The most overrated movies by audiences

- Director: Alejandro Monteverde
- IMDb user rating: 73
- IMDb user votes: 23,159
- Metascore: 30
- Difference: 43 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 46 minutes

In "Little Boy," a short-statured 8-year-old desperately tries to grow his faith hoping that, if he's pious enough, his father will return from WWII unscathed. The movie was intended to be an uplifting jaunt for religious viewers, but most critics felt it came across as artificial, overly sentimental, and emotionally manipulative. Still, the film managed to find an audience with conservative viewers willing to overlook its crass emotional ploys in favor of its family-friendly storyline and quality production values.

- Director: Andrew Fleming
- IMDb user rating: 65
- IMDb user votes: 25,128
- Metascore: 22
- Difference: 43 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 30 minutes

A bizarre take on "Rain Man," "Barefoot" follows a privileged young man (Scott Speedman) who enlists a psychiatric patient (Evan Rachel Wood)—who has been raised in complete isolation—to be his wedding date. Many critics were turned off by the film's depiction of the mentally ill and its patronizing attitude toward those with emotional issues. Fans didn't necessarily agree with critics' takes, citing the quirky female character and the sweet lessons the film taught as some of its strongest points.

- Director: Jeannot Szwarc
- IMDb user rating: 72
- IMDb user votes: 29,917
- Metascore: 29
- Difference: 43 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 43 minutes

An adaptation of the 1975 novel "Bid Time Return," "Somewhere in Time" is a time-travel romance about a modern-day man (Christopher Reeve) who falls in love with the subject of a photograph from 1912 (Jane Seymour). Using self-hypnosis, he travels back to the turn of the century to meet her, only to find their love challenged by her overbearing manager (Christopher Plummer). Critics like Vincent Canby of The New York Times felt the story had a lot of giggle potential and felt Reeve's good looks and manner worked against him in the film. Fans completely disagreed with Canby, singing the praises of the film's sweet, emotional storyline and gushing over its optimistic outlook on love.

- Director: Tom Shadyac
- IMDb user rating: 68
- IMDb user votes: 114,194
- Metascore: 25
- Difference: 43 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 55 minutes

The subject of "Patch Adams," the doctor who uses humor as a key piece of his healing practices, reportedly hated this film based on Robin Williams' life. He, like many critics, felt it oversimplified his motivation and mission, watering down what could have been a truly radical story into an emotionally manipulative and shallowly inspiring tale. And while that may be true, many fans lapped up the saccharine, feel-good tale, praising the movie's joyful tone and uplifting message.

- Director: Eddie Murphy
- IMDb user rating: 60
- IMDb user votes: 23,068
- Metascore: 16
- Difference: 44 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 56 minutes

Eddie Murphy's only directorial effort to date, "Harlem Nights" follows a pair of illegal nightclub owners who must contend with gangsters, prohibition, and the general dangers of Harlem in the 1920s. Murphy not only directed the film but also starred in it alongside his brother Charlie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Danny Aiello. The comedy got mixed reviews from critics, with those disliking it citing its clunky script, lack of originality, and jarringly modern dialogue as the primary reasons. Fans were more willing to overlook those shortcomings, focusing instead on the fact that the film gave them the rare opportunity to see three of history's greatest comedians chop it up on screen.

- Director: Don Coscarelli
- IMDb user rating: 62
- IMDb user votes: 23,565
- Metascore: 18
- Difference: 44 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 58 minutes

When it first hit theaters in the early 1980s, critics and audiences agreed "The Beastmaster" was nothing special. A sword and sorcery fantasy in the same vein as "Conan," the movie follows a brawny prehistoric man who sets out to save an enslaved girl from an evil sorcerer. The biggest criticism of the film at the time was that it was overlong and contained more plotlines than it knew what to do with. However, in the decades since, the film has become a cable network special and has developed a cult following thanks to its easy-watching nature. Sure, there may be a lot of storylines, but they aren't very detailed or intricate, making it painless to hop in at any point.

