Top 20 Movies That TRIED Way TOO HARD

As a filmmaker, Oliver Stone is known for being provocative in his commentary on modern society. But if there was ever a time to rein him in, it was here. “Natural Born Killers” stars
Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as murderous lovers who become folk heroes thanks to the sensationalist media. While there is validity to the point about the dangers of celebrity culture and the bloodthirsty pursuit of ratings, it’s delivered so hamfistedly. It certainly doesn’t help that the visual presentation is purposefully disorienting, making what could’ve been a meaningful examination of society turn into a two-hour headache.

“Thor: Ragnarok,” the third film headlined by Chris Hemsworth’s hammer-wielding superhero, is widely considered to be the best of its series. Much of this can be credited to director Taika Waititi successfully bringing a lighter touch to the MCU. Unfortunately, that didn’t work nearly as well for the follow-up. The plotline, involving a villain known as “Gorr the God Butcher” and Thor’s ex, Jane Foster’s cancer diagnosis, is far too serious for the pervasively jokey tone Waititi employs. We don’t think this movie should be completely humorless. But the balance is so skewered, it’s hard to care about the actual stakes.

Darren Aronofsky’s go-for-broke directing style serves him well for some projects and not so well for others. “Mother!” is squarely in the latter category. Using the biblical story of creation as inspiration for a psychological horror film, “Mother!” does have some genuinely unnerving moments. But the harder Aronofsky tries to overwhelm and shock, the less he delivers. Though stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem are as good as ever, they get lost in the midst of the auteur’s misguided ambition. “Mother!”, exclamation point and all, is a movie that demands your attention instead of earning it.

After successfully bringing “The Lord of the Rings” to life, it might seem fair to assume that Peter Jackson could handle any literary adaptation. That was disproven by his take on Alice Sebold’s novel about a 14-year-old girl narrating from the afterlife after her death at the hands of her sadistic neighbor. To say the least, this requires a delicate hand. And Jackson’s take on this very sensitive material is far too sentimental. Depicting the afterlife with a plethora of special effects, he loses the sensitive tone of the source material and ends up with something rather distasteful. Though Saoirse Ronan delivers a typically excellent performance, she, along with the rest of the talented cast, can’t save “The Lovely Bones” from Jackson’s miscalculations.

How can you make a movie with two actors in one setting feel like it’s trying way too hard? Ask Sam Levinson. The “Euphoria” creator’s attempt at an intimate drama falls flat thanks to his apparent allergy to subtlety. Made in secret during the COVID-19 lockdowns, it stars John David Washington and Zendaya as a director and his girlfriend, who stay up all night arguing and revealing uncomfortable truths. It's melodrama with a capital M. And though Levinson’s knack for visuals is apparent, he’s betrayed by his script. Specifically, it’s the overwrought dialogue that turns his characters into mouthpieces rather than people. We’d honestly rather just watch 106 minutes of Washington and Zendaya just talking than this pretentious mess.

Arguably, winning Best Picture backfired tremendously for “Crash,” as it put a magnifying glass on the film and its flaws. That said, you don’t have to look too hard to see why it rubbed so many the wrong way. Telling a series of intersecting stories about race relations in Los Angeles, it’s self-important to a fault while also drastically simplifying an incredibly complicated topic. It would be unreasonable to expect a movie literally called “Crash” to not get at least a little messy. But throwing so many elements together and leaving out the nuance results in a movie that feels more like a hamfisted lecture than a work of art.

How did Richard Kelly follow-up the cult success of his mind-bending “Donnie Darko”? With this, which defies description. Set in a dystopian U.S., “Southland Tales” mashes together an array of eccentric characters in a plot that’s impossible to pin down. It’s so confusing that even one of its stars, Justin Timberlake, admitted years later in an interview that he still didn’t know what it was about. But while many great films are purposefully abstract, this one suffers due to Kelly not knowing when to say when. Like its predecessor, “Southland Tales” found an audience after flopping in theaters. But even its defenders would have to admit it’s decidedly “extra.”

“Zoolander” is a modern comedy classic with lovable characters and hilarious quotes. Its sequel is, well, something of a dumpster fire. Released more than a decade later, “Zoolander 2” brings back Ben Stiller and much of the original cast but not the same humor and heart. A major issue is the amount of celebrity cameos, with everyone from Katy Perry to Neil deGrasse Tyson in the mix. It’s bigger but definitely not better. And for every well-executed gag, there are so many that miss the mark. If there’s ever a “Zoolander 3,” we hope Stiller scales things back considerably.

Joaquin Phoenix earned a long-overdue Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck, a man with mental health issues who will become the criminal mastermind known as “The Joker.” Though it takes place in the Batman universe, Todd Phillips’ film is far more indebted to the work of Martin Scorsese, specifically “Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy.” But whereas those masterpieces went deep into their characters and their disturbances, “Joker” is surface level in its depiction of mental health, crime, and just about everything else. It might impress someone who hasn’t seen its inspirations. But if you have, it’s painfully clear where it falls short of what it’s aiming for.

