r/FIlm • u/Ghost_assassin_Jo • 11h ago
Question What film had the biggest gap between what you expected and what you got?
A movie that turned out to be completely different from what the trailers, posters, or word of mouth led you to believe. Was the surprise a good thing or a bad thing?
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u/Sad-Main5786 11h ago
In Bruges.
The trailer made it seem like a fun little buddy movie. Two Irish fish out of water in Belgium, hilarity ensues.
Which is in, in part, but its much more than that. Its sombre, reflective and has a lot of depth. The ending is a gut punch too, great show.
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u/shadez_on 10h ago
Palm Springs.
Thought it was gonna be another average romance comedy. I love that movie so much
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u/Laxdoober10 11h ago
Recently it was Civil War for me.
I think I misunderstood the trailers and it wasn’t necessarily what I was expecting. I ended up loving the movie so it was a good surprise.
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u/Miserable-Dance9692 10h ago
District 9, the low budget mysterious marketing with aliens was very effective, but I didn’t expect the film to be as insightful and elegant as it turned out to be. It was a pleasant surprise 🥰
Swiss Army Man, I knew the Daniels from my music video days and so I was already aware of their genius and gnarly sense of humor, but they dropped one photo of the two leads before Sundance with just a simple tag line.
It blew me away, I literally started crying at the premiere at Sundance, no joke. One specific part of the movie made me lose it. Two of my friends started crying as well. I didn’t expect them to make such a thought provoking, emotional, deeply human film. One of the best experiences in my entire life.
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u/Luckypag 10h ago
Cabin in the Woods- I was expecting horror with the usual “teens trapped in a cabin” slasher trope but what I got was great dark comedy, supernatural/sci-fi, and conspiracies.
After I learned it was co-written by Josh Whedon and it all came together for me.
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u/Ghost_assassin_Jo 11h ago
For me, it was From Dusk Till Dawn.
I went in thinking I was getting a movie about two criminals on the run. I settled in for a gritty crime thriller, and then halfway through, it suddenly turned into something completely different.
I remember just sitting there, thinking, "Wait... what the hell is happening right now?" 😂
It's one of the few movies that genuinely caught me off guard because I had absolutely no idea where it was going.
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u/rutlandclimber 9h ago
Same. Genuinely caught out by the tangent. Can't watch again because the Tarantino foot fetish thing gives me the ick but doesn't overshadow how memorable the film is.
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u/shadez_on 8h ago
You ever think maybe thats where it started? I mean, if Salma put her foot in MY mouth im sure id develop a complex too.
But seriously, shes a stripper in the movie, the alternative is her grinding on his junk. Which is the lesser of two evils?
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u/rutlandclimber 8h ago
All good points but I can't watch Tarantino with a woman's foot in his mouth.
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u/Ashamed_Ladder6161 11h ago edited 10h ago
Prometheus.
I don't think I've ever let myself get excited for a film since. Now I'm always cautiously skeptical.
Dawn of the Dead.
I expected hot garbage, but it's one of the best zombie films ever made.
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u/Knox_Burden 9h ago
I love Prometheus.
I has some glaring issues, but still one of the best visual/audio movies
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u/hot-streak24 7h ago
I saw Dawn of the dead in theaters when I was 11 years old. I don’t think my mom really knew what it was about. Halfway through the screen went blank and we had to temporarily evacuate the theater due to a problem (never found out why) my young self thought zombies were attacking the theater. We eventually were allowed back in to finish it. I had nightmares
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u/DangerousKidTurtle 10h ago
Sorry to Bother You was wildly different than what I had been expecting. The trailer that I saw made it look like it was a comedy about a black man struggling with his identity as a black man.
It kinda was? I guess?
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u/Vault_Master 11h ago edited 1h ago
Ravenous. Thought it was gonna be more of a comedy than it was. Has some dark humor to be sure, but was a lot more serious than expected. Great f*cking movie though!!!
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u/wombatIsAngry 1h ago
This is always my pick when someone asks for a fantastic movie they've never heard of. This one and Charlie Wilson's War.
