Top Five Most Overrated Movies Of All Time

1. Gone With The Wind

Starring: Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh

Touted as a civil war epic that closely follows history but in reality it is a four hour soap opera. There are some parts that are true to history although it's hard not to notice how much they have romanticized the south. For a film about the civil war it is odd that their aren't any scenes depicting slavery in the fields. All the slaves depicted simply adore Ms. Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) and treat her as if they were her mother. I guess you could say that this is a product a when this movie was made but still it's a bit much. 

Then we have the romance between Scarlett and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) if you could call it that. She spends most of her time finding people to use and he treats her like a stupid little kid. Honestly, the melodrama of their on again off again relationship gets very tiresome after four hours. We're supposed to rooting for these two dysfunctional people? Ms. Scarlett is not a likable heroine at all and Rhett is only slightly more tolerable. By the time Clark Gable utters his famous line at the end modern audiences will have the same thought about this film.


2. Titanic

Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio & Kate Winslet
Director: James Cameron  

Another historical epic that in reality is a love story. Could the events in this movie have really occurred on the actual Titanic? It's possible since we have very little information about the passengers aboard the ship. Honestly, though I doubt that there was a whirlwind romance between an upper class young lady and a kid who barely had a nickel to his name. Some people may call this movie a throwback to the older more romantic films of the past but to me it's just all too unrealistic. As if the real story of the Titanic was not dramatic enough James Cameron throws an over the top romance on top of it. The corniness and cheesy lines are just too much for any grown man to take. Does anyone remember the "I'm flying, I'm flying" scene? I've never seen two people make such a big deal about standing on the edge of a railing. If it weren't for teenage girls infatuation with Dicaprio at the time I doubt this movie would be one of the biggest of all time.

3. Lord Of The Rings Trilogy 

Starring: Ian McKellan, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom.
Director: Peter Jackson
 
I can hear the hordes of angry dorks getting ready to leave me nasty messages already. Hear me out though people before getting so upset. First this is really just one story in three parts that is why I'm counting it as one movie and not three. As such it clocks in at about 9 hours for the full trilogy. Now I will give Peter Jackson credit for staying faithful to his source material and for creating some great visuals. Many of the battle scenes are also suitably epic as well. However, much of these films are filled with wooden dialogue, overlong speeches or groups simply traveling from one area to another. For those of us unfamiliar with the novels you practically need a map and guide to help you understand all the different groups of peoples and areas of middle earth. Sometimes less is more and these movies just keep adding more and more. In the end this movie is uncomplicated story of good vs. evil which tries to be more serious and inspiring than it deserves to be.

4. Avatar

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver.
Director: James Cameron.

Now in my review I said that I enjoyed this film and I do. That doesn't mean though that it is not overrated. Near perfect scores from critics and audiences are way overblown. Many of those scores are biased due to the fact that Avatar was a true first, a real 3-D spectacular. As we see more movies employing the same technologies the estimation of this film will come down quite a bit.  The story while involving and and interesting as an analogy is not truly original or groundbreaking. The special effects while great in 3-D lose some of their magic at home in 2-D on DVD. Already, James Cameron has planned a sequel and a novelization. Not to mention he is re-releasing the original with "bonus footage" not even a year after it's initial release. Obviously even he knows that he needs to milk this thing while he can. 

5. King Kong

Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody.
Director: Peter Jackson.

All the special effects in the world can't change the fact that this is exactly the same story from the original King Kong and that the story simply isn't that interesting. Peter Jackson must have spent a small fortune on this film but still he doesn't succeed. I enjoyed the first viewing somewhat but after that couldn't muster the energy to invest two and half hours of my life into such a simplistic story. While Peter Jackson tries to create an action packed film by showing all of the deadly creatures on King Kong's island and putting his characters in harm's way for most of the film what he really has done is just tire the audience out. Also, the tacked on romance between Naomi Watt's character and Adrien Brody is totally uninteresting as the two have almost no on screen chemistry and spend most of the film separated from each other.  The only character we really can root for is Kong himself and we all already know how that story ends.