Academy of the Overrated

Reason I re-posted my piece on Scotty here is that after it ran Sunday, Ezra Klein spotted a weakness in my elegant argument and punched a hole right through it.

The crux of my argument was Gene Roddenberry's humanistic vision of the future.  I wrote:

And that was Roddenberry’s most progressive idea. In the future he envisioned, everybody mattered. Everybody had an important job. Nobody was redundant. Nobody was a mere cog in the machine.

Ezra saw the target painted on this in bright red paint and zeroed in, all phasers banks blazing.

But that's not true, is it? I mean, what of all those ensigns who, every time they were thrown in with the landing party, quickly got phaser'd out of existence? They were human plot fodder, getting mulched up so viewers at home understood the gravity of the situation. I guess in that sense, they mattered, but it seems a rather crummy purpose in life. Hell, if meaning means I gotta get blasted by a Klingon, I'm all for giving my job to HAL.

Direct hit, I thought, and I reeled.  I considered giving up the ship and beginning the self-destruct sequence.

Then something occurred to me, and I wrote to Ezra in his comments:

Don't forget how HAL handled things when he decided that the astronauts needed to be downsized.

His shields collapsed.  He had to admit to something embarrassing.

He has never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In victory I behaved with Kirk-like magnaminity.  I assured Ezra that he needn't be so chagrined, he hadn't missed much.

"2001 is one of the most over-rated movies of all time," I told him.

Amazingly, this did not start a war in his comments section.

I guess a lot of people agree with me.

Or do they?

What do you think are some over-rated movies?

I'm going to set some ground rules.  The movies have to be good.  You don't have to have liked them---in fact, that's one of the criteria for pronouncing a movie over-rated:  You have to recognize that it is a objectively a good movie; you just don't happen to think it's all that good.

So you don't want to pick mediocre or bad movies that were inexplicably big hits.  (The Star Wars movies get exculded from the discussion on this ground.)  You want to pick movies that a lot of people whose taste and intelligence you respect loved but which you weren't quite as enthused about or which left you a little cold or which you hated and despised and would like to see burned along with all the negatives and the director banned from ever working in Hollywood again.

Lost in Translation would be a good example.  It was one of my favorite movies of the last few years, but Roxanne, the Heretik, and Blue Girl beg to differ.

Actually, Roxanne merely doesn't beg to differ.  She has out her cigarette lighter and a can of gasoline.  She may even have a contract out on Sofia Coppola.

My other rule is that Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and the first two Godfather movies are also out of bounds, because, as great as they all are, no work of human hands can be as good as years of general adoration have given these films a reputation for being.  They are over-rated, but in the way calling a hero a god on earth over-rates him.

So, I'll start.  Besides 2001, at the top of my list is Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris.

Maria Schneider isn't even all that good looking naked.  Although, back in college, with both of us inspired by the movie we'd just watched at the campus film festival, I once gave a girl I was dating a bath the way Brando does for her, and my girl was prettier than Maria Schneider.  It was a beautiful moment and I owe Bertolluci that.  But this is the only reason I don't out and out despise the film.

I'd also put anything by Truffaut on my list.  The 400 Blows, Day for Night, Jules et Jim.  Big yawns.

There you go.  Take over.  (Siren, Alex, this should be a big fat slow-pitch softball for you.)  If you want, along with over-rated movies you can list over-rated directors.  Obviously, I'd lead with Kubrik and Truffaut.

Anybody want to take Scorcese?  George?

Comments

[Viscount LaCarte]

I immediately thought of "Lost in Translation," except it doesn't qualify, because I agree with Roxanne.

"Chariots of Fire" maybe? I didn't think it was awful, but it seemed cliched and contrived from my perspective.

[Roxanne]

In nearly every ST episode/ movie, they violate the prime directive for the greater good ...which is why it's a favorite among the neo-cons. Just saying ...

[Roxanne]

Also, if Sofia wants to sleep with her dad she should just go ahead and do it.

[Chase]

Interesting topic, Lance...

I share your disdain for "Last Tango," but not Truffaut. Anyway, I woould have to say that Antonioni's "L'Avventura" is one of the most boring and inconsequential "classics" I've had the misfortune of sitting through. Does "Easy Rider" count, or is that excluded?

[KitStolz]

"The 400 Blows" is over-rated? You gotta be kidding. A lot of Truffaut is forgettable, but the emotion in that one is palpable, and the last minute has to be about the most-copied filmic move in the last forty years.

