Your Most Anticipated But Most Disappointing Movie You’ve Ever Watched?

For me it had to be the remake of “The Stepford Wives”.

I was 17. I loved the poster, I remember the cool teaser (attached below) that won an awards before its release, I even bought the book!

And it was one of the worst movies I’ve ever watched. It was heartbreaking how bad it was.

And a little less more of an actual movie but as someone who grew up with “Batman Returns” and The Animated Series, every Catwoman portrayal since has been an utter disappointment.

I was very excited about Halle Berry’s “Catwoman” and had been following it since it was originally Ashley Judd.

Boy was that movie stupid.

“Magnolia” because I loved “Boogie Nights” and had impossibly high expectations.

“Ghostbusters”. I waited months for it to reach my local small town theater, I was underwhelmed to say the least.

Blair Witch Project. Looked like something made by a bunch of kids with no script and no budget.

'Eyes Wide Shut'. It has watchable elements, because of course Kubrick - but never really transcends the sum of its parts to be great. A disappointing swansong for a great director indeed.

Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express.

I was so disappointed I haven’t given Death on the Nile a try.

R7 Yup it sucked.

Titanic. Everyone I knew was telling me it was the best film they had ever seen and their favorite of all time. Really disappointing when I saw it. DiCaprio was the only good thing about it.

What bothered me the most about Titanic was the cheap CGI in some scenes, especially when they'd show bird's-eye views of the ship sailing in the daylight.

“The Great Gatsby” in 1974.

If you were around then it was the most hyped movie of the time with articles in every newspaper and magazine and much press given over to the costumes in the film, both for men and women.

Mia Farrow as Daisy was on the cover of a new magazine called People.

I think Kenneth Branagh was too vain to play Poirot as an effete dandy so he made him tougher and ever gave him a fistfight scene. He was director so there was no one around to tell him that he was ruining the character with his dumb acting choices. I hope he understands that his movie is vastly inferior to the 1974 version.

My biggest disappointment is World War Z. The book was a slow burn showing what a zombie apocalypse would look like from the perspective of people living in every corner of the globe. The movie had about four different locations and CGI zombies. Don't even get me started on Brad Pitt's lazy performance as Invincible Everyman. All these years later and I'm still mad about the wasted opportunity.

Out Of Africa . In fact I was so resentful at spending $7.50 to see that piece of shit it made me hate Meryl forever . I mever saw Redford as sexy . Handsome? yes. and a good actor . But never sexy , Same with Meryl . Only pretty when she was very young. Looked middle aged at 35 and just swears she is the last great thespian .

Also Titanic. It was a good popcorn movie theater distraction, but it was not Academy Award caliber.

The Brutalist was the most recent disappointment. What a piece of crap.

Halloween Ends. They built it up as the most epic battle between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, the one for which we’d been waiting decades. Instead we get some random punk on a motorcycle, completely hidden from all the marketing, taking up most of the screen time and the “battle royale” with Michael and Laurie is a minor five minute skirmish in a kitchen seemingly tacked on after the writers finally remembered what we came to see.

The Magnificent Albertsons. The graphic novel was lyrical and intense, but Welles just had to go balls to the wall, as usual.

^^^ Ambersons

The English Patient. I felt like I’d been left in the middle of a desert of boredom.

Is The Magnificent Albertsons about the supermarket chains?

[quote]Is The Magnificent Albertsons about the supermarket chains?

That's what Larry King asked Orson Welles.

Love fucking Story. OMG that thing was everywhere the year it came out, and was the biggest nothingburger in the history of film.

I feel like Love Story was the first film that I know of which caused frau hysteria

Two of a Kind

[quote] The Magnificent Albertsons. The graphic novel was lyrical and intense,

the graphic novel?

To R5- Fucking A... I agree with you! Laughable movie made no sense& wasn't scary.

It SUCKED more than I did back in the day!!!

Of recent times, the POS known as “Maleficent”.

“Sleeping Beauty” is one of my all-time favorite Disney films. I thought, how could they mess this up? And they fucking did. I didn’t need a revisionist tale about how Maleficent was misunderstood, that the king was an ass, that the fairies were so stupid and incompetent that they didn’t even know how to feed a baby…

I left the theater annoyed.

“Interview with the Vampire”.

The Hobbit. From 2012.

I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and was expecting something epic like that. Instead we got a cgi bloated mess. I watched all of the first one, part of the second (made it to the barrels on river scene), and none of the third.

