I hated that song/movie/show/book that everyone else loves!

[kingsrings]

I wanted to start a thread about disliking critically-acclaimed entertainment. You know, like a movie, show, book, song that everyone else just raves about, but that you can't stand. So what are yours?

I'll start: Good Will Hunting. It won several Oscars and has a four-star movie rating. Couldn't stand it. Maybe I just need to watch it again, but the one time I did see it years ago, I was so bored I fell asleep halfway through. Minnie Driver was horrible and annoying. The plot and dialogue was jumbled and went nowhere.

[Suze]

OK here are a few in no particular order --

Logan's Run - the movie, The book is good, the movie has nothing much in common with it.  And Farrah Faucet was only on screen for about five min.

The Exorcist - the book was the most boring I have read.  I've only seen the movie on TV, so I don't know how well it was "interrupted" by commercials.

and here is the biggie---

The DaVinci Code -- It was a pretty good murder mystery. (didn't see the movie) and why is everyone making such a big deal out of it?  (no - don't answer that - I have heard enough about it already)

and one of Dan Brown's other books - Angels and Demons - is almost the same plot page by page.

[Xanthia, Maker of fine Tin-foil hats since 2007]

The English Patient, Fargo, Titanic, The Notebook, the Clint Eastwood one with the cheating (forget the name).

[FoxPaws]

Catcher in the Rye. I know there is a place in literary hell reserved just for me because I thought One Of The Greatest Books Of All Time was a total snore, but honestly, it sucked. I did finish it, mainly because I thought something that had been so lauded and applauded had to get better at some point. It didn't.

.....the Clint Eastwood one with the cheating (forget the name).

The Bridges of Madison County??

Yawn. It was a goopy romance novel, but it was written by a man, so that made it art.

[Lisbeth]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Moonstruck.

The Bridges of Madison County.

Some of the later John Grisham books.  (I loved most of them up to The Partner, but after that the legal thrillers turned into B movie screenplays.)

[Gileswench]

Titanic, The Bridges of Madison County, Anna Karenina (give me War and Peace anyday!), pretty much anything by John Steinbeck or Tennessee Williams, Dances With Wolves, Fargo, just about anything recorded by The BeeGees or the Beach Boys. Oh, and I loathed Firefly. And most classic Disney films. And the Judy Garland version of The Wizard of Oz (give me the book, please). And Rambo. And I've never found The Three Stooges or South Park the least bit funny.

Yeah, I'm a contrary little beast.

[Xanthia, Maker of fine Tin-foil hats since 2007]

Catcher in the Rye. I know there is a place in literary hell reserved just for me because I thought One Of The Greatest Books Of All Time was a total snore, but honestly, it sucked. I did finish it, mainly because I thought something that had been so lauded and applauded had to get better at some point. It didn't.

.....the Clint Eastwood one with the cheating (forget the name).

The Bridges of Madison County??

Yawn. It was a goopy romance novel, but it was written by a man, so that made it art.

Yeah, that was it, could not even finish the stupid thing.

[Rei-chan]

I don't know if these were "critically acclaimed", but in my circle, these were popular among my friends, but made me cringe:

Anything done by Jim Carrey, with the exception for some reason, of "The Truman Show".  I have never liked him, even in his "In Living Color" days.  There's something about him that makes my teeth hurt.  Maybe that's cause I'm grinding them whenever I see him.

This one will probably get me flamed, but here goes:  (cringing now, and in small voice....) Star Wars: Episode One.

I LOVE all the other SW movies, but this one just ticked me off.  JarJar Binks made me want to vomit, and the 11 minute pod race almost put me to sleep.

[ccnumber4]

Love this thread. 

I hate, hate, HATE "The Princess Bride."  Any quote from it almost makes me gag. 

Also, I am currently reading C.S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters" which came highly recommended and I am finding it quite boring.  Makes me feel a bit dim, as it always seemed to me that truly "intellectual" people like this book. 

[melodrama]

Catcher in the Rye. I know there is a place in literary hell reserved just for me because I thought One Of The Greatest Books Of All Time was a total snore, but honestly, it sucked. I did finish it, mainly because I thought something that had been so lauded and applauded had to get better at some point. It didn't.

A lot of people have this response to Catcher in the Rye.  I think it's only The Greatest Book of All Time if you read it at the exact right moment of teenage apathy.

I have the same problem with Virginia Woolf.  I read her after my "punk suicidal feminist yearning" stage, and it just isn't quite the same.

And pile me right on top of the anti-DiVinci Code pile.  I read two pages of the book and put it down because the writing was flat out terrible.  I saw the movie and thought it was a decent enough thriller that should have ended 20 minutes before it did.

[Gwywnnydd]

Dune. The book. I *forced* myself to finish it. The Sci-Fi channel mini-series was good, and allowed me to follow what was happening enough to enjoy it. But I just didn't care about the book .

Mercedes Lackey. Any of her stuff. Can't even *fake* interest. This statement can get me lynched, in the average Sci-Fi convention .

Ivanhoe. I *loved* the movie, then I loved the A&E mini-series. I COULD NOT stay awake when reading the book. Even though I *knew* I loved the story, I just couldn't read more than 2-3 pages before I'd start dozing off. Took me forever to finish that book .

[kingsrings]

As for music, I don't care for:

Sara Evans-her voice just really, seriously annoys me for some reason. The sound of it, even though she has a nice voice.


Green Day-I can't stand singers who can't carry a tune to save their life.


Coldplay-all their songs sound exactly alike, and that is monotnous and annoying. They also get played way too much on the radio.

The Rolling Stones-I knw, but I just have never liked their music much. I like Paint it Black, Wild Horses, and Start Me Up, but their other songs repulse me.

[Venus193]

I think we all need this thread once in a while.

Star Wars (the original).  Still can't understand what makes this so bloody popular.
Titanic.
The Sound of Music
The New World
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
2001:  A Space Odyssey

I could think of a few more, but those are probably the top ones on my list.

[Lysitheia]

Catcher in the Rye--Listen to a whiny spoiled brat go on about how hard his life is for two hundred pages

All romantic comedies except "So I married an axe murderer"

(Ducks and runs) Harry Potter. I read the first three and thought they were just all right. I think I hate them because I was in sixth grade when they came out and the school really shoved it down our throats to make people read.

Dickens. Yes, all of it. Especially "Tale of Two Cities"

Romeo from 'Romeo and Juliet'. He's a creepy stalker. if you ask me. He stood in the bushes outside her window staring at her and mumbling to himself, for crying out loud!

I'll probably think of more later.

[supernova]

Anything written by Stephen King.  YAWN.

"I know.  I'll write a book.  I'll have one thousand pages of buildup with a list of characters you need a scorepad to keep track of.  Then the story will have 20 pages of climax, and then two hundred pages of resolution, but I'll leave enough threads dangling to write a seq---erhh, to keep them guessing as to how things really end up."  Eeesh.

I also hate scatological humor; which means that by default I hate almost every comedy on film/TV in the last 20 years or so.  Which is sad; because I love comedy.  I just don't understand what is amusing about flatulence to anyone who's not a five-year-old boy.

     - saphie