10 Fan-Favorite Classic Movies That Roger Ebert Hated (2024)

No harsher line has been drawn than between renowned critic Roger Ebert's fiery opinions about movies that audiences adored and deemed classics, genre-definers, and pop culture icons. In writing his critical thoughts about fan-favorite movies he hated, Ebert eviscerated Oscar-winners, quotable comedies, adaptations, and more, sparing no genre. He refused to give movies a pass because he enjoyed the filmmaker's previous work or adored the breakout performances from certain stars. Ebert remained brutally objective, seeing some films more than once to make sure he hadn't missed the point.

In the era of newspaper review sections, Ebert's comments would often determine if the readers would head to the box office, wait for home viewing, or skip a movie altogether. In the case of these movies, his negative take didn't dissuade viewers from falling in love with the twists, over-the-top comedy, or horrific violence. These titles are deemed "fan-favorites" for a reason because, while critics (including Ebert) may have missed the memo, audiences are staunch defenders of the narratives and the elicit reactions to the movie-going experience each movie provided.

10 'Happy Gilmore' (1996)

Directed by Dennis Dugan

Ebert called this sports comedy classic "the latest in the dumber and dumbest sweepstakes." Happy Gilmore is one of Adam Sandler's most memorable comedies about a young wanna-be hockey player who takes his heavy-handed swing to golf, hoping to win enough tournament money to pay off his grandmother's back taxes to the IRS. In his one-and-a-half star review, Ebert called Sandler's antics "tiring," labeling the titular character "a violent sociopath."

This is one of the many Sandler features built specifically for his audiences, who find every charade, tirade, and bit hysterical, while those seeking a narrative-fueled movie infused with comedy tend to turn away. Audiences know what to expect with Sandler's name attached to the project, but for Ebert, reviewing Happy Gilmore was an occupational hazard.

Happy Gilmore

PG-13

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Release Date

February 16, 1996

Director

Dennis Dugan

Cast

Adam Sandler , Christopher McDonald , Julie Bowen , Frances Bay , Carl Weathers , Allen Covert

Main Genre

Comedy

9 'Napoleon Dynamite' (2004)

Directed by Jared Hess

This awkward indie classic may have won over fans but had no place in Ebert's canon of what he deemed "good movies." Napoleon Dynamite is a teen comedy about the inept titular high schooler (Jon Heder) as he escapes his chaotic home life by befriending the new kid, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), and launching a campaign to elect Pedro class president. Ebert gave the inevitable cult classic one-and-a-half stars while he explained his distaste for Napoleon: "I certainly don't like him, but then the movie makes no attempt to make him likeable."

Ebert dissected the comedy genre into two means of producing laughter, because the audience feels superior to the characters or because the audience likes and/or pities them; the former being the main strategy of Adam Sandler movies, which Ebert disliked. Napoleon Dynamite fell into neither category for the brutally honest critic, finding no entertainment in the outlandish Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) or the internet escapades of Kip (Aaron Ruell). Ebert's parting hot take was that the film's positive reception at the Sundance Film Festival was merely a peer-pressured response to look cool watching a film he felt was anything but.

Napoleon Dynamite

PG

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Release Date

August 27, 2004

Director

Jared Hess

Cast

Jon Heder , Jon Gries , Aaron Ruell , Efren Ramirez , Diedrich Bader , Tina Majorino

Main Genre

Comedy

8 'Raising Arizona' (1987)

Directed by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

A movie he deemed all over the map made by filmmakers he respected, Raising Arizona left Ebert struggling with its blatant separation from reality and inability to set expectations that comedy would allow it to break later. The Coen Brothers movie stars Nicolas Cage as an ex-con and Holly Hunter as an ex-cop who, after marrying, realize they are unable to have a baby of their own. The pair kidnap a baby from a family who recently had quintuplets, which sets off a chain reaction of events and inquiries that make raising their new son all the more complicated.

Ebert's one-and-a-half-star review took issue with more than just the film's structure, but also the dialogue style he called "distracting and unconvincing." In his opinion, the movie was slowed down by not only the strange narrations, but its inability to show restraint to allow the comedy of the premise to naturally entertain audiences instead of slipping into unbelievabilty.

