15 Overhyped Movies You Wish You'd Not Watched
Don't believe the hype.
Disappointment is part and parcel of being a moviegoer. Not all movies live up to expectations and that's frustrating, but also inevitable. Besides, disappointing doesn't always mean 'bad' and there are plenty of films out there that didn't quite live up to the hype, but still have something worthwhile to take away.
For example, The Phantom Menace is the posterchild for disappointing films but there are still some very solid things in that film. To give another example, 2013's American Hustle fell far short of the completely overblown awards season hype but it was still a perfectly decent movie on its own terms.
On the other hand, there are some disappointing films that will leave you wishing you never saw them, films that don't reward their audience in any way and are instead miserable let-downs in every sense. These make for some of the most depressing viewing experiences.
These following fifteen movies vary widely, from insufferable blockbusters to lackluster horror flicks, from disastrous sequels to failed Oscar-Bait. What they have in common is that they'll make you wish you'd spend your time elsewhere...
15. The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, despite its mixed reception, was a huge bestseller and the inevitable film adaptation was always going to be widely anticipated, especially when Ron Howard was directing and the film had attracted such a wonderful cast, led by Tom Hanks and including Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina and Ian McKellen.
As such, it's not a surprise that this was the second highest-grossing film of 2006 but it is a huge shame, for this ranks among the most insufferable blockbusters you'll ever see. The film is a beyond-preposterous treasure hunt built upon silly clues, endless exposition and mountains of factual inaccuracies; this would be bearable if the film had any self-awareness, but it doesn't. It treats this nonsensical story as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
To give credit where its due, some of the supporting actors do a perfectly reasonable job and there is the occasional exciting moment but for the most part, this is one monumentally unexciting thriller. It's too slow, too po-faced and far too reliant on bland exposition.
It is a truly infuriating film, and the fact that it kick-started one of cinema's worst-ever trilogies (it was followed by two equally terrible sequels) makes it even worse in retrospect.