James Berardinelli's 5 Most Overrated Films of the Year

http://www.reelviews.net/reelthoughts/reelthought_1514729800

Once more unto the breach, dear friends...one last time looking back through the haze of the fast-departing year. One final list before turning my attention to the bleak tundra of January and February's films.

Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes "overrated." For me, it's a film that, regardless of whether I liked it or not, has been over-praised in the general conversation, often by my fellow critics. This year, I decided to pick through the debris of the releases and select the five titles I felt were lauded far beyond what they deserved. As with any list, this is highly subjective. You may agree or disagree. You may think I'm out to lunch on all five choices. You may believe my #1 film of the year, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri belongs on an "overrated" list. The intent of a list like this (any list, really) isn't to provide a definitive roster of titles but to provoke rumination and discussion. Rather than discussing the merits of the films on this list, I'll provide a short explanation of why I think they're overrated. Some of the reasons may irk those with a PC-oriented mindset. I don't have sacred cows, except maybe Luke Skywalker. These are alphabetical, not ranked numerically.

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Get Out: (Rating: Three out of four stars.) Critics normally don't go out of their way to praise horror films, even well-made ones. That's what makes Get Out an outlier. The reason: it takes on racism head-on. While that's laudable, the quality in and of itself doesn't make Get Out an instant Oscar contender (which is where it's headed). As horror movies go, this one is better-than-average and its mixture of satire, dark comedy, and suspense makes us take notice. But to put with the year's best smacks of pandering. I recommend everyone who likes psychological thrillers see Get Out and I appreciate its take on a hot-button issue but the latter characteristic doesn't automatically make it a great movie.