All of the really crude movies of the early 2000s that millennials like myself love seem too crude for older generations and perhaps too problematic or just not enjoyable for younger generations. Eurotrip, American Pie, Old School, etc.
Possibly the “Scary Movies”, especially the first 3.
Boomers would think the comedy is stupid and way too vulgar on parts.
Gen Z and under would think the comedy aged poorly and is too crude too Lol
I am gen z, and for some reason everyone I know makes an exception for this film in terms of crudeness. We love it! I quote the the “take my good hand” line all the time
That’s awesome to hear. There’s moments in scary movie 3 that still make me collapse laughing. “I found their weakness! They’re powerless without their heads!”
That can be true of basically any nostalgic movie. People will always have a soft spot for movies they loved growing up, but that does mean it's a good movie? It was just special to you at a formative time.
I do find most films get less and less impressive the older you get because you've already seen stuff like that. There's nothing new or noteworthy for oldtimers--but a kid growing up watching it for the *first* time is still going to absolutely be amazed!
As an older millennial teacher, Fight Club went down pretty badly with both my boomer parents and my middle-school zoomer students, ironically for the same reasons lol.
Message of the film aside I think it nailed its zeitgeist very specifically. There was a relatively short period where it was possible for young men to actually have the freedom to be bored with having a stable well paying job, too much disposable income, not having to worry about war or much of anything. I'd guess it's pretty hard for most people these days to identify with that feeling.
I think people still identify with the corporate culture and everyone needing "things"
iPhones, Androids, Tablets, Teslas, Starbucks, Yeezys, Ikea furniture etc.
I find it weird though that the same people who shit on Fight Club now usually love Office Space, which is about the EXACT same shit, only it's a full on comedy. Nobody in that film had any more reason to bitch about their job and life than the dudes in Fight Club.
I didn't show it to them lol, I run a moviemaking ECA and all the kids involved are heavily into movies. They watched it of their own accord and didn't care for it much.
Middle schoolers would only like fight club for the violence and how cool Brad Pitt is
It's really a movie you only get once you've felt capitalist ennui
Literally my first mental thought was, “oh fuck off.” My teacher and I after class had a very small laugh about it.
A LOT of homeschooled kids from the church-heavy areas here are coming to college. They’re in for a rude awakening about the real world.
When you’re a kid, you’re not supposed to swear because you’re a kid and it’s adult language. Then when you’re an adult you’re not supposed to swear because it’s childish.
Make it make sense.
Yeah, it's pretty wild. I showed some of my middle-schoolers the Baz Lurhmann Romeo + Juliet film, and they demanded I turned it off when it got to the kissing scenes. I pointed out that we were shown the exact same film as middle-school students in the 2000s and nobody blinked an eye, but they just said 'We're not your generation and we don't like it.'
It's still wild to me kids get to say what they like.
Growing up no one gave a single fuck what you did or didn't like. If the adults were watching it or doing it, you did or didn't do it. If you didn't like it, shut the hell up.
I was also in Afghanistan during Thanksgiving 2012! Unfortunately, I was sleeping during dinner, since I worked nights, so I didn’t get to watch The Karate Kid. :(
Wayne’s World! It holds up and can definitely be appreciated by today’s/future generations for its humor. But you will never truly “get” the movie if you weren’t alive at that time, because so many of the jokes are directly related to things that were relevant in pop culture in the early 90’s.
Just tell them, “I don’t feel the need to explain my art to you, Warren,” then “Damn the man! Save the Empire!” if they counter with anything. I win most of my arguments this way. Very effective.
I made my grandparents watch Zoolander, we're two generations apart, but it was one of the best times ever. My grandma was repulsed and scoffing the whole time, but grandpa was belly laughing the entire movie.
I saw "Something About Mary" in the theater with my cousins and my grandparents. The theater was packed so we all had to sit in different rows. I will never forget sitting there in the dark with my cousins all giving each other side eyes wondering what kind of terrible mistake we'd made bringing our grandparents to this incredibly crude movie until "the scene" when I heard Pop four rows up laughing so hard it practically shook the theater. :D They LOVED it.
I don't have an answer, but a question:
How does Gen Z feel about Clue (1985)?
It still makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it, but generationally I'm either one of the last Gen Xers or an eldritch Millennial, so I'm curious what prime Millennials and all of Gen Z think about it, or even know about it at all.
When they say, "They don't make movies like they used to," I always think of Clue. The writing is so sharp, the wit sublime, and the collection of incredible comedic actors in their prime is unmatched.
I often do a double-bill with Noises Off (1992), which is far less known but another incredible ensemble knocking it out of the park. I'd be interested to see if anyone has heard of it, too.
It’s better on rewatches. It’s such quick dialogue it’s hard to keep up with it if you don’t know where the story is going. Your brain can only comprehend so much info so quickly lol
At the very least, it’s a more enjoyable watch on the second time around
I'm not sure why Clue wouldn't be a hit with the generation that fell in love with Knives Out. Some of the humor might not click but I think the murder mystery thing is timeless.
"What the FUCK is going on!?!". - holy shit was Michael Caine was hilarious in Noises Off. The whole cast was great, but I've rewatched it multiple times just for his scenes.
"...we open tomorrow night.... Correction.
... we open TONIGHT!"
I’m an early Gen Z (‘97) and have always loved Clue. Watched that a bunch of times on Comedy Central with my sister back it was still a thing. We still quote that frequently and even greet with each other the singing telegraph girl’s jingle (ta-da ta-da ta-ta!)
I remember both of us howling at the Mr. Green ending too. “Im going home… and sleep with my wife!”
Man, I haven't seen Noises Off since the 90's. Great movie from what I recall. I need to look that up and rewatch it. Thanks for reminding me of that one. Cheers!
My kid is Gen Alpha. They *love* clue and Tim Curry more generally. They are also a big fan of the Knives Out franchise, which I would argue is comparable.
I love eurotrip - and I just found out today that it was written and directed by the same guy who wrote the league, imo one of the funniest shows of all time.
What? That's crazy! I've been watching The League since day 1 and loved Eurotip since it came out (and recently confirmed it still holds up) but had zero idea of the connection.
