Some movies just don't live up to the hype, and there are loads of different reasons that happens. For many of the films on this list, big money was backing them, they had an unexplained cult following, or they just really weren't worth the price of admission.
Here, we've compiled a list of the most overrated films of all time...
Avatar
Basically, Avatar was Fern Gully with a $237 million budget. Even though this movie was the highest-grossing film of all time until 2019's Avengers: Endgame came out, there was little in the way of a plot. The worst part about this is that there are multiple sequels planned for the near future, but nobody even remembers what happened in the first one.
Forrest Gump
People either hate or love Forrest Gump, but both sides of the coin regularly believe that the movie has received way too much hype over the years. It's important to factor in people's nostalgic connection with Forrest Gump because if it wasn't released at the perfect time, this movie wouldn't have become so beloved. The plot is cool, but Forrest's love interest treats him extremely poorly, which pulls the character interactions into a deeply saddening place in an otherwise cheerful setting.
Top Gun
Tom Cruise's performance in Top Gun isn't even the thing that we're going to criticize here. This movie capitalized on the "macho man" genre surge because at the time cool explosions and cheesy catchphrases were all the rage. The plot is pretty unfulfilling—it's about a guy who likes planes so he goes to Navy training.
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is widely considered to be a good movie, but some critics dug a little deeper to put it on blast. Mae Telle of Buzzfeed states "no backstory is given about how these guys developed their tools. Winston has absolutely no purpose in the film whatsoever except to provide the car. Sigourney Weaver spends 90% of the film in an 'orgasmic' state. The entire plot with the Gatekeeper is very difficult to follow and is overly complicated."
Star Wars
Star Wars started to go "downhill" when the prequels started coming out in 1999. The movies lacked the same charm and simplicity that the original three had to offer, and the continuation of the series has combined both philosophies that went into the prequels and originals. This formula didn't hit. Critics bash the new Star Wars movies for the rampant fan service and lack of originality.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
Here's a pro-tip if you haven't watched this movie, it takes two hours to get to the actual "Batman v. Superman" part. This movie is a cash grab, through and through. Filmmakers saw an opportunity to use two big names to make a ton of money, so they did. Can you really blame them for that though? Most critics hated this movie, but casual viewers overhyped it. Either way, this movie is overrated.
The Fast and the Furious
The Fast and the Furious has begun to boil itself down to fit into the "high budget, low consideration" tier of movies like Transformers. It's easy to turn more out because the premise isn't particularly complex. Buy a car, blow it up, make money. Critics agree, by the way, these movies are way overrated.
Ocean's Eleven
Critics tend to have a field day on movies that rely on their star-power to drive the narrative. However, Ocean's Eleven seemed to slip through the cracks, so to speak. Even with a cast of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, and Julia Roberts, Ocean's Eleven lacked substance in the storyline department.
La La Land
La La Land won a ton of awards. Unfortunately, most people think that the idea behind the movie was what actually won the public's attention instead of the acting and cinematography. Critics call La La Land an "overhyped sing-along that leans too hard on old-Hollywood tropes and will be forgotten in the matter of a few years." Ouch, that's harsh.
Pulp Fiction
There is a Pulp Fiction poster hanging on the wall of every single "alternative" college freshman's dorm. That says a lot about the people who rep this movie. Pulp Fiction is the quintessential Tarrantino flick. There are lots of gunshots, drugs, angry men, and witty quotable lines, but no depth to the overarching plot. Pulp Fiction is a cool movie, but it's vapid and hollow.
Twilight
For a series of movies that are particularly beloved because of the uncomfortable acting and dialogue, Twilight still manages to be overrated by its fan base. One of the major problems is that the behavior in the film is completely contrary to how real human beings (or vampires, for that matter) should be interacting with one another. Critics widely dislike Twilight, but still, there is a consistent fan base that argues that the movies are actually redeemable.
Harry Potter
As a whole, the Harry Potter movies are charming and worth the watch. The acting is good, the story is true to the books, but the cinematic depictions of the main characters leave a lot to be desired. These movies ended up becoming some of the original "big name + high budget = high profit" templates that we see in modern cinema nowadays. The films themselves, while they are truly charming, are definitely way overrated.
