Once Popular Movies Considered Unwatchable Today

Some of today’s blockbusters inevitably make future audiences cringe. Movies are made to appeal to the moviegoers of the moment and, ideally, turn a profit. To borrow a Groucho Marx paraphrase, “Why should we care about future generations? What have they ever done for us?” Many movies of the past are simply products of their time and should be considered as such. Others have aged badly for different reasons: a star who becomes controversial, production techniques that should never have been used, sor cultural norms that are no longer accepted. Here are 15 once-popular movies considered unwatchable today. Do you agree? (Entries have been edited for clarity and conciseness.)

Featured image credit: pexels.com/SammieSander

1. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

The original Ben-Hur from 1925 is great and was perhaps the last big blockbuster silent film. It certainly had the largest budget of any of them. But the fact they tripped and killed around 100 horses for the chariot race, makes me not want to watch it.

— u/redpandaeater

2. The 40-Year-Old Virgin

The 40-Year-Old Virgin in premise. My dad said being a 40 year old virgin was not possible when the movie first came out. Now I’m like, dad I’m on my way…

— u/SheZowRaisedByWolves

3. Police Academy

The Police Academy movies aged terribly. They were once so popular they made 6 of them from 1984-89!

— u/drunkenstocktips

4. The Ten Commandments

The very first actor to sign the contract for the movie was Yul Brynner. He was the best actor they had in that entire production. Yvonne de Carlo broke the fourth wall in nearly every scene. Heston couldn’t emote to save his acting career, yet there he always is. Oh, and who can forget the Italian mob boss (spoiler, he isn’t) and the classic horror actor chewing the scenery to pieces. Edward G. Robinson and Vincent Price. On the screen at the same time. It’s one of those films that just gets worse every time you see it.

— u/davetopper

5. The Notebook

I’ve never seen The Notebook in its entirety but the clips of Ryan Gosling’s character harassing Rachel McAdam’s for a date, while she’s currently on a date, and then threatening to hurt himself if she declines, were enough to kill my interest in ever actually seeing it.

— u/SuckerForNoirRobots

6. The Net

The Net was released in 1995, and the idea of someone stealing your identity and basically erasing your entire existence through computers sounded like sci-fi back then. Now it feels less like a movie plot and more like something you’d see in a cybersecurity news headline.

— u/skyrexx69

7. 1980s and ’90s Kids’ Movies in General

A lot of 80s and 90s kids’ movie have a TON of normalized bullying and misogyny. Most end with the message that the little guy will prevail, but only after 90+ minutes of bullies getting no consequences, and even then, the only consequence is losing a soccer game or something.

— u/pdhot65ton

That’s pretty realistic. Bullies usually aren’t punished in real life either.

— u/Melenduwir

8. Love Actually

People love this movie but I only watched it for the first time a few years ago and it’s definitely aged badly in its depiction of women, like the fat shaming of someone who isn’t at all fat. And that stupid plot line where the guy is secretly in love with his best friend’s girl and the scene with the placards! That is not romantic, it’s creepy! Emma Thompson is good in it but apart from that the whole film is terrible.

— u/SukiPook

9. American Beauty

Too many people watched American Beauty and saw Lester as a relatable hero. He was always a pitiful scumbag and that’s the whole point of the movie. He has his little midlife crisis and goes after his daughter’s friend. It’s just wild how people were thinking he was the cool guy because he told off his boss and smoked some weed or whatever. If you watch it as a story about sad broken people doing sad broken things it’s a very good movie. Most people that dislike the movie dislike it because they think it’s glorifying the content. It most absolutely is not. All that said, it’s hard to watch Spacey these days without getting pulled out of the moment, great actor or not.

— u/needlestack

10. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Most of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is just standard 1990s Jim Carrey physical comedy, but the entire climax is so transphobic it gives you whiplash watching it today. When he figures out Einhorn is Finkle, the reaction montage of him scrubbing his tongue, plunging his face with a toilet plunger, and burning his clothes in pure disgust just because he kissed a trans woman is incredibly uncomfortable. Then it culminates with the entire police force violently vomiting when she is stripped down in front of everyone. It is honestly wild to look back and realize this was a massive, universally quoted blockbuster.

— u/andrewatkinsex

11. Sixteen Candles

John Hughes made some of the most beloved teen movies of the 1980s, but Sixteen Candles is really rough to revisit.First, you have Long Duk Dong. A literal gong sound effect plays every time he walks on screen. Then there is the main love interest, Jake Ryan. He realizes his girlfriend is blackout drunk, so he hands her over to a nerdy freshman in exchange for a pair of underwear, basically giving the kid permission to do whatever he wants with her while she is unconscious. The film treats this as a funny, heartwarming win for the nerd, and Jake gets to remain the romantic hero.

— u/waltermarshallnc

12. 40 Days and 40 Nights

The climax of the movie was Josh Hartnett getting raped and no one addressed it… he even had to apologize for it.

— u/SlothTeeth

13. Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Mickey Rooney’s part as the Asian landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany’s is pretty cringe. To say the portrayal of that role is downright disrespectful is a huge understatement.

— u/Large-Welder304

14. Charlie’s Angels

The plot of Charlie’s Angels (2000) was to stop a villain who could track everyone via their cell phones, thus destroying everyone’s privacy.

— u/52ndstreet

15. You’ve Got Mail

A man destroys a woman’s small business, secretly dates her online while she thinks he’s someone else, and somehow we’re supposed to find it romantic.

— u/UnusualUnit5268