10 Movies That Seriously Don't Deserve Their Critical Acclaim

4. Selma

As with The King's Speech, Selma stands as another prestige biopic which was lauded with words like "inspirational", "outstanding", "impressive" and "unforgettable". After watching the film you'd be forgiven for thinking the "un" at the beginning of that final word of praise was a typo. The performances in Selma are certainly up to scratch, with David Oyelowo getting the voice and mannerisms of Martin Luther King Jnr as accurate as possible. But few critics were willing to point out that Ava DuVernay's direction was for the most part flat and uninspiring, with few scenes managing to give the film a personality of its own. It's a familiar problem when making a film about larger than life historical figures - they tend to become caricatures of their public persona rather than complex beings with human traits. Perhaps it was the sombre nature of the subject matter which led critics to overlook the lumbering narrative and lacklustre imagery, but a subject as serious as the Civil Rights Movement deserves a film with considerably greater emotional heft than the one Selma provides.