Have you ever disliked a film you wanted to like?

[nytemare]

I have had films where the subject matter really interested me, or I really enjoyed the work of the actors or actresses involved, but really came away not liking it.

"Syriana" was an example of that for me. The whole concept of the film intrigued me. The futility of the actions of good people, or maybe not so good people who were trying to find redemption dealing with the ingrained politics of the Mideast oil business....I really wanted to like it.

Then, I loved a film "Michael Clayton" with the same lead actor about a topic I wasn't really half as interested in.

Another one was "Bridges of Madison County". I really wanted to like it, but couldn't even sit through a half hour of it on video.

Do you have any similar examples?

[Forkboy]

1. Syriana is one of my favorite movies of the last decade.

Go figure. :)

For me Hurly Burly was a great example. An amazing cast desperately in search of a plot.

[nytemare]

3. Trying to figure it out is like trying to grab a cloud.

It it out of my reach, and even if I could reach, it would just slip through my hands.

I suppose there really is no accounting for taste.

Hurly Burly seemed to have more of a disjointed narrative than a plot. And you're right, great cast.

[JeffR]

2. Gangs of New York

I wanted it to be a masterpiece. It wasn't by a long shot.

[AlCzervik]

4. same here, i was disappointed.

[nytemare]

5. I tried watching that on HBO.

Honestly, what a cast, but I couldn't finish that one, either.

It is pretty rare that I won't finish watching a film, and there are two examples in this thread already.

[blue_onyx]

9. That was a horrible movie

I watched it with some family members at home and we barely made it through.

[Ikonoklast]

22. They got half of the 'masterpiece' part right.

The 'piece' part.

As in 'piece of cinematic crap'.

Horrible film, horribly acted, and directed even worse.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. Far and Away

Ron Howard directing. Tom & Nicole at the height of their powers. A surprise appearance by great Irish actor Cyril Cusak. It's a no-lose proposition

OMG it was horris.

The part in Ireland is pretty good, and the Oklahoma land rush part is worth watching, but the part in Boston drags on...and on...and on.....and on.....

[begin_within]

7. 'The Big Lebowski' was a disappointment.

I tried and tried and tried and tried to like "The Big Lebowski," but it was just so forced and phony and trying so hard to be funny and hip, that it wasn't. An endless parade of one-dimensional bit characters that had none of the charm or humanity of those in John Waters' films. "Syriana" was also disappointing because it was so damned confusing. "Bridges of Madison County" was ok but predictable.

[LearnedHand]

8. "Forrest Gump," believe it or not

I was so outraged at how he kept coming back to that loser-user woman that I simply could not enjoy the movie.

On edit: And I really wanted to like it. I was late seeing it and everyone said how wonderful it was. I couldn't believe how much I hated it instead of loving it, and I felt like a complete idiot because I just couldn't work up any liking for it.

[Zavulon]

29. I believe it.

I HATED that movie. Everything about it. It blew goat.

Perhaps I'm being too vague.

[gmoney]

10. Why is Laurel jacking-off Hardy?

Sorry, just watched "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" so my mind is in the gutter a bit...

[nytemare]

12. They are really just nodding.

That is from one of their films called "Tit for Tat", and they stole some marshmallows from the grocer who was giving them a hard time.

So, since you have gutter brain, you can say that they had a tit...lol.

[Skip Intro]

11. The last Star Trek movie, with the TNG gang. Insurrection?

I really, really wanted to like the last ST series too, but alas, Enterprise sucked. Really, really sucked.

[nytemare]

13. Yeah, I wanted to like the Star Wars prequels more than I did.

Episode 3 was the only one that left me impressed with a storyline. The other two were hallow shells.

[WildEyedLiberal]

17. God, Nemesis - horrible, horrible movie

It's been on AMC a lot recently. I keep watching. I keep trying to force myself to like it, since it's the last TNG movie. I have tried so FUCKING hard to like that movie. But it's just too awful, and such a piss-poor sendoff for the crew, that I can't.

Read the Star Trek: Destiny book trilogy by David Mack. It's set post-Nemesis and does the characters the justice the movie utterly failed to deliver.

[Richard Steele]

31. Great example. I've wanted to enjoy every Trek movie.....

...but been disappointed far too often. Insurrection
was probably the worst of the bunch.

[Jamastiene]

14. The Telephone with Whoopi Goldberg

I love everything else she has acted in, but I'll be happy if I never have to watch The Telephone ever again, even once, in my life.

[Lex]

15. The English Patient and Chariots of Fire

Total snore-fest for me.

[Kat45]

16. It's happened a number of times.

But I'm having a brain fart and can't come up with an example right now. :shrug:

[murielm99]

18. Tootsie.

Everyone raved about that movie when it came out. My husband took me to see it, and he loved it. Because he was having such a good time, I kept quiet about my disappointment.

[Sky Masterson]

19. Mummy 3 sucked ass

so did the last Matrix movie als the last Star trek the next generation movie.
All three were stinkers

[MorningGlow]

20. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Don't get me wrong--I liked it (mmmm John Corbett... :loveya:) but I didn't think it was the Second Coming like everyone said. People were gushing so much that the actual movie couldn't live up to the hype. It was cute, though.

[Chan790]

21. Casablanca.

It's not its' fault but it was so (massively-popular?) when it came out that everybody ripped it off for 50 years before I saw it, so when I saw it, it seemed formulaic and...well...predicable and kind of lame. It's also kind of dated at this point.

[underpants]

23. "Tropic Thunder" "The Thin Red Line" & "Who killed the electric car?"

electric car was just not documentary enough for me

[Lindsey]

24. I've tried to watch (through DVD) "There Will Be Blood" three

times and I just can't get into it. Oh well....

[Bluzmann57]

25. Yes. "Lions for Lambs"

Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise. Three of the greatest actors this planet has ever produced, a good premise for a film (anti war film), and it was simply awful. I have seen better acting in community theater and am sorry I spent an hour and a half and $6.00 to see it.

[petronius]

26. Rushmore is the first one that comes to mind... (nt)

[lynne]

27. "War of the Worlds" and "The Constant Gardener" -

- I was so mad at the end of War of the Worlds that I almost asked for my money back. It was good until they threw in the 1950 era tripod ships. With that, the movie immediately lost all credibility and reverted into a cheesy remake. That blew it for me.

The Constant Gardener should have been entitled The Compost Gardener as it was about as slow as making compost and smelled about as good. I kept nodding off throughout the entire thing. Once you've seen a screen full of shanty roofs, it doesn't generate additional impact to see it again and again and again. Grrr . . .

[cherish44]

28. pretty much any movie I've seen that was a book first has been a disappointment

Exception is the Harry Potter series

[Zavulon]

30. The third Transporter movie.

Yes, yes, I know we're not talking Academy Award movie, but I'm a guy. I like movies like this.

I liked the first two, but the third one was just too stupid to take. There's no way that his bike stunts didn't have him 75 feet away from the car, the female protagonist was an obnoxious pain in the ass, and so on.