18 Movies People Really Loved The First Time They Watched Them, But Found Them Horrible After
I think we all have at least a handful of movies we watch over and over because we love them. For example, I can watch Back to the Future all the time. However, sometimes we love a movie the first time we see it and can't wait to see it again...only to be disappointed on a rewatch because it's not as good as we remember it.
Recently, I stumbled upon a Reddit thread that touched upon the latter. In the thread user personwithmusic asked: "Any movie that you have seen for the first time and loved it and watched for the second time and hated it?"
The thread got hundreds of comments from people who changed their minds about movies they thought they loved. Below are the top and best responses:
1."Enjoyed Barbie the first time, but it gets worse on subsequent viewings."
"I cried watching Barbie the first time. The second time, I got too bored. The jokes weren't funny the second time, neither was the cartoonish comedy. But I don't hate it. It hit the right chords of nostalgia, and I'm so glad I watched the movie in the theater. Also, the emotional parts still hit, not as great as the first time, but still did."
2."Drive and Baby Driver. I don't hate them, but definitely enjoyed it less than when I saw both originally in theaters."
Tristar Pictures / ©TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection, Filmdistric / FilmDistric/Courtesy Everett Collection
"I loved Baby Driver when I first saw it...but I caught it recently on Netflix. It just wasn't as well put together as I remember."
3."I loved both Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off when I was a kid. I rewatched them as an adult and was unbelievably irritated at all the whiny and entitled teenagers, LOL."
Paramount / ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection, Universal / ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
"Wow, THANK YOU!!! The Breakfast Club is my most hated movie ever. I hate all the characters with a passion. It came out when we were kids, and everyone loved it. I just remember thinking, Wow, have none of you ever been to detention before?Ferris Bueller I didn't hate until years later. I think the fact that I was in love with Sloane kind of made me biased. I hate it now, though. That little f*** Ferris Bueller, I would love to slap the shit out of that kid. Didn't they f'ing notice that the mileage on the car wasn't going backwards right away? Where did they get all this f'ing money? Why ruin a perfectly good parade? What's with that f'ing sweater?"
4."Avatar is a good example. I thought I loved the first one in the theater, with all the dazzling 3D visuals. I thought it would become another big classic. Then I saw it again a few years later, and it didn’t age well at all. It just felt empty and fake."
5."You've Got Mail. I remember liking it and thought it was a nice rom-com. I rewatched it recently, and it is so misogynistic. They both are emotionally cheating on their partners, and Tom Hanks makes Meg Ryan's character sell her bookstore and give up everything she worked for. Then she is supposed to be in love with him??? And he doesn't offer her anything in place of her bookstore or a job???"
"I take solace in the knowledge that a decade after the movie, Amazon most likely destroyed Fox Books and bankrupted him and his family. While Meg probably sat in the corner watching his downfall with a smirk on her face, sipping her tea."
6."I used to love Dazed and Confused when I was in high school. I started to watch it for the first time in years with my younger sister, and we turned it off about a half hour in."
7."The Last Jedi. It looked cool on the big screen, but then I thought about it."
"Agreed. I would even add that after watching it in theaters, everyone kept asking over dinner what I thought, and I said very little because I felt confused. I knew something was very wrong but couldn’t articulate it straight away. What a disappointing betrayal to the characters it was."
8."The Rise of Skywalker. The first time I saw it in theaters, and thought, Oh, that wasn’t as bad as people said! But as time passed…"
9."Sucker Punch. I remember seeing it in theaters and enjoying it. Then I watched it again at home, and I was like, 'WTF am I watching right now???'"
"Yeah, I watched that in theaters and liked it, but then when I saw it at home, I was like, 'This is shit.' The only scene I occasionally rewatch is the first five minutes."
10."Tenet. The first time I watched, I was like, 'Whoa, that was mind-bending and cool — definitely need to rewatch.' The second time I watched, I was like, 'Wait, WTF? This makes no sense. It is impenetrably complex, and I feel like Nolan is now trolling us.'"
11."Inception. I remember wanting to like it so badly during the hype. I liked Christopher Nolan. I liked all the actors. Plus, the plot seemed original. And the first time I watched it was fine. But it definitely was not as complex as everyone said it was. Without the building mystery it doesn't hold up well. But that's my opinion."
"The first time you see it, you're just trying to grasp what's going on and being wowed by the effects. Then the second time, you're like, 'Is that it? That's kinda dumb.'"
12."I thought Independence Day was amazing the first time I saw it in theaters in my youth. Watched it again maybe a week later and already thought it had worn out all its charm and surprises. Years went by, and some of the YouTuber film critics/commentators I follow had reevaluated it as having become a bit of a classic. So, I gave it another go but still just couldn’t get into it. I don’t think it’s terrible or anything, just meh."
13."The original Mortal Kombat movies. I had been telling everyone how awesome they were...then I saw them sober."
"My wife loves putting on the OG Mortal Kombat every couple of years, and every time she does, I think to myself, What was my 15-year-old brain thinking when I actually thought this was good?"
14."The first horror movie I ever watched was Cloverfield. It really hit me hard in high school; then as an adult, I watched it again, and it was so...BORING! Like, the action doesn't even start until halfway through the movie! I can't believe I considered it really scary at one point in my life?"
15."The American Pie movies, society has changed so much since then."
"Ah, yes. Those movies were a certain age, a certain time, and that's where they need to stay."
16."Battleship. I thought it amazing the first time. The second time, I was embarrassed I said so."
17."The first Suicide Squad film. I thought it was fine when I saw it in the cinema with my friends. But after a rewatch alone, I hated it."
18.And lastly, "Unpopular opinion but Everything Everywhere All at Once."
"I agree with you here. It was a film I related to quite a bit, so watching it in the cinema the first time did what it intended to do. The second time just removes all of the surprise jokes and feels."
You can read the original thread on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.