My nomination: "E.T." It's got a moment or two, but it's fluff compared to Spielberg's greats, including (of course) "Jaws," but especially "Close Encounters."

[Tom]

Your comments about Last Tango reminded me of I Am Curious (Yellow), which apparently was big back in the day because it sparked an obscenity trial here in the States. I was a bit shocked to find it on the video shelf of my local public library, a reaction that changed when I actually tried to watch it.

Also, the mention of Easy Rider put me in mind of Sideways, which has been discussed in this blog, but anyway. A road trip flick in which the few funny and/or interesting bits only serve to remind one that Alexander Payne has done far superior films, even a far superior road trip flick (About Schmidt).

[Realist]

Jeez, you mean I'm not the only person on the planet who thought "2001" sucked?

[G. D. Frogsdong]

Sideways was a total yawner. I loved Lost in Translation, though, so phooey on ya.

But Garden State got all this counter-culture hit attention and that was such a boring piece of crap I cannot imagine what anyone saw in it. I mean it was just really bad.

[carla]

I'm on board with the Kubrik thing. I'm still pissed that I went to see Eyes Wide Shut in the theatre. There's $15 (admission, popcorn and Junior Mints) and two hours I'll never get back. Tom Cruise should be writing me a check.

I think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a complete mess. Kate Winslett should have been bitchslapped..not nominated. And Jim Carrey was insufferable.

[blue girl]

Aw, shucks. Carla beat me to it. Even though it may be breaking Lance's rule: "The movies have to be good." --

"Eyes Wide Shut" for sure.

But I have to disagree with G.D. Frog: "Garden State" was really creative and cool in my humble opinion. (I've been meaning to buy the DVD)

[blue girl]

An over-rated movie I never went to see because a fictional character on a TV show told me so: "The English Patient"

[sfmike]

"Gandhi," "Dances with Wolves," "Shakespeare in Love," "Ordinary People," "The English Patient," "American Beauty" -- you get the idea. If a movie has been festooned with Academy Awards (registered trademark), particularly Best Picture, it's almost guaranteed not to age well.

As for "2001," I was bored silly when I saw it when it was first released, and then sort of amused by it when I saw it later at a rep theater on LSD. The gay-sounding computer, HAL, was hilarious. However, I've been living with a guy for ten years who worships the movie and has probably seen it about 40 times. He's sort of a Teletubby in that regard - "Again, again." And other friends were also worshipers ("the fabulousness of the movie is in all those control panels"), and I've come around to the conclusion that though it may not be my style, the movie is definitely important and certainly not over-rated.

"Eyes Wide Shut," which I expected to hate, was actually pretty interesting though Kubrick's casting has always been weird. Ryan O'Neal in "Barry Lyndon"? Tom Cruise a Jewish doctor in New York?

[Exiled in NJ]

My simple rule is never see any movie everyone is talking about until a year or two passes.

This is like shooting fish in a barrel and is too much fun, but of course, all Tom Cruise films are off limits because your silly rule that they have to be 'good' and this eliminates the great white elephant Titanic also.

Here goes: As Good As It Gets, Something's Gotta Give~~who the heck would even want to know these characters~~, Shakespeare in Love, The Crying Game, most Altman films except for McCabe and Thieves Like Us, any adaption of Grisham but then none have met the 'good' criteria, any film where deNiro plays a psycho for the umpteenth time, The Talented Mr. Ripley and this is just the beginning. If we include Easy Rider, how about Blow Up?

You're a louse, Lance, even though I agree entirely about 2001. You will have me up all night adding to my list.

[Roxanne]

I have to agree with the English Patient. In my world, we do not reward Nazi sympathizers with our love.

[blue girl]

OMG!

Tora! Tora! Tora!

Bora! Bora! Bora!

(Did I miss something with this snore-fest?? I just looked it up on the Internet and it says it's "essential war movie viewing...)

[Flatiron Dante]

I have to agree about the English Patient. The one thing Ms. FID and I got out of that three hour snoozefest was that the scenery in it made us look forward to our then-upcoming honeymoon in Tuscany.

I also walked out of the Broadway performance of "Ragtime" at intermission because I found it so annoying (it seemed to me like one long parade of cliches and stock characters). I think that was made into a movie -- so does that count for our purposes?

A movie that a lot of people think was overrated but I think has one of the funniest scenes on film is "Four Rooms". The flaming tableau at the end of the Antonio Banderas vignette (when he and his wife walk back into the room) is one of the funniest moments I have ever seen on film. But I know a lot of people who disagree.