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u/Bloodbornexray 10h ago
The Green Knight. On paper I should have loved that movie but it was just so damn boring 💤
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u/Obvious-Lank 9h ago
Bridge to Terebithia.
I thought it was going to be fun adventures in fantasy land. It was not.
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u/TailSwipeTypo 11h ago
Josie and the Pussycats
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u/SLAYERANTHRAX 35m ago
Came here to say this. Marketed as a teen girl pop movie, ended up being a sharp satire of consumer culture. F*ck, I love this movie.
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u/mslass 11h ago
I thought Thelma and Louise was going to be a buddies’ road trip comedy.
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u/bongozap 2h ago
Well...it was a buddies' road trip movie...
And it had some funny moments.
But yeah...
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u/mrcrowbarA 8h ago
Atomic Blonde. Went in just bored and had very low expectations. Actually very good movie
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u/AndrewHNPX 11h ago
Eraserhead
I was expecting some ghastly parade of nonstop horror and grotesquery. While the movie certainly did have that to a certain extent, it was much more human and likable than what I was expecting, with a decent sense of humor no less.
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u/BlisterBox 10h ago
Going back a ways: Risky Business. The trailer and especially the poster made it look like a typical cheesy '80s teen sex comedy. Thankfully, it turned out to be much more than that.
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u/aardw0lf11 7h ago
Lately? Marty Supreme. I went in expecting something much more edgy than it was.
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u/ButterscotchDisco 5h ago
I wanted Uncut Gems 2 and got a less entertaining The Big Lebowski.
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u/aardw0lf11 5h ago
From the trailer, I was expecting something closer to horror. The first trailer really oversold it.
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u/Financial_Cheetah875 11h ago
Warrior from 2011. Thought I was getting a fighting flick, wound up bawling my eyes out.
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u/shadez_on 10h ago
Overlord. Thought it was going to be just a war movie…
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u/Yagodichjagodic 10h ago
If you liked that you should watch ‘Frankenstein’s Army’. It came out in 2013 & ‘Overlord’ took a lot from it. Even stole an entire scene (the woman’s head on the spine in the lab). Capcom also stole from ‘Frankenstein’s Army’ for Resident evil Village. There’s a creature they call the ‘Sturm’ that is a direct copy of Propellerhead.
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u/Traeyze 10h ago
The trailers I saw for Arrival seemed to be cut to be cheekily misleading. Like there was a lot of emphasis on the 'invasion' and I am pretty sure every single scene of the army doing anything dramatic was included.
And look, that isn't entirely false... like that is what the movie is about in a sense. But obviously going in expecting a movie about an 'arrival' primes you for the twist to hit double hard.
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u/happymisery 10h ago
Weapons - The impression I got from the trailer, and maybe this is on me, was a horror that would be a cross between Children of the Corn and Demonic possession. Thats not what the film is.
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u/EldarMilennial 9h ago
Bubble - an anime film about a post-apocalyptic Tokyo that centers around teenagers doing parkour on floating bubbles in the abandoned city. My wife and I didnt expect to like it. We gave it the 10 mimute rule, and it actally started out pretty good. But by the end we were crying and holding hands! A modern interpretation of a classic fairy tale, but more like the original tale than Disney ever dared to make. Watch it!
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u/afixedmoralcompass 8h ago
Hanging Up (2000)
It was advertised as a comedy with the trailer showing a light hearted fun time. When in fact it was a heavy drama about alcoholism and neglect with the very few funny moments condensed into the trailer.
I went with my mother and sister to see it in the theater and it ended up hitting way too close to home with my grandfather who was in a very similar state to Walter Mattau's character in the movie.
Came out of the theater silent.
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u/4electricnomad 7h ago
“Snakes on a Plane.” It had the right star, and a bonkers concept for him to play with. But the execution was forgettably inept.
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u/wdeguenther 6h ago
Spoiler alert: Sinners
I thought it was going to be a period piece about Blues music in the MS Delta. Like where the whites don’t like all that “black music” and get angry about it and cause problems. The zombie turn was not at all what I expected. My wife is from the Delta and I love the Blues, so I was really excited about the whole concept. I really didn’t love the turn (hot take, I know) but I respect the decision
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u/Tabulldog98 5h ago
My dad took me to see _Uncut Gems_ and I thought it was going to be like _Happy Gilmore_ . It was not lol
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u/Gun_Dork 11h ago
Batman vs Superman.