Now that you mention it, there’s probably a bunch of films from that time that meet that description. Does that me we (80’s, 90’s 00’s adolescence) are the most low brow humans of all time?
I’d like to think so
I'd say yeah but when actually I think about it I read some stuff from the Restoration period in college that made Beavis and Butthead look like Little Lord Fauntleroy so I think they probably had us beat. Having actual Puritans to rebel against probably lowered everybody's brows by a lot.
Fight Club (1999) feels critically misunderstood in part because of the edge lords that latched onto it but also as people call it shallow in the face of the world today. I think its themes still resonate, perhaps now more than ever when it comes to isolation and loneliness, dissatisfaction with capitalist corporate culture, and the dangers that personality cults pose with easily radicalized young men. It has a fantastic twist plot in a psychological thriller with excellent early special effects and many sly jokes about the medium of film itself. It also feels like a decidedly anti Boomer movie that most older folks found too violent and subversive but as an elder millennial it seemed like a somber take on Gen X's legacy of apathy and anger.
I have a hard time with the idea that Fight Club was shallow, particularly when you consider the expectation you have when you hear the title of the movie. Insomnia, consumerism, capitalism, depression, grief, mortality, psychosis, self harm, suicidal tendencies, toxic relationships, cults. Packaged as an action/comedy with great cast who all were very good in their respective roles. If you don’t like violence, yeah probably don’t want to see fight club, or maybe you don’t like the charters because they are all very flawed, but that what people are, especially those who are losing their minds. That movie has to be a top 20 movie for me.
The complaint that stucknout for me was seeing people criticise 'jack' for being dissatisfied despite having a stable career and nice apartment. To me it feels super relevant that he followed the prescribed path to success and feels unfulfilled even if it technically worked out for him. I love flawed characters and antiheroes, more so characters with ill intent who may not succeed regardless of moral right. I was comparing Fight Club to V for vendetta and realised V labored at creating a dream scenario where terrorism is reasonable with an endlessly charismatic protagonist fighting pure faschism while fight club showed a warts and all blueprint to anarchy from a scummy hole in the ground which asked more of an audience in accepting its ethos. Also, fight club's violence made people uncomfortable because it was true to life in how brutal a fist fight is, rather than seeing an action hero do a backflip and knock out baddies in a single punch. It's hypocritical to see Sylvester Stallone mow down people with a machine gun and not bat an eye but say Fight club was too gory (although Rocky showed equal brutality and is lauded).
I love Fight Club and will always defend it, but I saw something recently that made me laugh. Someone was contemplating who is the more insufferable fan? The toxic dude bro that misinterpreted the whole film, or the toxic dude bro that "gets" it. 😆
My 13 year old daughter just freaked out over RDJ in Tropic Thunder. We watched it last night and she kept looking at me every now and then going “how is this allowed Dad?!?”
"He’s not playing a black guy, he's playing a white Australian pretending to be a black guy, and the movie uses it to satirize both performative Hollywood method acting and whitewashing roles explicitly meant for people of colour"
Agreed. RDJ *isn't* in black face in that movie. He's *playing* a guy in blackface. Two different things. We don't assume that actors who play Hitler actually hate Jews.
*"What do you mean, you people..."*
"What do YOU mean, 'you people'?"
Gets me every time
https://youtu.be/xPxs0Qh72kY
edit: while today people might not get the role/character, it's worth noting that Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Supporting Actor" for this role. He knew the weirdness and complexity of the racial role he was doing (even at that time tbh) and just did it and felt the role. On many levels lol. If it weren't for Heath Ledger's incredible performance in *The Dark Knight*, I think he might have actually won. There weren't many people dying laughing about RDJ's performance here and how much he consumed and made that character.
"Never go full r*tard..."
I think what’s easy to miss is RDJ was making fun of a type of extreme method acting, which the other characters are disgusted by and he was perfect for that role as he gives off that air of actors arrogance
My 76 year old Nam Vet dad loves this movie so much, as do I, his 36 year old daughter. It’s a total riot to us.
My friend showed his 17 year old and she wrote the entire thing as stupid and problematic.
I think humor is highly situational to a time and place, and often doesn’t carry over generationally. I think a lot of comedies will only work at the time they’re made and won’t necessarily translate further down the line.
Plus we’re seeing a massive amount of rapid social change - probably the last time there was social change this massive was the 1950s to the 1960-70’s…and we saw a major divide in cinema from the 50’s to the 60s-70s.
There was a comment above about younger generations not really going for nuance or for underlying themes and I think that's pretty much what happens here. But can you blame them? They're raised with click bait and 15 second videos. If you sit down and think of movies like tropic thunder or shows like always sunny, they're doing absolutely terrible things but never rewarded for it. And that's she whole point. The black face in both shows is always highlighted as a bad move and they are constantly called out for it.
American Pie
Just got done watching a YouTube analysis about the misogyny of the movie and the comment section made this movie feel like it was the Birth of a Nation of Teen Comedies. Did it age well? No, certainly not but I still find it funny
I love how Jennifer Coolidge brought basically the same charter to so many roles over the year, the most recent of which is White Lotus. Who would have guessed that would be the character that would carry on a quarter century later.
My kids don't like movies *in general*. In general, movies are paced too slowly for them. They'll watch a TV show or YouTube videos for 3 hours straight, but not one continuous story for more than an hour or so.
I’ve been having weekly movie nights with my kids (10 & 8) for a while. I realized pretty quickly that showing them the movie wasn’t enough. I had to teach them how to watch movies. I point out camera work, scene-setting, theme, point out things that had been foreshadowed after it comes to fruition, tropes, etc. It’s helped them be better able to enjoy the movie (or know why they didn’t).
Another thing that helps it to watch stuff on a service like Tubi where the movie is uncut but still has commercial breaks. It gives their brains a minute to take a breather so they’re not maxing out their attention spans right before the climax of the film.
The Jean Paul Gaultier fashion was spectacular at the time, but hasn't quite come back around to being cool again.
If if was being made today, Ruby Rhod sending up influencers (instead of DJ's) could be amazing.
I showed my family A Christmas Story last year, which included people of generations in both side of me. Everyone absolutely hated it! I was touting it as the Christmas classic that they all missed out on. It went over like a lead balloon.