[Laertes]

This is surely just my poor webbing skills but none of the links to Roxanne appear to point at a takedown of Lost in Translation. I loved it, by the way, but I can't quite explain why. The mood was captivating and I loved spending time with Johannsen and Murray. I came out of it with the same kind of buzz I got from Spirited Away. That may be a cheap thrill but I take my thrills where I can get them, cheap or otherwise.

My pick for Most Overrated Movie is American Beauty. It came in a pretty box with foil and had a fancy label and all--it sure looked like a good movie, but...it wasn't, was it? Nonsensical people doing nonsensical things in nonsensical ways, but without the cojones to be out-and-out absurdist. That silliness with the plastic bag, what the hell was that? The writer making fun of his audience, I expect.

[Nance]

I agree on "American Beauty," but I'll give it this: It's a good structural model of a three-act screenplay, which is why we studied in in my screenwriting class. I came away from the closer viewing with a little more respect for it and for some selected elements of it, but otherwise, yup -- overrated.

[SV]

Dammit, all the good ones have been taken:

The English Patient - Two arrogant people commit adultery, and then the man becomes a spy for the Nazis. They're the "heroes." Uh-huh. I couldn't watch the woman's death without thinking of the husband whose life was also destroyed; I couldn't watch the spy's death without thinking of the soldiers who also suffered horrible wounds because of his selfishness.

I'd say anything by Altman, except after the arrogant cruelty of the "heroes" in MASH, the thoughtless arrogance of the characters in "Short Cuts", the casually arrogant emptiness of the characters in "The Player" ... I stopped watching. I refuse to waste more of my life. I came away thinking that Altman just doesn't like people, and considers anyone who does as either a hypocrit or pathetically naive. Either way, if you try to be nice in an Altman flick, you're going to get punished. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the directoral viewpoint is that you had it coming. (Popeye wasn't too bad in this regard, but it was still a mess.)

2001 - The first half is extremely dated standard sci-fi. Then there's about 15 good minutes with HAL, followed by plotless, pointless, endless cinematic onanism.

Here's one nobody mentioned: Seven - A disgusting piece of pornographic trash. You get the feeling that the director was incredibly turned on by the violence and cruelty. I wanted to take a shower after watching it.

Oh, and Chariots of Fire? Best movie I've ever seen. ;-)

[Chris Quinones]

Fargo. Quite good, but 84th best of all time? I don't think so.

Field of Dreams left me at the end feeling manipulated, even though I'd enjoyed most of it and had the requisite teary eyed reaction.

Blue Velvet. Saw that at college 18 years ago and still not sure if I liked it.

Gosford Park. In-terrrr-minable.

The Triplets of Belleville, and I'm usually a sucker for animation. If you want to see French-made animation, Kirikou and the Sorceress is delightful.

[Bill Altreuter]

I have to say that after "Jaws" -- best Ibsen adaptationever-- most Spielberg movies have done nothing for me. "Close Encounters" in particular is a big nuthin'.

Merchant/Ivory movies are pretty painful as well. "A Room With A View" is a particular snooze.

I agree with the hypothosis that a Best Picture Academy Award is pretty much prima facia proof of over-ratedness.

[RJ Eskow]

I try to never diss, but this one's easy: "21 Grams." What a wildly overrated, pretentious, God-awful mess. When the Sean Penn character says to Naomi Watts, "I have his heart," my wife and I burst out laughing (which got us a few nasty looks ...)

There's a great 90-minute movie in "2001." Unfortunately the actual film is a lot longer than that ...

[Patrick Wahl]

When I saw the subject I immediately jumped into the comments section to toss out American Beauty, but a number of people have already mentioned it. Does anyone get it? I found it condescending and grim and pointless. Someone mentioned THe Player, Altman overall I don't care that much for, Gosford Park is another one I would have to call overrated. The buffoonish detectives not really credible.

[Jaquandor]

Ummmm...I wouldn't say that Ezra spotted a flaw in your Star Trek argument. There's a difference between the way Roddenberry envisioned his world and the way he had to tell stories within that world. The doomed Red-Shirts may have had no purpose within the episodes except to die, but their fictional characters were undoubtedly important within the fictional world in which those episodes took place.

[Amanda]

The English Patient and that other movie by that guy The Talented Mr. Ripley. The latter sucked so hard I was actually embarrassed for Cate Blanchett.

