What films do you like but are a bit off?

[timegoesbysoso]

Films I really enjoy and have watched many times, but they are (cough) problematic.

Pretty Woman - love it but it does majorly trivialise prostitution and supports men buying women

The Parent Trap - WTAF. Parents split and take one twin each and don't tell them or ever meet up?

Breakfast at Tiffany's - it's not a comedy! Holly was a sexually exploited child bride.

Gone with the Wind - dear lord, the cover up of slavery is awful.

I'm sure there are others ...

Rita, Sue and Bob too. Seriously off watching it now but in the 80s, everyone raved about it.

One of my faves but it would never get made today and that's "Rita,Sue and Bob too".

You forgot "only after he's committed attempted murder on the new boyfriend" 😆

Grease - the moral appears to be "if he doesn't like you for who you are, change! Oh and take up smoking whilst you're at it." Still a classic...

@PenelopeTitsdrop1990 spooky! 😆

Another one - Wish You Were Here. Anything Tom Bell was in after that made me feel a bit urgh.

I switched on the television the other day, just as Connery's Bond whacked a 'love interest' across her face and sent her flying.
It wasn't part of a fight scene and she wasn't an evil baddie, as far as I could make out 🤨

Coyote Ugly.

Feminist me could write an essay on how problematic this shallow and objectifying film is. But it reminds me of bonding with my stepdaughter, I love the music and most of the actors manage to bring their thinly-drawn characters to life in a way they probably don't deserve.

Mickey Rooney's role and performance as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Even at the time one of the producer's wasn't happy about it, but the director ignored him (he later regretted not listening to the producer).

I agree that Rita, Sue and Bob Too wouldn't get made today. I wonder if it got greenlit back in the 80s because someone made an argument Rita and Sue were 16 so it was 'OK'? I think it's unclear if they were 15 or 16 - they were in the final year of school.

I am a Hitchcock fan but;

Marnie by Hitchcock - she's frightened of sex owing to childhood trauma. Raped by husband on wedding night.

Frenzy by Hitchcock - exploitative scenes of strangling
Er... Psycho by Hitchcock - not only the shower scene but the whole 'it's the mothers fault he's a serial killer"
Actually the Birds by Hitchcock - my favourite but Tippi Hedren bullied by Hitchcock in the making.

However don't fully agree with PP about Vertigo. I think audiences at the time would also have seen Stewarts character as acting thr creepy stalker!

Hmmn.

Usual suspects. S7ven.
Robin Hood with Errol Flynn.
Funny face

Carry On films. Love'em but the sexism hasn't aged well.
The original Italian Job. I love Bennie Hill's character but, erm...

Mickey Rooney's role and performance as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Even at the time one of the producer's wasn't happy about it, but the director ignored him (he later regretted not listening to the producer).

I can't watch that film anymore, because of that character. It spoils it for me.

Groundhog Day - I love it, it's a masterpiece of editing, but it really hasn't held up well. Andie Macdowell is basically the "prize" Bill Murray wins by acting like a normal human being. They don't even bother to write her a character; she just stands around being prize-y.

In fact, quite a few Bill Murray films would make this list – someone mentioned Ghostbusters above, that's pretty bad. It was good when Broken Flowers had a stab at showing the consequences of acting like a Bill Murray character all your life.

In relation to Psycho, not sure if you're aware, but the inspiration for Bates was Ed Gein, who may not have been so messed up if it wasn't for his mother.

He idolised her, she was a domineering bible-bashing German woman who ruled the roost with an iron fist, didn't allow Ed to have friends, and viewed all women as evil.

He even kept her room exactly as it was after she died, her bible was still open on the page she'd left it. Hitchcock included this particular in the film which I thought was really great attention to detail.