The 20 most underrated films ever

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Louise Thomas

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Ever feel that your favourite film doesn’t receive enough love? Ever be impressed by a movie you’ve heard was terrible? Ever find yourself recommending the same obscure Nineties thriller to absolutely everyone you know? Just me?

There’s no rhyme or reason why certain films become “underrated”. Some aren’t given a fair shake upon release, others merely fall through the cracks until they’re re-discovered years or sometimes decades later. They’re fun to talk about, though, as well as debate with a fiery passion.

On that note, we’ve curated 20 films that should be at the top of your watchlist. Or rewatchlist. Some you’ve probably heard of, others you definitely haven’t. All, though, are linked by their shared lack of respect.

20. The Cat in the Hat (2003)

OK, so hear me out. Yes, The Cat in the Hat is considered one of the worst films of all time. Practically anyone you come across shudders when you utter its name. But I am confident when I say this is an example of the Mandela effect – everybody has it backwards. The Cat in the Hat, a film so heavily panned it sent Bo Welch straight to director’s jail, is actually really bloody funny. It even has moments of bona fide brilliance. Things take a while, but when Mike Myers’ anthropomorphic feline is unwittingly summoned by bored kids Sally (Dakota Fanning) and Conrad (Spencer Breslin), what follows is an extended sequence of zaniness and so many laugh-out-loud quips. Don’t believe me? Watch the cupcake scene on YouTube. If you don’t laugh at that, I really don’t know what to tell you. Jacob Stolworthy

19. Return to Paradise (1998)

“What would you do if [insert incredibly over-the-top scenario here] happened to you?” asked any number of Nineties semi-classics, from the Demi Moore thriller Indecent Proposal to the Nicolas Cage lottery ticket romcom, um, It Could Happen to You. One film of this peculiar sub-genre that didn’t stand the test of time – or even make a splash in 1998, despite its entire cast being among the buzziest young stars in Hollywood at the time – was Return to Paradise.

Baby Joaquin Phoenix plays an American on death row in Malaysia, after the hash he bought in the country with his two buddies (baby Vince Vaughn and baby Ghost Whisperer star David Conrad) is found by the authorities. The rub? His buddies were already back in America by the time the drugs were found, and now receive an unpleasant but potentially life-saving offer from a forceful lawyer (the brilliant Anne Heche): go back to Malaysia, take responsibility for buying the drugs with him and they will all spend three years each in jail, rather than one being executed. Or they don’t, and their friend dies.

This is juicy, twisty stuff – check out baby Jada Pinkett Smith as a ruthless New York reporter plotting to scupper the plot, too – and the exact kind of pulpy, expensive melodrama we just don’t get any more. So throw it on and pretend you’re in 1998 again. Adam White

18. Spy Game (2001)

For a film with such bankable stars (Robert Redford and Brad Pitt) and so agreeable a premise (grizzly CIA agent takes handsome young apprentice under his wing), Spy Game flopped – hard. Upon its release in 2001, the film was maligned as an exercise of style over substance, with Redford deemed (somewhat unusually) a black hole of charisma.

It’s an unfair assassination of a very good, if not great, espionage thriller. As a film, Spy Game offers the same taut storytelling and cranked-up action sequences of Tony Scott’s best outings, such as Crimson Tide. The flashbacks are considered but fast paced, an energy that’s matched by a pounding soundtrack and restless camerawork seamlessly stitched together in the editing room. Annabel Nugent

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17. Bad Santa (2003)

Looking at the poster for Bad Santa, you’d be forgiven for thinking it another forgettable early Noughties raunch-com. But what that admittedly awful marketing belies is an outrageously funny, out-of-pocket festive film that has no business being as good as it is. (Although its superb cast may tip you off: John Ritter and Bernie Mac among them.)

