{"id":763,"date":"2006-11-29T23:58:03","date_gmt":"2006-11-29T23:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/?p=763"},"modified":"2006-11-29T23:58:03","modified_gmt":"2006-11-29T23:58:03","slug":"the_most_overrated_movies_of_a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/2006\/11\/29\/the_most_overrated_movies_of_a\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Overrated Movies of All Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uh-oh, it’s another blog post commenting on somebody else’s arbitrary list of movies that share a particular subjective designation. Specifically, we’re talking about Premiere<\/i> magazine’s 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time<\/a>. Naturally, I disagree with a number of the selections. I’ll save you the discomfort of exeriencing the interface at the end of that Premiere<\/i> link — it’s one of those sucky click-through-one-at-a-time pop-up dealies, rather than a straightforward page of text — by running down the the list here:<\/p>\n


\n20. American Beauty<\/i>
\n19. Chicago<\/i>
\n18. Clerks<\/i>
\n17. Fantasia<\/i>
\n16. Field of Dreams<\/i>
\n15. Chariots of Fire<\/i>
\n14. Good Will Hunting<\/i>
\n13. Forrest Gump<\/i>
\n12. Jules and Jim<\/i>
\n11. A Beautiful Mind<\/i>
\n10. Monster’s Ball<\/i>
\n9. Moonstruck<\/i>
\n8. Mystic River<\/i>
\n7. Nashville<\/i>
\n6. The Wizard of Oz<\/i>
\n5. An American in Paris<\/i>
\n4. Easy Rider<\/i>
\n3. The Red Shoes<\/i>
\n2. 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/i>
\n1. Gone with the Wind<\/i><\/p>\n

For the record, I completely disagree with about half the titles on this list. I liked American Beauty<\/i>, Chicago<\/i>, A Beautiful Mind<\/i>, and Mystic River<\/i>; they may not be all they were made out to be by the almighty hype machine, and only time will tell if their reputations endure, but calling them “the most overrated of all time” is unfair and smacks of a petty backlash against their Oscar success. Fantasia<\/i> and 2001<\/i> must be respected as influential landmarks and interesting experiments. I can take or leave The Wizard of Oz<\/i>, although I have very pleasant childhood memories of watching the annual TV broadcast of this one with my mom. And you do not<\/i> want to go dissing Field of Dreams<\/i> around me. I love that movie; it’s rare that modern filmmakers are willing to wear their hearts on their sleeves and make a movie that’s unambiguously optimistic<\/i> and genuinely heartwarming. Anyone who complains about this one is being willfully churlish. Either that, or they never had a dad.<\/p>\n

As for the remainder of the list, I must confess that there are several titles that I’ve never seen: Chariots of Fire<\/i>, Jules and Jim<\/i>, Monster’s Ball<\/i>, Nashville<\/i>, An American in Paris<\/i>, and The Red Shoes<\/i> have all eluded me, and it’s been so long since I saw Moonstruck<\/i> that I feel unqualified to say much.<\/p>\n

The last few titles that I’ve not mentioned, however — Clerks<\/i>, Good Will Hunting<\/i>, Forrest Gump<\/i>, Easy Rider<\/i>, and Gone with the Wind<\/i> — definitely fit my definition of “overrated.” The popularity of Kevin Smith’s juvenile, offensive, and amateurish work baffles me; Good Will Hunting<\/i> never struck me as anything special; Forrest Gump<\/i> offends my intellect (what the hell is the movie saying, that everything will turn out fine so long as you never think?); and Easy Rider<\/i> is badly dated and probably only works if you’re stoned, a definite case of “you had to be there.”<\/p>\n

As for Gone with the Wind<\/i>… hoo boy, talk about a let-down. All my life, it seemed, I’d heard about what a wonder that movie was, how significant it was in film history, how successful, the Star Wars<\/i> of its day, the supreme Hollywood entertainment. When I was about 19 and a very serious-minded student of cinema, I heard it was going to play at the old Avalon Theater<\/a> in Murray (which then served as the Salt Lake area’s local revival house). I could hardly contain my excitement. I rounded up my girlfriend of the time and headed on down there, anticipating a wonderful night of seeing a classic on the big screen in a vintage theater, with my girl at my side and romance in the air. I felt as if I were achieving some kind of lifetime goal.<\/p>\n

The first half of the movie was pretty good, but then something happened… it veered off into the realm of soap opera. And it wasn’t even good<\/i> soap opera. All these people started dying contrived deaths. I was bored. And I was impossibly annoyed<\/i> with Scarlet O’Hara, surely the most obnoxious, superficial, bitchy<\/i> female ever to grace the silver screen. I will never understand why so many people, so many women<\/i>, find her an admirable character. Rhett Butler’s rejection of her at the film’s end didn’t begin to provide enough catharsis for the deep frustration I felt toward her. Gone with the Wind<\/i> wasn’t my first experience with disillusion, but it was a big<\/i> one.<\/p>\n

Getting back to this list thing, I, of course, have a few nominees of my own for the “most overrated” title. I initially agreed with Scalzi<\/a> (from whom I swiped this subject) that the list concentrates too much on recent stuff — by my count, eight of the 20 titles were made in the last 10 or 15 years — but looking over my own choices, I see that they, also, are mostly recent. Maybe there’s just something about the way movies are hyped these days that inevitably leads to disappointment and backlash? Or maybe it’s because the older films that we see these days have stood the test of time, and the overhyped films from the old days have fallen into well-deserved obscurity?<\/p>\n

I don’t know. In any event, here are my own additions to the list of the Most Overrated Movies of All Time:<\/p>\n