What are your critically UNACCLAIMED/bomb films that you love-

Cats.

Loved it. I get why many didn’t but it absolutely won me over.

Mixed Nuts, the obscure 1994 Nora Ephron film with Steve Martin. It’s ridiculous and I love it to death.

“The Hot Chick” with now-problematic Rob Schneider and a fabulously game Anna Faris.

When I first came out, “The Boys in the Band” was considered a self-loathing, negative film that you weren’t supposed to like. Then “The Celluloid Closet” trashed it too. When I finally saw it years later, I liked it.

“Hello, Dolly!”

I love the songs, I love the last gasp of the old-fashioned musical with elaborate sequences, I love the setting and I loved Barbra, despite her being too young.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Showgirls.

It doesn't suck.

It used to love Doggie Chow.

It takes you to... different PLACES!

Five Days One Summer - Fred Zinnemann's last film. It starred Sean Connery.

Bombed, but I like it

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation" (1995) starring pre-fame Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey. It is loathed by many fans of the series and bombed at the box office, but I consider it a bonafide camp classic and hilarious postmodern deconstruction of the original film. I love every deranged second of it.

Poltergeist 3. I like the concept of the vengeful spirits pursuing Carol Anne to Chicago's Hancock Building; the skyscraper makes for a nice change-of-pace from the suburbs of the first two. The whole thing has a chilly, late 80s vibe--Reagan's America beginning to freeze over. It's sad that Heather O'Rourke died before production finished, but she effectively carries the movie. Nancy Allen, Tom Skerritt, and Lara Flynn Boyle are pretty convincing as the terrified relatives, with Zelda Rubinstein coming back one last time as Tangina. The use of mirrors and doubles is clever and creepy. And yes, even though we hear the name "Carol Anne" repeated over a hundred times, and the ending was rushed because of O'Rourke's untimely death, the movie has enough well-constructed bits to make it an annual Halloween viewing for me.

White Chicks

Empire Records. I watch it again and again.

For the longest time it had only one star on IMDb, if we were considering watching a movie with 2 stars, we'd always say "but it's twice as good as Empire Records!'

"Howard The Duck"

Stupidly bizarre to the point of being truly fascinating.

Back-to-back Shelley Winters: Bloody Mama (1970) and Who Slew Auntie Roo (1971)

Olivia de Haviland in Lady in a Cage (1964)

Mame

For the Boys

[Quote] “Hello, Dolly!” I love the songs, I love the last gasp of the old-fashioned musical with elaborate sequences, I love thesetting and I loved Barbra, despite her being too young.

I vastly prefer it to Funny Girl which I've tried on several occasions to watch but was never able to make it through to the end

Rules of Attraction

James Brolin film festival: "Gable & Lombard"; "The Car"; and "The Amityville Horror". Siskel and Ebert haaated him.

The Love Guru. (I am not proud of myself for this.)

DICK, with Michelle Williams, Kirsten Dunst, and (in a career best performance) Dan Hedaya. It's a cult film, but still underappreciated.

CAREFUL, HE MIGHT HEAR YOU. An Australian period sleeper with the performance of a lifetime by the great 80s actress Wendy Hughes (who died much too young, but in her day challenged Judy Davis as the greatest young Australian actress--which is REALLY saying something when the competition is Davis!)

MARNIE, with 'Tippi' Hedren. It doesn't work on so many levels, but even so, it is compulsory watchable. 'Tippi 'Hedren gives a performance that is somehow simultaneously brilliant and awful.

[Quote] James Brolin film festival: "Gable & Lombard"; "The Car"; and "The Amityville Horror". Siskel and Ebert haaated him.

And justifiably so as did almost everyone. I remember seeing The Amityville Horror and only being scared once when a cat suddenly popped up out of nowhere. Ultimately it feels like a mediocre episode of Unsolved Mysteries, and some may find Rod Steiger's over the top performing amusing. Gable and Lombard and The Car were really vilified at least The Amityville Horror was a huge box office success

btw R15 what about another Brolin film 1972s Skyjacked which was a theatrical release but absolutely feels like a made for TV movie

I saw The Car on Svengoolie and liked it.

R14, I love Who Slew Auntie Roo

I also love Shelley's other "hag horror" movie, What's the Matter With Helen

Big Eyes

The World of Henry Orient.

Very funny, very gentle film with Peter Sellars and Angela Lansbury. An idyllic look at what teenage girls and Manhattan in general could be like in the mid-1960s. Paula Prentiss has one of the funniest supporting parts of all time as a VERY nervous Westchester housewife cheating on her husband.

I saw The Car in the theater and had totally forgotten about it ! I also liked Race With The Devil . But one of my all time faves b movie is Vice Squad with Season Hubley, Gary Swanson and Wings Hauser . I LOVED Gary Swanson madly !

