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8 Movies Only a Bitter, Cynical Person Could Hate

Really serious movie people, like the kinds who write for newspapers and magazines and want to be taken really really seriously when it comes to opinions on movies (which they would of course refer to as “films”, or “cinema”), prefer movies that are serious so they can talk about them in a serious way and demonstrate how serious they are. If you take a look at the yearly top ten lists for most critics, they’ll be comprised of many serious dramas. I’m guilty of this.

1) The Artist

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I get that people could find a movie like The Artist overrated when it wins Best Picture and everything. It’s understandable. I also completely understand why someone who hasn’t seen it would think that it’s probably the dumbest, most pretentious piece of artsy-fartsy Oscar bait since The King’s Speech. You’ve got Hollywood history being told in a low-budget film featuring French talent (sacre bleu!) in effing black and white. All signs point to annoying, right?

These are all things I thought before I saw it, but then Jean Dujardin smiled at me. And damnit if I didn’t lose all sense in that moment. It’s like that moment in Ratatouille when the food critic tastes his meal and all of a sudden he’s a little boy who had fallen off his bike. Reality melts away and you’re left with a dumb grin on your face and all you can think about is why can’t everything be this happy all the time.

Oh, also there’s a dog who does tricks. And Dujardin’s character treats him like he’s a person. The goofy pantomime, the exaggerated expressions and silly sight gags end up making this potentially pretentious picture an absolute delight. If a movie like this can win over a heartless bastard like me, surely it can bring a smile to the face of the most hardcore cynic.

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