Summary
Some movies are so unexpected and revolutionary that it takes a while for critics to understand the vision, and they are torn apart when they are released. Many of the best movies ever made started out with mixed reviews, since their unconventional styles defied classification and confused people. The very qualities that made such movies interesting and unique also meant that critics didn’t know how to approach them.
Francis Ford Coppola’sMegalopolisstirred controversy recentlyby referring to some of the negative early reactions in a trailer. The quotes for Coppola’s old movies were proven to be fake, but the point that the trailer tries to make is true. Many brilliant movies which are now considered masterpieces were unappreciated upon release. Coppola has seen it happen to his own movies, and so have other cinematic legends, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott.
10 Movies That Critics Either Loved Or Absolutely Hated
The most divisive movies ever split critics, creating two groups of those who either loved or hated the movie, for sometimes mysterious reasons.
Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece2001: A Space Odysseychanged the genrefor good. However, by creating something so unusual and experimental, Kubrick alienated plenty of critics. Reviews were extremely polarized, with some immediately recognizing the movie as a leap forward for sci-fi, while others derided it as dull or incomprehensible.Famous film critic Pauline Kael called it"monumentally unimaginative."
Even the negative reviews of2001: A Space Odysseycouldn’t deny the technical mastery and the revolutionary special effects that the movie has.
Even the negative reviews of2001: A Space Odysseycouldn’t deny the technical mastery and the revolutionary special effects that the movie has. In the years since its release, the film’s reputation has grown. Now that people can see the impact it has had on the sci-fi genre, the negative reviews seem short-sighted.2001: A Space Odysseyis a lot slower than most sci-fi epics, but this is entirely intentional.
2001: A Space Odysseyisn’t the only one of Stanley Kubrick’s movies that was ahead of its time. Some critics also struggled to get on board with his psychological horror classicThe Shining.Famously,Stephen King disliked the adaptationof his novel, but he wasn’t the only one. A review inVarietyaccused Kubrick and Jack Nicholson of “destroy[ing] all that was so terrifying about Stephen King’s bestseller.”
Stanley Kubrick and Shelley Duvall were nominated for Worst Director and Worst Actress at the Razzies, although neither of them “won”.
The Shining was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards, the parody awards given out to the worst movies of each year. Kubrick and Shelley Duvall were nominated for Worst Director and Worst Actress, although neither of them “won”. Over the years,The Shininghas been reevaluated as an iconic horror movie, proving once again that it’s foolish to bet against Stanley Kubrick.
Fight Clubstruggled at the box office, partly due to a misjudged marketing campaign that tried to sell it as an action movie. David Fincher’s movie has frequently defied classification. It is both a psychological thriller and a dark corporate satire, but many critics didn’t know what to make of it.A reviewer for The Boston Globe describedFight Clubas"explosively silly"after a promising start.
Fight Clubsurvived its negative initial reaction, and it became a cult hit after it was released on home video.
Critical opinion was fiercely polarized onFight Club,and the movie’s content was also the topic of some heated ethical debates. Some decried Fincher as immoral for showing such incendiary anti-authority philosophy, coupled with scenes of all-out domestic terrorism and macho violence.Fight Clubsurvived its negative initial reaction, and it became a cult hit after it was released on home video.
It’s a Wonderful Lifeis now recognized as one of thebest Christmas moviesever made, and it still gets watched by millions of people when the holiday season rolls around each year. However, initial reaction to Frank Capra’s contemporary adaptation ofA Christmas Carolwas rather muted.It’s a Wonderful Lifefailed to break even at the box office, and it was forgotten about for several years.
OnceIt’s a Wonderful Lifeentered the public domain in the 1970s, it reached a new audience via TV and home media sales.
Critics at the time gaveIt’s a Wonderful Lifemixed reviews. Writing for the New York Times, Bosley Crowther opined that the movie’s artificiality stood in the way of its emotional impact, and he claimed that the film’s major problem was"the sentimentality of it - its illusory concept of life.“OnceIt’s a Wonderful Lifeentered the public domain in the 1970s, it reached a new audience via TV and home media sales.
Modern retrospectives ofAlfred Hitchcock’s moviesoften countVertigoas one of the director’s very best efforts, if not the best. Contemporary reviews were much less kind toVertigo,as the mystery was accused of having too many plot holes and straying too far from reality.A New York Post review suggested that Hitchcock"thinks he can get away with murder in the logic and realism departments.”
Later reviews have been more aware of the fact that some ofVertigo’s logical leaps are meant to reflect Scottie’s troubled state of mind.
