16 Critically Dismissed Recent Movies (That Weren't As Bad As You Think)
1. The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
Rotten Tomatoes: 51% (Average Score: 5.98/10)
Critical Consensus: It doesn't lack for ambition, but The Secret Life of Walter Mitty fails to back up its grand designs with enough substance to anchor the spectacle.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty really deserved so much better than this.
It's far from perfect and can be predictable, but this is actually a heart-warming, uplifting, ambitious and visually stunning blockbuster that reaffirms Ben Stiller as one of the best actor-turned-directors working today. Honestly, this is arguably one of the most under-appreciated remakes out there.
The sharply polarised critical response was surprising, since this really isn't the style-over-substance film that it often seemed to be accused of being and has plenty of nice character moments and touching story beats.
The film was actually well-received by audiences (with 7.3 on IMDb), further indicating that this was arguably an epitomising example of a good movie that critics were far too quick to dismiss.