Many people believe the term “overrated movie” is synonymous with “bad movie.” But that’s emphatically not the case. Indeed, as the following relatively-recent films demonstrate, overrated movies often have laudable qualities. It’s just that, for whatever reason, critics and audiences chose to celebrate them out of all proportion.
Note that the box-office numbers cited below reflect American totals.
Here are the 10 movies we consider the most overrated since 1990:
1. “Titanic” (1997)
RottenTomatoes Score: 88%
“Titanic” grossed an astonishing $658 million and won the Best Picture Oscar. And it certainly represents effective moviemaking: The sinking sequences are extremely realistic. But it’s puzzling why director James Cameron focuses on an overwrought, made-up love triangle when he could have told a true story about passengers aboard that doomed ship.