15 Acclaimed Recent Movies That Are (Probably) Doomed To Receive A Backlash
Try to enjoy these movies before the hate begins.
Critical opinions of movies change over time. Many films which were failures upon release become far better-regarded with time - just look at many of Alfred Hitchcock's movies - while on the other hand, some movies do very well at the time but then fall out of favour later on.
The reasons for this vary. Some movies simply don't hold up that well on a second viewing due to their reliance on gimmicks or the big-screen experience, while other films' subject matter might become more problematic with time. There are also plenty of movies many would argue didn't deserve all the acclaim in the first place.
Movies which have fallen victim to backlash in the last twenty years include Titanic, Avatar, American Beauty, The Blair Witch Project, Forrest Gump and Crash among others.
There have been a few from the 2010s already - Green Book and American Hustle leap immediately to mind - and there are some others which seem likely to join them. Of course, these predictions could be entirely wrong, but these following films seem like the most likely candidates for a backlash...
15. Just Mercy
To be honest, it's surprising this was so well-received in the first place. Just Mercy, a historical drama about a real life case of racial injustice, is a solid-enough effort that thankfully doesn't have the white saviour vibe of, say, The Help, but it is still an arguably inadequate look at racism.
It's not a bad film by any means, but it is hit-or-miss overall and while emotional films such as this might initially take viewers in with their powerful dramatic beats (there are some undeniably powerful moments here), such films are less likely to move you as much once you know what's coming, and therefore you're likely to notice more of the film's flaws.
It did well critically (although it didn't get any Oscar nominations) but there probably won't be much admiration for it in the future. The only thing in it that is likely to truly hold up are the power-house performances, which are considerably better than the film's other elements.