Three times in my life, a fellow has deigned to watch a beloved older film for the first time - and not because anyone forced them to! - then come to me with the words "Actually, it's not nearly as good as it's made out to be" before proceeding to try to tell me why it's no good, for no darned reason.

Not the same dude, mind you!

But reader, the films for which this has happened are:

Blade Runner (non-voice-over cut)
Alien

And just now?

Road House ('89)

So you can understand my reaction. 🙃

@MLClark Often when that's happened I've felt like they were trying to be impressive by being unimpressed. Though there's always the possibility that older, classic films have been built up so much that seeing them *could* be a let down, especially if it's taken years to watch them.

But when it's a film that's critically acclaimed AND a personal fave, I find the 'rejection' a bit harder to take. It's like someone coming to you after Casablanca, saying "Well I don't like war films anyway, so.."

@BillyBones

I agree with the first line wholeheartedly. Re: the second line - that can especially happen when context isn't kept in mind.

Watching Soylent Green, for instance, was underwhelming for me - but in large part because I'd already lived through eras of SF built on the work its ending was doing.

Ditto with The Godfather. I'd seen parodies of every scene before I watched the film itself, so it *couldn't* hit emotionally itself - but I admired the craft all the same.

Relatedly--

@BillyBones

--that's why I can't watch a film in the middle of a hype cycle. I prefer my expectations to be low, so I can just enjoy a piece for what it is and not what the promo cycle wants it to be.

But I hear you especially when people go out of their way to criticize something you love. Silly people. They make life harder than it needs to be in so many ways, eh?

@MLClark Absobloodylutely (the slightly more polite version of my favourite example of my favourite word, tmesis. But I digress...)

I find it hard not to take it to heart when there's a film I absolutely adore & recommend to someone I thought shared the same tastes. It shouldn't, but I end up thinking "I thought we were on the same wavelength!"

Though I have to say, The Exorcist did that to me. Because I wasn't of that original generation & watched it on VHS, it was just silly to me by then.

@BillyBones

!!!!!!

You are the first other person I've ever met who knows the word "tmesis"! 😃 Hot damn, what a treat. I used to use the word in an online handle, I loved the concept so much.

And woo! Again, twinsies: I was also underwhelmed by The Exorcist. Watched it alone in the dark at 14, trying to get the full effect, but apparently a lifetime of atheism had declawed the concept. I greatly admired the film's pacing and trust in the audience to fill in off-screen narrative gaps, though.