The Most Overrated Movies of 2002

[miseenscene]

Funny thing about Oscars... they're voted for by the same people who make the movies. Kind of like an MVP award for films. But when most enlightened flimgoers (i.e., folks like us who expect more from a film than Scooby-Doo or The Hot Chick will give us) roundly agree that the bulk of films today are either complete lowest common denominator crap or high-minded, artificial "important cinema" designed specifically to win an Oscar in a vacuum of quality pictures, it's amusing that we stand by the Oscars won by films when they're really doled out by the same executives and talent who make the very crap in the first place. The Academy Awards are a massive self-gratification fest, and highly unappetizing, though great fodder for gossip and anger...

Side note: I agree with most of the films mentioned on this list, and am left wondering -- what were the good films of last year? Personally, I can't think of anything I saw in theaters that I'd recommend to anyone else, save for "Insomnia," which was merely the least despicable of the bunch.

[dave durbin]

Nicely put; I would have said it's just typical Hollywood bullshit myself; you assessed with reserve, grace, and a touch of class. Cheers!

Why don't you have a FilmWurld Awards posting? It could make for a HOTBED of conversation around here! ; )

[Chris Knipp]

There's no doubt that Oscars 'mean something,' and what that meaning is has more to do with popularity and grosses most years than with artistic merit, but isn't it sweet when the two come together in the same year?

Art is after all about emotion, and a movie that has emotional power on an audience has to be well executed to convey that power. If the impulses behind it are authentic and intelligent, and the emotion conveyed is also powerful, a movie's artistic and popular success may coincide and that's when the Oscars are something to be happy about.

Other years a lot of Oscars may mean that "most awarded" coincides with "most overrated," and in those years I just am thankful if at leaast a few really good ones got nominated, and I look to Cannes or somewhere else for rewards to the artistically deserving.

When we really get serious about our critical faculties, even a lot of our high minded uncommercial choices may not seem worth seeing again in the years to come. It's hard to second-guess posterity.

But a Filmwurld vote for the year's best is certainly a good idea.

[dave durbin]

I didn't find last year to be as great of a year in films as most others seem to but they're are some noteworthy mentions:

Far from Heaven
Adaptation
Talk to Her
The Cat's Meow
Sex & Lucia

-to name a few. (I really didn't get a chance to see more of the films I wanted to which is why I pounded out the Worst and Most Overrated lists quickly and easily.) And even though I found fault with the Oscar bait -Gangs, Catch, Hours, Chicago- there were small moments of pleasure in each of them -provided by Day Lewis, Walken & Amy Adams, Moore, Reilly- that I still remember and enjoy discussing. Otherwise I found 2002 to be sort of flat.

[tabuno]

I guess I have to roll out my top movie list again, since it's hidden in the top right hand corner that few people probably know exists. Since my list came out December 15, 2002 and I did manage to see Chicago and The Hours, it needs to be revised abit. 2002 was a good year for films.

1. One Hour Photo
2. Frida
3. Insomnia
4. Death To Smoochy
5. Mostly Martha
6. Chicago
7. The Hours
8. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
9. Secretary
10. Catch Me If You Can
11. Adaptation
12. White Oleander
13. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
14. Spirited Away
15. Road to Perdition
16. It's About a Boy
17. Solaris
18. The Quiet American
19. The Ring
20. Two Weeks Notice
21. Moonlight Mile

[miseenscene]

I didn't see all the films on your list above, some because they didn't strike my fancy -- a failure of the marketing department as much as the filmmakers themselves. Of those I did see, My Big Fat Greek Wedding certainly holds up under the title of this thread, overrated. It was cute, it was nice, but it was nothing I'd expect $250 million to be spent on. Still, it's nice to see a clean indie movie find a huge audience...

The Ring felt uneven, but the climax deserves mention as a great movie moment of the last year... not pretty, but definitely effective...

