoes challenge thread: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057861929

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_pounds


https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/law_abiding_citizen/

spurious

'Mamma Mia!' even the makers knew it was a bit of fluff, but boy did it put bums on seats and DVDs in machines and so will the next one.

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CastorTroy

Any time someone uses Rottentomatoes to say a film is good or bad and I just feel like being argumentative, I point out how The Last Boy Scout is only at 44% when it should be at least double that

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The J Stands for Jay

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

Alien 3. Specifically the assembly cut.

Fans tend to look favorably upon the assembly cut versus the theatrical version which is, in fairness, a mess.

Where would a person get a copy of the assembly cut?

eagle eye

Heavens Gate got panned but I quite liked it.

Someone once told me that Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory got panned when it came out but I find that hard to believe.

RabbleRouser2k

I can watch Forest Gump, but for years I DESPISED it. It's not great, tho.
I know Casper got bashed on release, didn't do well either-but I still like the movie.

The Big Lebowski was despised on release, and was considered a massive disappointment after the Cohen's Fargo. Fight Club was hated by Roger Ebert as well (And Rosie O'Donnell hated the movie-then spoiled the 'twist' on her chat show...:mad:). I love those movies, btw. (Ditto Hook)
Hocus Pocus-I love that movie-it got bashed upon release too. Has grown in popularity since then.

I don't know if its loved now-but Krull is a movie I like (yeah, won't defend this one). I can see a ton of good ideas done not very well. Labyrinth (with David Bowie and Jennifer Connoly) did badly on release, but has a massive following now. Never got that major dvd/ Blu ray release it kind of deserves. I don't know if it was a flop, or a disappointment-but Prince of Egypt is a really great interpretation of the Moses story-notably the animation and acting. Kind of a forgotten film. I like nearly all the Don Bluth films, including the weaker ones. Oh, and Ferngully.

McGaggs wrote: »

Where would a person get a copy of the assembly cut?

I believe the 4 film box set (Alien-Aliens: Resurrection).

CastorTroy

Casper got bashed? I really enjoyed that movie. The fact I had a crush on Christina might've helped.

I also liked both My Girl movies, though I think only the first one was liked by most non critic people