10 Movies You Weren't Supposed To Take Seriously

Not every film has the luxury of being respected and saluted from the minute it is released unto an unsuspecting public. But those films that do flop into existence aren't necessarily condemned to be criticised and shunted for eternity. Look no further than Paul Verhoeven's 1997 sci-fi epic Starship Troopers as an example of a flick that only became truly appreciated for what it was some 20 years after its blasting off into our universe.

Slammed for its "crazed, lurid spectacle,” in the New York Times and buried by many other critics around the time of its release, the apparently "one-dimensional" feature, as claimed by the legendary Roger Ebert, seemed to have had its whole point missed by the vast majority of said experts.

The flick is a feature-long, self-aware dig at right-wing militarism, and once that penny well and truly drops, a 129-minute journey of comedic genius ensues. Everything from the knee-jerk, violent reaction to unknown entities to the brilliant uses of propaganda favouring the United Citizen Federation acted as an outstanding sendup, further hammering home that this flick wasn't ever destined to be digested as a tasteful dose of sci-fi cinema.