R16 You're forgiven. The second half of Funny Girl really drags!

Dirty Grandpa. I thought it was hilarious. Zac Efron never looked better. He's almost completely naked. DeNiro's homophobic grandpa turns out not to be homophobic at all. He loves insulting everybody.

How could DL not love this movie? (or most people?)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

IN THE CUNT

was where I did most of my work with Mark Ruffalo

Good one r29

I don’t understand why Race with the Devil is critically panned when it’s the one horror films that’s the most realistic.

Hitchcock's Frenzy is underrated. Excellent movie.

I really like Frenzy

"Body Shots" (1999)

Starring: Sean Patrick Flanery, Jerry O'Connell, Amanda Peet, Tara Reid, Ron Livingston, Emily Procter, Brad Rowe and Sybil Temtchine.

The film is basically a Cosmopolitan article about date rape made into a screenplay. Yet, for some reason, I didn't find it that bad.

Grumpy Cat. Aubrey Plaza voices it perfectly.

I love Femme Fatale, De Palma’s film.

I took it as an homage to 1960s eurothrillers/caper films. It’s gorgeously shot and impeccably directed. And I think Rebecca Romijn is quite good in it.

The score is breathtaking!

I went to see it when it was released in theaters. It was around six months after 9/11. I really needed a fun eyeful like Femme Fatale.

R32 It was considered a cheapy horror film when it came out. It pretty much went straight to Drive-ins and 2nd run movie houses.

But over the years, it's become a cult favorite of many. I would no longer consider it unacclaimed.

And the ending is pretty fucking campy!

One thing that bugged me. I don't care if this is a spoiler alert because its the one thing I wish I had prepared for.

Kill as many people as you want in any manner of vicious ways. Even kill a baby if you want to.

BUT DO NOT KILL THE FAMILY DOG! I hate when they do that in any movie.

"Karen" (2021). It's pretty eye-rolling bad, plays like an instructional film you'd watch during a job orientation.

Which is too bad, because Taryn Manning is genuinely menacing and spot-on. She deserved a better movie.

Mommie Dearest, of course

Poison Ivy (the Drew Barrymore film)

Dude, Where's My Car

STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT (1992)

Last month, YouTube made it free to watch, so I did for the first time ever and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, after it was eviscerated by critics 3 decades ago and underperformed at the box office.

Although it did much better on home video via sales/rentals, it still did not entice me to watch.

Anyway, it's a typical buddy cop action comedy with Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Getty, who are believable as mother and son.

I laughed pretty hard throughout. It's an example of one of those movies that critics hate, but it's a fun watch.

R16, I was going to say the same thing as R27. “Funny Girl” is so amazing at the start and just drops off.

Norbert. I got everything in that movie and think it's pretty much a masterpiece.

R20 I'm not sure you could call 'Careful He Might Hear You' unacclaimed or a bomb. It was well received at the time but seems to have fallen off the radar in discussions of Australian films. Maybe because it really pushed the envelope in ways that couldn't be done today.

There's a sex scene where Wendy Hughes masturbates over her nephew while fantasizing about his father. The actor playing the nephew (Nicholas Gledhill) was only eight years old. Revenge comes at his birthday party with an astonishing shot where he's sitting on a sofa staring at his aunt while the other kids writhe around in mock sexual arousal because he's told them about it.

Also worth seeing for the cameo by John Hargreaves as the boy's father. Great actor who died of AIDS in 1996.

R37, I love Femme Fatale. It isn't really "thrilling" in the typical sense of a Thriller. But it's one of the most well-directed movies ever. I love the score too, one of the composer's best (he died recently).

Forces of Nature (1999)

It's such a guilty pleeasure film. Ben looked hot as fuck in it.

Connie and Carla

It’s a bawdy take on Some Like It Hot which bombed at the box office, but I adore it.

The Paperboy

That movie is straight-up bonkers from beginning to end, and I love every deranged moment from it. You know you're in for a wild ride when the movie starts with Macy Gray imitating a masturbating Zac Efron and only gets weirder from there.

R49, I have a screen shot of Matthew McConaughey (god I hate actor's names you have to look up every time to spell them correctly) naked and hogtied from that movie on my computer somewhere. He was like on his belly, his wrist tied to his ankles and I zoom into to see if you can see hole. In the film he is beaten bloody in that position, but damn if it isn't still hot as fuck knowing it is him.

Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar is mine. I love that stupid little movie. It makes me laugh. It's so innocent and sunny and fun. And Jamie Dornan is so cute singing and dancing. It's DUMB as hell, but the jokes land. It's a favorite airplane movie if it's available.

