A Second Look
Those who advocate for underrated movies push for a second look at these frowned-upon or forgotten films, so let’s look at some movies that may have aged better than initial reviews or box office earnings would suggest.
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Bad guys terrorize a blind woman in her apartment as they search for a drug-filled doll. Although the plot might seem a bit creaky nowadays, the film did well at the box office, and critics were pretty positive. Yet this Julie Andrews and Alan Arkin drama seems to have faded into obscurity.
Warner Bros., Wait Until Dark (1967)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Many critics were hostile to this contemporary satire of Raymond Chandler’s famous detective. Director Robert Altman even predicted “Chandler fans will hate my guts”. But critics have since come to better appreciate Altman’s quirky neo-noir take on the private eye, even if Elliott Gould portrays Chandler as a “loser”.
United Artists, The Long Goodbye (1973)
Paper Moon (1973)
A father-and-daughter tale portrayed by Ryan O’Neal and Oscar-winning daughter Tatum, critics had some nice things to say about this black-and-white look at the Great Depression, even if one reviewer found it “oddly depressing”. It’s since found a kind of cult following.
Lost In America (1985)
Although the film did fine at the box office, this road movie directed by and starring Albert Brooks may have been ahead of its time in portraying the trials and tribulations of the American dream. This tale of a husband and wife seeking their fortune on the road might be worth a second look.
Warner Bros., Lost in America (1985)
Near Dark (1987)
Director Kathryn Bigelow thinks limited distribution and the shadow of The Lost Boys drained this “neo-Western horror film” of its box office potential, so despite some warm murmurs from critics, here’s another film whose place in pop culture seems limited to a cult following.
Mississippi Masala (1991)
Starring Denzel Washington and Roshan Seth, this sensitive portrayal of a romance between an African American man and an ethnic Indian woman remains very much relevant. For years hard to find, the movie can now be watched on Blu-ray, put out by Criterion in 2022.
Film4, Mississippi Masala (1991)
Crooklyn (1994)
Filmed in the ‘90s and set in the ‘70s, some critics found Spike Lee’s Brooklyn drama to be “messy” yet still compelling. Released two years after Malcolm X, Crooklyn is less frenetic, but still a captivating look at the joys and challenges of family and childhood.
Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)
Critics liked the feel of this “neo-noir mystery thriller film,” a beautifully shot movie starring Denzel Washington and featuring Don Cheadle. But it was far from a box office triumph, leaving its charms underappreciated for years to come.
Sony, Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)
Empire Records (1995)
Employees struggle to save their record store from being snapped up by a big chain in this movie that helped boost several careers, including those of René Zellweger and Liv Tyler. However, it was a huge flop at the box office, with Variety calling it a “soundtrack in search of a movie”. Yet it’s endearing in its own way, and led to Rex Manning Day and associated memes years later.
Warner Bros., Empire Records (1995)
A Little Princess (1995)
Director Alfonso Cuarón’s first English-language feature, about a young orphan who works at a boarding school, received good reviews, but Cuarón’s long filmography since then, including a Harry Potter film, makes it easy to forget this early triumph.
Warner Bros., A Little Princess (1995)
Safe (1995)
This movie about environmental toxins was praised at the time, and gave an understated Julianne Moore her first leading role. Over two decades later, director Todd Haynes said this story about a woman isolated by mysterious symptoms was even more relevant than when the movie came out.
That Thing You Do! (1996)
Tom Hanks’ career has been so long and successful you may not be aware of this exuberant film he wrote, starred in, and directed. It’s a 1990s look at a 1960s one-hit wonder band called The Wonders. Ready for a rock-and-roll double-trip down nostalgia lane?
Twentieth Century, That Thing You Do! (1996)
Babe (1995)
This family-friendly film about a rather articulate pig revolutionized the talking-animal genre with its combination of animatronics and CGI, and it made a vegetarian out of James Cromwell, who played the farmer. But has this classic been lost in the modern torrential era of streaming?
Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)
Home video and cable TV helped sustain interest in this moderate box office success that featured buoyant performances from Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, two 28-year-olds who fake fabulous careers for their ten-year high-school reunion. No surprise that there are some great songs on the soundtrack too.
Touchstone, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Roger Ebert praised this Canadian film about a deadly bus crash and its effects on a small town, calling it “an unflinching lament for the human condition,” but box office receipts failed to match critics’ praise of Ian Holms’ performance and Atom Egoyan’s direction. This is hardly a movie that deserves to be forgotten.
Telefilm, The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Dr Doolittle (1998)
One critic called this Eddie Murphy film about foul-talking animals “a complete waste of time and potential,” but Roger Ebert cautioned against confusing “bad taste with evil influences,” and gave the movie three out of four stars. Whatever the critics said, the movie was a huge box office success.
Twentieth Century, Dr. Dolittle (1998)
Run Lola Run (1998)
A high-energy story of Lola’s determination to find 100,000 Deutschmarks in order to save her boyfriend, the movie consciously explores free will vs determinism, so if you want a breathless European exploration of the butterfly effect, this film might be the one for you. Presuming, of course, that you do have free will!
Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999)
Forest Whitaker is a mafia hitman who follows the ancient code of the samurai in this Jim Jarmusch film that Roger Ebert called “truly, profoundly weird” and J Hoberman called a “deadpan parody” of hitman and mafia flicks with great music and cinematography. If you’re in a mood for cross-genre weirdness, this might be the film for you.
StudioCanal, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
The Iron Giant (1999)
With a great voice cast, this Brad Bird animated feature won plaudits from the critics but bombed at the box office, leading the President of Warner Bros to explain why studios don’t make “smarter family movies”—because “every time you do, you get slaughtered,” he said.
Warner Bros., The Iron Giant (1999)
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Criticized as an unnecessary remake of Alejandro Amenábar's Open Your Eyes (1997), this Tom Cruise vehicle has been criticized for its narrative complexity and narcissistic veneer. This cult classic might not always make for easy viewing, but just on a meta level, the intrigue might just be irresistible.
The Count Of Monte Cristo (2002)
Including an early performance by Henry Cavill, this swashbuckling adventure recalls the Golden Age of Hollywood, said Robert Ebert, giving the film three out of four stars. Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce meet up with an exiled Napoleon, and much intrigue follows. You too may be intrigued.
Touchstone, The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
The Rules Of Attraction (2002)
Bret Easton Ellis has said this is his favorite film adaptation of his four novels to reach the silver screen. It did adequately at the box office, but critics were ambivalent about this tale of somewhat aimless college students talking about their somewhat aimless lives. But some , rather than dismissing it, extol the strange intensity of this sometimes challenging film.
Lionsgate, The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Owning Mahowny (2003)
Based on a true story, this Canadian film about a bank employee turned mega-gambler features a performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman that a journalist who wrote a book on the real-life Brian Molony said captured “a yawning emptiness that nothing except gambling was able to fill”.
The Assassination Of Richard Nixon (2004)
Roger Ebert wrote that a film like this doesn’t need a message—sometimes a character study is good enough. Starring Sean Penn as a real-life would-be assassin of an American President, the film divided critics, but Penn does a great job of showing the twisted logic of an assassin’s mind.
Esperanto, The Assassination Of Richard Nixon (2002)
The Fall (2006)
Directed by Indian director Tarsem, the film might indeed be underrated, as it’s certainly been underwatched. Only in 2024 did a streaming service come out to say it would offer this story about storytelling, so if you get the chance, you can decide how well it “walks the line between a labor of love and filmmaker self-indulgence,” as Rotten Tomatoes puts it.
The Fountain (2006)
Here’s another movie that so divided critics you might want to watch it just to decide whose side you’re on! Directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, this deep, deep movie combines genres and iconography to reflect upon love and mortality, while leaving some of us mere mortals puzzled. Find out if this box office bomb but cult classic transports you somewhere sufficiently heady.
