10 Most Insufferable Movies Since 2000

1. Pearl Harbor

ben affleck pearl harbor
Buena Vista Pictures

Everything you€™'ve heard about this mega-long, mega-cheesy mega-movie is pretty much true, but let'€™s forget for a moment the cliché-ridden script, the cornball dialogue that performers look embarrassed to deliver, the wooden characters plus the flat romantic sub-plot, and concentrate upon the scale. The filmmakers sure did.

Even those turned off by period films or amused by the prospect of €˜Armageddon meets Tora Tora Tora€™ had their curiosity piqued by a budget rumoured to be between $138m-$208m. That bought a lot of spectacle, just as it had on Titanic.

Even if the picture stank on every creative level, who didn'€™t want to watch that much money go up in smoke? It was the old sizzle-not-the-steak marketing ploy and it worked like gangbusters, generating $450m in worldwide ticket sales, plus there was the added benefit that because people hadn'€™t come to see credible characters, historical truth or even a good movie, they€™d judge Pearl Harbor by its explosions, which were very good indeed.

This is what people mean when they say, €œit wasn'€™t supposed to be Hamlet!€

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'