- Director: Jonas Åkerlund
- IMDb user rating: 63
- IMDb user votes: 90,301
- Metascore: 19
- Difference: 44 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 58 minutes

On the surface, "Polar" should have been a surefire hit. The Netflix original follows an aging assassin (Mads Mikkelsen) targeted by a mysterious individual who appears to be after his sizeable pension. Upon viewing it, however, critics lambasted the film, deriding its stupid plotline, overblown gore, and crowed cast (many of whom are absolutely nonessential to the plot). Fortunately for the streaming giant, not all viewers agreed, and many were simply happy to see this adaptation of one of their favorite graphic novels hit the screen.

- Director: David Frankel
- IMDb user rating: 67
- IMDb user votes: 100,713
- Metascore: 23
- Difference: 44 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 37 minutes

The star-studded cast of "Collateral Beauty," which included actors like Will Smith, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, and Edward Norton, should have been enough to ensure the film's instant success. Unfortunately, its messy plot—following a man trying to cope with a tragedy by writing letters to Love, Time, and Death, who, inexplicably, write him back—and poorly thought-out marketing all but ensured critics would hate it. If that wasn't enough, its tone-deaf handling of grief and consistent emotional manipulation sealed the deal. "Collateral Beauty" was a critical flop of epic proportions. Audiences didn't necessarily see it that way, citing its callbacks to "A Christmas Carol" and uplifting message as its stronger points.

- Director: Alan Parker
- IMDb user rating: 75
- IMDb user votes: 121,009
- Metascore: 31
- Difference: 44 points
- Runtime: 2 hours and 10 minutes

Roger Ebert gave "The Life of David Gale" a zero-star rating, panning it as "corrupt, intellectually bankrupt, and morally dishonest." The thriller follows a man (Kevin Spacey) who has spent his life fighting capital punishment only to find himself on death row. While the director clearly intended the film to serve as a powerful message against capital punishment, its bizarre twists and turns actually cause more harm than good. However, some fans didn't read the ending that way and appreciated the movie's solid acting and jaw-dropping reveals enough to rate it highly.

- Director: Farhad Safinia
- IMDb user rating: 72
- IMDb user votes: 46,309
- Metascore: 27
- Difference: 45 points
- Runtime: 2 hours and 4 minutes

"The Professor and the Madman," a biopic of James Murray, the man who compiled the first Oxford English Dictionary, almost didn't make it to theaters thanks to a massive legal battle that pit the production company, Voltage Pictures, on one side against its star (Mel Gibson) and director (Farhad Safinia) on the other. Ultimately, the version of the film that did appear on screen was "a bitter disappointment" for both Gibson and Safinia. They had been forced by the courts to make major sacrifices and relinquish final-cut privileges. Critics largely agreed with the pair, writing that Gibson and his co-star Sean Penn's performances were stellar, but the script and editing left much to be desired. Audiences weren't as turned off by these flaws as the critics were, especially after being entranced by the lesser-known true story of how the dictionary came to be.

- Director: Tom Vaughan
- IMDb user rating: 57
- IMDb user votes: 15,069
- Metascore: 11
- Difference: 46 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 39 minutes

Pierce Brosnan's Richard Haig from "Some Kind of Beautiful" is, without a doubt, one of the worst roles of his career. Here, the former 007 plays a middle-aged college professor who marries his much younger, pregnant girlfriend (Jessica Alba) only to realize he's in love with her older sister (Salma Hayek). Critics hated the character and the plot. Variety deemed it "some kind of hideous, a perfect storm of romantic-comedy awfulness that seems to set the ailing genre back decades with the sheer force of its ineptitude." Audiences didn't necessarily see it the same way. They largely appreciated the rom-com—familiar plot beats and all—for its bizarre humor and comforting tropes.

- Director: Joel Schumacher
- IMDb user rating: 65
- IMDb user votes: 133,973
- Metascore: 19
- Difference: 46 points
- Runtime: 2 hours and 3 minutes

While it's true that audiences appreciated "8MM" more than critics did, judging by these low scores, it seems neither group really liked the movie all that much. The Nicolas Cage vehicle follows a private investigator who is handed a case that leads him into the world of snuff films. Critics felt Cage's acting wasn't strong enough to carry the project and the script contained far too much gratuitous violence and evil. The film's few fans admit it is dark, disturbing, and gritty, but they loved the thriller's twists and turns enough that they were willing to give it a high rating.