[Campaspe]

Dear Lance, I am about to start that war you missed with Ezra, I fear. By far the most overrated movie I have seen is "Once Upon a Time in the West." Bad, overblown, thuddingly obvious imitation of good American directors. Even a hack like Henry Hathaway made more watchable movies than that one. I mean, at least True Grit MOVES. Not only would Leone linger forbloodyever over a featureless, mud-fence-ugly bit of scenery, but he would also cue up the score to Brucknerian levels in order to beat you over the head with the fact that this is a hugely important bit of featureless, mud-fence-ugly scenery, and don't you forget it. The stunt casting of Henry Fonda against type doesn't impress me, perhaps because I read so much about what Fonda was like at home. Bronson is wooden, Cardinale ... well, even Visconti and Fellini couldn't get a performance out of her, you just stick her up on the screen and try not to have her say anything. The only actor worth watching is Jason Robards, who is so animated in comparison to the other mannequins it's like he dropped in from another movie.

For the Siren, this one's reputation is a mystery to rival the Sphinx. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly she enjoys, but "Once" is more than enough.

[Lance]

This is going great! Keep it up, folks, please!

Kit,

400 blows is a perfect choice, according to my rules. It's good and lots of people whose taste and intelligence I respect love it and yet at the end I went, "And?"

Dante, Ragtime was a movie, came out around 1981, 82. And it was over-rated. Great Elizabeth McGovern nude scene though.

Laretes, that's my fault. I meant to include a link to the comments section on one of my posts where Roxanne, the Heretik, and Blue Girl all turn up their noses at Lost in Translation.

I don't know if Roxanne has done a post on LOT. But it seems like every time I've read someone posting on LOT Rox shows up in the comments section to cry fie upon it. It's a Tokyo thing with her. Her passionate hatred of the film is admirable, in an obsessive, someone get that woman a drink quick way.

[sfmike]

Robert Altman is God, though like God, he has certainly created some stinking messes. I'm thinking "Quintet," "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" or his absolute nadir, "O.C. and Stiggs." "Nashville" has held up extraordinarily well over thirty years, though there don't seem to be any good film prints of it left anymore. The San Francisco Film Festival had an onstage interview with Altman a couple of years ago and he turned out to be a very interesting speaker. Then they ran a faded print of "Nashville" that got stuck in the projector and burnt. Go with the DVD until the movie gets restored with new sound.

[coturnix]

"Blow Up"

[Mike]

Citizen Kane, like Vertigo, is a hazing perpetrated by the ruling Critic class on the rest of us. Give me The Third Man any day of the week. Or Rear Window.

2001, 400 Blows are EVENT movies that kinda hit people funny. Give me Dr. Strangelove and Day For Night.

Lost in Translation tickled me, I must admit. Not an earth-shaking talent, but Sophia got this one right. Give me Jim, though, and Dead Man.

Oh my God, shoot me before I have to witness another Costner film! Then bludgeon him with my corpse.

[harry near indy]

i'd have to say citizen kane is overrated. i'd take the godfather part i over it any time.

leave the gun. take the cannoli.

[Campaspe]

SV: By the by, couldn't agree more about Se7en. I went on about my loathing for that one at some length here: http://tinyurl.com/7h6kx

and I am overjoyed to see that someone else felt the same way.

[SV]

Campaspe: "Tacit endorsement of the killer's contention that his victims had it coming..."

You put your finger on it. That, and the notion that the viciously cruel ways they died was really, really cool.

Excuse me, I have to go take that shower now.

[Exiled in NJ]

Ah, someone mentioned the cigar store Indian who used to show his butt in every picture, and Dances with Wolves fits Lance's criteria!

How about overrated films that started horrible trends, like The Natural which changed Malamud's ending to fit Reagan's Morning in Ameria? Fireworks and inspiring music, just like Chariots. Rocky and Star Wars signaled the end of those great seventies films. Inspiration and the good guys winning came back in. Had French Connection been filmed ten years later, Hackman would have caught Rernando Rey, twenty years later and Bruce Wills, subbing for Gene, would have blown up the warehouse but escaped thru special effects.

[The Heretik]

Hey, I tried enduring Lost in Translation again. And I must say, this time it was not as bad as the first four times I tried to make it through it. It was worse. On the other hand, Sofia Coppola's directing and writing almost made me look back fondly on her acting in The Godfather III.

I did say almost. III sucked most because it was a tre-quel, when Coppola (il papa) should have quit after Godfather II. Under rated Coppola? The Conversation

As far as 2001, a film some can refer to without seeing, the best commentary on it can be found on the Who's Next? album art.