Barb and Star actually got decent reviews. I don't know anyone who dislikes it.

I'll always smile when I hear the name Trish thanks to the movie.

The Fog (1980)

Serial Mom

The Ninth Gate

The Toy with Richard Pryor and Jackie Gleason.

Juliet, Naked was my favorite film of that year, but it was all but ignored and disappeared without a trace.

"Edge of Tomorrow" was shy of an outright bomb, but it drastically underperformed given the genre and how good it was.

Interiors

[quote]Hitchcock's Frenzy is underrated.

Hardly, r33. Frenzy was touted as Hitchcock's return to form and was a hit.

Fine, R58, but it isn't usually mentioned in his list of great films and I think it should be along with Psycho and North By Northwest.

I remember enjoying the Bedazzled remake when it came out, even though the critics hated it. I was about thirteen and thought that even though it was all a bit stupid, Liz Hurley was so much fun as the Devil. Kind of ironic that such a high-camp film has a homophobic segment (Brendan Frazer is horrified to realise he's gay in a certain timeline, although that was par for the course in 2000).

......

I used to watch a Chorus Line all the time on vhs.

Was Urban Cowboy acclaimed by any critics?

I really like White Chicks...its a really fun parody.

R64, agreed, I feel the same way about Malibu's Most Wanted as well.

Fedora. Or “Feh-DOE-wah,” as its lead Marthe Keller pronounced it.

La Luna with Jill Clayburgh as an American opera star in Italy who ends up jerking off her teenage son who also happens to be a heroin addict.

Clifford

Soul Plane

Only God Forgives (2013)

Grossed ten million worldwide and has a 37 on metacritic.

I think it's absolutely beautiful, captivating and has a great soundtrack. Ryan Gosling and Kristen Scott Thomas are perfect in it.

To Wong foo was critically dragged as an inferior copy of Priscilla queen of the desert, but had become the better loved and remembered of the two especially by younger generations.

Reality bites also has more contemporary fans than singles, against which it was unfavorably compared uponrelease.

I don't know what you mean by 'Unacclaimed/bomb films" -- but I love Joe Dirt, if that fits.

Are any bomb films "acclaimed"?

Oh, I get it! You're looking for either unacclaimed OR bomb films!

It's wonderful seeing what Manhattan's upper East side was like in 63 in Henry Orient. Also Elmer Bernstein has written a wonderful score completely unlike his classic Magnificent Seven. Though it ends hopefully it's a very sad movie. And Angela gives one of her truly evil mother performances.

Death becomes her

Bros

Box office bomb and widely panned by critics. Eviscerated on DL. But I’ve rewatched it many times and I like it a lot.

Get Over It (2001). It's not high art, but it's a great piece of early 2000s teen comedy fluff that has a high nostalgia factor for me. Great cast.

So, I Married an Axe Murderer

Wendy Hughes ... in her day challenged Judy Davis as the greatest young Australian actress

R20 - Nope Hughes was never in the same league as Davis. Hughes never made it as an international actress as Davis did. That said I do like Hughes in some things eg. Remember Me (1985).

Under The Rainbow was pretty universally panned and even leads Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher trashed it but I’ve loved it since I was a kid. Absolutely could not be made today but it still makes me laugh

Man from U.N.C.L.E. Truly unfortunate that we will never get a sequel. I know it isn't as unclaimed/much of a bomb as many in this thread, but it didn't get the respect it deserved at the time of release.

Agree with OP with Exorcist II: The Heretic

Some more:

At Long Last Love

1941 - the 2 1/2 hour director's cut

And two Hitchcock films: Marnie and Jamaica Inn

The transformers animated movie from the 1980s.

I feel pretty sure that I'm the only sentient human who loves MARCI X. I can't defend it artistically, but I enjoy it a Hell of a lot more than Rudnick-scripted films like THE STEPFORD WIVES and, yes, IN AND OUT. Everything that Marci's 3 sidekicks (Jane Krakowski! Sherie René Scott! Veanne Cox!) say is delicious.

Of these films I enjoyed Wonder Woman 2 and The Man From Uncle. They were fun, unpretentious and looked great.

Blackhat had Chris Hemsworth shirtless but not for long. And Allied would have worked well as a 4 hour BBC series but not a 2 hour movie.

Am I the only one who loves The Avengers with Fiennes and Thurman? The production and costume design are truly inspired.

[quote] 1941 - the 2 1/2 hour director's cut

Yes!

R69- OP here- Your choice made my day- I absolutely love this director and Only God Forgives. (He never directed another film since this one if I am correct) I just rewatched this a few months back and checked IMDB-

The production design, the absolute dread/darkness of the film, Kristen Scott Thomas plays vile SO well... The film really exists in it own universe and its so stylized. I love this one. (I think I really like films with a very specific tone and production design)

[quote]Man from U.N.C.L.E.

