10 Movies That Thought They Were Smart (But Really Weren't)

We all love a good, intelligent movie: who hasn't been charmed by the intricately-plotted twists of Fight Club or The Usual Suspects, or been bowled over by the mind-melting array of thrillers that Christopher Nolan has brought us over the years (Memento, The Prestige, Inception)? However, making a clever movie for attentive audiences isn't easy, and if a movie's reach exceeds its grasp, or it ends up talking down to audiences, viewers are certainly going to be vocal about it. Not all of these 10 movies are bad, and in fact, several of them are pretty good, but they clearly mistook confusing storytelling, muddled moral messages, absurd twists and ropey internal logic for intelligent filmmaking. Though some viewers will continue to profess these movies to be intelligent, a deeper probing of the issues at hand reveals them to be ambitious failures, or simply entertaining films that shouldn't be thought about much beyond the surface level (even if that won't stop some people). Our level of contempt for these movies typically follows how in-your-face their ambitions are: a timely movie that thinks it's broaching current issues in a supremely clever way will probably not wash well with audiences, whereas we're less likely to attack something that's a little more abstract and subtle about its supposed intelligence. Did we miss any not-so-smart "smart" movies? Or do you disagree with any of our picks? Let us know in the comments!