For those who don't remember The Who (or who might like to cite them without knowing they have already heard them), The Who were a band led by drummer Keith Moon (dead). Never the same after Moon's demise, Pete Townsend now whores himself for every CSI show on the tube. As well as yikes, Hummers.

Oy. I am still holding out for the possibility that Sofia Coppola might someday meet with Roxanne in myself for lunch, with hopes that Tessio won't be arranging security.

[Pepper]

Holy moly. Seems like everyone beat me to the punch on this one. "American Beauty" was an overblown, overhyped soap opera. Dr. Pepper seconds me. He has one ear to the phone, I ask him this question, and he says, "What a piece of crap!" I swear, if suburban malaise garners another Oscar, I'm gonna catch malaise and throw up.

I also have to say that I've found myself in big arguments because I thought "Jackie Brown" was WAY better than "Pulp Fiction." "Pulp Fiction" was foxy and glossy, but "Jackie Brown" had everything. A deep-dish pizza of a movie ... speaking of ... pizza ...

[Domoni]

I wanted to comment only to say "American Beauty." Then I found so many who listed it and realized I was home.

As for the plastic bag I'm reminded of my four-word film review "Look closer - it's garbage".

[Claire]

Last Tango in Paris is one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. Actually, I haven't watched it past the scene with the butter. UGH. And I mean it's disturbing in an incredibly bad way. Movies can be disturbing in a good way. I guess Blue Velvet is disturbing in a good way. Well. Maybe not. I don't know. No one messes with my head like David Lynch. (Shudder.) But Last Tango is just beyond what is necessary. Hell, Pink Flamingos holds more back, and Divine eats, well, you know what she eats. Great, now I think I've given myself bad dreams for the next couple of nights.

[Earl Bockenfeld]

I have to say The Hours, Nashville, It's a Wonderful Life, Armageddon for starters.

[Matt]

Citizen Kane, like Vertigo, is a hazing perpetrated by the ruling Critic class on the rest of us. Give me The Third Man any day of the week. Or Rear Window.

AMEN, brother. The Third Man is my all-time favorite movie.

Citizen Kane is amazing from a technical perspective, but it's among the more unenjoyable movies I've watched. It's like high-fiber cinema.

Give me Jim, though, and Dead Man.

Are you sure we're not the same person? And do you have any tobacco?

Heretik, I can't believe you just dissed Lost in Translation. Such a beautiful film. It has its problems -- notably the racist l/r japanese pronunciation bit -- but I found its etherial atmosphere dazzling. Great use of music, too. And let us not forget Ms. Scarlett Johansson.

Here is my list of overrated movies:

Vera Drake
Mystic River
Million Dollar Baby
Sideways
Napoleon Dynamite
Garden State
Love Actually
Donnie Darko
American Beauty
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Matrix
Braveheart
A Beautiful Mind
Monster's Ball
Mikey and Nicky
Duck Soup

[jwhook]

Arthur.

Pulp Fiction.

The Matrix.

[Linkmeister]

So where's the UNDER-rated film thread?

[KathyF]

I find that most overrated movies are overrated.

And forgettable.

Hence my lack of a contribution to this category.

Can we talk about underrated films next? Please?

Okay, how bout John Sayles' films? (Note: movies are overrated films.)

[Mike]

Most(ly) underrated:
Big Night
Breaking Away
Little Big Man
Elephant Man
Darkman
Ed Wood
Straight to Hell

Okay, maybe not that last one. I'd add Chinatown, but I suspect everyone thinks it's the kitty-cat's nose, I mean pajamas;-)

[mac macgillicuddy]

I'm going to put in my vote for "Midnight Cowboy." It's good. Hoffman and Voight are good. The music is good. But it just doesn't do it for me. Over rated.

But that scene with the telephone -- one of the all-time great, immitated but never duplicated scenes of the American cinema. To wit, Russell Crowe.

Which brings me to a comment about "Chariots of Fire." When I saw it when it first came out, it packed a certain emotional wallop for me (I remember that it did, though I can't recall now exactly why). The now all too often satirized (even some 30 years later?)scene of the running team on the beach was, in the context of the movie, a satisfying one. The end of the race was, as well.

But for the obvious reason, the movie has been tainted. For some reason, that scene has become kind of a national comedic joke. I guess for that reason, we have to put it into the over rated category. Movies whose emotional climaxes stand the test of a culture's time don't wind up as jokes on David Letterman decades later and still get laughs.

OK, I have one more -- well, a group, actually: Anything directed by Akira Kurasowa. I know, he's supposed to be one of the most brilliant directors in the world, but he leaves me flat. Maybe, though, he should have directed "Lost in Translation" (which I've never scene, I admit).