Billy Bob Thornton is a degenerate mall Santa: drunk, self-loathing, foul-mouthed, and only in it for the money – not the paycheque, mind you, but the cash inside the department store safes that he cracks every year with his mall elf sidekick, Willie. When a young loner attaches himself to Thornton’s Santa, there is a sliver of hope for our naughty Saint Nicholas. This film joyously upends every expectation of a Christmas movie. That the Coen Brothers came up with the story makes complete sense. AN

16. That Cold Day in the Park (1969)

Robert Altman was arguably most famous for his sprawling ensemble pictures, among them Nashville and Gosford Park. But he was also very good at making films about women going just really, really nuts. 3 Women, starring Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall, is his obvious best there, but worth seeking out is his earlier thriller That Cold Day in the Park. It stars the fragile, frazzled Sandy Dennis (think an Amy Adams who’s been locked alone in a room for a few days) as a wealthy loner who spends her days gazing out of the window of her dead parents’ massive Vancouver house. She spies a teenage boy in the park it overlooks one day, then invites him in. There begins an electric tête-à-tête – it’s sometimes maternal, sometimes erotic, always vaguely wackadoo. Dennis is spectacular, and the film’s ending is haunting. AW

15. Get Over It (2001)

Like 10 Things I Hate About You before it and She’s the Man after it, this 2001 teen flick is a (very) loose adaptation of Shakespeare. This time, it’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream that gets the modern romcom treatment courtesy of writer R Lee Fleming Jr, who two years earlier had scripted the iconic She’s All That.

Ben Foster plays a puppy-eyed high schooler who joins his end-of-year play in the hopes of winning back his ex-girlfriend, who’s swanned off with a British boy bander (Shane West). The plot is generic, sure, but it’s brought to life by a laugh-out-loud script, and an ensemble cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Mila Kunis, Sisqó (remember “The Thong Song”?) and Martin Short, who steals scenes as the school’s stupendously camp drama teacher. AN

14. World’s Greatest Dad (2009)

Remember when Robin Williams went full-frontal in a dark comedy about autoerotic asphyxiation, a dead teenager and the act of turning tragic lemons into self-aggrandising lemonade? Of course you don’t! Bobcat Goldthwait’s richly barbed 2009 movie World’s Greatest Dad holds what is likely Williams’s last truly great performance, in the difficult role of an unfulfilled father whose monstrous son dies in a freak accident, and who then decides to play the incident to his advantage. Not everyone will like where the film goes from there, but it’s exactly the sort of so-mean-it’s-hilarious comic nastiness that Williams always secretly adored – outside of the weepies and the Flubbers, I guess. AW

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13. Lucy in the Sky (2019)

Either get on Natalie Portman’s wavelength, or stop trying entirely. With Lucy in the Sky, everyone really quickly did the latter. But this psychological thriller – loosely inspired by a true story – didn’t warrant the tsunami of criticism that helped it become one of 2019’s most expensive flops. Portman plays an astronaut who struggles with her sanity upon returning to earth, becoming increasingly paranoid about her bosses, her husband and her new lover. She’s surrounded by a starry supporting cast (Jon Hamm, Ellen Burstyn, Dan Stevens and Colman Domingo all appear) while writer/director Noah Hawley (FX’s Fargo) throws every style trick in the book at us – there are split screens, changes in aspect ratios, lots of slo-mo. Perhaps that didn’t help the reception at the time of its release. But there’s something quite stirring about Lucy in the Sky and its slow descent into hyper-stylised madness, while it holds one of Portman’s greatest recent performances – hideous bowl cut hairdo and all. AW

12. Duplex (2003)

Danny DeVito’s directorial career is full of films that straddle the line between zany absurdity and outright meanness – think the kids entertainment revenge tale Death to Smoochy, or the self-explanatory Throw Momma from the Train. The one that absolutely no one talks about, though, is Duplex, which was titled Our House in the UK. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore play successful New Yorkers who find a perfect brownstone apartment for sale – the only catch being that they must share the building with an elderly woman. Only once they move in, though, does the old lady become an absolute menace. Effectively, this is a movie about two of Hollywood’s nicest romcom stars debating whether they could ever actually murder an old lady. It’s a treat! AW

11. The Last Duel (2021)

The Last Duel was a big deal when it was released in 2021, because of course it was. This was a Disney production directed by Ridley Scott, featuring stars old and new (Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Driver, and Jodie Comer). But the reaction fell flat, and The Last Duel – a medieval epic for the age of #MeToo – performed poorly at the worldwide box office. Granted, a film about rape set in 1386 Paris was always going to be a hard sell, but even the critics were largely unimpressed.