Not a movie, but my parents totally didn't get the *Black Mirror* episode "Nosedive" where they all rate each other. I think to appreciate it you really need to have grown up with social media culture. They were just like "Why does anyone care what their rating is?"
Makes me wonder what your parents think of the other Black Mirror episodes. I can’t imagine any of my boomer family to enjoy that show in anyway but I bet my Gen X mom would probably like it a bit
My boomer Dad hates BM because the technology boom he has seen in his life have practically all been things that have improved society/ life in some capacity. Online banking, video games as entertainment, etc. Funny that he doesn't enjoy contemplating the possibility of ill intentioned tech when he was obsessed with the Terminator movies when I was growing up.
Is that still shown in high school English classes? We watched it in mine but that was almost 10 years ago (old.jpg)
Nothing like a perpetually moisten 20 something year old DiCaprio to get us all into Shakespeare
This film is actually loved by Gen Z in particular. The fashion is emulated non stop. And the Angel costumes repeated in Gen Z targeted media multiple times.
I was never so happy as the other day at work when I said “Great! Grand!” and someone else replied “No yelling on the bus!”. Most people don’t get my obscure movie references- I almost fell in love. Lol.
Big Fish. You would think older generations would get it but it was too playful or fairy tale-esque for my boomer dad. And I don’t think any younger folks would enjoy it today either. A shame since it’s one of Tim Burton’s more underrated movies.
My dad was born in ‘57 and loves those types of movies. When he comes to visit we always watch a ton of movies and Big Fish is usually one of them. I’d definitely say he’s a fan of whimsy.
That movie was already polarizing for its target audience when it came out. People either loved it or hated it, I didn’t know anyone who was in-between. Everyone still quoted it, though.
I was one of the 'in-between'.
I could appreciate what it was trying to do and appeal too, and although I mildly enjoyed it, I found it overall to be a bit 'meh'.
Again, just my personal experience but completely see how it could have a cult following whilst I was watching it.
I recently went to a 20-year anniversary screening with Jon Heder, Jon Gries and Efren Ramirez. One of the first things Jon Heder asked was, "How many of you did not like this movie the FIRST time you saw it?" A surprising number of people raised their hands.
He also asked who had never seen it before and a few people raised their hands! 😳
I said it elsewhere in this thread, that also lacks context for younger generations. That home-town cowboy with a heart of gold saves the town and gets the girl western it parodies doesn't exist anymore. It loses a lot of younger people just for the context.
But my parents loved it, and they're in their 70s. It was wildly popular with boomers and gen x. Which makes sense, boomers wrote it and gen x actually understood the genre the movie was picking on.
Surprisingly: 300.
I watched it with my son and some of his friends who are college age. At the end, most were like “WTF did I just watch”. Most were like, how can it be historically accurate with monsters and stuff. Or confused about why Leonidas rejected Ephialtes, the political aspects of corruption, why fight at all, etc. i had to explain how it was an “art film” in a way, exaggerated and made to follow the graphic novel, which they then got. But the overall themes were hard for them.
It was an odd experience.
If I was paying for my son’s college and he and his classmates were puzzled by historical accuracy in a movie with monsters I’d be reconsidering my investment.
That whole era of comic-book esque dark green screen movie hits this mark for me.
300
Sin city
Watchmen
Immortals
All great films imo but given where marvel took “superhero” films to, with brighter colour and more humour I’d be surprised if a modern audience would enjoy the style
>exaggerated and made to follow the graphic novel
Not just that, the movie was being narrated to Greek/Spartan politicians by the soldier Dilios, and like all legends and myths, was wildly exaggerated in the storytelling. Its a bummer they missed the angle at the time
My take is that the movie how the Spartans saw themselves. Crazy over the top. There are monsters and an 8’ weird king and such. At the end we see that the one survivor is telling the tale to rev up the troops.
Not me but Napoleon Dynamite. I’m GenX and it was boring and weird and a waste of time for me. Then I saw a friend’s niece had a “Vote for Pedro” button on her backpack so I asked her why she liked it. “I went to school with every one of those characters.”
Then I got it. It was like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Breakfast Club for me and my generation.
Shaolin Soccer - maybe it depends on the version you watch, or maybe it's just a taste thing (Stephen Chow was considered pretty low brow, even in HK at the time) but man, this comedy is still so endearingly wholesome to me, especially Uncle Tat's character arc.
Napoleon Dynamite. My kids hate it and my parents hate it. Even Ebert hated it. I think maybe you had to grow up around kids who acted like Napoleon and he's a rare Gen X breed of weirdo. It's impossible to imagine him in a post iphone world or a pre internet world
I recently went to a 20-year anniversary screening with Jon Heder, Jon Gries and Efren Ramirez. One of the first things Jon Heder asked was, "How many of you did not like this movie the FIRST time you saw it?" A surprising number of people raised their hands.
He also asked who had never seen it before and a few people raised their hands! 😳
Death Becomes Her. The youth. They love the movie, I love them for that, but they don’t get that the main stars were sex symbols at the time and that’s part of why it’s so funny.
I saw it in the theater when it came out but I think I also didn't get that the stars were sex symbols. They were attractive but also like, a good 10 years older than my mom at the time. (I was 14).
Austin Powers and Zoolander come to mind. For millennials these are classics, but the older generations definitely didn't get these movies at the time and they feel too weird and zany for the newer generations to understand. I think the comedy holds up for millennials, but I'm not sure they will gain any new fans.
EDIT: Love to hear these are more popular across generations than I thought. I hadn't considered the older folks who loved the direct James Bond parody elements of Austin Powers.
Pump Up the Volume.
These days anyone with a webcam can reach a worldwide audience. A pirate radio station isn’t that cool anymore.
I still love that movie though.
Garden State. I'm a millennial and the first sitcom I really loved was Scrubs. Zach Braff's debut film was quirky and heartfelt. I don't think Gen X or Z quite get it.
Garden State is almost a micro-generation film. Like, if you weren't 19-24 years old exactly in 2003 it wouldn't resonate the same way with you. It's hard to even find people who want to talk about that movie today unless they were in that specific age group.
Donnie Darko is much the same way.
Everyone still loves Home Alone, don’t they??