A Star is Born
You know, for a movie that has four remakes of itself, you'd think that the most recent iteration should be the most refreshing, right? Evidently, that's wrong in this instance. Hollywood and critics celebrated this film, though, and casual viewers think that this movie wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as Hollywood made it out to be.
Paranormal Activity
When this movie came out, critics couldn't understand why people flocked to the theaters to watch it in droves. The random jump scares were seemingly all the movie had to offer. One critic even said that looking up the words "jump scare" on YouTube would have been a better viewing experience than watching this movie. The hype has seriously died down since this movie came out, but wow was it overrated.
American Hustle
For a movie about a real-life FBI sting, American Hustle wasn't exactly authentic. This heavily stylized film relies more on its star-studded cast than the story it's supposed to be about. Also, this movie tries way too hard to be funny but the comedy is undermined by the wold production value and the severity of the plot itself.
The Hunger Games
Although the acting in The Hunger Games films hasn't been massively scrutinized, the translation of the story into movie form falls flat. The depiction of a cheesy love triangle mashed around a death-match social experiment just... doesn't stick with most audiences. Critics think that the cinematic focus on interpersonal relationships minimized the actual subject matter of the film.
The Big Lebowski
Daphne Merkin of the New Yorker dropped a scathing review of this film in 1998 that highly criticized The Big Lebowski's uselessly intellectual references specifically to stimulate and empower nerds. Others, however, criticized the movie's confusing story and lack of actual comedic value. The characters were memorable, but that was really it. The Big Lebowski is a cult hit, but only for people who think that they're smarter than you (for the most part).
Transformers
Not even Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox could save this movie series. Critics widely dislike the original Transformers and all those that came after it, but audiences love giant explosions and robots that punch each other, so these movies aren't going away any time soon.
Fight Club
Fight Club is one of those movies that people only love because there's a twist ending that basically eliminates all re-watching attempts. If you've seen Fight Club, then you can consider yourself to be a member of the elite group of watchers that know what happens in the twist at the end. Critics have been slamming this movie for decades because of its predictability, machismo, and overall lack of staying power.
Inglourious Basterds
Inglorious Basterds is a Quentin Tarantino movie, which basically means that critics and viewers already have a positive opinion of it before watching. There is a lot of societal pressure to rate Tarantino movies highly, but at the end of the day, critics and viewers had mixed opinions about this one. The public loved it, but a lot of critics bashed the movie for inaccurately depicting historic atrocities for comedic purposes. We're not saying that it's a bad movie, we're just saying that it's overhyped.
Independence Day
Young Will Smith was a juggernaut in Hollywood at the turn of the century. Even though the acting is good, the setting is cool, the visuals are neat, and the story is interesting, this is just one of those feel-good blockbusters that you already know the end of before you even start the movie. We think that Independence Day deserved the hype at the time it came out, but it hasn't aged well.
The Matrix Franchise
Basically, The Matrix series is a visual experience with virtually no substance for the characters, but a rich world that they live in. This translates into a lot of "ooooohh ahhhh" moments, but absolutely zero "I understand this movie" moments. Everyone loves The Matrix, but people think way too deep into it. These movies are overrated because they put more effort into enamoring the viewer than educating them.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Following up on one of the most charming, thoughtful, and memorable movies of the 1990s, the modern iteration of (Willy Wonka) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory left a lot to be desired. It's not the same heartfelt family film that people were expecting, and critics seemed to put on nostalgia blinders to keep that out of their minds. Johnny Depp did a good job of playing the mad scientist behind the suspicious sweets, but some critics found the characters to lack depth, and the cinematography overbore the plot, which was the driving force behind the original.
The Hangover Franchise
The Hangover was a cultural phenomenon for a brief period of time, but the original hype was totally blown out of proportion. All of the follow-up Hangover movies have been critical messes. It's evident that they're trying to rebuild a formula that wasn't even supposed to be perfect from the get-go. Critics went off about the jokes in this franchise, and how they don't stick unless you're the same age you were when the first one came out. Again, we're not bashing the movie, it's just totally overrated.
