Movies You Thought Would Suck, But Didn't... (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

Two films from last year that have already been mentioned.
Josie and the Pussycats. I was so sure this one would suck, I didn't see it even though it has the monumentally hot nubbin factor of Rachael Leigh Cook. It was on a free weekend of some movie channel a month or so back, so I watched it and it is actually pretty amusing. A little heavy handed, but in the end fairly creative.
Bubble Boy. The ads for this looked painfully bad, but I rented it last week and laughed for nearly the entire movie.

 

[AndyW]

Eyes Wide Shut

 

[Will_B]

State and Main by David Mamet. I'd read some critic who said this was nothing much.
Turned out to be sentimental in a really nice way that most Mamet films are not. In fact it reminded me pleasantly of Bill Forsyth's films.
And it has the actor who played the butler in the Big Lebowski - who seems a little bit like Al Franken now, but sweeter.

 

[Andy Olivera]

The Sentinel: Wasn't expecting much, but I'd heard about the ending and it was cheap. This turned out to be one creepy flick. It features the same premise as Lucio Fulci's The Beyond, minus the zombies.

Virus: Not a single even remotely positive review. I bought this because the effects were supposed to be awesome and I wanted to see this film everybody said was so terrible. I actually ended up buying a second copy, as well(the first time was the DTS version; the second for the extras). I have to wonder what the hell these critics are thinking when they walk into a film like this. It's got some of the most seemless CGI I've ever seen, plus it's tons of fun.

 

[Rain]

Clueless
Election
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
O Brother, Where Art Thou?

 

[Neil Joseph]

Toy Story

 

[Bill Slack]

Clueless (one of the best movies of the 90's, imo)
Fight Club
Boogie Nights
and...
Transformers: The Movie
Now, I loved TF as a kid. But I figured it would be like GI Joe: The Movie... Just nostalgia. Sure, that helps it along for me, but it's got a great score, cool animation, good voice acting, and an entertaining story. Not bad for a glorified toy ad, eh?

 

[Vickie_M]

Galaxy Quest - it looked to be S O B A D that I'd practically puke when the previews would come on. I can't remember what got us into the theater, but I'm glad we went. This is a clever, funny, absolutely delightful movie!

Angel Eyes: My wife and I saw this in the Bahamas on our honeymoon as a hurricane kept us confined to the room. I'm not a J-Lo fan, but I do like Jim Caviezel a lot. I thought it was going to be this romantic mash of stuff, but the real smoochy scenes were minimal overall. There's a very haunting, helpless quality about the whole movie.

YES, good for you! The way this movie was marketed was downright criminal. It's a slow, gentle, moving character study and love story about two troubled people finding each other marketed as an action thriller with horror/spooky overtones!
(Sorry about the honeymoon hurricane!)
Cool for you people who've discovered Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Moulin Rouge!

 

[Matt Stone]

Thx Bill...I had forgotten about Boogie Nights.

 

[John Thomas]

Not Another Teen Movie, which I was dreading on watching after purchasing some DVDs with a friend. A really entertaining movie (though it flops over its excesses about halfway into it)
Ghost World: I'd heard good things here about it but really, really do not like Thora Birch. Despite her, the movie was a treat.
The Road Home: My pre-conceived notion of this movie was that it's a kiddie movie. Don't ask me where I got that from but needless to say I really enjoyed it.
However, most of the time I don't go to a movie if I think its going to "suck".

 

[Dean DeMass]

Vickie,

Good call on Galaxy Quest. I forgot about that one. Horrible trailer and marketing, brilliant comedy.

-Dean-

 

[TheoGB]

Three Kings is the only real turnaround movie I can think of in recent times. The trailers are all 'Rambo III' Yawn style but the movie's really intelligent!!
I though Fight Club just wouldn't be my sort of movie. Instead it's one of my two favourite of all time!!

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Dick
X-Men
Three Kings
Titanic
Scream
Cruel Intentions
Jeff

 

[Christopher_H]

Stir of Echoes - I thought it might be another "6th Sense ripoff" but thought it was a really good movie. Would have been better had it not been released right after The 6th Sense.

Gladiator - Anyone remeber the commercials for this? They kept showing sports of today like football. Just a bunch of action sequences and cuts to hard hits in football. I thought it was going to be just a stupid action film, but after hearing how good it was I went and saw it. The marketing for this film sucked.

 

[Howard Williams]

Baby Boy: I refused to go see this with my wife. She said she'd drive, pay for the tickets, and buy lunch. This trifecta is very rare at my house. I stilled refused and I almost never turn down a free meal. I finally watched it on DirecTV one night when there was absolutely nothing else on. I enjoyed very much.


Braveheart: All I knew was that Mel Gibson was in it. Never even saw it in the theater. When I noticed the movie starts off in Scotland I said, "Scotland?!! Where's the eject button?!". Rented it a while later and discovered it's Oscar winning appeal.

 

[ollie_k]

UHF I remember my brother and I rented it initially because we were looking for a bad movie, damn were we surprised..that reminds me, didnt the dvd just come out?
the matrix I'll second that one, I hate Keanu normally
Now how about movies that were hyped to be good that I find are terrible??
Shrek What a pile of crap

 

[John Spencer]

Ollie: Generally, going completely against the intended subject is frowned upon around here. Some get very upset about it. Starting another thread is much more appropriate, and there are numerous "This Is My Shitty Movie List" threads to be had already.
Back on topic:
Bring It On - Man I really didn't want to see this. My normally similar-taste friend just wanted to see this so bad, and I thought he had finally popped a gear. It was actually quite the entertaining teen comedy.
10 Things I Hate About You - One of the times I had to admit to the SO that she was right in picking the movie. Luckily this happens so rarely that this doesn't happen much.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - One of those too-tired-to-sleep nights led me to grudgingly watch this on one of the movie channels. What a great movie. One of my favorite end credit sequences ever.

 

[Kevin M]

- I thought it might be another "6th Sense ripoff" but thought it was a really good movie. Would have been better had it not been released right after The 6th Sense.

I felt exactly the same way about SOE (I am not much of a Kevin Bacon fan) but I was truly surprised that I liked it as much as I did.............to be perfectly honest I like it a touch more than 6th Sense.

 

[Robert Montoya]

One movie I thought was going to suck was TITANIC I thought it had all the makings of a major flop. Especially after it's release was changed from summer to winter- always a bad sign. Who would have thought it would have made all that money and win all those Oscars. I know it's popular to hate this movie, but I thought it was a good movie.
honerable mentions:
HIGH FIDELITY

 

[Eric T]

I'll have to second some of the motions made by all of you:
Titanic - I thought it would be too sappy, with every idiot I know raving about how good it was. But it really was good.
Evil Dead 2 - hilarious movie, really enjoyed it.
...and a couple of my own...
Waiting for Guffman - now one of my favorites, tongue-in-cheek and very funny.
A Streetcar Named Desire - I'm not a big fan of the classics (especially *cough* black and white *cough*), but Brando really stole the show. Heck, I even liked Leonard Maltin in it.