19 Truly Awful Films We Once Thought Were Legitimately Good That Prove Times Are A-Changing
Recently, we asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us what movies they loved growing up that have since aged like milk.
1.The Notebook
"[I] watched it with my Gen Z daughter and she called out a lot of stuff that just doesn’t fly anymore."
2.Love Actually
Universal Pictures
"I think Love Actually did ... not age well. For example, the storyline of Mark being a complete creep and making moves on the wife of his best friend. Or the fat-shaming of Natalie (the assistant of the Prime Minister), which was way out of line. Or the storyline of Colin going to America because he thinks it would be easier to get laid there and the three women being portrayed as dumb horny girls that are immediately into him and invite him over. I used to love this movie, but now it really is hard to watch."
3.Breakfast at Tiffany’s
"As much as it breaks my heart to say this: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Mickey Rooney’s yellow face wasn’t okay then, and it isn’t okay now."
"Absolutely. I'd love to see a version that cuts out as much footage as possible of that character."
4.The Alvin and the Chipmunks movies
20th Century Fox
"The Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. I loved them as a kid, but I watched one recently while babysitting, and MAN, they don't hold up. Annoying characters, unfunny jokes, and covers worse than Glee."
5.Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
"When they discover one of the characters is transgender and everyone starts vomiting..."
"I used to love that film as a child…now I cringe just thinking about that scene."
6.Step Brothers
Sony Pictures Releasing
"It used to make me laugh out loud, but I attempted a watch a few days ago, and I'm disgusted by grown men acting like that."
7.Armageddon
"Terrible overacting, shit storyline, awful graphics, and too much focus on the boring ‘love story.’ 🙄 I absolutely loved it as a kid. Nostalgia is a lie!"
8.The Nutty Professor
Universal Pictures
"The Nutty Professor franchise...Eddie Murphy playing a whole family of characters in fat suits. My boyfriend tried to play it last year and I cringed for the first 10 minutes before shutting it off."
9.Sorority Boys
"Three guys dress up as women to get into a sorority after getting kicked out of their fraternity. I thought it was hilarious back then, but I don’t think it would fly now."
10.Gladiator
"This one is probably gonna be controversial, but I rewatched Gladiator recently and it might be the most overrated movie I’ve ever seen. The bad British accents, Joaquin Phoenix’s deranged overacting…it’s so cliché and boring. I wouldn’t say it’s aged like milk but probably aged like a soy latte at the very least?"
11.American Beauty
DreamWorks Pictures
"One that really hurts: I LOVED American Beauty, but it being so Kevin Spacey-centric makes it kind of unwatchable."
12.Inspector Gadget
"Just watched Inspector Gadget last night for the first time in like 15 years. Absolute garbage trash fire of a film."
13.Dirty Work
"I used to think Dirty Work with Norm McDonald was hilarious as a kid. I rewatched it after he passed and realized the movie itself wasn't funny — moreso just Norm's delivery of lines. The vast majority of the film is cliché, sloppy, and just awkward."
14.The King and I
"I was *obsessed* with the 50s musical movie The King and I. If movies aged like milk, The King and I has aged like a raw steak left sitting on a hot roof in Texas for a month."
15.Beetlejuice
"So many people in my life love it, so I watched it for the first time recently. Winona Ryder is a child bride, and Beetlejuice sexually harassed and assaulted women in the film. I almost stopped watching it multiple times."
16.My Fair Lady
"As a kid I loved the film and all the catchy, fun songs. (The amazing clothes were cool too, especially at the horse race.) But one day when I was about 14 years old I was watching it, and about a third of the way through it occurred to me that Henry Higgins is a sexist, condescending piece of shit who treats Eliza like DIRT. So I turned it off. That was over 30 years ago, and I've never been able to watch it since."
17.Shag
"They border on sexual assault and waving the confederate flag is racist."
18.Clueless
Paramount Pictures
"I’m gonna say Clueless because of the whole 'romantic chemistry with my stepbrother' thing. These types of perverted relationships aren’t being vehemently rejected and abhorred enough. It’s so present in the porn industry and even Hollywood."
19.And finally, Grease
Paramount Pictures
"Grease...that’s all I have to say."
"Grease is a trash film. Was then, is now, and will always be."
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.