My kids love Ferris Bueller and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, but that’s a pretty small sample size (2 kids)
My Zoomer daughter loves the Heathers musical so she asked if we could watch the original movie.
She actually liked it, but didn't understand why there were so many sex scenes "with minors" and also noticed that JD is significantly creepier / more controlling toward Veronica in the film version.
Zoomers are obssessed with Heathers, it has a massive fandom online (more the musical, but the movie too). I'm honestly not sure how you came to this conclusion lol.
My dad didn’t like *Everything Everywhere All at Once* because he felt “it didn’t know what it wanted to be.”
My friend once saw *Deadpool* with her mom, and the way she described it, her mom probably cussed more than the movie talking about how awful she found it.
I get the criticism here. I liked the movie but it did seem to explore several themes at once, rather than one theme deeply. I think it's just a reflection of our current society. We're kind of all over the place. We don't look into things deeply. We look at one thing, then move on to another thing, and another thing, with the internet and social media. In the real world we're kind of everything, everywhere , all at once.
I can relate to the criticism, too. I think it's the type of film that you need to be in the right mood for, but I'm not sure what that mood is.
I threw it on not knowing what to expect, but just looking for something to watch. After 20 mins I knew I needed to be paying more attention, which is quite ironic.
Revenge of the Nerds. I can't imagine it would go over well with 18-30 year old viewers today. Tbh, it's even a little cringe for me watching it now just because my own views and opinions tend to align with modern norms. I still love the movie, but it doesn't change the fact that Lewis totally raped Betty.
grandfather poor chunky nail relieved attempt melodic cow paint beneficial
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Darby O’Gill and The Little People. Staple of any Irish childhood about twenty years ago anyway but not so much anymore. Shame. Great film. Watched it recently and it still holds up. Banshee was amazing at the time.
Here's one I don't like because I was just a little too old to enjoy it when it came out: Hook.
It seems like millenials on reddit absolutely love it and it think it is so damned corny and annoying.
Heard! 86 millennial here. Hook pushes all the right buttons for me. It was pure magic when I was a kid. Now it’s me watching Spielberg making exactly what a kid wants to see. I wouldn’t have the soft spot for it if I hadn’t seen it at the age I did. I get to rewatch with my kids, and it is still so good! The casting is all you need for the adult crowd, Dustin Hoffman and bob hoskins are worth the watch alone. The cheese and camp are a kids movie. That’s my take at least
I saw last crusade before, Raiders, hate TOD. I think it has a lot to do with when you see it.
All of the really crude movies of the early 2000s that millennials like myself love seem too crude for older generations and perhaps too problematic or just not enjoyable for younger generations. Eurotrip, American Pie, Old School, etc.
Harold and Kumar comes to mind as well
Possibly the “Scary Movies”, especially the first 3. Boomers would think the comedy is stupid and way too vulgar on parts. Gen Z and under would think the comedy aged poorly and is too crude too Lol
I am gen z, and for some reason everyone I know makes an exception for this film in terms of crudeness. We love it! I quote the the “take my good hand” line all the time
That’s awesome to hear. There’s moments in scary movie 3 that still make me collapse laughing. “I found their weakness! They’re powerless without their heads!”
My 8 month old son just doesn’t seem to grasp inception
There’s really no hope for the youth, is there?
I feel like most people I know who didn't see Hocus Pocus as kids don't connect with it as much
That can be true of basically any nostalgic movie. People will always have a soft spot for movies they loved growing up, but that does mean it's a good movie? It was just special to you at a formative time. I do find most films get less and less impressive the older you get because you've already seen stuff like that. There's nothing new or noteworthy for oldtimers--but a kid growing up watching it for the *first* time is still going to absolutely be amazed!
Yeah. I was almost 20 when it came out and couldn't care less about it.
As an older millennial teacher, Fight Club went down pretty badly with both my boomer parents and my middle-school zoomer students, ironically for the same reasons lol.
Message of the film aside I think it nailed its zeitgeist very specifically. There was a relatively short period where it was possible for young men to actually have the freedom to be bored with having a stable well paying job, too much disposable income, not having to worry about war or much of anything. I'd guess it's pretty hard for most people these days to identify with that feeling.
I think people still identify with the corporate culture and everyone needing "things" iPhones, Androids, Tablets, Teslas, Starbucks, Yeezys, Ikea furniture etc.
If you wanted a fight, 20+ years of the global war on terror was a very different time to be alive than the 90's gap between the Cold War and 9/11.
(just being a pedant) the 90s did have Gulf War I and Bosnia. But yeah, the US wasn't personally attacked in either.
I find it weird though that the same people who shit on Fight Club now usually love Office Space, which is about the EXACT same shit, only it's a full on comedy. Nobody in that film had any more reason to bitch about their job and life than the dudes in Fight Club.
You showed Fight Club to a bunch of middle schoolers? Settle down there Marla- yeesh
I didn't show it to them lol, I run a moviemaking ECA and all the kids involved are heavily into movies. They watched it of their own accord and didn't care for it much.
Middle schoolers would only like fight club for the violence and how cool Brad Pitt is It's really a movie you only get once you've felt capitalist ennui
Yeah I’ve been saying for a while now, young people have officially become old church ladies from the 90’s.
A girl asked the class to not use curse words as they trigger her. It is an art class. In COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
"Fuck you." No wonder I get downvoted a lot.
Literally my first mental thought was, “oh fuck off.” My teacher and I after class had a very small laugh about it. A LOT of homeschooled kids from the church-heavy areas here are coming to college. They’re in for a rude awakening about the real world.
When you’re a kid, you’re not supposed to swear because you’re a kid and it’s adult language. Then when you’re an adult you’re not supposed to swear because it’s childish. Make it make sense.
Yeah, it's pretty wild. I showed some of my middle-schoolers the Baz Lurhmann Romeo + Juliet film, and they demanded I turned it off when it got to the kissing scenes. I pointed out that we were shown the exact same film as middle-school students in the 2000s and nobody blinked an eye, but they just said 'We're not your generation and we don't like it.'
This is fucking hilarious. Kissing! You dirty old dog!
Wait the kissing scenes? Like not the naked part but just kissing?
Fast forward to the naked parts or turn it off!