The Hobbit Trilogy
This is going to sound harsh, but critics and viewers alike agree that The Hobbit and all the following films were reproductions of the LOTR formula that did not stick like the original trilogy. Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie. The Hobbit was way overhyped, overfunded, and was ultimately overrated.
Sin City
Sin City was a super cool concept that stuck out in 2005, but the compliments that it gets nowadays are way outdated. The movie looked cool, that's for sure, but critics tore apart the subject matter and essentially clarified that the movie's appearance was the only redeemable quality about it. That and a lot of the subject matter is extremely offensive by today's standards. This movie's reputation is hanging on by a thread, and that thread is really just the overhype that it received.
The Kill Bill Franchise
Kill Bill is a fun movie (including the second volume here as well) but is it really a cinematic masterpiece that teenagers believe it is? Probably not. This movie was intended to be a cookie-cutter kung fu flick, and it worked, but that's all it is. It's entertaining, but way overrated.
Dead Poets Society
Film critic Roger Ebert made a statement about Robin Williams' performance in Dead Poets Society. He stated that Williams "punctured" the intelligent and quick-witted teacher that he portrayed by being too comical and distanced from reality. Kevin J.H. Dettmar of The Atlantic had even fewer positive things to say about it, calling the movie a "misleading portrayal of the study of literature."
Drive
Ryan Gosling stars as one of the most boring and one-dimensional characters in all of Hollywood history in a movie that thousands of people absolutely love (we love it too, just calling it like it is). Critics think that this movie was beautiful and interesting, but the acting was pretty dismal. That and Ryan Gosling's character was objectively boring. This movie has a lot of street cred, but it's totally overrated.
Cast Away
Andrew O'Hagan of The Telegraph ripped Cast Away apart, calling it devoid of substance and claiming that "the plot is lost at sea." He credits Tom Hanks for being able to carry the movie mostly on his own (sans his volleyball friend), but he states that the "man lost in nature trope is not a new one, and there is nothing surprising in Cast Away."
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project was legendary for the time it came out, and it inspired a generation of copycat films, but when the hype died down, many critics and viewers figured out that it was a movie where nothing really happens. Jeremy Gill of the Reel Rundown criticizes the movie's protagonists, calling them "irritating and unlikable" and stating that "viewers are almost happy to see them lost in the haunted woods."
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
For some reason, the bratty rich kid trope didn't resonate well with a lot of viewers. Plus, it's hard to love a character who's kind of a jerk to his friends, family, and girlfriend. Ferris Bueller's Day Off was a really important movie of the time, but nowadays, critics are realizing that they overrated this one.
Django Unchained
This movie ended up being far more offensive than informative. That's not according to us, that's according to Spike Lee, who went out of his way to boycott this film after he was given an advanced screening. This movie is overrated, not because it's a bad movie, but because it didn't actually serve the purpose it was supposed to. It did the opposite.
The Notebook
The Notebook is a great movie if you want to spend two hours intermittently crying and then the rest of your night asking yourself why romance is so hard. The on-screen chemistry is incredible, but the ooey-gooey love fest overshadows the weak plot that's holier than swiss cheese.
Napoleon Dynamite
Deep within Napoleon Dynamite's wit and charm lays a story that has yet to be unearthed. This movie crushed the merchandising game, but overall it's a slow-moving low-budget snoozer with cute characters and a happy ending. Some think this movie is great, others hate it, but the critical acclaim it received definitely went a little far.
Dazed and Confused
Although many critics state that this movie is entertaining and memorable, most criticism is directed at Matthew McConaughey's performance. The acting is pretty bland, the plot isn't particularly engaging. Some might even call Dazed and Confused "boring."
A Clockwork Orange
Plenty of critics believe that A Clockwork Orange missed the mark on the intention of the book, but was celebrated for its graphic nature and the horrible personality of the main character. Plenty of individuals believe that A Clockwork Orange is an unnecessarily artsy snooze-fest that lacks substance outside of shock value.
