26 Brilliant Movies That Critics Were Wrong About
This is a group of films, ranging from art-house gems to big blockbusters, that David Sims (staff writer at The Atlantic) believes deserve a fresh look. According to Sims, they were all unappreciated by critics or audiences on release and deserve a fresh look.
Which of these films do you most wish to watch or watch again?
After voting, please discuss here.
Which of these films do you most wish to watch or watch again?
After voting, please discuss here.
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- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsKurt RussellJack WardenGerrit GrahamWhen the owner of a struggling used car lot is killed, it's up to the lot's hot-shot salesman to save the property from falling into the hands of the owner's ruthless brother and used-car rival.Directed by Robert Zemeckis — Not long before he hit it big with the blockbusters Romancing the Stone (1984) and Back to the Future (1985), Robert Zemeckis made this anarchic black comedy about the cutthroat world of used-car sales, starring Kurt Russell as a dealer trying to stay one step ahead of catastrophe.
- DirectorTommy Lee WallaceStarsTom AtkinsStacey NelkinDan O'HerlihyKids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace — This entry in the never-ending Halloween horror series took a chance by not featuring the popular serial-killer antagonist Michael Myers, who had anchored previous films.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsKyle MacLachlanVirginia MadsenFrancesca AnnisA Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor's rule.Directed by David Lynch — Before Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel arrives in theaters this fall, David Lynch’s attempt at the material is worth revisiting, even though it was a critical and box-office calamity.
- DirectorElaine MayStarsWarren BeattyDustin HoffmanIsabelle AdjaniTwo terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the C.I.A., the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.Directed by Elaine May — Elaine May’s most recent film as a director was such a colossal flop that its name became synonymous with bad movies.
- DirectorJohn SingletonStarsJanet JacksonTupac ShakurRegina KingGrieving hairdresser Justice goes on a road trip from South Central L.A. to Oakland on a mail truck alongside her friend and an obnoxious postal worker.Directed by John Singleton — After his Oscar-nominated debut Boyz n the Hood (1991), the wunderkind director Singleton had immense hype to live up to. In his follow-up, he tried to tell a softer, less polemical tale of life in his neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles.
- DirectorPaul FlahertyStarsMartin ShortCharles GrodinMary SteenburgenA bratty 10-year-old boy is obsessed with visiting a dinosaur-themed amusement park. His uptight uncle takes the wily tyke in for a week, and barely lives to regret it.Directed by Paul Flaherty — Released as a star vehicle for the comedian Martin Short, Clifford (1994) was widely derided in 1994—not because it’s unfunny, but because it’s so deeply weird.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsMichael BoatmanLori PettyErich AndersonTwo cops become compelled to act against corruption and discrimination within their police precinct.Directed by Charles Burnett — The film that should have launched Burnett to wider success, The Glass Shield (1994) is a melodrama about police corruption that feels years ahead of its time, full of incisive observations about institutional rot in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
- DirectorAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsLarenz TateKeith DavidChris TuckerA Vietnam vet adjusts to life after the war while trying to support his family, but the chance of a better life may involve crime and bloodshed.Directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes — One of the few films to touch on the experiences of Black servicemen in the Vietnam War, the Hughes brothers’ follow-up to their shocking debut, Menace II Society (1993), is an unfairly unheralded work
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsVincent GalloTricia VesseyBéatrice DalleTwo American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.Directed by Claire Denis — A bloody, outré work from one of France’s finest auteurs, Trouble Every Day (2001) was greeted with revulsion by critics on release, especially because it followed Denis’s highly acclaimed Beau Travail (1999).
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsVince VaughnAnne HecheJulianne MooreA young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.Directed by Gus Van Sant — Van Sant’s big-budget follow-up to the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting (1997) completely baffled critics and audiences: a shot-for-shot remake of one of the most famous films of all time, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960).
- DirectorBronwen HughesStarsSandra BullockBen AffleckMaura TierneyA soon-to-be-married man encounters an exciting stranger after his plane suffers an accident on takeoff.Directed by Bronwen Hughes — From a decade defined by romantic comedies and A-list actresses such as Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, and Drew Barrymore, Forces of Nature (1999) is an odd outlier, a comedy presented as a whirlwind romance that transforms into something quite different.
- DirectorJamie BabbitStarsNatasha LyonneClea DuVallMichelle WilliamsA naive teenager is sent to rehab camp when her straitlaced parents and friends suspect her of being a lesbian.Directed by Jamie Babbit — Something of a cult classic now, But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) was unfairly jeered on release as a John Waters knockoff.
- DirectorJames IsaacStarsKane HodderLexa DoigJeff GeddisJason Voorhees is cryogenically frozen at the beginning of the 21st century, and is discovered in the 25th century and taken to space. He gets thawed, and begins stalking and killing the crew of the spaceship that's transporting him.Directed by James Isaac — By the 2000s, the major slasher franchises—Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Friday the 13th (1980)—had long passed their commercial apex, and some were embarking on reboots and remakes to try to recharge their brand. But Friday the 13th went in a different, far sillier direction with Jason X (2001), the 10th installment in the series revolving around the lumbering killer Jason Voorhees.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsClint EastwoodJeff DanielsAnjelica HustonStill recovering from a heart transplant, retired F.B.I. profiler Terry McCaleb returns to service when his own blood analysis offers clues to the identity of a serial killer.Directed by Clint Eastwood — In between his Best Picture–winning classics Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Clint Eastwood churned out eight solid-to-great films—all mid-budget dramas, and all but two based on best-selling novels. One of the least loved is Blood Work, a fun, gritty thriller adapted from a Michael Connelly book.
