20 Movies That Exceeded People’s Expectations

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you can’t judge a movie by, well, anything. There’s just too many variables involved: disastrous marketing campaigns, underrated actors, head injuries that suddenly turn schlock jocks into good screenwriters. Even the biggest apparent piece of shit can turn out to be a masterpiece, in your eyes, if not Roger Ebert’s.

You just have to get lucky enough to trip and step in it via “a forced movie night with friends, an ‘eye rolling’ selection on a streaming site or a rainy day trip to the cinema,” Redditor knicksmetsrag recently suggested. From there, they asked r/Movies, “What film have you gone into absolutely expecting to hate but that ended up pleasantly surprising you the most?” and Reddit fondly recalled surprised laughter, shocking action and some extremely begrudging tears.