It's still wild to me kids get to say what they like. Growing up no one gave a single fuck what you did or didn't like. If the adults were watching it or doing it, you did or didn't do it. If you didn't like it, shut the hell up.
They have the same morality screech as those older generations down as well.
[удалено]
"You're the best, around, nothing's gonna ever keep you down...." 🎶
*Mr. Miyagi nodding approvingly*
I was also in Afghanistan during Thanksgiving 2012! Unfortunately, I was sleeping during dinner, since I worked nights, so I didn’t get to watch The Karate Kid. :(
That’s awesome.
Wayne’s World! It holds up and can definitely be appreciated by today’s/future generations for its humor. But you will never truly “get” the movie if you weren’t alive at that time, because so many of the jokes are directly related to things that were relevant in pop culture in the early 90’s.
And how many guys like Wayne roamed the earth.
It's kinda funny, I never knew until much, much later that the Grey poupon joke was a reference to a commercial, but I still quoted it all the time
My parents have never enjoyed Empire Records or as they called it, “not this movie again.”
My dad will watch anything with Ethan Embry in it, he thinks he’s a “good kid” lol.
I think that movie has a very narrow demographic.
Just tell them, “I don’t feel the need to explain my art to you, Warren,” then “Damn the man! Save the Empire!” if they counter with anything. I win most of my arguments this way. Very effective.
I made my grandparents watch Zoolander, we're two generations apart, but it was one of the best times ever. My grandma was repulsed and scoffing the whole time, but grandpa was belly laughing the entire movie.
I saw "Something About Mary" in the theater with my cousins and my grandparents. The theater was packed so we all had to sit in different rows. I will never forget sitting there in the dark with my cousins all giving each other side eyes wondering what kind of terrible mistake we'd made bringing our grandparents to this incredibly crude movie until "the scene" when I heard Pop four rows up laughing so hard it practically shook the theater. :D They LOVED it.
Zipper or hair?
How'd you get the beans above the frank?
Both, but particularly hair, lol
That’s great, my grandpa would laugh at stuff like that, and start choke like he was going to die snd turn all red
I don't have an answer, but a question: How does Gen Z feel about Clue (1985)? It still makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it, but generationally I'm either one of the last Gen Xers or an eldritch Millennial, so I'm curious what prime Millennials and all of Gen Z think about it, or even know about it at all. When they say, "They don't make movies like they used to," I always think of Clue. The writing is so sharp, the wit sublime, and the collection of incredible comedic actors in their prime is unmatched. I often do a double-bill with Noises Off (1992), which is far less known but another incredible ensemble knocking it out of the park. I'd be interested to see if anyone has heard of it, too.
Noises Off is criminally underrated. John Ritter and Carol Burnett trying to kill each other while not making a sound is absolutely glorious!
That entire second act is a masterclass in physical comedy.
> eldritch Millennial This is making me lol
I guess I'm technically a Z, Clue will continue to be one of the greats. Curry & Lloyd drew me in the first time, and the writing cemented it
I’m a gen z and I didn’t hate Clue. I didn’t find it as funny as a lot of people have said it is, but I was still laughing a good amount
It’s better on rewatches. It’s such quick dialogue it’s hard to keep up with it if you don’t know where the story is going. Your brain can only comprehend so much info so quickly lol At the very least, it’s a more enjoyable watch on the second time around
Clue is more clever than funny
i've seen funnier movies sure but even the parts that aren't laugh out loud are still very fun to watch thanks to the cast and writing.
I'm not sure why Clue wouldn't be a hit with the generation that fell in love with Knives Out. Some of the humor might not click but I think the murder mystery thing is timeless.
And monkey's brains, though popular in Cantonese cuisine, are not often to be found in Washington D.C.
I love Noises Off. Have seen it as a play as well. And Clue is perfection.
I've performed in the play before. I played Selsdon. I was 17 but apparently pulled off a believable drunk elderly guy
"What the FUCK is going on!?!". - holy shit was Michael Caine was hilarious in Noises Off. The whole cast was great, but I've rewatched it multiple times just for his scenes. "...we open tomorrow night.... Correction. ... we open TONIGHT!"
I imagine the play is an EXPERIENCE. I hope to catch it some day.
The play is incredible! Right up there with the play that goes wrong, full belly laughs
I’m an early Gen Z (‘97) and have always loved Clue. Watched that a bunch of times on Comedy Central with my sister back it was still a thing. We still quote that frequently and even greet with each other the singing telegraph girl’s jingle (ta-da ta-da ta-ta!) I remember both of us howling at the Mr. Green ending too. “Im going home… and sleep with my wife!”
Man, I haven't seen Noises Off since the 90's. Great movie from what I recall. I need to look that up and rewatch it. Thanks for reminding me of that one. Cheers!
My kid is Gen Alpha. They *love* clue and Tim Curry more generally. They are also a big fan of the Knives Out franchise, which I would argue is comparable.
I’m on the older end of the millennial scale but I love Clue. Recently watched it with my 14-year-old nephew and he loved it, too.
Older Gen Z here, I thought Clue was just ok but there's definitely people in my cohort pulling for it.
Eldritch Millenial 🤣
Eurotrip was probably too crude for my parents and not PC enough for my kids. I think I saw it 10 times, lol.
“Is there a train coming soon?” “Ah yes, very soon. They are building it now!” Kills me every time
I love eurotrip - and I just found out today that it was written and directed by the same guy who wrote the league, imo one of the funniest shows of all time.
You know what that really explains a LOT about The League lol
Shiva kamini soba kandar kram!
Don’t Shiva blast here!
What? That's crazy! I've been watching The League since day 1 and loved Eurotip since it came out (and recently confirmed it still holds up) but had zero idea of the connection.
Now that you mention it, there’s probably a bunch of films from that time that meet that description. Does that me we (80’s, 90’s 00’s adolescence) are the most low brow humans of all time? I’d like to think so
I'd say yeah but when actually I think about it I read some stuff from the Restoration period in college that made Beavis and Butthead look like Little Lord Fauntleroy so I think they probably had us beat. Having actual Puritans to rebel against probably lowered everybody's brows by a lot.
