Out of curiosity, we recently asked the members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about which critically acclaimed movie they think “everyone” seems to hate now. Here are their very passionate responses:
1.
Oppenheimer (2023) — “I think in 7 to 10 years Oppenheimer will be considered grossly overrated.”
2.
Forrest Gump (1994) — “I put Forrest Gump at the top. Friends and I have argued over this movie for years. Specifically, it’s all of my friends vs. one holdout who thinks we’re being harsh. We’re not! I’m not sure how widespread the dislike is, but I don’t know anyone (but the one friend) who can stomach this movie.”
3.
Juno (2007) — “Wildly popular when it came out, now widely seen as a bit crap, full of cringeworthy, dated dialogue, and casual homophobia.”
4.
Dances with Wolves (1990) — “It should definitely be on this list. It’s a white savior depiction, and it winning Best Picture over Goodfellas is ridiculous.”
5.
American Beauty (1999) — “Not just because of Kevin Spacey (though he doesn’t help). It is an Oscar winner and box office hit that just feels terrible in retrospect. Does anyone like this movie now?”
6.
As Good as it Gets (1997) — “It was never any good.”
7.
Titanic (1997) — “It’s way too long. One VHS tape was enough; back then, when it came out, it was still VHS, AND I HATED having to switch tapes!!! LOL”
8.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) — “My parents loved this movie when I was a kid, so I sat through it when I was a kid. I liked the concept but always hated the part with their maid, Annie, and Henry. Now that I am an adult and have a child, my child will never see this movie because of the serious racism and anti-Blackness in this movie that was not talked about when I was a kid (and still not talked about). George’s 18-year-old brother literally chases a Black woman (that is working for the family) up the stairs and smacks her on the ass. It’s horrific. Stop glorifying this movie, folks. It is FUCKED UP!”
9.
Braveheart (1995) — “Every other middle-aged white dude LOVES it. I just couldn’t get into it, even though I still enjoy Gibson movies. I just didn’t care or was interested in being inspired like everyone else was. Fake historical drivel.”
10.
The Shape of Water (2017) — “They should have killed the creature, any other film they would have.”
11.
The Blind Side (2009) — “My dad is pretty good at keeping his mouth shut, but he couldn’t take it anymore during the scene when the Tuohy husband and wife were summing up how well things were going with their little charity case. He was like, ‘This is so fake and stupid!’ My mom was telling me later, ‘Your father is so cynical!’ and I remember thinking, He’s not wrong… Back then, we hadn’t heard the term ‘white savior’ yet, but I think that was what was bothering us.”
12.
Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013) — “It was critically acclaimed for being a queer movie in an industry where there were very few. Then it turned out the director dude made it a nightmare for the leads to work in it. And this is not an unpopular opinion anymore, but the explicit scenes in the movie come across as porn, and tbh, it comes off as a more hyper-sexualized depiction of lesbians than a celebration of a lesbian love story.”
13.
La La Land (2016) — “I’m a jazz musician, and Sebastian’s traditionalist attitude about jazz was absolutely infuriating, especially how they painted him to be in the right. Watching a white guy explain how jazz should be to a room of Black people was ridiculous. I’m a jazz musician and like classics as much as the next guy, but Sebastian was just…ugh.”
14.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) — “I’m not sure where to even begin. A lot has been made about the editing, most famously when they first meet John Reid. But the actual story was so much more interesting than the existing Queen members would greenlight. The lead won an Oscar for doing what basically came off as an impression. It was worse than I had heard, and I heard it was terrible.”
15.
Crash (2004) — “‘Hey, lady! I know I sexually molested you a little while ago, but I saved your life! That means we’re cool, ain’t we?'”
16.
Gone With The Wind (1939) — “A movie that has so many unlikable characters, goes on for way too long, and paints an untrue image of Civil War history never deserved the reception it received for so many decades. Mediocre at best and an atrocious product of dated views at worst. Apparently, the book was even crueler, which makes it pretty baffling that this film was even made. Anything goes in the ’30s, I guess.”
17.
Song of the South (1946) — “Song of the South won two Oscars and had one of the most iconic Disney songs in the last half of the 20th Century. Now Disney has more or less scrubbed it completely from availability.”
18.
Captain Phillips (2013) — “I haven’t seen anyone mention Captain Philips yet. Apparently, the real-life Captain Phillips was warned to take a much wider berth around the Horn of Africa specifically because of the threat of pirates, but he wanted to save time! Well, what do you know, there were pirates! Apparently, the crew was pissed the movie made him look like such a hero when the situation was basically his fault.”
19.
Annie Hall (1977) — “It won the Academy Award for Best Picture the same year that Star Wars broke all the box office records. I lost my respect for the Academy that year.”
20.
Citizen Kane (1941) — “Yes it more or less was destroyed by critics when it came out, but that was only because William Randolph Hearst refused to let his reporters give it a positive review. It’s consistently voted as the best movie of all time but modern audiences consider it boring. The plot is excellent, the acting is phenomenal, and the filmmaking is perfect. The lighting, camera angles, and sets are still groundbreaking! But modern audiences just don’t care about that stuff anymore.”
21.
Last Tango in Paris (1972) — “Last Tango in Paris used to be hailed as a masterpiece until the actor, Maria Schneider, spilled the beans about how scummy Brando and the director were.”
22.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) — “When it came out, the sentiment was overwhelmingly ‘Star Wars is back!’ but in hindsight, it really doesn’t hold up at all.”
23.
Avatar (2009) — “It’s basically a Hallmark movie with an over-reliance on CGI that lacks emotional resonance and impact of FernGully. I felt nothing for every stock, dry, miserable character. They were all NPCs in what has become an industry NPC actors and actresses.”
24.
Super Size Me (2004) — “If you do the math, you discover that he was eating a LOT more calories than he was presenting in the show, therefore ruining his entire premise. Then, it turned out those extra calories came in the form of booze…”
25.
Out of Africa (1985) — “It was a big waste of time and money. Sure, the cinematography was great. But a person can only look at pretty landscape pictures for so long. Eventually, a film must have meaningful dialogue and a plausible plot. This film had neither!”
26.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) — “It was not as good from the second viewing onward. Fantastic soundtrack, though.”
27.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) — “It’s an entire dream sequence esq movie because they are tripping on acid, shrooms, and whatever else. I tried to watch this and read the book. I can’t get through it. I hate a dream sequence and anything that resembles it.”
28.
Traffic (2000) — “Watched it recently… It’s like a really preachy and flat episode of Narcos. IDK if it’s ‘hated’ today, but it seems pretty much forgotten. The other big acclaimed films that year (Gladiator, Almost Famous, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich) had a lot more staying power.”
29.
The English Patient (1996) — “It won a lot of praise and awards but was a total bore from start to finish!”
30.
Finally, Dirty Dancing (1987) — “As much as I hate to say it, Dirty Dancing. I loved this film as a teenager and young adult. It wasn’t until I watched it with my daughter that I noticed how bad it really was. First, Baby…I mean, come on, her name was Baby? She was a minor, and what was Johnny? In his late twenties? I loved Patrick Swayze, but he was too old for the role, which made it even grosser. So, Johnny’s a pedophile, and they are lying and stealing to get their friend an abortion. Baby deserved to be in the corner.”
What are your thoughts? Is there a critically acclaimed movie missing from this list that you think “everyone” hates now? Tell us in the comments below or via this totally anonymous form and maybe there’ll be a part two!