Terrible.

Two major ones for me were "Bonfire of the Vanities" ..... totally boring. I felt the same way about "The Phantom Menace."

R23 I was only 12 when I saw this when I was on vacation with family in Europe in 1973 . My cousins in Italy took me along to see it. Even at that age I felt it was a low-brow maudlin tearjerker that could have been a TV movie of the week. I saw it again on cable about 2 years ago and my first impression remains the same.

MAME

I knew what was wrong with it and I did see it five times but I still had held out hope.

2001: A Space Odyssey

A Clockwork Orange

Saw both in the early1980s in repertory and consider them both good, but not the world-changing masterpieces I was told to expect by my elder siblings who saw them in first run. By then I had seen some great films of the 1970s and felt more moved by them.

The Blair Witch Project

The Dark Tower

everything Stephen King recently but I am so goddamed everlastingly bitter over TDT

The Hateful Eight. I think it was on Christmas day we drove a couple of hours to attend one of the "road shows" I was so looking forward to it. The theater was packed, but I was overall disappointed with the movie (though not exactly sure what I was expecting). I kept getting distracted by Samuel L. Jackson's Hollywood white teeth, which of course wouldn't have been a thing back in the Old West.

Barbie.

Though my biggest disappointment was Riding the Bus With My Sister.

I forgot, Wonder Woman. Both of them.

Hello Dolly! with Barbra Streisand. I expected to love it, and was so disappointed.

I loved the book "the Shining" so much I read it four or five times. Couldn't wait for the movie.

I hated it and still do. Wendy was a strong-willed blonde, not Shelley Duvall. There was supposed to be a topiary, and a boiler "she creeps". Everything that was terrific about the book was left out of the movie, because "Kubrick knows best". The TV version was closer to the book.

Plus how dare he treat Shelley like that! But I didn't know about that part till later. Made me hate that movie even more.

Bah Kubrick.

I've been disappointed with all the new Alien movies. Especially Covenant. That one was especially stupid. But, I did like Fassbender as the androids. He did a good job.

Alien vs. Predator was a let down. And part 2 was worse.

Ghostbusters. Ugh.

R39, yeah, it’s nothing like the book and I was disappointed when I first saw at 14 it that there were no topiary animals. But in the ensuing decades, I really think that they would have looked ridiculous onscreen.

Somebody who saw the TV version once said that indeed they did.

[quote]Love fucking Story. OMG that thing was everywhere the year it came out, and was the biggest nothingburger in the history of film.

At least it (and Ali MacGraw) gave Barbra something to make fun of at the end of [italic]What's Up, Doc?[/italic]

I'm with R29. I enjoyed the LotR movies, and since The Hobbit was my favorite Tolkein book and I liked Martin Freeman I thought I would be in for a faithful adaptation of a beloved classic, not what felt like 15+ bloated hours of videogame play.

1) The Titanic visual effects were not "cheap". They were state of the art...for 1997. And, for me, the only bad thing about the film was Cameron's horrible script/plot/dialogue. He's a terrible writer.

2) I know it's all subjective but how can you be disappointed by Ghostbusters? It was a silly, fun popcorn movie...what were you expecting?

3) "The Magnificiant Albertsons" was an early graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. They're collector's items now! Sadly, Clowes never followed up with "The Terrific J.C. Penney".

4) Kubrick's The Shining isn't perfect but Stephen King's TV production with a strong blonde female lead (who looked like a Playmate of the Year), the "scary" topiaries, and the Worst Child Actor in the history of awful child actors with bad bowl cuts, was an abomination.

5) Lord of the Rings was hugely disappointing. I foolishly expected Peter Jackson would do something interesting and visually creative with the material. He just made a very long, boring, middle of the road trilogy.

I've never heard someone call the LOTR trilogy boring and middle of the road. They are pretty much the gold standard for a fantasy adaptation.

I agree with the later Alien movies. I couldn't finish Romulus.

Star Wars and The Towering Inferno

R39 Never go to see a movie expecting it to be as good as the book. It is almost always a variation and adapted for the screen. The number of films that were as good (although not exactly) as the book I can count on one hand.

Gladiator 2

Why would anyone have high expectations for Gladiator 2?

James Franco's Hart Crane movie. Maybe I should have known better than to trust James Franco but I'm a big Hart Crane fan so I was looking forward to it. But it stunk

Side note, I think the epitome of frau hysteria would have to be 50 Shades of Grey. I never saw it tbh but I'm sure it was fucking awful.