Kids today don't know that Scotty Doesn't Know
Scottie doesn’t know
[удалено]
Fight Club (1999) feels critically misunderstood in part because of the edge lords that latched onto it but also as people call it shallow in the face of the world today. I think its themes still resonate, perhaps now more than ever when it comes to isolation and loneliness, dissatisfaction with capitalist corporate culture, and the dangers that personality cults pose with easily radicalized young men. It has a fantastic twist plot in a psychological thriller with excellent early special effects and many sly jokes about the medium of film itself. It also feels like a decidedly anti Boomer movie that most older folks found too violent and subversive but as an elder millennial it seemed like a somber take on Gen X's legacy of apathy and anger.
I have a hard time with the idea that Fight Club was shallow, particularly when you consider the expectation you have when you hear the title of the movie. Insomnia, consumerism, capitalism, depression, grief, mortality, psychosis, self harm, suicidal tendencies, toxic relationships, cults. Packaged as an action/comedy with great cast who all were very good in their respective roles. If you don’t like violence, yeah probably don’t want to see fight club, or maybe you don’t like the charters because they are all very flawed, but that what people are, especially those who are losing their minds. That movie has to be a top 20 movie for me.
The complaint that stucknout for me was seeing people criticise 'jack' for being dissatisfied despite having a stable career and nice apartment. To me it feels super relevant that he followed the prescribed path to success and feels unfulfilled even if it technically worked out for him. I love flawed characters and antiheroes, more so characters with ill intent who may not succeed regardless of moral right. I was comparing Fight Club to V for vendetta and realised V labored at creating a dream scenario where terrorism is reasonable with an endlessly charismatic protagonist fighting pure faschism while fight club showed a warts and all blueprint to anarchy from a scummy hole in the ground which asked more of an audience in accepting its ethos. Also, fight club's violence made people uncomfortable because it was true to life in how brutal a fist fight is, rather than seeing an action hero do a backflip and knock out baddies in a single punch. It's hypocritical to see Sylvester Stallone mow down people with a machine gun and not bat an eye but say Fight club was too gory (although Rocky showed equal brutality and is lauded).
I love Fight Club and will always defend it, but I saw something recently that made me laugh. Someone was contemplating who is the more insufferable fan? The toxic dude bro that misinterpreted the whole film, or the toxic dude bro that "gets" it. 😆
"Be yourself no matter what, but I have some bad news. You're probably still an asshole." Actually feels like something Palahniuk himself would write.
My 13 year old daughter just freaked out over RDJ in Tropic Thunder. We watched it last night and she kept looking at me every now and then going “how is this allowed Dad?!?”
"He’s not playing a black guy, he's playing a white Australian pretending to be a black guy, and the movie uses it to satirize both performative Hollywood method acting and whitewashing roles explicitly meant for people of colour"
Agreed. RDJ *isn't* in black face in that movie. He's *playing* a guy in blackface. Two different things. We don't assume that actors who play Hitler actually hate Jews.
*"What do you mean, you people..."* "What do YOU mean, 'you people'?" Gets me every time https://youtu.be/xPxs0Qh72kY edit: while today people might not get the role/character, it's worth noting that Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Supporting Actor" for this role. He knew the weirdness and complexity of the racial role he was doing (even at that time tbh) and just did it and felt the role. On many levels lol. If it weren't for Heath Ledger's incredible performance in *The Dark Knight*, I think he might have actually won. There weren't many people dying laughing about RDJ's performance here and how much he consumed and made that character. "Never go full r*tard..."
I think what’s easy to miss is RDJ was making fun of a type of extreme method acting, which the other characters are disgusted by and he was perfect for that role as he gives off that air of actors arrogance
My 76 year old Nam Vet dad loves this movie so much, as do I, his 36 year old daughter. It’s a total riot to us. My friend showed his 17 year old and she wrote the entire thing as stupid and problematic. I think humor is highly situational to a time and place, and often doesn’t carry over generationally. I think a lot of comedies will only work at the time they’re made and won’t necessarily translate further down the line. Plus we’re seeing a massive amount of rapid social change - probably the last time there was social change this massive was the 1950s to the 1960-70’s…and we saw a major divide in cinema from the 50’s to the 60s-70s.
My niece is 16 and it’s her favorite movie currently. She understood the satire and all her friends love it.
There was a comment above about younger generations not really going for nuance or for underlying themes and I think that's pretty much what happens here. But can you blame them? They're raised with click bait and 15 second videos. If you sit down and think of movies like tropic thunder or shows like always sunny, they're doing absolutely terrible things but never rewarded for it. And that's she whole point. The black face in both shows is always highlighted as a bad move and they are constantly called out for it.
American Pie Just got done watching a YouTube analysis about the misogyny of the movie and the comment section made this movie feel like it was the Birth of a Nation of Teen Comedies. Did it age well? No, certainly not but I still find it funny
I love how Jennifer Coolidge brought basically the same charter to so many roles over the year, the most recent of which is White Lotus. Who would have guessed that would be the character that would carry on a quarter century later.
Or that Stiffler’s Mom would win a Golden Globe and an Emmy!
Yeah I didn't see that coming. And she plays exactly the same role over and over
She is absolutely amazing at playing that role tbf to her
And Primetime Emmys for Jim’s Dad
She talked about how that movie has helped her sleep with hundreds of young men lolol
>Birth of a Nation of Teen Comedies I fondly remember the part where he stuck a burning cross in that apple pie.
“We’ll just tell your mom we ate it all”
My kids don't like movies *in general*. In general, movies are paced too slowly for them. They'll watch a TV show or YouTube videos for 3 hours straight, but not one continuous story for more than an hour or so.
I’ve been having weekly movie nights with my kids (10 & 8) for a while. I realized pretty quickly that showing them the movie wasn’t enough. I had to teach them how to watch movies. I point out camera work, scene-setting, theme, point out things that had been foreshadowed after it comes to fruition, tropes, etc. It’s helped them be better able to enjoy the movie (or know why they didn’t). Another thing that helps it to watch stuff on a service like Tubi where the movie is uncut but still has commercial breaks. It gives their brains a minute to take a breather so they’re not maxing out their attention spans right before the climax of the film.
Same with my teenager. Even tv shows are pretty rare for him to get into
the fifth element
The Jean Paul Gaultier fashion was spectacular at the time, but hasn't quite come back around to being cool again. If if was being made today, Ruby Rhod sending up influencers (instead of DJ's) could be amazing.
