Top 5 over-rated movies
Ripped off plot puts Titanic in at No. 1
John Britt
Issue date: 1/27/10 Section: Entertainment
5. The Matrix (1999)
While it's the most influential action movie of the past decade, the story isn't. The main character, Neo, is Jesus with a penchant to hack. The messiah plot has been used many times before. Harry Potter, Star Wars and others make it clever; Keanu Reeves and co. do not.
4. Dirty Dancing (1987)
Patrick Swayze (R.I.P.) is Johnny, a dance teacher at a summer family camp in the Catskills where he meets Frances "Baby" Houseman. The two fall in love while "Baby" takes a fallen dance partner's place for a performance later in the summer. The reason this movie is overrated is that it suffers from being an 80's movie; somehow anything made in that era is great. The only good part of this movie is "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes - the best song to open a movie ever!
3. Juno (2007)
Sharp-tongued Juno MacGuff gets pregnant by her friend Paulie Bleeker. She decides to give the baby up for adoption to a nice suburban couple. Diablo Cody (whose back-story is more interesting than her writing) steals from many sources. Daria Morgendorffer from MTV shares the same unphased teen philosophy. Wes Anderson has his quirky characters and subversive plots. And how many teen pregnancy comedies have been made that involve having babies at the end?
2. Independence Day (1996)
Alien invasion movies need a real suspension of disbelief to enjoy it at face-value; the Will Smith/Jeff Goldblum tandem is more snake eyes than a full house. If a computer virus from mid-90s hardware can take down a technologically superior alien invading fleet, was it really a success to begin with?
1. Titanic (1997)
The most obvious pick but for a better reason. James Cameron ripped off "Romeo and Juliet" so bad that the iceberg wouldn't capsize it. Rose and Jack (place-cards for Romeo and Juliet, R and J), Rose's fiancé is essentially Paris; the fact they come from opposite sides of society makes this plot very unoriginal. The ship sinking was the best part, because the movie ended shortly thereafter!
While it's the most influential action movie of the past decade, the story isn't. The main character, Neo, is Jesus with a penchant to hack. The messiah plot has been used many times before. Harry Potter, Star Wars and others make it clever; Keanu Reeves and co. do not.
4. Dirty Dancing (1987)
Patrick Swayze (R.I.P.) is Johnny, a dance teacher at a summer family camp in the Catskills where he meets Frances "Baby" Houseman. The two fall in love while "Baby" takes a fallen dance partner's place for a performance later in the summer. The reason this movie is overrated is that it suffers from being an 80's movie; somehow anything made in that era is great. The only good part of this movie is "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes - the best song to open a movie ever!
3. Juno (2007)
Sharp-tongued Juno MacGuff gets pregnant by her friend Paulie Bleeker. She decides to give the baby up for adoption to a nice suburban couple. Diablo Cody (whose back-story is more interesting than her writing) steals from many sources. Daria Morgendorffer from MTV shares the same unphased teen philosophy. Wes Anderson has his quirky characters and subversive plots. And how many teen pregnancy comedies have been made that involve having babies at the end?
2. Independence Day (1996)
Alien invasion movies need a real suspension of disbelief to enjoy it at face-value; the Will Smith/Jeff Goldblum tandem is more snake eyes than a full house. If a computer virus from mid-90s hardware can take down a technologically superior alien invading fleet, was it really a success to begin with?
1. Titanic (1997)
The most obvious pick but for a better reason. James Cameron ripped off "Romeo and Juliet" so bad that the iceberg wouldn't capsize it. Rose and Jack (place-cards for Romeo and Juliet, R and J), Rose's fiancé is essentially Paris; the fact they come from opposite sides of society makes this plot very unoriginal. The ship sinking was the best part, because the movie ended shortly thereafter!
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