MovieChat Forums > 8MM (1999) Discussion > Why did this get such bad reviews?

Why did this get such bad reviews?


I personally thought it was pretty good. No Silence of the Lambs or anything but pretty good.

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It was deemed too gritty at the time and not the action feature "fans & critics" wanted to see. Its great flick and holds up.

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I see, well that’s a shame because I find it very entertaining, it didn’t deserve to get slammed and Joel Schumacher is actually a pretty good director, it’s also a shame that he’ll always be remembered for Batman and Robin. I guess it was just ahead of its time.

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Imho Joel Schumacher is a bit hit & miss but yes he as done great work.

I would love to have seen the first draft 8mm A workprint VHS that was floating around in 2000 is supposed to way darker and grittier. The final release was apparently watered down for its theatrical release.

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Wow, if the theatrical release is the “watered down” version I am also interested in seeing the original. I mean the theatrical version was pretty much pushing the R rating to its limit.

I also liked The Lost Boys, I have a feeling that the Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever is a lot better than what we ended up with, I didn’t like A Time To Kill but I’ll fully admit John Grisham was the problem, Schumacher was just following the novel, the direction was fine. And Batman and Robin was laughably bad. I really want to see Falling Down as I hear it’s really good but I can’t find a streaming service that has it.

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Check your PM

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Thanks man

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I bet it was because of Cage's acting. The scenes where he is on the phone call stand out as particularly bad.

Still love the movie and I love that Cage is in it.

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I thought Cage’s acting was fine. I don’t think there is a single legitimately bad performance in this.

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I don't agree ! I felt he handled that pretty good. It was the subject matter that bothered people. One review ended with the word "yuck"
Others "this would never happened in America" and "this isn't Europe where anything goes"

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I just saw it for the first time and enjoyed it, but if I saw it back in 1999 thinking "From the writer of SE7EN," I probably would have expected more and enjoyed it less.

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American critics were very prudish at the time and scoffed at the porn-ey subject matter, claiming that the film was going for shock value and nothing else.

It became trendy to pan the film, a kind of virtue signal.

Shame because it’s actually a brilliant thriller, and not that ‘extreme’ at all.

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