Before I sign off on this, I have to take, once again, the opportunity to name the four greatest movies ever made:

#1 Casablanca - everything about it predicts a flop. The special effect at the beginning is cheesey; the music is sappy; the scenes don't look real even when they are. It shouldn't work. But it does. It's brilliant. It's more than a classic. It's the greatest movie ever made. I've seen in about 30 times, and that scene in the Germans sing "Der Faderland" is still chilling, and the minor victory of the other patrons when they drown them out with the French anthem is still moving because it is so small of a victory, yet so big.

#2 The Wizard of Oz - yes, the Wizard of Oz. It seems like a hoakey version of a questionably effective piece of political commentary disguised as a children's story, and that Munchin song is infuriating, but the dialog is witty, full of nuance, and each actor's portrayal is totally original. And that witch is scarier than anything I've ever seen.

#3 The Graduate - Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft make this otherwise depressing and dreary story -- the first to be "about nothing" -- one of the tightest narratives on screen, ever. And the music isn't just great -- it's used by the director to maximum effect.

One of the most under rated lines: "Here she is, drinking her water."

#4 I can't think of it. My wife and I were trying to remember, just a couple of weeks ago, what my #4 movies is. I know I have one. It'll come to me...

[Lance]

Matt,

Good list. Duck Soup is the perfect example of an over-rated movie according to my ground rules. It's my favorite Marx Bros. movie but I don't ever recommend it to anyone anymore because when I used to I'd get too enthusiastic about it and then the person I recommended it to is disappointed because it isn't as funny as I made it sound. I think the Marx Bros. movies on the whole are over-rated and that does them a disservice.

Link, Kathy, I was saving the under-rated idea for next week, but I can't stop anyone from starting up such a thread here, nor---hint, hint---could I stop you from starting such a thread on your own pages. (I'll be the first commenter.)

Kathy, last night a bunch of us were talking this over and we decided that a film is an over-rated movie. You seem to use the terms in reverse. Are you being British? Expand upon your definitions, please, madam.

[Exiled in NJ]

Lance, as usual you hit the nail straight on!

"Duck Soup is the perfect example of an over-rated movie according to my ground rules. It's my favorite Marx Bros. movie but I don't ever recommend it to anyone anymore because when I used to I'd get too enthusiastic about it and then the person I recommended it to is disappointed because it isn't as funny as I made it sound."

Most of us are writing about films that others have told us we must see, but our reaction was not the same. You've turned matters on their head. My second rule of film watching is to keep my cards to my vest. I love "His Girl Friday" but I don't want to hear that anyone did not like it. If I do, it may pop up on lists like these.

Way back in 1967 the movie critic for Newsweek tore Bonnie and Clyde apart, only to find almost every other writer in the country loved it. What did he do? Like a good Marxist, he engaged in revisionism and wrote a new review.

[Campaspe]

Lance: We could in fact paraphrase Randall Jarrell's definition of a novel ("a piece of prose of some length with something wrong with it") and apply it easily to film ("a critically acclaimed motion picture of some length with something wrong with it").

[The Viscount LaCarte]

Underrated? I don't know. "Underseen" maybe? I'd call them "Darkhorse" movies. I guess "Film" people know these flicks, but "Movie" people don't.

"13 Conversations About One Thing."
"Trees Lounge"
"House of Games"
"Living in Oblivion" (Ok, I like Buschemi!)
"Sliding Doors"
"Bob Roberts"
"The Player"
"Truly Madly Deeply"

[Anne Laurie]

How about "any movie by Christopher Guest"? I might be argued into giving THIS IS SPINAL TAP a pass, partly because would-be rock stars are actually asking for a certain amount of abuse, and partly because when that one was made Lord Haden-Guest didn't have the clout to fully exercise his bottomless contempt for anyone not as ironically detached as himself and his 6 or 8 best friends. (Yeah, right, "improv"... the pampered performers' shorthand for "couldn't be bothered writing/memorizing a bunch of stuff in advance".) The theory behind WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, or BEST IN SHOW, or A MIGHTY WIND seems to be that people who don't meet Hollywood's exacting physical standards and/or those whose interests fail to match Haden-Guest's are risible by definition. Making fun of people by going on, and on, and on about how weird they look and how geeky they talk is the height of humor for most twelve-year-olds. Once you've gotten all the way through puberty, you should have developed a little more empathy for the rest of the human race. The critical acclaim for these movies only confirms my worst estimates of most professional critics' emotional maturity.