Now out from under the shadow of the pandemic, The Last Duel is a film that lives up to its grand ambitions. The three-act structure is a risk, but one that pays off – particularly in its final chapter, told from the perspective of Comer’s Marguerite, and written by Nicole Holofcener, who was brought in by co-writers Damon and Affleck to add a female perspective. And to anyone suggesting The Last Duel isn’t as epic as Scott’s other films, I’d point them in the direction of the final, titular battle. It’s peak Scott. AN

10. Dream Demon (1988)

Potentially too indebted to the then-thriving A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to break out in 1988, Dream Demon warrants a second look. It’s a decidedly British affair, a horror picture sporting a thick layer of London grime. It’s even got Jimmy Nail in it, for God’s sake. Jemma Redgrave plays a young yuppie named Diana who is haunted by bad nightmares, engaged to a wealthy man and harassed by the paparazzi (yes, there are royal parallels). Soon, dreams and reality begin to blur, Timothy Spall sports pig prosthetics on his face, and a punky American starts talking about the “astral plane” and haunted houses. It’s just a lot of dumb fun – imagine an episode of The Crown written by Clive Barker and you’re somewhere in the ballpark. AW

9. House of the Devil (2009)

These days, Ti West is best known as the creator of the acclaimed X trilogy, but before Mia Goth’s axe-wielding starlet stepped onto screens, there was The House of the Devil – a Noughties horror gem and the director’s most criminally overlooked work. Released in 2009 to little fanfare, the Eighties-set film treads familiar ground: a hard-up college girl (Jocelin Donahue) takes a babysitting job in a spooky house on the night of a full lunar eclipse. Terror ensues.

People at the time criticised the plot’s plodding nature, the snail-pace at which any action unfurls. Admittedly, The House of the Devil is a slow burn – but that time is well spent by West who conjures the Satanic panic of the Eighties era as masterfully as he builds narrative tension. And dread. There’s so much dread. By the time the gross-out horror sequences do arrive, they’re earned. Did I mention the memorable turn from Oscar-winner Greta Gerwig? AN

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8. Love Jones (1997)

You’d be forgiven for not knowing the name Theodore Witcher, the writer-director of Love Jones, a romantic drama that, outrageously, remains his only directing credit almost 30 years later. At least he can take the prize for crafting the sexiest film of the 1990s. Love Jones has charisma in droves, which you’d expect from a film headed up by actors who look like Larenz Tate and Nia Long. The pair star as poet Darius Lovehall and photographer Nina Mosely, two single(ish) twenty-somethings who fall for each other after meeting at a bar in Chicago. There’s shades of Before Sunrise in the dialogue – hopeless romantics will lap up Darius’s otherwise stalky pursuit of Nina – but the film as a whole is very much its own thing: a tale of sexual attraction and longing heightened by the obstacles life is prone to throw your way. JS

7. They Came Together (2014)

Spoofing a genre can be tricky (just look at the rapid decline of the Scary Movie franchise), but David Wain’s rip-roaring satire of romantic comedies strikes exactly the right tone – loud and obnoxious. Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler star as a couple falling in love in a film that’s about as subtle as a headbutt, which is exactly the point. Across a brief 80 minutes (remember when films were that short?), they reel through the stereotypes of romcoms hilariously and indiscriminately. “You like fiction? I’ve never met anyone else who likes fiction!” Poehler’s character exclaims during their meet-cute at a bookshop.

Rudd and Poehler’s comic prowess alone is enough to keep this film afloat, but they’re joined by a who’s-who of comedy: Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Cobie Smulders, Jason Mantzoukas, Jack McBrayer, Max Greenfield, Kenan Thompson, Randall Park, Ed Helms, Melanie Lynskey. Ken Marino, John Stamos, Adam Scott… the list goes on. AN

6. Fearless (1993)

Yes, Jeff Bridges has The Big Lebowski. But real fans know his greatest work happened a few years earlier, with his rich and complex performance in 1993’s Fearless, a life-affirming drama about a man who survives a disastrous plane crash without a scratch. Bridges cycles through angry mania and beatific bliss, but it’s his tentative relationship with another survivor – who held her baby in her arms, then lost him, as the plane went down – that gives the film its spiky wonder. She is played by an Oscar-nominated Rosie Perez, and is marvellous. AW