Lost in Translation
Most Bill Murray movies receive overwhelmingly positive reviews but Lost in Translation polarized the usual critics. Some loved it, some hated it, but for the most part, all critics agree that Murray and Scarlett Johansson didn't "sell" their characters. Who could blame them though?
Love Actually
Love Actually gets a yearly celebration every time Christmas rolls around. However, if you remove the nostalgia blinders for a second, you can see that this movie lacks substance outside of its presentation. It's supposed to be a rom-com but it's neither particularly romantic nor particularly funny.
Traffic
The cinematography of Traffic almost completely overrides the plot. Even though lots of individuals think that it's a great movie, the most common criticism is that the plot fell flat while the camera-operators focused on the "fake set-up" that the drug traffickers were theoretically avoiding. The acting was pretty good, but good acting doesn't substitute for quality storytelling.
Inception
Many critics believe that Inception was scatter-brained and supremely overrated. Inception saw large commercial success, but many viewers left feeling underwhelmed. The movie is a cool idea, but the execution is so complex and piled upon itself that it's hard to keep up in an ever-changing cinematic world. Inception falls into the same category as The Matrix, it's complex and exciting but lacks substance at its base.
Knocked Up
Knocked Up was the best-reviewed movie of all of 2007. But, some critics were brave enough to go against the grain to call the movie sexist and objectifying to women. While that is still debated, it's impossible to ignore the outdated stereotypes that the main characters fill, and how the supporting characters just exist to be comedic punching bags for the protagonists. This movie doesn't live up to its own reputation.
Crash
Guy Lodge, the film critic for The Guardian, criticized Crash on the day it won the Oscar for best picture in 2006. He stated that the movie was a "well-acted but clod-footed treatise on race relations in Los Angeles." This movie was well-intentioned, but the melodramatic moments didn't hold themselves in reality with its stylized narrative.
Gravity
This 2013 space drama was visually stunning, engaging, and overwhelmingly beloved by critics and viewers alike. However, with all great art, there are flaws. Alan Evans wrote that the main character's "saccharine implausible backstory" was the reason that Gravity fell flat for him. He stated that the filmmaking was great, but the characters themselves lacked depth and were, quite frankly, boring.
Field of Dreams
Although Field of Dreams is considered to be a sports classic to many who have enjoyed it in the past, Sports Illustrated writer Jerry Belvins doesn't think that the movie got the proper criticism that it deserved. For instance, Belvins points out that the legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson batted left-handed in real life, while the movie displayed him as a righty. He also criticized the scripting of the movie, calling it lazy and inaccurate to the origins of the players themselves. He credits the movie's popularity to the public perception that they "have to like the movie because everyone else does."
Braveheart
Film Critic Nathan Kamal bashed Braveheart for being "cartoonishly inaccurate." Although the movie won five Oscars, the film itself lacked actual historical accuracy, depicted wardrobe choices that would not have existed at the time, and even included a romantic subplot that would have literally been impossible. Braveheart is overrated, the people have spoken.
The Breakfast Club
Like most coming of age films, The Breakfast Club garnered too much public and critical attention when it was released, masquing its emptiness with relatable stereotypes that are equally as boring as the plot. The Breakfast Club tried its hardest to be "relatable," but ultimately, the characters lacked depth to the point that they were just characters and not people.
Moulin Rouge!
Film critic Octavio Rocca called Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical "an overrated mess." He stated that the outrageous editing in the song and dance numbers came across as rough, choppy, and disingenuous. The way the plot is directed attempts to pay tribute to the musical genre, but in the end, it feels tasteless and devoid of care.
The Sixth Sense
Back in 1999, The Sixth Sense was a legendary film that exceeded the expectations of most movie-goers. But, by today's standards, waiting until the very last minute to drop a huge reveal on the audience isn't as effective as it used to be. Bruce Willis has even said himself that this movie was overrated.
Annie Hall
Believe it or not, Woody Allen has gone out of his way to criticize his own 1977 romantic comedy, calling it overrated. Critics say that this is the greatest movie he ever made, but Allen doesn't think it is. He released that statement in Entertainment Weekly magazine in 1999, and this movie is still widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made.
