The Most SURPRISING Movies you've ever seen (in a good way)

[charlie and algernon]

What movies did you go into thinking it was going to be a piece of crap or plainly mediocre and came out pleasantly surprised?

the most pleasantly surprising movie I've seen is The Girl Next Door.
The premise is that a porn star moves in next door to a HS school senior boy. I went in thinking it was just going to be another teen sex comedy and it ends up being a pretty good thriller with lots of suspense. Timothy Olyphant plays a pretty convincing Porn producer/pimp who's out to turn the boy's life into hell. Great acting, great story.

[mitchum]

1. Joe Dirt

I'm serious

[rurallib]

2. the Professional and Pan's Labyrinth

I didn't know much about Pan's Labyrinth and went on a lark. Didn't even realize until th show was almost over that it was captioned and not in English.
The Professional I just thought was a surprisingly good story versus the usual good v. bad stories.
Oh and Twelve Angry Men - overwhelmed by the emotions and the depth of the characters.

[MountainLaurel]

3. Pleasantville

Went in thinking it was going to be a lark about modern kids who get sucked in to a 1950s B&W television program. Then you see the big "No Coloreds Allowed" sign.

Same for Three Kings, which advertised itself as a Three Amigos set during the first war in Iraq. Then it turns into a much more political movie about the political machinations behind war, media portrayal of good guys/bad guys vs. reality, and the impact of war.