Raising Arizona

PG-13

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Release Date

April 10, 1987

Director

Joel Coen , Ethan Coen

Cast

Nicolas Cage , Holly Hunter , Trey Wilson , John Goodman , William Forsythe , Sam McMurray , Frances McDormand , Randall 'Tex' Cobb

Main Genre

Comedy

7 'The Usual Suspects' (1995)

Directed by Bryan Singer

Even after two screenings, Ebert still wasn't impressed with The Usual Suspects. The Oscar-winning movie earned only one-and-a-half stars in addition to winding up on his Most Hated List. After a multi-million dollar heist goes south, Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) recounts the lead-up, describing to federal agents how the enigmatic drug lord, Keyser Soze, recruited Kint and four others (Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, and Kevin Pollak) for the job. Ebert first screened the film at the Sundance Film Festival but chalked up initial thoughts to having seen too many movies in one day.

Despite the critical acclaim the red herring film earned, Ebert preferred "to be amazed by motivation, not manipulation." The ending twist in The Usual Suspects has continued its mind-blowing landing for decades; however, Ebert's outlying opinion preferred a linear crime narrative instead of the juicy reversal first-time viewers are still dazzled by today.

The Usual Suspects

R

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Release Date

July 19, 1995

Director

Bryan Singer

Cast

Gabriel Byrne , Benicio Del Toro , Kevin Pollak , Kevin Spacey , Chazz Palminteri

Main Genre

Crime

6 'Armageddon' (1998)

Directed by Michael Bay

In a wild departure from logic and science, Armageddon wound up on Ebert's Most Hated List with its zero-star rating. The movie features an A-list cast led by Bruce Willis who stars as an oil drilling expert tasked with drilling a hole in an asteroid the size of Texas to explode and dismantle it before its impact destroys Earth. Ebert's scathing review warned that if the movie delivered on the promise from the movie posters to "obliterate your senses," then "consider it a mercy killing."

The audience reviews and reception of the film was quite the opposite of Ebert's critical consensus-leading review. Armageddon features the trifecta for fans who want an action-packed diaster movie directed by Michael Bay with Bruce Willis leading the way, making it easy to ignore the plot holes and scientific inconsistencies. For Ebert, there were too many "dramatic" platitudes and one-liners, making it the film, "loud, ugly, and fragmented."

Armageddon

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Sci-Fi

Thriller

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See Also

7 tense crime movies on Prime Video with 95% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes

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Release Date

July 1, 1998

Director

Michael Bay

Cast

Bruce Willis , Billy Bob Thornton , Liv Tyler , Ben Affleck , Will Patton , Peter Stormare , Keith David , Steve Buscemi

5 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (1982)

Directed by Amy Heckerling

Ebert called this teen comedy cult classic a "scuz-pit of a movie." Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a decade-defining film about a group of high school students who, through interweaving narratives, navigate the complexities of relationships, sex, and drugs. Despite his distaste for the movie, Ebert acknowledged the solid acting from its young cast, including Sean Penn's breakout performance as the stoner surfer Jeff Spicoli. He credited the cast for "struggl[ing] valiantly" as they "walk a tightrope between comedy and sexploitation."

Even with Ebert's one-star harsh criticism of the movie, including calling it sexist during one rant, Fast Times at Ridgemont High remains a staple in the genre, laying tropes and character foundations used over four decades later. One thing the critic made abundantly clear is that he wasn't against vulgarity in comedies, providing examples of where it worked, like National Lampoon's Animal House, but tone is the key to delivering a rip-roaring film, something Fast Times writers failed to do in his opinion.

Fast Times At Ridgemont High

R

Comedy

Drama

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Release Date

August 13, 1982

Cast

Phoebe Cates , Ray Walston , Jennifer Jason Leigh , Brian Backer , Judge Reinhold , Sean Penn , Robert Romanus

4 'Zoolander' (2001)

Directed by Ben Stiller

The opening line of Ebert's one-star review offered Zoolander as a reason why the United States is hated in parts of the world. He wasted no time shredding the Ben Stiller-directed film for the narrative of a male fashion model, Derek Zoolander (Stiller) being brainwashed into murdering a prime minister who opposes child labor. With the understanding movies are a form of escapism, Ebert stuck to his opinion that movies joking about matters like this would never be deemed funny if it were reversed and a U.S. politician was the target (remember the backlash of The Interview?).

