10 Most Overrated Movies Of 2016 (So Far)

Love & Friendship, Whit Stillman's latest film based on two novellas by Jane Austen, emerged this year from out of nowhere and was instantly declared a masterpiece of witty period shenanigans by all those who ventured to see it. Love & Friendship is a essential Whitman classic," they said. "It's perfect," they said.

Surely the praise that has been granted to this rather average and slightly annoying drama is totally misjudged, though? Only one critic - you read that right: one - gave Love & Friendship a negative notice on Rotten Tomatoes, and I find that baffling considering how smug and impenetrable this film is for the length of its runtime.

Love & Friendship has been called "broad and accessible," but it's neither. What Whitman has done here is create a comedy so dry that it's never really apparent when or what you're supposed to laugh at. The plot is hard to follow, scenes drag, performances are pitched at different levels... it's not even that "fun" to watch.

So did the critics collectively agree to adore this film out of some misplaced fear that they'd be deemed stupid or uneducated if they did the opposite?

What is properly good about this film, then? Kate Beckinsale, who transcends her reputation as the vampire girl from the terrible Underworld movies and confirms that, hey, she's a talented actor and has been unfairly regulated to blockbuster rubbish when she should be doing stuff like this (or not this, but you get what I mean).

But that's about it: she's a shining light in a film that feels otherwise alien. A film that leaves you under the impression that you were too dumb to get it. And that isn't really the case. There just isn't all that much to "get."