I really enjoyed this movie. I don't know why it didn't do better. It was generic, but there are far worse generic action films that do better (F&F).

[quote]Are any bomb films "acclaimed"?

Sure. Happens all the time.

R20 thanks for the reminder of "Dick". I saw that film when I was very young, probably around 12 years old, and I wasn't well-read or old enough to get all of the humor in it. My parents owned it on DVD when I was growing up, and I was always a fan of Kirsten Dunst, so I saw it back then. I bought it on Blu-ray over the weekend and watched it last night, and it is very smart (albeit ridiculous, but that's intentional) and has legitimately great humor throughout. I only remembered bits and pieces of it. I've always thought Kirsten has always had good comedic timing, and there was no exception here. I've been lukewarm about Michelle Williams for years, but she was also funny. The supporting cast (Dan Hedaya, Will Ferrell, Teri Garr, Jim Breuer, Ana Gasteyer, Saul Rubinek, etc.) is also fantastic. I almost didn't recognize Ryan Reynolds with all his baby fat.

R55, I worked on that screenplay...

When I was a kid, two of my favorite summer time HBO movies were Married to the Mob and Making Mr. Right.

I love Get Over It, R77! It's just so blissfully silly. Martin Short as the delusional drama teacher, the clumsy Australian student, the annoyingly permissive parents...

One of my guilty pleasures

R88, Nicolas Winding Refn directed Neon Demon and two TV shows since Only God Forgives but none of those projects have come close to OGF or Drive. I think he really blew his creative load with those two movies.

It's a great movie and I'm glad at least one other person loves it.

Bubble Boy with Jake Gyllenhaal

The World of Henry Orient

Northeast hooker with a heart of gold escapes her murderous pimp and flees to the Midwest, where she befriends a middle school boy and romances his widowed father and ultimately wins over the quaint, picturesque town.

That's MILK MONEY starring Melanie Griffith and Ed Harris

DROP DEAD GORGEOUS

It's beloved here and has become a cult favorite but I remember when it was released it got mostly terrible reviews and bombed at the box office. I loved it from day one

The trailer is pretty bad, avoiding the darker satirical humor and making it look more slapstick. I can see why audiences didn't flock to it based on that trailer

CQ from 2001, directed by Roman Coppola and starring Jeremy Davies and Angela Lindvall.

Set in the 1960, a young American man becomes obsessed with an actress playing a sci-fi superheroine (based loosely on Jane Fonda in BARBARELLA) and goes to Paris to kind of stalk her, or sort himself out, or something.

The stylish, hip film made a small splash when it came out and played in art film houses, then pretty much disappeared. It’s not great and the lukewarm critical response is accurate. But I love it and watch it about once a year.

Hot Rod (2007)

Watched it on an airplane and was stifling laughs within the first 5 minutes. It's a cult fave now but no one I knew had seen it back then so I forced my nephew into watching it and he agreed it was great. Isla Fisher was a delight, who knew.

CROSS MY HEART (1987) with Martin Short and Annette O’Toole.

I’m not sure why I love this weird, forgettable rom-com so much. The casting is a strange fit.

I think l love the set design and styling of the apartment that 90% of the film takes place in, it’s so quintessentially 80s.

I finally found a copy on DVD and watch it all the time!

Thank God It's Friday. Hideous movie with a young Jeff Goldblum, Debrah Winger and Terri Nunn but the 3 minutes of Donna Summer singing Last Dance makes it worthwhile.

Jumpin' Jack Flash and Burglar, 2 of Whoopi Goldberg's comedy flops from the 80s. They used to show frequently on HBO so I watched them a lot back then and will still tune in if I come across them.

So I decided to read up on The World of Henry Orient and George Roy Hill. It was a commercial disappointment but as we know he went on to make some pretty big hits(if you are of a certain age you probably know they were huge.)

I also looked up Tippy Walker who plays one of the two very young leads obsessed with Peter Sellers as Henry Orient. Wow was that ever a kick in the head! And boy did I have no idea. Hill married with children in his 40s had a relationship with 16 year old Walker during filming. Lunch every day which became french kissing in his office then...

It is a bit strange in the film that two young girls are obsessed with middle aged Sellers(38, but when you are 16 that is old) when at the time girls were obsessed with the teen idols of the era including the Beatles. I know Hill did not write the novel on which the film is based but Walker herself said it was awkward in that 'we were two teen girls saying dialogue written by old men.'

I enjoyed "John Carter" which bombed in 2012. Maybe it brought back a lot of memories of going to the movies when I was a kid in the 1960's. And I'm not really a science fiction fan, but for some reason, that movie worked for me.