The words “underrated” and “underseen” often go hand in hand. And though there are gobs of movies from the past decade that I’d wager were woefully underseen, this list’s aim is to place more emphasis on the underappreciated ones. Which isn’t to say that they are the best kept secrets of the decade. Chances are pretty good, in fact, that any film lover will have seen every entry below, and were they to hop over to a ratings aggregrator like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, some of the titles would appear to be already enjoying critical success. In such cases, I’m arguing that even though people like the film in question, they don’t like it as much as they should …
Kingdom of Heaven, the Director’s Cut
It might be cheating a bit to include a cut of a film that was not released in theaters, but 20th Century Fox was foolish to hold back Ridley Scott’s cut of the film from theaters. Sure, at three hours and 10 minutes, this version is nearly an hour longer than what ended up in multiplexes, but that missing time completes what is easily the best of the historical epics Hollywood greenlit in the aftermath of Gladiator‘s success. Entire characters and storylines are restored from the editing room floor, the battle scenes all carry a more savage burden, and William Monahan’s script is given enough breathing room to cement itself as a sweeping look at a dark time for religion. It’s a shame that most people have assessed (and dismissed) the film by its weaker version, but due time will bring sufficient “Oh, you have to see the Director’s Cut” word of mouth to erase any memories that another version ever even existed.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Any time I hear someone gripe about Shia LaBeouf being a bad actor, I want to punch them in the face with a copy of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. As far as biopics about the hard-knock life of growing up in New York go, Dito Montiel’s is above average, but it’s not the narrative that exclusively lands it on this list. Shia LaBeouf, Chazz Palminteri, and Channing Tatum all give the best performances of their careers, and if they ever top them, you can find me in a theater trying to lead an audience in a round of slow-clap applause. It’s an alarmingly personal film (no surprise considering the man on whose life it is based wrote the book, adapted the screenplay and directed the movie), though even if you have no real analog for Ditto’s life, it’s hard not to get swept up in the love and regret captured on screen.
Teeth
Mitchell Lichtenstein’s film about a girl with a case of vagina dentata may be more underseen than underrated, if only because there seem to be a good number of people who flat-out refuse to see it. I couldn’t be a bigger fan of this movie, and yet my considerable enthusiasm for it can’t penetrate past a man who fears a movie about a girl with teeth in her vagina. And that’s too bad, because Teeth is funny and haunting and sexy and creepy and charming and exacting all at the same time. Lichtenstein will have your hand flying to your mouth to either cover it in revulsion or to stifle the laughs erupting from it, and yet the film is neither an overt comedy nor a steadfast horror movie. Jess Weixler is no joke as the owner of the titular set of chompers, giving one hell of a turn as the wounded, confused girl who is just trying to make sense of her womanhood. It also happens to be one of, if not the, best creature features of the decade for featuring an unconventional monster that requires no special effects or makeup and yet will still have you squirming in your seat.
I can’t recall a single documentary made in the ’00s that has more to offer than The Corporation, and yet I feel it’s been overshadowed by documentarians with a better PR campaign. Don’t get me wrong, I love the heartbreaking revelations found within The Fog of War or Dear Zachary, but even though watching both requires a box of tissues on hand, neither film crushed me the way Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott’s documentary did and still does. Its examination of the modern-day corporation — as though it were a psychopath –ends up being a lesson in history, ethics, and in how the world works that will have you feeling irrevocably insignificant. And yet this soul-flattening kick to the head is effortlessly entertaining despite the otherwise arid material it is teaching. I wish The Corporation were shown in every high school classroom in America.
Requiem for a Dream
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “Yeah, I used to like Requiem for a Dream…when I was in high school,” as if that somehow invalidates how powerful Darren Aronofsky‘s film is. I could place it comfortably on this list purely for how underrated Clint Mansel’s score is, but the music isn’t the only reason to tip your hat to this harrowing smackdown of drug addiction. People have forgotten how captivating the editing is or how strong the performances are (oh, Ellen Burstyn, you still haunt me), which in recent years has reduced popular opinion of it to the ‘once was’ category. That’s bullshit. I don’t care if Requiem was your gateway drug into better films — it still holds up just as well today as it did in the year 2000.