Five years after “Jerry Maguire,” Cameron Crowe re-teamed with Tom Cruise for a decidedly different kind of movie. Based on a Spanish film, “Vanilla Sky” is a surreal psychological thriller about a man whose sense of reality unravels following a car crash. Decidedly uncommercial for a mainstream film starring a superstar, it’s admirable in some regards, particularly for its visuals and Cameron Diaz’s standout supporting performance. But when it doesn’t work, it’s pompous to the level of self-parody. Perhaps the best way to describe “Vanilla Sky” is a dream, one you can’t wake up from soon enough.

Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence and space exploration; sounds like a recipe for cinematic gold and a stellar film, right? So what could go wrong? In “Passengers”’ case, it’s not so much about going wrong, as it is about falling flat. While audiences had mixed responses to Passengers, most agreed that the story seemed too formulaic. Meanwhile, the acting, while not bad, just seemed bland, and it had an overall feel of, been there, seen that. Add to this the fact that the flick was pretty much a box office flop in North America, earning just a little over 100 million on a reported 110 million dollar budget, and this was one potentially explosive film that was just a big bomb.

Beauty is only skin deep, or in the case of this psychological thriller, screen deep. While many agree that The Cell was visually unique and stunning, the same cannot be said for the script. The premise of this movie is intriguing: a child psychologist goes into a serial killer’s mind to help find a kidnapped victim. But the execution of the story took a backseat to the imagery. Maybe the visuals were meant to be a bit too over the top to help mask the plot holes and poor casting decisions that critics felt plagued the movie, but in the end it was too much show, not enough tell.

If any company knows how to extend, expand and exploit a franchise, it’s Disney. We aren’t saying Disney doesn’t make great movies - they do - but many felt that At World’s End was just not one of the better ones. While it was 2007’s most commercially successful flick, there were just too many extra characters, too much emphasis on Jack Sparrow’s quirky antics, too many seemingly repetitive fight scenes, and let’s not forget the confusing plot twist, all of which had audiences thinking the 3rd installment of the Pirates series might’ve been best left at world’s end, or maybe pushed over it…

Many directors try to push the envelope with their films, either by doubling down on the shock value, increasing the intensity of visuals or broaching sensitive topic areas. Eli Roth tried to do all of that in The Green Inferno, and the result was too much of all three. With many saying it missed the mark when it comes to being scary, Inferno instead placed all of its eggs in the gore basket, and those eggs were then broken into a bloody mess. Most agreed there was an overabundance of carnage and the macabre, too much shock and not enough awe – all of which diluted, instead of emphasizing the film’s social commentary, disturbing intent, and impactful imagery.

The exploration of human existence, the place of faith, and the role that relationships and experience have in shaping our identity aren’t new themes for films to explore. However, this drama from visionary director Terrence Malick had people saying it relied too heavily on the philosophical and shocking, which in turn, made the flick more convoluted than poignant. The Tree of Life was well acted, and for many offered thought provoking questions about life and the understanding of oneself, but for others, the almost two and a half hour run time exploring nature and nurture was just plain boring and tedious.

Real-life tragedies have long since found their way onto the screen, usually in the form of a heartwarming drama or emotional action film. In the case of this pick, the plot revolves around a young autistic boy who sets out on a quest to find the lock that matches a key that belonged to his father - who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. The film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel tells a unique story, but seems to focus too strongly on capitalizing on tragedy and using emotion to sway audiences. The end result is a film that many felt lacked sincerity and connection to the subject matter.

While we considered placing the 2015 space opera Jupiter Ascending here, we ultimately went with another Wachowskis-directed sci-fi: 2012’s Cloud Atlas, which looks at how the cause and effect of one’s actions can impact the future. With multiple switching timelines; the events from each rippling into the others; as well as a message of how kindness or crime can impact everything, the movie is definitely complex. However, for many, it appeared to be too complex. Originally adapted from a 2004 novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas shows that what works on paper doesn’t always work on screen, making a little over $27 million at the US box office on an estimated $128 million budget!

When it comes to Tarantino films, people can expect three things: extreme violence, dark humor, and a healthy dose of fast-paced action. The Hateful Eight offered two of the three, choosing to emphasize over the top violence and humor. It also decided to include long monotonous conversations between characters at the expense of action. Additionally, many felt the flick was trying too hard to recreate past successes and that less effort was made for an original and engaging storyline. Not to mention the fact that the movie hits an approximately 3-hour run-time, which had people thinking it was a whole lot of the same old thing.

Many people wish they could communicate with or understand different parts of the universe. So it’s no surprise to come across a film that tackles what would happen if Love, Time and Death were able to answer you back. The movie was set up to give emotional insight into how beauty can come from turmoil, and how people learn lessons they never expected while striving for another goal. In concept, Collateral Beauty is great. But in reality, it was cheesy and had so much schmaltz that audiences could barely choke it down. The plot seemed contrived, and came across more as a movie of the week than a tale for the ages.

This much-awaited flick was loud, flashy and went for all out mayhem - maybe a little too much mayhem, all things considered. While the movie did satisfy the cravings of some, especially the Harley Quinn fan base, many others found it hollow, unevenly paced, graphically displeasing, and devoid of the essence of the Squad from comics. Meanwhile, the story seemed erratic and lacking at the same time. Oh, and this wasn’t the first DC flick that didn’t live up to the hype; we’re looking at you, “Batman v Superman.” With a heavy emphasis on one-liners, music video-esque scenes, and hit-or-miss performances from the cast, Suicide Squad would likely have benefited from a little less style and a lot more substance.