Warner Bros., The Fountain (2006)
Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer (2006)
An orphan who develops a superhuman sense of smell, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (played by Ben Wishaw) eventually becomes a serial killer obsessed with different odors. The film was a hit in Europe, but did poorly in the US. Some critics smelled a hit, others a rat. You might want to sniff it out and decide for yourself.
DreamWorks, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Dan In Real Life (2007)
Critics were divided, but there’s a heartwarming quality to this tale of a newspaper advice columnist, played by Steve Carell, who finds love on a trip to his hometown. Variety said “Carell hits all the right notes while running the gamut from propriety to spontaneity as Dan Burns”. Does your heart need some warming? Maybe this is the film to do it!
Walt Disney, Dan In Real Life (2007)
Sunshine (2007)
In 2057, a team of scientists, led by Cillian Murphy’s physicist Robert Capa, head into space to explode a big bomb to reignite the sun and save Earth. Critics particularly liked the special effects, if not always the details of the story. Beautifully shot, this might just be the grand mission you’d like to join.
We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)
Tilda Swinton received particular acclaim for playing the mother of a son who’s been doing some pretty nasty stuff and playing his parents against each other. The dangers escalate. One religious-minded critic appreciated the film’s melding of nihilism and redemption. Maybe you’ll appreciate that too.
BBC, We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (2012)
Another film starring Steve Carell, this film seemed to strike critics as either “emotionally compelling” or “disastrously dull”. If you like the idea of pairing up Carell and Keira Knightley to ponder the meaning of life as an asteroid approaches, then this could be the film for you!
Lionsgate, Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (2012)
About Time (2013)
Starring Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams, a young man manipulates time (a skill that runs in his family) to help himself and others. Critics noted the beautiful filming and sentimentality, while pointing out the plot holes. If you’re not too hung up on things like time-travel logic, this might be the film to tug at the heartstrings.
In A World… (2013)
Lake Bell wrote, directed, and starred in this film about a voice actor who records movie trailers. Bell was partly inspired by the realization that it was men who voiced most of these previews. Unable to sell her script, Bell eventually directed the film herself. Critics loved the film, noting it might be particularly of interest to film buffs. If you like this preview, give it a look!
Roadside, In a World... (2013)
Stoker (2013)
Richard Roeper gave this film 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it “disturbingly good”. This psychological thriller was South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s first English-language film, and there are lots of bodies dropping. If you don’t mind tense family dramas with lots of blood, this film could make for an engaging evening.
Chef (2014)
Jon Favreau wrote, directed, and starred in this story of a fancy chef turned food truck cook. Critics didn’t exactly see a classic for the ages, but definitely smelled some cinematic comfort food that might be exactly what you need.
99 Homes (2014)
So he and his family can stay in their home, a single father (Andrew Garfield) helps a businessman (Michael Shannon) evict people from their own homes. If you can handle the heavy topic, you might enjoy this intelligent film that resonates even today.
Annihilation (2018)
Much to the director’s annoyance, streaming helped annihilate this movie’s box office returns, but critics were generally impressed by this science-fiction/horror tale of the Shimmer, a zone of animals and plants mutating under alien influence.
Framed?
Whether hard to find or terribly misunderstood, underrated films give you the chance to look at movies in a new light, and decide if the verdict of entertainment history was just or unjust. Then maybe you’ll spread the word too!
All I Wanna Do (1998)
Burdened by multiple titles (including Strike!), this story of a girls school in 1963 picked up favorable reviews but limited screening—an act of sabotage, says director Sarah Kernochan. Behind the scenes, Harvey Weinstein had no love for the film, and often berated Kernochan over screen tests that everyone else on production loved. When he couldn't get his way and release the movie direct-to-DVD, he suppressed its release, allowing it to be shown in theaters for just one week. Thankfully, the movie is seeing a bit more recognition these days. Included among the talented cast is Kirsten Dunst making a transition to the teen-movie genre.