5. Girlfriends (1978)

Perhaps underrated is the wrong word here but Girlfriends is a case of “if you know, you know”. Lauded by directors du jour such as Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, and Lena Dunham, Claudia Weill’s 1978 study of female friendship probably influenced your favourite movie even if you’ve never heard of it yourself. The fact it wasn’t a mainstream success confused even Stanley Kubrick, who called Girlfriends “one of the very rare American films that I would compare to the serious, intelligent, sensitive writing and filmmaking that you find in the best directors in Europe”.

The film follows best friends and roommates Susan and Anne (Melanie Mayron and Anita Skinner) as they navigate that nebulous, strange time of their twenties. “Oh, I have a few things cooking,” says Susan, in response to someone asking how her life is panning out. “Actually, I have nothing cooking. At all.” Pivotal to Weill’s coming-of-age tale is the connection at its centre, with Girlfriends being one of the first films of its type to take female friendship so seriously. AN

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4. The Silent Partner (1978)

Like Christmas movies? Like crime? Like outrageous Seventies chest hair? Then dig into The Silent Partner, an unconventional Canadian thriller both incredibly romantic and also bizarrely hyper-violent. Elliott Gould plays a bored bank teller at a Toronto shopping centre who learns of an impending robbery – he tells no one, and instead swipes some of the loot for himself. Things unsurprisingly spiral from there, with Gould tapering down his usual velvety voiced showmanship, and a raft of strong supporting turns from the likes of Christopher Plummer and a pre-fame John Candy. This basically vanished upon release in 1978, but has deservedly picked up a cult fanbase in recent years. Maybe because it’s a suspenseful blast. Maybe because it features the most horrifying fish tank scene in cinema history. Who’s to say? AW

3. Real Life (1979)

In fairness, this entire list could just be a ranking of the filmography of influential comic genius Albert Brooks, whose fingerprints are all over much of the great American comedy of the last 30 years. Seek out his anti-romcom Modern Romance, his satirical road movie Lost in America and his twinkly comedy-drama Mother, but start off with Real Life, his 1979 mockumentary in which he plays a narcissistic filmmaker who decides to capture a year in the life of a “real American family”. Every mortifying cringe comedy you’ve seen can be traced back to Brooks’s film, which luxuriates in discomfort, while (inadvertently?) predicting evolutions in filmmaking and “candid” entertainment for decades to come. AW

2. Scandal (1950)

So many of Akira Kurosawa’s films stand among the best and most globally celebrated Japanese movies ever released, from Rashomon to Seven Samurai to High and Low. Across any 30-film career, however, some projects are inevitably bound to slip through the cracks. Scandal (1950) is one such film. A richly crafted morality tale about an artist who sues a tabloid newspaper, the film unites Kurosawa with two of his most frequent collaborators – Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura, both excellent here. Scandal is often omitted from retrospectives of Kurosawa’s works – you won’t find it in any of the four DVD box sets put out by the BFI – but, at the time of writing, is available to stream on YouTube. A deep cut maybe, but a deeply worthwhile one. Louis Chilton

1. The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Warner Bros wanted a Matrix reboot. Lana Wachowski, who co-directed the original trilogy with her sister Lilly, really didn’t want to make one. Warner Bros told her they were gonna do it with or without her. She caved. But unknown to the studio, they were playing draughts and Wachowski was playing 3D chess. The Matrix Resurrections almost seemed a deliberate attempt to kill the franchise, Wachowski making a film that is bold and alienating, one ruthlessly sneering towards corporate overlords out to exhume intellectual property for financial gain.

There’s little of the relentless action of the original movie here, but it makes up for it in sweeping romance: Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, both now middle-aged and almost suffocatingly good-looking, play strangers who seem to recognise one another from a different time. He once designed a hit video game called The Matrix. She’s married to a horrible man, and feels as if she’s meant for more. Of course, all of this is a simulation, but behind the curtain is a labyrinth of prophecies, superpowers and narrative bait-and-switches. Resurrections underperformed in 2021 and was despised by many. Lana Wachowski probably would have wanted nothing less. AW