10 Movies That Seriously Don't Deserve Their Critical Acclaim

8. Amadeus

Biopics of musicians are among the most popular of the genre. That which has earned perhaps more praise than all the others put together remains Milos Forman's 1984 film about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Amadeus, a sprawling film which uses aging composer Salieri (F Murray Abraham) as a framing device to reflect on Mozart's life. Forman's sheer craftsmanship is to be admired, but few critics pointed out the film's glaring problem - Tom Hulce. Getting an American to play a Vienesse composer was hardly surprising, but how critics watched Amadeus without contemplating how completely inappropriate his acting was is something else. Hulce's portrayal of Mozart as little more than a clown in a performance laid bare Milos Foreman's real intentions - to create a glossy piece of light-weight entertainment. It certainly succeeds on this level, but the suggestion that it offers real insight into the nature of genius sits at odds with Hulce's absurdist antics.