The Goonies
Critics have primarily chosen to ignore The Goonies in modern times, but nowadays, this movie deserves a bit more scrutiny. Just because a movie is nostalgic doesn't mean that it's immune to critique due to the fact that it perpetuated harmful stereotypes as part of the outright plot. That and the movie is supremely difficult to follow.
Mulholland Drive
People like to think that David Lynch is untouchable because he made season one of Twin Peaks. But, in reality, Lynch deserves just as much if not more criticism than most other filmmakers. James Rocchi recently called out critics that claim to have loved the movie, challenging them to think about how boring and unnecessarily experimental it is.
Citizen Kane
No single movie in human history is overpraised as much as Orsen Welles' 1941 classic. Yes, good movies deserve criticism too. It's important to note that the positive energy around Citizen Kane is large because people are told that they should like it by critics and cinephiles. Even Richard Elfman went out and stated that Citizen Kane is massively overrated.
Mean Girls
Mean girls received an entire generation's praise. But, when it comes down to it, it's just a movie about toxic people treating people poorly and then getting what's coming to them. Critics feel mixed about this one, but viewers tend to love it.
When Harry Met Sally
Critics have gone on to say that How Harry Met Sally is just a movie about two people that nobody should like. Strangely, they end up happy in the end, which Sti Pyit at Buzzfeed states is "cringe and inconsequential."
High School Musical
Some people love this movie, some people love to hate this movie, but it's important to note how overrated it is. The musical aspect mirrors that of something like Shakespeare in Love or Moulin Rouge! The idea is fun, but the execution is almost always going to drag, without the opportunity for further nuance.
Elf
Elf is one of those classic Christmas films that everyone "needs" to watch every year. But, some critics think that the whole movie itself is cringy, boring, and unfunny. This "family film" does more in the way to disgust the viewer than anything else, according to Angel at The Guardian.
Die Hard
Die Hard gets way too much credit for what it is. It's a blood-soaked, macho-man Christmas movie about a buff guy running after a stereotypical German terrorist with virtually no redeemable qualities outside of entertainment. This movie isn't bad, it's just way overhyped.
Shakespeare in Love
Did you know that Shakespeare in Love won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1998? For a love story that was neither convincing nor particularly well-scripted, this came as a surprise to most. Although it's supposed to mirror the relationship between Romeo and Juliet, it left a lot to be desired.
Titanic
Some critics think that the setting of the Titanic was way too cheesy, even for a romance movie. It's shot extremely well, but the acting is a bit too distant from how real people interact with one another. Titanic feels like it's a heavily stylized play version of the movie it's supposed to be. It totally doesn't deserve the praise it's gotten.
The Godfather
After the first two hours of watching The Godfather, you might have a moment where you ask yourself if you were missing something. This slow-burn movie is called "timeless" because of the time period it was released in, according to Savannah at Buzzfeed. Nostalgia plays a big factor in how overrated this one is.
Sixteen Candles
"For all the love that Sixteen Candles gets, critics, seem to glaze over how politically incorrect and creepy this movie actually is. " Adam McNeil at The Atlantic states that Sixteen Candles should be removed from the pedestal that it sits on and scrutinized just like everything else from this era.
Back to the Future
Some critics think that Back to the Future was made "hackily" and it didn't drive home what it was trying to do. It wasn't necessarily a sci-fi movie, and it wasn't really a comedy, so it's just stuck in the middle as a movie that doesn't really know what it wants to be. People love it, but mostly for the nostalgia factor.
Jaws
Jaws has recently come under some scrutiny and has even been challenged for a remake in the near future because it failed to adjust to the times. For a two hour movie about sharks, critics think that there should have been more shark action and less delegation about what they were going to do about the shark. It was terrifying for the time, but Jaws doesn't hold up well at all.
Breakfast At Tiffany's
Critics have been coming out to say that this movie is boring, and Audrey Hepburn's character is completely unbearable to watch flaunt around her enormous wealth and privilege. For every good review this movie gets, a critic loses faith in their ability to discern whether a movie's message is positive or not. The plot is thin, the characters are awful, and critics praise this movie way too much.