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsToni ColletteCameron DiazShirley MacLaineStrait-laced Rose breaks off relations with her party girl sister, Maggie, over an indiscretion involving Rose's boyfriend. The chilly atmosphere is broken with the arrival of Ella, the grandmother neither sister knew existed.Directed by Michael Connelly — A terrific sibling dramedy starring Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, and Shirley MacLaine, In Her Shoes (2005) is that Hollywood anomaly—a major film mostly focused on the relationships between well-drawn female characters.
- DirectorIain SoftleyStarsKate HudsonPeter SarsgaardJoy BryantA hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house's dark past.Directed by Iain Softley — My favorite kind of horror movie is one that derives most of its scares from the atmosphere of an unusual location. The Skeleton Key (2005), a supernatural thriller starring Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands, is set on an isolated plantation home in southern Louisiana, and so much of the fun is the detail put into its creepy production design, which evokes a place laden with dark secrets.
- DirectorKaryn KusamaStarsCharlize TheronFrances McDormandSophie OkonedoÆon Flux is a mysterious assassin working for the Monicans, a group of rebels trying to overthrow the government. When she is sent on a mission to kill the Chairman, a whole new mystery is found.Directed by Karyn Kusama — Undoubtedly one of the oddest blockbusters ever produced by a major studio, Kusama’s adaptation of the cult ’90s MTV series was critically derided and somewhat disowned by its director, who said it had been reedited for commercial appeal.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsDenzel WashingtonPaula PattonJim CaviezelAfter a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.Directed by Tony Scott — In his career, the high-octane master Tony Scott made five terrific thrillers with Denzel Washington. Initially Deja Vu (2006) seems like a fairly routine collaboration, following the ATF agent Douglas Carlin, who’s trying to unravel the mystery of a bomb attack on a New Orleans ferry. Washington is playing the kind of dogged blue-collar character he often inhabits, but Déjà Vu takes a surprising sci-fi turn when he’s introduced to an FBI team that, through magical surveillance technology, has opened a window into the past.
- DirectorRoger MichellStarsRachel McAdamsHarrison FordDiane KeatonAn upstart television producer accepts the challenge of reviving a struggling morning show program with warring co-hosts.Directed by Roger Michell — The workplace-comedy genre is mostly confined to television at this point, but Michell’s Morning Glory (2010) is a recent, overlooked cinematic example that’s filled with stars and propelled by peppy humor.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsBrad PittRay LiottaRichard JenkinsJackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.Directed by Andrew Dominik — One of few movies to have gotten an “F” CinemaScore from audiences, Morning Glory (2010) is a grim adult drama based on the crime novel Cogan’s Trade by George V. Higgins.
- DirectorJames MatherSteve Saint LegerStarsGuy PearceMaggie GracePeter StormareA man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the President's daughter from an outer-space prison taken over by violent inmates.Directed by Steve Saint Leger and James Mathers — A delightful piece of sci-fi trash from the French production company EuropaCorp, Lockout is essentially Escape from New York (1981) set on a space station.
- DirectorGenndy TartakovskyStarsAdam SandlerKevin JamesAndy SambergDracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teenaged daughter.Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky — In this gag-heavy, horror-themed film, the director Tartakovsky’s skill in rendering physical comedy and its lead actor Adam Sandler’s love for Borscht Belt humor combine to spectacular effect.
- DirectorAngelina JolieStarsBrad PittAngelina JolieMélanie LaurentA couple tries to repair their marriage while staying at a hotel in France.Directed by Angelina Jolie — A seemingly autobiographical project written, directed by, and starring Jolie, By the Sea (2015) centers on a couple vacationing in France whose marriage is on the rocks.
- DirectorAaron HorvathPeter Rida MichailStarsGreg CipesScott MenvilleKhary PaytonA villain's maniacal plan for world domination sidetracks five teenage superheroes who dream of Hollywood stardom.Directed by Aaron Horvath and Peter Rida Michail — I decided to watch Teen Titans GO! To the Movies (2018) on a whim while bored on a plane. I had never seen the children’s cartoon series that it’s inspired by—I really didn’t know much about the Teen Titans at all. It doesn’t matter. The film is the most effective cinematic spoof of the never-ending superhero trend I’ve ever seen.
- DirectorJeff ChanAndrew RhymerStarsJack QuaidMaya ErskineBeck BennettIn order to survive a summer of wedding fever, longtime single friends, Ben and Alice, agree to be each other's plus one at every wedding they've been invited to.Directed by Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer — One of the best romantic comedies in a decade that saw the genre flounder in theaters, Plus One (2019) is just waiting to be discovered by a bigger audience.