The 10 most overrated movies that deserve less attention
It’s easy, particularly in this day and age, to get carried away with the furore of the release of any given movie that has gained great traction online. Often, such as with the Denis Villeneuve sci-fi movie Dune, this fuss is well deserved, but other times you finish a movie, scratch your head and think, ‘What was all the fuss about?’ before retreating to the corners of Twitter where your dislike of a film falls on frustrated ears.
Voicing such opinions can lead to venomous hatred against you online, but the truth of the matter is that some of the biggest and most popular movies of all time need to be taken down a few pegs or two. After all, no movie on the face of the earth is perfect, no, not even George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, with every film being worthy of criticism in some shape or form.
This explains why we thought it was appropriate to take on this list of ten overrated movies that deserve less attention. We’re not going after small indie movies either, these flicks come from some of the most esteemed filmmakers of all time, including Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick, David Fincher and Christopher Nolan.
Before you roll up your sleeves, rub your hands together and get ready to type out some hate, just hear us out.
10 hugely overrated movies:
The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
You’ll notice a trend with this list as we move down each carefully selected movie, but the fact is, we don’t hate Christopher Nolan’s admittedly revolutionary superhero effort, The Dark Knight, we just don’t think it’s quite as great as people make it out to be. Heath Ledger’s phenomenal performance as the Joker is by far the film’s strongest aspect; without him, the film is a pretty soulless and plodding crime flick.
Though Christian Bale is often praised as the greatest Batman, his performance is really quite bland, offering nothing new to the character, unlike Robert Pattinson, who later refreshed the superhero in Matt Reeves’ 2022 effort.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, 2022)
There are some movies in the history of cinema that some people will massively get behind, whereas others simply won’t gel with. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s ‘Best Picture’ winner Everything Everywhere All at Once is a perfect example of this, with the directorial duo approaching the nihilistic themes of the movie with a chaotic energy which involved a number of scenes people could deem simply too silly.
There’s a lot to like in Everything Everywhere All at Once, but ultimately it’s simply one of the first movies to make the multiverse interesting, encouraging people to believe that it’s a masterpiece when it really isn’t.
Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
Everybody’s favourite movie as a teenager, Fight Club, simply isn’t as great as you remember it being. Its nihilistic view of modern life seems a little bit tedious when watched in the 21st century, with the story following an office worker with no control over his life who meets a maverick new friend who encourages him to become a new version of himself that goes against the grain of modern society.
The philosophical themes of Fincher’s once-influential film feel a little eye-rolling in modern society, with only the stellar performances of Edward Norton and Brad Pitt saving it from all obscurity.
Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)
Some people call 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut Stanley Kubrick’s worst movie. Yet, we’d propose that the worst of his glittering filmography is 1987’s Full Metal Jacket, a confused Vietnam War film that is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is. Split into two distinct parts, the first half follows the training of the troops who will soon be sent to fight, whilst the other section focuses on their struggles in the field of battle.
Shot in the UK due to Kubrick’s fear of flying Full Metal Jacket, the film’s lack of authenticity is palpable, and the lack of true consistency between the two halves makes the movie rather lacking in comparison to Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)
Has Christopher Nolan ever actually made a classic movie? The closest he’s come, in our opinion, is 2010’s Inception, even though many would say 2014’s Interstellar. Nolan’s attempt to make Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar is a strange movie that fails to be the ambitious picture that it wants to be, coming fairly close, only to fall pretty considerably short in the final act.
Yes, the soundtrack is great. Yes, the cinematography is marvellous. Yet, just like many Nolan movies, the screenplay is lacking considerably, with Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper being as thin and as dry as a piece of his own bone-dry corn.
Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019)
When Todd Phillips’ Joker origins story was released in 2019, it seemed as though the film was the second coming of The Dark Knight. But really, Joker was not all that special; people were simply surprised that DC was still capable of making movies that weren’t totally without merit. Sure, Joaquin Phoenix is great in the role, but he didn’t deserve an Academy Award. Indeed, the fact that he won the Oscar for Joker and not 2013’s The Master is criminal.
Joker is a decent origins story with some solid moments of drama, but it lacks significant depth and suffers from surface-level social criticism. We do indeed ‘live in a society’.
The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022)
‘Eat the Rich’ stories have certainly been on the menu recently, with films like Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness and Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion being far more superior to Mark Mylod’s bland movie. The Menu tells the story of a maverick chef who invites a group of exclusive diners to his restaurant to experience a night of unprecedented tastes and, ultimately, unforeseeable violence.
An uncomfortable, bitter watch, The Menu feels like a sour rant from screenwriters Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, which ends with an overly simplistic finale that is something of a slap in the face to the audience.
Paddington 2 (Paul King, 2017)
Right, we feel a little bad about this one. We don’t want to hurt the feelings of this cute British bear; we just want to snatch the marmalade sandwich from his claws and stamp on it, showing the true nature of life in the real world. Critics and audiences alike gushed over Paul King’s sequel to the 2014 original, with some people going as far as to call it one of the best movies of the 21st century.
Sure, it’s sweet and charming, but it’s a pretty basic family-friendly affair that doesn’t do much in terms of cinematic innovation. It’s with regret that we also have to admit that Ben Whishaw’s voice performance is just a little bit grating.
The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
Why is Frank Darabont’s Shawshank Redemption considered to be the greatest film of all time by so many when it’s such an average film? It’s truly a mystery for the modern age. Based on the Stephen King short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the film tells the story of Tim Robbins’ Andy, who befriends Morgan Freeman’s Ellis in prison whilst planning an escape strategy.
A movie all about forgiveness, liberation and, of course, redemption, Darabont’s film is perfectly fine but doesn’t have the true narrative weight behind it to be considered a classic.
Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012)
Daniel Craig as the iconic British spy James Bond has been a revelation for the influential movie franchise, with 2006’s Casino Royale being his finest couple of hours as the hero. Many people also adored 2012’s Skyfall, but time hasn’t been all that kind to the movie that was released as a celebration of all things Bond, being released 50 years after the character’s debut in 1962’s Dr. No, starring Sean Connery.
There’s just a little too much fan service in this celebration of all things Bond, and some of it, namely the origins behind the character’s past, is simply unneeded and uninteresting.