The plot of Gladiator 2 was extremely forgettable but I loved the animal fights. Especially the baboons.

Why is The Magnificent Albertsons so funny. Band name caliber.

Return of the Jedi, Star Trek V, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman (1989), License to Kill, the latter four were all released in the same summer. Just so awful.

R52 the film was a huge improvement over the abominable dreck of a “book” (which I read most of hoping it would improve but it absolutely did not).

[quote]"Bonfire of the Vanities" ..... totally boring

R30 Loved the book from start to finish, but as soon as I saw who was being cast, knew the movie would suck. Genial good-guy Tom Hanks as a Master of the Universe bond trader, trashy Melanie Griffith as the mistress, and Bruce Willis as British alcoholic journalist => el stinko. Never saw the movie, and was gratified that it flopped. See r48 — keep expectations low for film adaptations of highly enjoyed books.

I agree R55 that Star Trek V sucked balls but the first ST movie was the biggest disappointment to me. I remember waiting in a line that went around the block in Manhattan —it was freezing out in December.

Worth the wait? Hardly. The story was boring as fuck, it took ages just for the Enterprise to leave space dock to embark on this so-called adventure, and coupled with all the bombastic music that served as the soundtrack … I couldn’t wait for it all to end.

House Of The Spirits.

Such a rich and dreamlike Chilean novel. Such an all-star cast.

Such a failure.

Bewitched

I grew up watching reruns for hours every day in the 70s and know the dialogues of every episode. It remains one of my favorite sitcoms. I was wary of Kidman and think Farrell is a meathead actor, but Shirley MacLaine intrigued me. I saw it opening night in a mostly empty theater.

Nora Ephron tried to do something “meta” with this project and failed on every level. This film is a stain on the original series.

Crash

Oppenheimer. I thought it was going to be exciting but it was a snooze fest.

The Nun. I love horror movies but I almost fell asleep in the theater.

Smile 2. I liked the first one but this one was lame.

I heart Huckabee's, the royal tannembaums, my big fat Greek wedding,

[quote] I know it's all subjective but how can you be disappointed by Ghostbusters? It was a silly, fun popcorn movie...what were you expecting?

Were you by chance around that summer when it was being hyped to the stars and back?

R64 LOL..yes. It was hyped as a fun, pop corn movie with Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Signourney Weaver all chasing very silly ghosts in NYC. With a kickass theme song that EXACTLY described what you were in for.

Were you expecting a sophisticated Woody Allen comedy?

R3, how could you be disappointed by Magnolia if you liked the work of Paul Thomas Anderson? Sounds like you didn’t have any real appreciation for Boogie Nights as a director’s triumph.

Philadelphia.

I went to the first showing on the first day and as the final credits rolled, all I could think was, “This must be how women and black people feel when they go to the movies.”

As a gay man, who at that point had lived through 14 years of the AIDS epidemic, I wasn’t the target audience for that film.

Brokeback Mountain. In the middle I turned around and said “this is not very good is it?”.

R68 I hope the person behind you told you to STFU.

Hausu the Japanese ghost movie. The first half was good but it quickly fell apart.

As a big fan of Brian DePalma, it would have to be The Black Dahlia, a truly awful movie that's as boring as it is convoluted.

Strangers with Candy, the movie--I laughed once--at the way Jerri calling Noblet a faggot. That's it. It was a silent theatre for an hour and half.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace--Opening night. Fell asleep in the theatre. Realized that I didn't give a shit about Star Wars cause I was no longer a child.

Kill Bill Vol 2- not as good as Vol 1, which I saw twice in the theatre. Really should have been one long movie.

I had forgotten how much of a disappointment The Phantom Menace was. Star Wars movies are by no means masterpieces but that was just terrible.

"The Hobbit" is one of the worst ever made and there was no excuse for it.

Greed is not an excuse.

The Star Wars sequel trilogy. The Force Awakens has its moments, but Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker are abominations. They killed my love for the franchise.

The film adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

I have wondered if it would have been better off as TV miniseries on a premium cable channel.

The Phantom Menace

R71, agree about The Black Dahlia. I've read a lot about the Black Dahlia murder and I like some of DePalma's films so I was excited to see the movie. But it stunk

"Star Wars". Everyone praised it; it flooded newspapers and magazines (it was1977). It was so over-hyped; I expected a colossal masterpiece. I wasn't impressed.

