Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share Tell-Tale Signs That A Movie Is Going To Be Terrible

Unspooled film reels
Denise Jans/Unsplash

Trailers are misleading on purpose, and if they did their job, you shelled out your hard-earned cash at the box office to go see the movie.

Once you're seated in the auditorium, the succession of previews is over, and the lights dim, the anticipation runs high.

How disappointing then, that a certain element in the film that you dedicated time away from home to go see turns out to be underwhelming.

What is it that indicates you're in for a non-refundable time of entertainment?


Moviegoers online shared their thoughts when Redditor Snoo_19146 asked:

"What’s the first sign that a movie is going to be bad?"

Pandering to the audience with lame humor is such a turn-off.

This Speaks Volumes

"Characters think they are funny because they speak loudly."

– drod3333

Soph-moronic Humor

"Also references to farts or weed. (Not jokes: references.)"

'Hey guys who wants to smoke some weeeeed?'

"Pause for laughter"

Beingabummer

Premature Review

"It's advertised as one of the best movies of the year."

"And it's late January."

– M-Test24

The Poster Says It All

"There’s someone shrugging whimsically on the poster. 🤷"

– findlestick

Trailers alone can be a red flag.

Cliff's Notes Version

"When the trailer already tells you the entire movie."

– JAR_Melethril

"I've scratched titles off my watch list because I feel I've already seen the important parts of the film through the trailer, why bother?"

– butter00pecan

Recycling One-Liners

"If there are multiple trailers for a comedy movie, but they use the same joke in all of them."

– jelecel865

"And then you sit in the movie or on netflix and you're like. Oh, the joke from the trailer, I think that's where the movie starts to get funny, but it just transitions into the serious end arc and then is over."

– candybomberz

Familiar Jokes From Deadpool

"Something that always bugged me was the first Deadpool movie and it’s trailers. Don’t get me wrong, I love the movie, but here you have a character wearing a mask, played by an actor known for comedy in a movie that probably had a ton of jokes and multiple takes left on the cutting room floor."

"They could have EASILY dubbed different jokes into the trailer and used the final ones in the movie for an extra surprise. But nope, trailer jokes -> movie jokes. Kind of a bummer."

– LegendaryOutlaw

Some movies are destined for failure.

If It Ain't Broke

"It’s a remake of something that didn’t suck."

– Diesel07012012

"I hate that there’s so many remakes of decent/good movies. Feels like it’s just a safe money-grab. It would be cool if movies that didn’t do so hot, get reworked into good movie remakes, but I guess that’s too much of a risk for studios to bother with."

– AnEpicHibiscus

A Very Telling Intro

"An exposition in which one character explains everything that's going on to another character that should already know what is going on."

– rohawe8491

Familiar Setup

'Stacy sweetie, you know I haven’t been the same since your brother disappeared 4 years ago at the creek, & then we moved here to get away from the bad memories but it didn’t change anything & now you’re moving to college & I’ve been finding it hard to accept, & I’m struggling to hold down my job at the diner & that new guy I’m seeing is acting really shady & disappears for days, & completely unrelated to all that there’s mysterious murders happening since he arrived in town. You know all this Stacy..'

"whilst unpacking the shopping in the first scene."

– bluerain80

We Need A Reset

"Doctor: what we have here is a case of transcranial temporal reinforcement. If the patient is not restored to his original nacency the Einstein Bozeman condensate will reseed throughout the multiverse and congeal with unfortold consequences!"

"Other doctor: in English please!"

"Doctor: we need to send him back in time so his brain can restart the universe."

– ActorMonkey

Multiple Cooks

"Not always the case but when there are more than 3 writers a movie tends to lack vision. It can also occur due to rewrites. Not A Bomb Podcast reviews movies that bombed financially or critically and this is a subject often discussed if anyone is interested."

– earball1996

Maybe it's all about the journey.

Trailers do have to entice you with the best parts of a film promising audiences they'll be in for a good time.

However, movies just have to deliver on that promise by not revealing all the best bits in the trailer.

One movie I thought was going to be a succession of cheap one-liners with nothing but action was Disney's animated film Big Hero 6. The trailer was never appealing to me.

But after reading many positive reviews, I decided to give it a chance and I'm so glad I did.

It ended up being a very intelligent, emotionally mature film dealing with grief and an internal struggle about doing the right thing. While those are common tropes, it was all the more impactful watching animated characters dealing with serious themes and issues.

The bottom line is don't be quick to dismiss every movie based on its trailer.

You might be pleasantly surprised.


More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Miss Harris in season 5 of "Stranger Things"
Netflix

'Stranger Things' Creator Shares Sweet Connection To Actor Who Plays Teacher In Final Season

The fifth and final season of Netflix's blockbuster Stranger Things dropped its first four episodes (Volume One) over Thanksgiving weekend, just in time for people to digest from their Turkey dinners.

The hugely popular sci-fi show launched its final season with record viewership. Over the course of Stranger Things' five seasons, several notable actors have made appearances alongside the main cast, including Sean Astin, Matthew Modine, and Paul Reiser.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tim Allen in 'The Santa Clauses'
Disney

Conservative Tries To Claim Disney+ Show Is Somehow Satanic Due To Joke—And Gets Instantly Fact-Checked

It's the holidays again, which of course means the yearly tradition of Christians having a meltdown about supposedly being persecuted by the existence of non-Jesusy Christmas stuff is back with a vengeance.

But the latest flap online is really a doozy in its audacity both because it's incredibly dumb and also a lie, obviously posted as a purposeful attempt to get attention.

Keep ReadingShow less
Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge; nativity scene outside a church
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; John Nordell/Getty Images

Massachusetts Catholic Church Angers Conservatives With Its Brutal ICE-Themed Nativity Scene

The Christian Bible teaches that the Holy Family—Joseph, Mary, and Jesus—were residents of the Herodian ruled Nazareth, Galilee. Having traveled back to Joseph's ancestral home—Roman ruled Bethlehem, Judea—for the census, Mary and Joseph, in modern American parlance, would have been homeless immigrants/tourists having an "anchor baby" at the time of Jesus' birth.

While Joseph considered Galilee his immediate family's home, the trio would eventually flee to Egypt as refugees to escape from King Herod.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Martin Luther King Jr.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jack Sheahan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Trump Ripped After Forcing National Parks To Drop Free Entry On MLK Day And Juneteenth For Infuriating Reason

President Donald Trump was criticized after the National Park Service announced it will be dropping Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth for next year's calendar of free-entry days and adding Trump's birthday, which happens to fall on Flag Day, on June 14.

Last month, the Department of the Interior unveiled changes to what it now calls its “resident-only patriotic fee-free days,” expanding the calendar to include new dates like the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, while dropping others that had honored the department itself, including the Bureau of Land Management’s anniversary.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Juanita Broaddrick's tweet overlayed against a picture of the J. Crew sign
@atensnut/X; Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

MAGA Is Melting Down Over A Pink J. Crew Sweater For Men—And Our Eyes Can't Roll Hard Enough

MAGA fans are melting down over a $168 men's sweater from J. Crew with a fair-isle collar, claiming, in yet another example of the idiocy of the culture wars, that only liberals would actually wear it.

We know what you're thinking... Really?!

Keep ReadingShow less