- Directors: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
- IMDb user rating: 76
- IMDb user votes: 489,009
- Metascore: 30
- Difference: 46 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 53 minutes

A massive box-office success, "The Butterfly Effect" grossed $96.8 million at the box office, allowing for a huge profit against its $13 million budget. Audiences went wild over its puzzlelike plot:a young man (Ashton Kutcher) discovers he can travel back in time to his childhood and attempts to use this ability to alter his current life. Critics, meanwhile, complained that it made no sense metaphysically, was too repetitive, and tried too hard to be meaningful when it was really just a run-of-the-mill thriller. Interestingly, in recent years, some critics have admitted they might have been a little too harsh on the movie when it debuted.

- Director: Dan Fogelman
- IMDb user rating: 68
- IMDb user votes: 22,145
- Metascore: 21
- Difference: 47 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 57 minutes

Critics widely agree the multigenerational family saga "Life Itself" was trying to say something. But what that was, no one was clear on. Fans didn't seem to mind the meandering film didn't have a clear message; they just appreciated the way it tugged on their heartstrings and took them out of reality (and into a much tidier one filled with some of Hollywood's biggest faces) for two hours. Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Mandy Patinkin, Olivia Cooke, Annette Bening, and Antonio Banderas all star in the divisive drama.

- Director: Harmony Korine
- IMDb user rating: 66
- IMDb user votes: 35,471
- Metascore: 19
- Difference: 47 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 29 minutes

In this experimental drama, residents of a tornado-struck small town in Ohio find bizarre ways to pass the time. Critics berated the film's lack of a central plot or storyline, as well as its affection for the grotesque and reliance on shock value to entertain audiences. While plenty of fans agreed with those professional opinions, others liked the film for its unique style and stream-of-consciousness narrative. One particularly happy fan wrote on IMDb that they enjoyed "Gummo" because it "simply [did] something different."

- Director: Roger Donaldson
- IMDb user rating: 59
- IMDb user votes: 86,385
- Metascore: 12
- Difference: 47 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 44 minutes

Tom Cruise stars in this film about an MBA student-turned-bartender who perfects his craft (and chases love) from New York City to Jamaica. Most critics found the movie nowhere near as exciting as their favorite mixed drink, calling it a bland mix of unfunny comedy and unexciting drama. Fans were willing to overlook the thin plotline in favor of Cruise's charm, Bryan Brown's good looks, and their admittedly cool drink-making skills.

- Director: José Padilha
- IMDb user rating: 80
- IMDb user votes: 104,484
- Metascore: 33
- Difference: 47 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 55 minutes

You'd think a movie that won the Golden Bear at the Venice Film Festival would be a hit with critics everywhere, but that simply wasn't the case for "Elite Squad." The dark, gritty drama follows a Brazilian police captain as he attempts to find his successor and prepare the slums for a visit from Pope John Paul II. Many critics hated the film's primary message: that the only way to combat violence in the ghetto is with brutal, inhumane force from those in power. Audiences were less concerned with the film's message and more excited by how realistically it portrayed living conditions in Brazil's slums.

- Director: Russell Mulcahy
- IMDb user rating: 71
- IMDb user votes: 136,168
- Metascore: 24
- Difference: 47 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 56 minutes

Despite being both a commercial and critical failure upon its initial release, the fantasy adventure film "Highlander" has since become a cult classic and spawned several sequels and even a spinoff TV series. The first film follows a group of immortal warriors as they fight in a secret war, which spans centuries, for the ultimate Prize. Critics didn't care for the film's nonsensical plot (admittedly, there are dozens of plot holes in this first installation alone) or the low-grade way it was shot and edited together. Fans loved the pure fun of the film, praising its energetic pacing, dancy soundtrack, and brilliant acting (Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert play the main characters).