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was a great trailer. Then I saw the movie. It was a two hour long trailer. There was nothing there that I didn't see in the 3 minute ad. Clooney did a nice job directing, and Rockwell did a nice job acting, but otherwise, it didn't hold my attention -- just a formula tacked on to a supposedly true autobiography. I look forward to seeing what both of them do next, but that film won't be making my top 10 anytime soon (although it DID at least deserve more than the paltry amount of money it made at the box office).

[dave durbin]

I have to say that I have an overwhelming amount of respect for you when it comes to posting your feelings; it's easy, terribly easy, to 'critique' -i.e. rip apart, tear down, trash- a movie but it's incredibly difficult -I think- to really go the distance and say how you were emotionally affected during a film and why. I think it's very brave to put yourself out there like that and I applaud you for your efforts.

Now, the mere mention of a few movie titles can be enough to place me into uncontrollable fits of rage and send me screaming down the street with my hands covering my ears, crying, while dreaming about moving to a private island taking only a few books with me and they are:

The Godfather III
Philadelphia
Mallrats
One Night at McCool's
A Beautiful Mind
The Prince of Tides
Ghost

..................................and Death to Smoochy. Are you kidding me??? A strong sense of humor is a rare and wonderful thing and a good comedy can resonate more deeply than a drama I feel; for instance, what do you think the ratio is for people who want to laugh vs. people who want to cry? I have a comedy on my all-time-favorites list that is disliked and considered boring by many (Shampoo) but I at least got some sort of validation -I felt- when Johnny Depp, Sandra Bernhard, and Julianne Moore all acknowledged it when asked about some of their own personal favorites. I realize your list stands for 2002 but you have got to be scraping the BOTTOM of the barrel in order to use Death to.......God, I can't even write it.......Smoochy as part of your year end wrap-up. My advice: start with the silents (Chaplin, Keaton, etc.) work your way to screwball (Holiday, Bringing Up Baby, The Palm Beach Story or anything by Sturges) throw in a little Lubitsch for kicks, maybe even some Tati -your call. Jury's out on the teams: Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis, Laurel and Hardy, etc. But, whatever floats your boat. More power to ya'! Next hit the fifties: try early Jack Lemmon, maybe Marilyn at her best, (don't leave out Bogart though -fabulous sense of humor and line delivery), Some Like it Hot or anything by Billy Wilder (except Days of Wine and Roses, it's not the side-splitter it used to be). There's some wonderful stuff in the sixties: The Producers, Lord Love a Duck & The Loved One are highly recommended, Jane Fonda in Period of Adjustment is a favorite, some Neil Simon stuff works for some people, keep it in mind. The seventies focused on counter culture and there really weren't alot of laughs to be found among The Godfather, The Conformist, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest but they did have MASH and Altman's wicked streak, Mel Brooks, Where's Poppa?, Harold & Maude, Little Murders, Smile, Murder by Death, Monty Python movies, etc. The eighties: well, The King of Comedy might suit you, as well as After Hours (both great), some Steve Martin stuff is o.k.(The Man with 2 Brains is a guilty fave) or try The War of the Roses even. (You don't strike me as a 3 Men and a Baby kind of guy.) The nineties, well, that's anybody's call really. I was not a fan of There's Something About Mary or the Kevin Smith films but you can probably take it from there. Hopefully I've given you some food for thought. Take care and have lots of laughs!

ps- never underestimate the wit of Bunuel!

[tabuno]

I don't have a good historical perspective when it comes to comedy. I just know that it's much harder than drama and that I'm stuck in a certain development phase in my comic development. When I first watched There's Something About Mary on the movie screen I thought it was hilarious and a great comedy, I laughed so much. I rented the same movie earlier this year and I was waiting for something to laugh at. I thought it was really terrible. The same thing happened when I saw the first Mission Impossible movie when I hated it and then I saw it again and I loved it.

I'm somewhat afraid to think what will happen with Death to Smoochy if I see it again. Robin Williams I think is a great actor which colors any movie that I see with him in it.