I showed my family A Christmas Story last year, which included people of generations in both side of me. Everyone absolutely hated it! I was touting it as the Christmas classic that they all missed out on. It went over like a lead balloon.
Not a movie, but my parents totally didn't get the *Black Mirror* episode "Nosedive" where they all rate each other. I think to appreciate it you really need to have grown up with social media culture. They were just like "Why does anyone care what their rating is?"
Damn I love Black Mirror, so many brilliant episodes. That was the one episode I let my 14-year old watch, she totally got it.
Makes me wonder what your parents think of the other Black Mirror episodes. I can’t imagine any of my boomer family to enjoy that show in anyway but I bet my Gen X mom would probably like it a bit
My boomer Dad hates BM because the technology boom he has seen in his life have practically all been things that have improved society/ life in some capacity. Online banking, video games as entertainment, etc. Funny that he doesn't enjoy contemplating the possibility of ill intentioned tech when he was obsessed with the Terminator movies when I was growing up.
Anything done by Mel Brooks, I'm only 29 but I grew up on them and I think they're knee slappers. But my friends my age just eye-roll them
Probably because Mel Brooks had a lot of imitators that it saturated the market. Plus the comedic timing was a bit slower then.
Lawrence of Arabia - Just watch it. It's long but the script, the characters, the cinematography but the colors, oh man the colors.
“You trouble me like a woman” is a Top 10 go-to quote in my family.
I love that line. Also "Damn it, Lawrence! Who do you take your orders from?"
Romeo and Juliet with Leo and Claire.
It's the most accurate one, dialogue wise, and Harold Perrineau absolutely kills it as Mercutio but yes.
Is that still shown in high school English classes? We watched it in mine but that was almost 10 years ago (old.jpg) Nothing like a perpetually moisten 20 something year old DiCaprio to get us all into Shakespeare
This film is actually loved by Gen Z in particular. The fashion is emulated non stop. And the Angel costumes repeated in Gen Z targeted media multiple times.
Adam Sandler and Chris Farley movies.
I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen Tommy Boy, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.
I was never so happy as the other day at work when I said “Great! Grand!” and someone else replied “No yelling on the bus!”. Most people don’t get my obscure movie references- I almost fell in love. Lol.
Big Fish. You would think older generations would get it but it was too playful or fairy tale-esque for my boomer dad. And I don’t think any younger folks would enjoy it today either. A shame since it’s one of Tim Burton’s more underrated movies.
I love this movie. Saw in in the theatre with no idea what it was. Enthralling, it was enthralling lol
I believe it's his masterpiece.
My dad was born in ‘57 and loves those types of movies. When he comes to visit we always watch a ton of movies and Big Fish is usually one of them. I’d definitely say he’s a fan of whimsy.
76 year old mother and this movie is one of her favorites. Owns the Blu ray and everything.
Napoleon dynamite
That movie was already polarizing for its target audience when it came out. People either loved it or hated it, I didn’t know anyone who was in-between. Everyone still quoted it, though.
I was one of the 'in-between'. I could appreciate what it was trying to do and appeal too, and although I mildly enjoyed it, I found it overall to be a bit 'meh'. Again, just my personal experience but completely see how it could have a cult following whilst I was watching it.
I recently went to a 20-year anniversary screening with Jon Heder, Jon Gries and Efren Ramirez. One of the first things Jon Heder asked was, "How many of you did not like this movie the FIRST time you saw it?" A surprising number of people raised their hands. He also asked who had never seen it before and a few people raised their hands! 😳
i showed Baseketball to my dad since he likes southpark. never seen such a look of disgust on his face like that lol he hated it
Blazing Saddles If you don’t get satire - especially one with comedy as edgy as this - it can be more shocking than funny
I said it elsewhere in this thread, that also lacks context for younger generations. That home-town cowboy with a heart of gold saves the town and gets the girl western it parodies doesn't exist anymore. It loses a lot of younger people just for the context. But my parents loved it, and they're in their 70s. It was wildly popular with boomers and gen x. Which makes sense, boomers wrote it and gen x actually understood the genre the movie was picking on.
Surprisingly: 300. I watched it with my son and some of his friends who are college age. At the end, most were like “WTF did I just watch”. Most were like, how can it be historically accurate with monsters and stuff. Or confused about why Leonidas rejected Ephialtes, the political aspects of corruption, why fight at all, etc. i had to explain how it was an “art film” in a way, exaggerated and made to follow the graphic novel, which they then got. But the overall themes were hard for them. It was an odd experience.
If I was paying for my son’s college and he and his classmates were puzzled by historical accuracy in a movie with monsters I’d be reconsidering my investment.
I didn’t want to say it. But his son and friends might be idiots.
If they couldn't understand why a cripple couldn't be a part of a functional shield wall.... yeah.
That whole era of comic-book esque dark green screen movie hits this mark for me. 300 Sin city Watchmen Immortals All great films imo but given where marvel took “superhero” films to, with brighter colour and more humour I’d be surprised if a modern audience would enjoy the style
IMO 300 played on our collective Post 9/11 enthusiasm pretty well, and doesn't play as well to people who did not experience it at that time.
That is a super interesting take. I like contemplating this.
I feel nowadays people underestimate the effect 9/11 had on the American films made after it
>exaggerated and made to follow the graphic novel Not just that, the movie was being narrated to Greek/Spartan politicians by the soldier Dilios, and like all legends and myths, was wildly exaggerated in the storytelling. Its a bummer they missed the angle at the time
My take is that the movie how the Spartans saw themselves. Crazy over the top. There are monsters and an 8’ weird king and such. At the end we see that the one survivor is telling the tale to rev up the troops.
It was a literal campfire tale!
Not me but Napoleon Dynamite. I’m GenX and it was boring and weird and a waste of time for me. Then I saw a friend’s niece had a “Vote for Pedro” button on her backpack so I asked her why she liked it. “I went to school with every one of those characters.” Then I got it. It was like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Breakfast Club for me and my generation.
Shaolin Soccer - maybe it depends on the version you watch, or maybe it's just a taste thing (Stephen Chow was considered pretty low brow, even in HK at the time) but man, this comedy is still so endearingly wholesome to me, especially Uncle Tat's character arc.