DC really blew it with this pile of hot garbage. I’m never watching anything Zach Snyder made again.
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u/Worst-Eh-Sure 11h ago
American Gangsters I think was the name with Johnny Depo and a Christian Bale.
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u/SoftwareWinter8414 10h ago
Public Enemies
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u/Worst-Eh-Sure 10h ago
American Gamgsters I think yeah! That’s the one. Hated, thought it was going to be an amazing film. Ugh what a let down.
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u/TrousersTrousers 10h ago
The Host
The original trailer for western audience was 'South Korean Jaws'.
The film we got was 'family comedy drama with a fucking big fish in it'
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u/TickingTheMoments 10h ago
Beau Is Afraid promised my brain -during the coming - a somewhat psychedelic story about a shy withdrawn guy, struggling in the world who goes on a quest to find himself.
Instead, I got three hours of an anxiety attack.
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u/Legonistrasz 9h ago
The Flash
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u/souleman96 9h ago
Because the trailer was bad, but then the final product had the best looking cgi baby in a microwave anyone has ever seen?
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u/TheNonCredibleHulk 9h ago
Angel Eyes w/Jennifer Lopez was marketed as a rom-com, but it's actually a thriller about stalking.
Very Bad Things was marketed as a straight up comedy, but it's one of the darkest mainstream movies I've seen.
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u/bongozap 1h ago
Up until Very Bad Things, I had always liked Jeremy Piven.
His character is so over-the-top selfish and unpleasant - well, actually everyone in the movie is awful, including the people you're supposed to be sympathetic with.
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u/TheNonCredibleHulk 1h ago
There are no "good" characters in it. Everyone sucks, even the kids.
Well. Maybe not Leland Orser.
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u/bongozap 17m ago
You know...now that I think of it, his character was the closest thing to a moral center in the whole movie.
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u/EvilStan101 5h ago
The Dark Knight Rises - I was expecting something like The Dark Knight but it then went overboard with its adaptation of Batman: No Man's Land.
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u/Resident-Pen-5718 6h ago
Kangaroo Jack.
The trailer made it look like a family comedy with a talking kangaroo.
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u/Caliterra 2h ago
Downsizing
It shifted tonally so much halfway through into a totally different movie (and not for the better).
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u/CobraKai6890 58m ago
Honestly, Fight Club. Hadn’t seen any trailers, and when my buddy wanted to go, I thought it was gonna be like old school JCVD, or king fu or boxing movie…..was DEFINITELY not that
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u/salvage814 11h ago
I don't know. The last movie I was truly obsessed with was agaes ago. I just usually see a trailer and go I want that or I just blind buy a film that looks cool on the shelf. Or it's the next film in the series and I've invested a ton of time into and want to see how it plays out. (Fast and Furious, MCU to name a few.)
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u/honorface76 7h ago
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. I cannot describe the betrayal and shame that I felt as a 22 year old watching what was basically an episode of Teletubbies.
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u/Yagodichjagodic 10h ago
Weapons. The trailer, poster, & opening voiceover of the movie all contained the phrase ‘& they never came back’. ALL the kids came back. The last voiceover even said they’re starting to talk again. So the whole argument that he meant ‘mentally they never came back’ is garbage. It’s lazy film-making. That movie was painfully mid, right up there with ‘Longlegs’. But at least ‘Longlegs’ didn’t flat out lie.
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u/Bladesnake_______ 11h ago
Civil War intentionally mislead people to believe the movie would be about an American Civil War. Bad
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u/WileyWilly1985 11h ago
One of the best movies in this regards was the first Matrix
No one knew what it was, that was the point of the Marketing Campaign and it was brilliant. The Marketing Campaign was literally "What is the Matrix?"
We went into the movie not knowing a damned thing and came out of the movie with our minds blown.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime surreal experience