15 Overhyped Movies You Wish You'd Not Watched

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.