10 Classic Movies That Are (If Anything) Underrated
10. Boyhood
Why Do People Think Its Overrated? The critics' darling of 2014, Richard Linklater's coming-of-age epic came with a very unique marketing hook; the film had been shot over twelve years, seeing the actors (and the characters they play) age in real time, lending a naturalism to growing up through childhood. And, if you listen to some of the film's detractors, that's all it is. As the film grew in estimation, with unanimously positive reviews powering it to become an awards frontrunner, complaints that it was nothing but a gimmick movie, with performances aided unfairly by time, became increasingly prevalent. Why Isnt It? Boyhood is far from a one-trick pony. Obviously Linklater's ambitious shooting method is deserving of praise, but it's only the entry point into an incredibly well-structured movie. Just look at how purposeful the presentation is. Early on the major life events play out in their entirety, but come the end things have become a lot freer and lucid. Like memories, the film begins to focus less on the big moments and more about the snapshots of emotion (heck, it completely skips over Mason's break-up with his high-school girlfriend, going straight from happy couple to reflective meet-up). It's a highly relatable experience, not just in its regular family, but how the presentation matches how you view the "movie" of your own life. And thus it is that Boyhood becomes a unique piece of cinema, more than deserving of the original praise. On the plus side, narrowly missing out on Best Picture does mean that the film isn't going to be levelled with even more hype. Sorry Birdman.