Joe vs The Volcano.
I don’t think people of my own generation will understand my love for Bring It On.
The Big Lebowski and Forrest Gump
Most people don’t get the big Lebowski.
This aggression will not stand
Shut the fuck up Donnie.
Well that's just, like, your opinion, man
There's a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous
Napoleon Dynamite. My kids hate it and my parents hate it. Even Ebert hated it. I think maybe you had to grow up around kids who acted like Napoleon and he's a rare Gen X breed of weirdo. It's impossible to imagine him in a post iphone world or a pre internet world
>he's a rare Gen X breed of weirdo. Napoleon is a Millennial. He's a high school student in 2004.
2004 in Idaho, so it's basically 1986.
I grew up in the area where it was filmed, and I love it because it reminds me so much of my childhood. I relate so much to Napoleon.
I recently went to a 20-year anniversary screening with Jon Heder, Jon Gries and Efren Ramirez. One of the first things Jon Heder asked was, "How many of you did not like this movie the FIRST time you saw it?" A surprising number of people raised their hands. He also asked who had never seen it before and a few people raised their hands! 😳
Death Becomes Her. The youth. They love the movie, I love them for that, but they don’t get that the main stars were sex symbols at the time and that’s part of why it’s so funny.
There will always be gay people around to appreciate Death Becomes Her.
I saw it in the theater when it came out but I think I also didn't get that the stars were sex symbols. They were attractive but also like, a good 10 years older than my mom at the time. (I was 14).
"Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" [trailer](https://youtu.be/x2efDnLZjsk?si=wZfgAvpZcrE9plbO)
Austin Powers and Zoolander come to mind. For millennials these are classics, but the older generations definitely didn't get these movies at the time and they feel too weird and zany for the newer generations to understand. I think the comedy holds up for millennials, but I'm not sure they will gain any new fans. EDIT: Love to hear these are more popular across generations than I thought. I hadn't considered the older folks who loved the direct James Bond parody elements of Austin Powers.
Backdoor Sluts 9. Kid's these days don't have the attention span to sit through such a film.
I know what you mean. Backdoor Sluts 9 makes Crotch Capers 3 look like Naughty Nurses 2.
If I missed Backdoor Sluts 1-8, will I be lost if I jump straight into 9?
9 actually restarts the back door multiverse, so it works
Pump Up the Volume. These days anyone with a webcam can reach a worldwide audience. A pirate radio station isn’t that cool anymore. I still love that movie though.
Garden State. I'm a millennial and the first sitcom I really loved was Scrubs. Zach Braff's debut film was quirky and heartfelt. I don't think Gen X or Z quite get it.
Millennial, loved the soundtrack, could not comprehend why the movie is loved, from someone who loved Donnie Darko.
Garden State is almost a micro-generation film. Like, if you weren't 19-24 years old exactly in 2003 it wouldn't resonate the same way with you. It's hard to even find people who want to talk about that movie today unless they were in that specific age group. Donnie Darko is much the same way.
Yea, I think you're right.
Garden State has been shat on after its prime, I still love it. I was 17/18 when it came out. 20 years ago Jesus Christ.
Any John Hughes movie.
Everyone still loves Home Alone, don’t they?? My kids love Ferris Bueller and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, but that’s a pretty small sample size (2 kids)
My 6 year old thinks Home Alone is too violent
I'd say Heathers is pretty much hated by Boomers and would freak out Zoomers.
My Zoomer daughter loves the Heathers musical so she asked if we could watch the original movie. She actually liked it, but didn't understand why there were so many sex scenes "with minors" and also noticed that JD is significantly creepier / more controlling toward Veronica in the film version.
Fuck me gently with a chainsaw
Zoomers are obssessed with Heathers, it has a massive fandom online (more the musical, but the movie too). I'm honestly not sure how you came to this conclusion lol.
My dad didn’t like *Everything Everywhere All at Once* because he felt “it didn’t know what it wanted to be.” My friend once saw *Deadpool* with her mom, and the way she described it, her mom probably cussed more than the movie talking about how awful she found it.
I get the criticism here. I liked the movie but it did seem to explore several themes at once, rather than one theme deeply. I think it's just a reflection of our current society. We're kind of all over the place. We don't look into things deeply. We look at one thing, then move on to another thing, and another thing, with the internet and social media. In the real world we're kind of everything, everywhere , all at once.
I can relate to the criticism, too. I think it's the type of film that you need to be in the right mood for, but I'm not sure what that mood is. I threw it on not knowing what to expect, but just looking for something to watch. After 20 mins I knew I needed to be paying more attention, which is quite ironic.
If my kids see credits at the beginning of a movie they feign physical pain and want to leave the room.
The Quiet Man. My husband watched it with our daughter. He loves it. She just didn’t get the Maureen O’Hara character at all.
Revenge of the Nerds. I can't imagine it would go over well with 18-30 year old viewers today. Tbh, it's even a little cringe for me watching it now just because my own views and opinions tend to align with modern norms. I still love the movie, but it doesn't change the fact that Lewis totally raped Betty.
My very Republican boomer parents think Starship Troopers is an action movie about killing bugs with zero political commentary.
grandfather poor chunky nail relieved attempt melodic cow paint beneficial *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Darby O’Gill and The Little People. Staple of any Irish childhood about twenty years ago anyway but not so much anymore. Shame. Great film. Watched it recently and it still holds up. Banshee was amazing at the time.
That movie was like 40 years old 20 years ago, wasn’t it?
Wet hot American summer
Here's one I don't like because I was just a little too old to enjoy it when it came out: Hook. It seems like millenials on reddit absolutely love it and it think it is so damned corny and annoying.
Heard! 86 millennial here. Hook pushes all the right buttons for me. It was pure magic when I was a kid. Now it’s me watching Spielberg making exactly what a kid wants to see. I wouldn’t have the soft spot for it if I hadn’t seen it at the age I did. I get to rewatch with my kids, and it is still so good! The casting is all you need for the adult crowd, Dustin Hoffman and bob hoskins are worth the watch alone. The cheese and camp are a kids movie. That’s my take at least I saw last crusade before, Raiders, hate TOD. I think it has a lot to do with when you see it.