All I can do is give you a copy of an earlier review I did of this movie:

"An Original Adult Comedy

Death to Smoochy pushes the envelope of comedy, only to fail because it couldn't find the right audience. This comedy is amazing for its intensity and biting scenes that run side by side with comedy, there are dark scenes, harder dramatic elements not usually seen in regular comedies. Yet, this fun, entertaining, and cerebral comedy has great elements of timing, acting, and directing. Not for children, but the nature of plot (doesn't automatically capture any other audience), this sleeper comedy is a must see, because it breaks out of the mold of funny comedies into a more sophisticated, grown up form of laughter and comedical relief."

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by tabuno

Death to Smoochy pushes the envelope of comedy, only to fail because it couldn't find the right audience. This comedy is amazing for its intensity and biting scenes

I decided to rent this movie after reading the following comments from fastidious and brilliant critic for the Village Voice(NYC) J.Hoberman: "Who could be the audience for this impressively designed, unreletingly foulmouthed, exuberantly mean-spirited, and increasingly violent send-up of kids' television? Death to Smoochy is often very funny, but what's even more remarkable is the integrity of DeVito's misanthropic vision. It features the most hilariously designed telekitsch since Fellini attacked the world of Silvio Berlusconi in "Ginger & Fred".
I go to the rental store and I always leave with someting else. Maybe Tabuno and Dave Durbin's passionate(calm down DeeDee) posts will convince me to see it.

[tabuno]

It seems like I'll have a chance to know if I have my head screwed on right. Please let me know how the video is.

[Perfume V]

I actually violently object to movies that try to win Oscars, mainly because they're invariably terrible. I mean, no-one I know seriously thinks A Beautiful Mind is a timeless masterpiece, but it won Best Picture on account of its shameless pandering to the Academy. Add to this the fact that most of these films simplify and patronise serious issues such as schizophrenia, blindness, depression etc. and I consider them the most offensive films being produced.

[miseenscene]

If Frida had been about Diego Rivera instead, we'd be seeing it touted for best picture. Make a film about a troubled female artist, though, and you get token nominations.

[dave durbin]

Here, here! I've always found the Academy to be nothing more than a big boys club that's easily turned off by an empowered -or strongly passionate- woman. (I'm not forgetting Chicago; I think it's easy for some heteorsexual men to respond to its females because they're not real.) The Hours is being praised to the high heavens and has lots of nominations but really it's just a slick gloss job that feeds off (some) men's attitudes towards women: they're lonely, they're emotional, they're never happy, they're confused, they're crazy, I don't understand them, blah-blah. The last few years especially have shown that it's obviously a male dominated community (Hollywood) and it only favors stories where the dominant alpha male carries the film: American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, The Green Mile, The Insider, The English Patient, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Unforgiven, Platoon, Rain Man, Amadeus, etc. If you go back and look at the winners and the nominatees for Best Picture over the past few years you'll see what I mean. A few films snuck in there that had strong female roles (Titanic, Silence, Shakespeare) but otherwise the dawn of feminism has yet to see the light in Tinsel Town. It's a shame because I feel there's more depth and complexity with women and their stories: i.e. compare Frida with A Beautiful Mind or American Beauty or Gladiator.

[miseenscene]

I'll go you two further: Titanic is about a woman who "finds herself" with the help of -- ta-da! A Man! And Shakespeare In Love is about a woman who "finds herself" as a man, for a man. We'll see more films with strong female characters when more women are writing, producing and directing films... and voting for them in the Academy. I'm pretty sure women have more to do in life than be Mothers/Wives/Girlfriends/Objects of Desire/Femme Fatales, all male-dominated impressions of what women are. I'll be amused when Tom Cruise, or some other hot young actor who's just won an Oscar, announces that he'll be playing the "coveted role of The Boyfriend" in the next big action/thriller/drama... Then maybe we can get past the White Boys' Club in Hollywood and start making films that appeal to everyone, rather than making films about White Boys that are sold to everyone.

[dave durbin]

Cheers!