Later reviews have been more aware of the fact that some ofVertigo’s logical leaps are meant to reflect Scottie’s troubled state of mind, and his struggles to get to grips with the reality in front of him. The movie is now considered one of the finest mystery thrillers ever made. The mystery itself is twisty and absorbing, butVertigo’s real strength is the way that it explores Scottie’s character.
The Big Lebowskiis a bona fide cult classic: highly quotable, unusually structured, and not to everyone’s taste. Many critics gaveThe Big Lebowskinegative reviews when it was first released, further proving that it isn’t designed to appeal to everyone. A particularly harsh review fromThe Guardian described it as"a bunch of ideas shoveled into a bag and allowed to spill out at random."
The Big Lebowskiis a bona fide cult classic: highly quotable, unusually structured, and not to everyone’s taste.
The supposed randomness ofThe Big Lebowskiis a big part of what makes the movie so special. It’s a shaggy dog story masquerading as a crime thriller. The plot has a case of mistaken identity, some intimidating thugs and a femme fatale, but the main character isn’t too interested in any of this.The Big Lebowskidrops a slacker into the middle of an Elmore Leonard story and watches as he bashes his head against the sides. More recent reviews have praisedThe Big Lebowskias one of thebest Coen brothers movies.
During the 1960s, American critics turned their noses up at Spaghetti Westerns, with many believing that European filmmakers shouldn’t be working in such a distinctly American genre. Sergio Leone’sThe Good, the Bad and the Uglyis now recognized as one of the best Spaghetti Westerns ever made, but this didn’t save it from some brutal reviews in the American press. Critics seemed determined to destroy the entire idea of Spaghetti Westerns, not just this one movie.
Now that the debate over the legitimacy of the Spaghetti Western genre has died down, critics have reevaluatedThe Good, the Bad and the Uglyas a masterpiece.
Charles Champlin quipped in the Los Angeles Times that the movie should be titled"The Bad, the Dull and the Interminable,“and plenty of other movie reviewers shared his opinion. Now that the debate over the legitimacy of the Spaghetti Western genre has died down, critics have reevaluatedThe Good, the Bad and the Uglyas a masterpiece, and it frequently appears in lists of the best movies ever made.
WhenAlienwas first released in 1979, only a few creators could see and understand Ridley Scott’s vision. While the movie was praised for its tense atmosphere and H. R. Giger’s terrifying creature designs, many reviewers found the story to be lacking. A review in the magazine Time Out describedAlienas an “empty bag of tricks whose production values and expensive trickery cannot disguise imaginative poverty.”
WhenAlienwas first released in 1979, only a few creators could see and understand Ridley Scott’s vision.
Although it didn’t receive the best reviews,Alienhad impressive box office numbers. Like many horror movies, audiences were much more appreciative ofAlienthan critics were. It took a few years for reviewers to catch up to the public consensus, andAlienfinally got the respect that it deserved. Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley became a sci-fi icon, andtheAlienfranchisewas born.
Bonnie and Clydewas hugely controversial when it was first released, with detractors suggesting that the movie glorified criminality and violence. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were already prominent figures in America’s cultural mythology, but their violent crime spree had never been portrayed in such gory detail before. A New York Times review slammedBonnie and Clydeas “a cheap piece of bald-faced slapstick comedy.”
A New York Times review slammedBonnie and Clydeas"a cheap piece of bald-faced slapstick comedy.”
Bonnie and Clydeis now seen as a landmark in the history of American cinema, and one of the pioneering films of the New Hollywood era. Although it was a game-changer in many ways, there was no shortage of critics who panned the movie. Even if a reviewer accepted the graphic depictions of violence, they might have found problems with the grim characters at the heart of the story, which was unlike the Old Hollywood standard.
Bonnie and Clydeshocked some reviewers with its depictions of graphic violence, butScarfacewas even more gory and difficult to watch for some. Many critics sawScarface’s violence as cheap and unnecessary, especially those who felt that the story wasn’t as fleshed out as the action scenes.David Ansen wrote in Newsweek thatScarfacewas"grand, shallow, decadent entertainment."
Many critics sawScarface’s violence as cheap and unnecessary, especially those who felt that the story wasn’t as fleshed out as the action scenes
Scarfacealso courted controversy due to its depiction of Cuban immigrants as violent criminals. More recently, critics and audiences have reappraisedScarfaceas a bold, unflinching crime drama about the short-term benefits and long-term negatives of crime. Like all the best crime movies, it is more than a morality play about individual criminals, as it sets its sights on the system that encourages such greed and violence.