[quote]The film adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

[quote]I have wondered if it would have been better off as TV miniseries on a premium cable channel

Or if it would have been better off with a less workmanlike ponderous director than Eastwood.

R71, Hillary Swank as a femme fatale? No thanks. Josh Hartnett attempting to act? HA!!

Halloween Ends from a few years back. What a clunker that was. I remember everyone raving about There's Something About Mary back when it was a big hit. I thought it was stupid. Napoleon Dynamite wasn't my cup of tea, either. To this day I cringe when people quote that stupid movie.

[quote]Is The Magnificent Albertsons about the supermarket chains?

No, it's about us!

I just bought the 4K limited edition steelbook of Riding the Bus With My Sister. It comes with a bus pass and a whistle.

R67 I was also disappointed in Philadelphia but possibly for a different reason.

I was a big fan of TV's LA Law. About a year before, they did a 4-episode arc based possibly on the same case: an AIDS-stricken lawyer suing his own law firm for discrimination. (I'm probably misremembering some details). It was outstanding, devastating, and it broke barriers for television. Everything I was hoping Philadelphia would be, but it just paled in comparison.

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Stupendous source material, awful movie. The cast is a who's who of 1970s music: The Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Earth Wind & Fire, Alice Cooper, Billy Preston, Steve Martin, Aerosmith, and produced by Robert Stigwood. I went on the opening day at the Showcase Cinema in Seekonk, MA in 1978 and even had the glossy program for the movie release. 16yo me had such high hopes.

Who would have thought that those accomplished singers would create such a stinker covering Beatles songs (Sgt Pepper's and Abbey Road). I'm not sure which is worse -- the screenplay by a first-time screenwriter, the atrocious acting by the Bee Gees & Frampton, or the kitschy art direction. Steve Martin and EW&F's Grammy-winning cover of "Got to Get You into my Life" are the only redeeming elements.

“Dark Shadows”, what a big let down.

I agree with you about Kill Bill Vol 2, r72. It was supposed to be one long movie but the studio forced Tarantino to release it as two. I've always wondered how much of Vol 2 would have made it into the one movie had Tarantino gotten his way. It seems like he really blew his load with Vol 1's story and most of Vol 2 was him spinning his wheels.

R84, didn’t they include a pair of clean underpants?

Back to the future 3. The 2nd was interesting with all the scenes from the original, seen from different viewpoints, angles etc.... but 3 was just way too different...i still see it as a wasted opportunity. Return to Oz; despite huge queues where i lived, it bombed. It was an incredibly wasted opportunity..

Both the Strangers with Candy and AbFab movies were bad.

Most TV shows don't really make for good films.

Not a movie but the Netflix series 1899 from the same creators as Dark.

The Golden Compass. Looked great but was absolutely butchered in the editing room.

R20 No, it's about Jack and Mabel.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Tied with Traffic.

R94, meet R83.

No Time to Die.

... maybe Megalopolis?

On the other hand, despite it being a complete disappointment as a film (almost from the first few minutes), it was absolutely awesome as an experience - so much absurd fun.

r90 I think Return to Oz bombed because it scared young children or perhaps scared their parents. It was technically a great film, at least I thought so as a child, but I guess Dorothy getting shock treatment was too much for some parents. As a child I had no idea what shock treatment even was, hell, Margaret Hamilton in the original was scarier to me at the time.

Scream 4.

I appreciate the latter films to a degree but they are all disappointing watches.

All the X-Files movies have disappointed me, especially the first. I saw it in high school the day I graduated 10th grade. I went with a group (we were nerdy kids) and we were all so excited, but left confused and let down. Bees and Antarctica and black oil? I’d give it a C grade.

Titanic.

I know it is beloved on DL, and there are many who stand by it, but I was SO disappointed in To Die For.

I expected something more on a grand scale, as opposed to a small town tale. I think it was mostly the trailer that threw me off, which I thought was one of the greatest trailers I'd ever seen!

Watching it now, I still think so!

It works as a brilliant 2:30m short feature. It tells an entire story that I felt was severely lacking in the actual movie.

Now, had I never seen the trailer, or heard anything in advance about the movie, and watched it in a cold screening, I might have felt quite differently.

Part of the reason now, if there's a film I think I might want to see, I avoid the trailer at all costs.