American Psycho
People like American Psycho. People should LOVE American Psycho. There isn’t a bit of set dressing found within a single frame of Mary Harron’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel that is out of place. The whole production is a pitch-perfect, darker-than-the-abyss genre chimera that body-slams the everything-in-excess mentality of the 1980s onto an operating table. It’s scary how good Christian Bale is in it, giving a chameleon-like performance strong enough to create a cinematic doppelganger out of Patrick Batemen. For years after seeing American Psycho, I found myself wanting to call the actor by the character’s name and vice-versa, a condition that has never been elicited by any other film. The supporting cast is all funny to the last red drop, and Psycho boasts a terrific soundtrack to accompany the gorgeous cinematography. The whole thing is a masterpiece.
Bring It On
Remarkably self-aware, Bring It On is more than just a fun little comedy about cliches. It’s intelligent and charming in ways few high school comedies have been in the post-John Hughes era. The script is rife with quotable dialogue, all of which is delivered with pluck by a refreshing cast. Plus, it’s one of the few movies that shows how gals can be just as much desperate fanboys as guys — except their obsession isn’t about Star Wars or video games; it’s about an equally unimportant topic that they, against their better judgment, are hopelessly in love with. For that gender perspective alone, I think Bring It On is underrated, but it doesn’t hurt that it’s also genuinely funny.
Crank
I took one look at the trailer for Crank and declared it everything that was wrong with Hollywood. I couldn’t fathom a stupider script, I’m not a particularly huge fan of Jason Statham, and it looked like it was shot by skateboarders — but then I finally watched it on the recommendation of a few friends and I was blown away. Why were the people Statham was talking with on the phone being projected onto the walls of the corridors he was sprinting down? Why were people suddenly getting their hands chopped off? Why was Statham having sex with Amy Smart in the middle of Chinatown just to stay alive? Taken on their own, each of these things is moronic, but taken as a whole, they (and more) become this abstract and unexpected evolution of ’70s exploitation films. The whole production is strangely sentient in ways action movies rarely are, spinning its genre conventions around and around until they become intoxicated with their own existence. This movie is insane in all of the correct ways (if only I could say this of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s other films).
The Man From Earth
I’m pulling the “underseen” card on Richard Schenkman’s film, because in my experience it’s never underrated. Every person I’ve shown this modest sci-fi gem to has come away amazed by its script and ideas. Some of the performances are a little off, but a few stale lines could never dimple how fascinating this thought experiment about what immortal life would be like is. It takes place almost exclusively in one room and features zero special effects and as few edits as possible, yet Schenkman makes the end result utterly fascinating. He is a director wholly in service to his screenwriter, the great Jerome Bixby, who, having written The Man From Earth on his deathbed, never was able to see his delicate script brought to life.
Avatar
I know what you’re thinking: “A movie that made over $1 billion in less than 3 weeks is underrated? You’re an idiot.” And though I understand where you’re coming from, to that I can only say that if other people weren’t idiots, this wouldn’t have to be on a list of the most underrated films of the decade. The hype for James Cameron‘s technological marvel was too strong for some, resulting in them walking out eager to stand defiantly unfazed by the cinematic gift that is Pandora. To support this disappointment, the echo chamber became filled with cries of “Sure, it was pretty, but the script was stupid. Dances With Wolves in space, dude!” First off, it was more than just pretty; it was an unprecedented level of world-building. Those who want to reduce it to some simple, over-familiar, anti-imperialism story are ignorant of the larger story being told.
Avatar isn’t a lesson about why we shouldn’t exploit others. It’s not trying to guilt-trip you into feeling badly about driving a car that gets only 18 mpg. It’s about transporting you to another world, about submerging you in a style of storytelling that many viewers were too myopic to notice. Avatar is not just a series of pretty pictures; it’s a simulation of an entire alien world. There’s a much larger story to be found (and felt) in every organism on Pandora, and I don’t think enough people appreciate just how difficult it is to make an alternate reality as seamless as Cameron’s. I realize I’m baiting the hook by championing Avatar this strongly, but I do believe that Cameron’s film is, warts and all, one of the biggest accomplishments the medium has ever known. The fact that this opinion isn’t universal is why it’s on this list.