Zoolander is the subject of some of pop culture's quotable moments, and is considered by audiences as an outlandish comedy worth overlooking what Ebert deemed poor taste. There's a clear divisive line drawn between fans of the film for not taking itself too seriously and the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic who felt the premise needed to be taken seriously or not done at all.

Zoolander

PG-13

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Release Date

September 28, 2001

Director

Ben Stiller

Cast

Ben Stiller , Owen Wilson , Christine Taylor , Will Ferrell , Milla Jovovich , Jerry Stiller

Main Genre

Comedy

3 'Kick-Ass' (2010)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Where other critics and comic audiences hailed this superhero film, Ebert found it "morally reprehensible" and was not interested in understanding the world in which moviegoers inhabited who enjoyed Kick-Ass. The R-rated dark comedy is the story of an introverted teenage comic book fan, David Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who one day dons a cape and costume, becoming a superhero, and one who lacks any sort of special powers. Ebert was saddened by the film's approach to graphic violence inflicted upon and by both teenagers and adults, concerned about how it would come across to much younger viewers who would no doubt see it.

His one-star review was unwilling to give Kick-Ass the pass that other critics and viewers gave it, questioning just what exactly it was supposed to be satirizing. While the cast, including Nicolas Cage, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Mark Strong, was a draw, the premise took a backseat to the visually appealing design and high-energy pacing of the bloody violence. It was deemed a superhero movie of the real world, but its roots in reality were something Ebert refused to commend.

Kick-Ass

R

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Release Date

March 22, 2010

Director

Matthew Vaughn

Cast

Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Chloe Moretz , Nicolas Cage , Christopher Mintz-Plasse , Clark Duke , Evan Peters

Main Genre

Action

2 'Hellraiser' (1987)

Directed by Clive Barker

In a divisive hot take that horror audiences staunchly disagree with, Ebert awarded Hellraiser a half-star rating, dubbing it one of the worst horror movies of all time. The body horror feature follows Frank (Sean Chapman) and his violent supernatural end, accidental resurrection, and campaign to consume flesh to revitalize his body and escape the underworld. Ebert's befuddled review couldn't wrap his mind around how Stephen King called the film and its director "the future of horror."

Hellraiser is "a movie without wit, style or reason" in Ebert's eyes, despite audiences' awe of the special effects and unique world view. Horror movies find their niche audiences, with viewers often needing no existential explanations or reasoning for why the terrifying events on onscreen take place. Searching for that explanation with Hellraiser, Ebert failed to understand why moviegoers and genre audiences went to see a movie like this one.

Hellraiser

R

Horror

Thriller

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Release Date

September 18, 1987

Director

Clive Barker

Cast

Ashley Laurence , Sean Chapman , Doug Bradley , Andrew Robinson , Claire Higgins , Nicholas Vince , Simon Bamford , Grace Kirby , Oliver Smith

1 'Police Academy' (1984)

Directed by Hugh Wilson

Ebert's zero star, thumbs down opinion of the satrical Police Academy was downright criminal to loyal fans of the franchise. The Airplane!-inspired comedy takes audiences through an open call for police academy recruits, the standards of practice go out the window, forming a class of future officers like no other. Ebert felt the film suffered from an identity crisis and misunderstood the entire point of satirizing the institution, a complete missed opportunity making it one of the worst comedies of all time.

Police Academy is a movie Ebert called "the pits of the genre," as it failed to produce comedic twists or palpable punch lines. While the genre contains a roster of movies that pull off the stupid comedy shtick, the critic consensus on this satire was not a positive one. Audiences adored the Police Academy for its simplicity as an enjoyable mindless watch that allowed viewers to travel through nostalgia to a much different time in cinema.

Police Academy

R

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Release Date

March 22, 1984

Director

Hugh Wilson

Cast

Steve Guttenberg , Kim Cattrall , G.W. Bailey , Bubba Smith , Donovan Scott , George Gaynes

Main Genre

Comedy

NEXT: The 10 Worst Superhero Movies of All Time, According to Roger Ebert