Underrated Movies

The Lake House
Interiors
Young Adult
Stardust
Me & Earl & The Dying Girl
Brad's Status
Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants
Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2

 

Technically, any movie that somebody liked which has a relatively low score on iMDB is underrated.

 

The Stunt Man
Tune in Tomorrow

 

Jonathan Demme's "Melvin And Howard" from 1980. Yes, Mary Steenburgen won an Academy Award for her performance but I rarely see it on television or acknowledged as a great film but it is to me.

 

Good call on The Stunt Man - interestingly enough, when Bob Dylan was stealing lines from movies and putting them in songs in the first half of the 1980s (mostly from noir classics), he appears to have written the song "Clean Cut Kid", based on The Stunt Man. Peter O'Toole's Eli Cross actually describes Cameron as "our clean-cut kid" in one of the scenes.

I believe the song is written about the Cameron character from The Stunt Man who was a Vietnam vet. The reference to Russian Roulette seems to reference the Vietnam epic The Deerhunter.

Clean Cut Kid

Everybody wants to know why he couldn't adjust
Adjust to what, a dream that bust?
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

They said what's up is down, they said what isn't is
They put ideas in his head he thought were his
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

He was on the baseball team, he was in the marching band
When he was ten years old he had a watermelon stand
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

He went to church on Sunday, he was a Boy Scout
For his friends he would turn his pockets inside out
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

They said, "Listen boy, you're just a pup"
They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up
They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills,
A jeep to drive, blood to spill
They said "Congratulations, you got what it takes"
They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

He bought the American dream but it put him in debt
The only game he could play was Russian roulette
He drank Coca-Cola, he was eating Wonder Bread,
Ate Burger Kings, he was well fed
He went to Hollywood to see Peter O'Toole
He stole a Rolls Royce and drove it in a swimming pool
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

He could've sold insurance, owned a restaurant or bar
Could've been an accountant or a tennis star
He was wearing boxing gloves, took a dive one day
Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay
His mama walks the floor, his daddy weeps and moans
They gotta sleep together in a home they don't own
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

Well, everybody's asking why he couldn't adjust
All he ever wanted was somebody to trust
They took his head and turned it inside out
He never did know what it was all about
He had a steady job, he joined the choir
He never did plan to walk the high wire
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him,
That's what they did

 

I always thought "The 'Burbs" was underrated.

 

I'll co-sign that - I don't know that the writing is as sharp as it could've been, but it's got enough good bits to make it worth watching. "Hey Pinocchio, where're you going?"

 

American Psycho. I’m not saying it’s a masterpiece or anything, but I don’t get why it’s ranked so poorly in comparison to contemporaries like Fight Club.

 

Any movie helmed by Albert Brooks is sorely underrated

 

Ghosts of Mars

 

My Favorite Year - Peter O’Toole
Eastern Promises - Vigo Mortensen
Wild - Reese Witherspoon
Holy Man - Eddie Murphy
Things Change - Joe Mantegna. This movie happens to be my all time favorite sleeper.
House Of Games - another Joe Mantegna.
The Spanish Prisoner - Steve Martin

 

Apocalypse Now Redux...

 

I'll second that-Defending Your Life sold almost no tickets, but I've always loved it.

 

Let It Ride

 

Never Cry Wolf (1983)

 

The Station Agent.

 

Soldier[very good science fiction flick].

 

Agreed

 

I've always liked
Monte Walsh

The original with Palance and Marvin.

 

The In-Laws.

The original with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin.

 

Night Moves ( although it's critically respected by those who know about it as a neo-noir it's brilliant and the last great film directed by Arthur Penn)
Inside Moves (Richard Donner)
Lucky Number Slevin
The Fall

 

Pink Flamingos