- Director: Tamra Davis
- IMDb user rating: 63
- IMDb user votes: 145,528
- Metascore: 16
- Difference: 47 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 29 minutes

Another film that was a critical flop upon release but has since won a cult following (and is now considered one of Adam Sandler's best works) is "Billy Madison." The movie follows the titular character, a lazy man-child, who must repeat grades 1-12 to prove to his hotel magnate father he's worthy of taking over the family business. Critics couldn't get past Sandler's annoying and ignorant character or the film's immature humor. Audiences, on the other hand, loved how silly and mindless the story was and could have cared less about its lack of depth.

- Director: Michael Winner
- IMDb user rating: 59
- IMDb user votes: 16,384
- Metascore: 11
- Difference: 48 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 29 minutes

The second installment in the "Death Wish" series, "Death Wish II" follows architect Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) as he once again becomes a vigilante, this time exacting revenge on the people who killed his daughter. Roger Ebert handed out a zero-star review for this film, calling the project "artistically inept and morally repugnant." Many other critics agreed with Ebert's take, noting that the film was packed with unnecessary and unexplainable violence with little to balance it out. Plenty of fans concurred with these opinions, but the few who did like the movie commented on how the film met their need to see justice enacted.

- Director: Nicole Kassell
- IMDb user rating: 62
- IMDb user votes: 28,888
- Metascore: 14
- Difference: 48 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 46 minutes

"A Little Bit of Heaven" or a little bit of hell? It depends on who you ask. Many critics hated this rom-com about a free-spirited woman who changes her entire approach to life and love after learning she has terminal cancer. For the most part, they felt that it lacked depth, was overly sentimental, and struck a bizarre balance between funny rom-com and weepy end-of-life picture that simply didn't work. Fans were happy to see Kate Hudson back on the big screen and thrilled that the movie pulled no punches when it came to the ending (the only realistic bit in the whole thing).

- Director: Steve Oedekerk
- IMDb user rating: 62
- IMDb user votes: 46,641
- Metascore: 14
- Difference: 48 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 21 minutes

A parody of Hong Kong action cinema, "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist" follows a martial arts guru as he seeks revenge for the death of his parents. The film, created by comedian Steve Oedekerk (who also stars), blends newly shot scenes with a pre-existing 1976 film called "Tiger & Crane Fists," a method that made the finished product feel disjointed and chaotic. Critics hated that aspect of "Kung Pow" and the fact that the new dialogue felt more like an extended stand-up set than a cohesive story. Nonetheless, the movie found its audiences with viewers who appreciated its campy style and juvenile humor.

- Director: Jessie Nelson
- IMDb user rating: 76
- IMDb user votes: 150,540
- Metascore: 28
- Difference: 48 points
- Runtime: 2 hours and 12 minutes

For his role as a man living with an intellectual disability and fighting for custody of his precocious young daughter in "I Am Sam," Sean Penn was nominated for an Academy Award. The tear-jerker of a movie starred not just Penn but Dakota Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laura Dern, Dianne Wiest, and Loretta Devine. Critics of the movie felt it tried too hard to get an emotional response from audiences, often at the expense of its storyline, and that some of the supporting performances were bland at best. Audiences largely disagreed, praising how the film handled difficult subjects and honestly depicted a parent's unconditional love.

- Director: Kyle Rankin
- IMDb user rating: 63
- IMDb user votes: 24,212
- Metascore: 13
- Difference: 50 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 49 minutes

Set amid a school shooting, "Run Hide Fight" follows a teenage girl as she sets out to save a group of hostages from the shooters. Critics largely agreed the movie was in poor taste (school shootings reached a 20-year high during the 2020-2021 school year and have only increased since then) and that entertainment shouldn't be taken from such a sensitive societal issue. Plenty of fans agreed with this take, but a few seemed willing to overlook the questionable morality in favor of the film's exciting action sequences.

- Director: Tamra Davis
- IMDb user rating: 66
- IMDb user votes: 64,150
- Metascore: 16
- Difference: 50 points
- Runtime: 1 hour and 22 minutes

Finally, there's "Half Baked," the most overrated movie of all time, according to our metrics. Starring Dave Chappelle, the film follows three stoners who concoct an elaborate plan to get their friend out of trouble. Critics berated the movie's low production values and lazy comedy. But in the years since its release, the movie has developed a bit of a cult following of fans who appreciate its mindless plot and substance-based punchlines.