In the course of a year, hundreds of movies are released. No man, however little of a life he might have, can see them all. Some bad movies are watched by a lot of people, and some good movies are watched by no one. Some great movies have the misfortune to be pitted against a massive movie on its release date and end up buried under a behemoth, never to see the light of day. And it isn’t just independent films or micr0-budget movies that have this problem. There are some very popular actors who have appeared in movies that bomb. Some of those are justified, but some of them aren’t.
This list will hopefully either inform you about a movie you have missed, or make you remember a movie you meant to see but never got around too. And if there is a film you think was overlooked and it isn’t mentioned here, list it in the comments.
7. Stranger than Fiction
You wouldn’t expect any movie that stars Will Ferrell to end up on this list, and yet here we are. Stranger Than Fiction is one of the most refreshingly original movies of the past couple years, and yet no one really talks about it. Ferrell plays a man named Harold Crick who begins hearing a voice narrating his life. He eventually finds out the voice belongs to a famous writer who is known for killing off her main characters. Crick doesn’t want to die, so he attempts to track down the author and convince her to spare his life.
Stranger Than Fiction is one of the few movies that absolutely nails voice over. So many movies completely butcher voice over, using it as a way to tell us how a character is feeling without having to show it. In this case, the voice over is nonchalantly narrating a man’s life without knowing that the man can here it, and it works very well. The movie also has an inventive style to it that is present from the opening credits. The direction from Marc Forster is flashy but in service of the story. Ferrell gives a great performance, as do the supporting cast, featuring talent like Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson.
I’m not sure whether most people haven’t seen Stranger Than Fiction, or if they have and just don’t talk about it. If it’s the latter, that is disappointing. This is a movie that deserves to be seen and talked about. So see it and talk about it!
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22 Comments
Signs, Hot Rod, The Others, The Strangers, Notes on a Scandal, Becoming Jane, Johnny English
That’s great Steve because I’m glad that YOU’RE not writing for this site either.
I’m proud to admit that I love those films. And let’s remember that the article included MacGruber, which is surely along the same lines as Johnny English and Hot Rod, not to mention the fact that it was directed by one of the members of the comedy group who created the latter.
Man…people love really bad movies. The only one on this list that MIGHT be worth considering is The Others. The rest may as well have been direct-to-video.
Duncan Jones’ Moon was NOT over looked dude. Just cuz a film doesn’t make millions….TRILLIONS (muahahaha!!!!!), don’t make it over looked. It made loads of critics’ year ends list and did incredibly well in the festival circuits.
It’s Duncan Jones man… David Bowie’s son. Have u no heart? U’d do this to Ziggy’s offspring? He sang Heroes. Heroes. And made love to a China girl. Have YOU ever done that?? Not, not sing Heroes.
You ask a random person on the street about Moon and they would have no idea what you are talking about.
So, “7 Most Overlooked Films of the 2000s by a random person on the street” would have been a water tight heading.
But, seeing it’s the holy month of Ramadan, I shall graciously accept and withdraw respectfully.
The number of excellent films on this list has me actually interested in seeing McGruber now…well done sir…
The problem is these are all high end hollywood films, obviously the over looked films are all the foreign independent films, yeah?
That was sort of the point. Obviously there are foreign independent films that need to be seen and aren’t, but this was more of a list of movies that are widely available and yet a lot of people haven’t seen.
A couple of good choices on there, agreed. Stranger than fiction was a great film as was Moon… but you really did lose me with MacGruber & to an extent Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. MacGruber was nothing short of atrocious, the only joke in the entire film was the name of the villain (which you pointed out). The SNL sketch was mildly funny, but as with the majority of SNL flicks, you just cannot drag out a 3-5 minute sketch across the course of a 90 minutes runtime. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, was a watchable but not particularly memorable film. Am I seeing a Kilmer connection here?
I kinda think Moon should be #1. Great list overall though. I enjoyed every one of these films except Wild Things, but now Im going to rematch it. Glad to see McGrubes on here. And FWIW Hot Rod could totally have made the list. While not for everyone, it’s the best example of why the Lonely Island crew are so insanely popular with Americas youth.
Most people have known about Shane Black since 1987 and Predator.
The Fountain. The Prestige. Children of Men. All 2006 coincidentally.
Moon, WtWTA, and Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang received almost universal praise, though varying degrees of box office. I would say The Fountain and The Prestige are two of the most amazing films made this decade, and no one talks about them.
I’m with you on everything but “Where the Wild Things Are”, it’s one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. It lies right between “The Living End” and “Battlefield Earth”.
Garden State and Almost Famous.
Seen all of these films, and i agree for the most part. Stranger than Fiction and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are really, really excellent.
“This list will just overlook The Brothers Bloom just like the others…ok, this list is awesome.”
I don’t know how overlooked it is, but I definitely overlooked it at the time and thats The Lives of Others; truly spectacular film, one of the best i’ve seen in a long while.
you should have put ´´synecdoche new york´´ is an amazing movie
I agree with the sentiments of a few of the comments in that many of these films were on wide release and of too sizeable budget to be considered ‘overlooked’. In what context is overlooked? As in overlooked for awards or at the box office.
Obviously some great films on this list and agree EVERYTHING MUST GO was definitely overlooked in the context of Will Ferrell’s usual box office success. Although, that has waned of recent anyway.
I’d say Sam Rockwell should have WON the Oscar/Bafta etc. for his performance in MOON. Although I recall Duncan Jones getting a lot of heat for his debut film. 1) because he’s Bowie’s son and 2) (more importantly) it was a great film.
You have lost me on WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE though. This deserved to be overlooked as it was one of the most boring films I’ve ever had to sit through. Terrible.
If budget or stars are no boundary on an overlooked film then I agree with an earlier comment in regard to HOSTAGE. This was a very stylish B-movie which was so entertaining. LORD OF WAR is another very under-rated film which should have been ‘looked’ at by more people. Although I think it made more money than it’s budget so may not qualify. Not that’s there’s a criteria set in this very interesting article.
I think Warrior should have been on this list. It seems like nobody has seen it which is criminal as it is my favourite movie and I think everyone should have seen it.