15 Most Overrated Movies Of The 2020s (So Far)
13. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (Average Score: 8.20/10)
IMDb: 6.9
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was critically acclaimed at the time of its release, but it is pretty telling that the lion's share of the praise went to the performances. The acting in Ma Rainey is fantastic, but the movie itself is a little hard to get through. Why? Because it's just a filmed play.
It's a very good playscript, of course, but in order to come to life on-screen in the way it no doubt does on stage it really needed - and deserved - a more cinematic, visually striking realisation of the material.
It's not a bad film, but it's pretty hard to get into due to its excessively stagey and somewhat flat nature, and it was quite a relief when it failed to receive a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. That being said, it still snagged Best Costume Design over the absolutely gorgeous costume work in 2020's Mulan remake, which was pretty outrageous.
An Underrated Alternative: Da 5 Bloods (2020) - a flawed but captivating drama from Spike Lee, and a far stronger film about Black history.