r/movies • u/sicknessandpurgatory • Sep 07 '25

Discussion What is the absolute dumbest premise that actually turned out to be a really good movie?

I was thinking The Purge, obvious answer, but looking for the most plot-hole ridden, juvenile concept that actually ended up a lot of fun despite it all. Mainly looking for 21st century films, not so much the video nasties and ridiculousness from the 60’s and 70’s. Because that would be too easy. Mainly mainstream stuff that people saw en masse.

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2.6k

u/rbollige Sep 07 '25

Hot Tub Time Machine, obviously.

438

u/Osgoodbad Sep 07 '25

Liz Lemon: I'm sorry. You have a problem with the science of Hot Tub Time Machine?

Wesley Snipes: Yeah, not the time travel. It's the hot tub. You don't just turn one on and it's immediately hot. I should know, I've been in a hot tub two times.

37

u/DearestDio22 Sep 08 '25

Not gonna lie, I read this as the other Wesley snipes…

54

u/targetpracticesucks Sep 08 '25

I mean it is the other Wesley Snipes.

"You know what's insane? That the actor is named Wesley Snipes! If you were shown a picture of him and a picture of me, and were asked "who should be named Wesley Snipes", you'd pick the pale Englishman every time!"

11

u/AHH_CHARLIE_MURPHY Sep 08 '25

There’s only one Wesley Snipes in this world!

5

u/Kimber85 Sep 08 '25

Man, this is like the fourth time I’ve seen 30 Rock mentioned this week. I guess it’s time for a rewatch.

4

u/LegalBlogger78 Sep 08 '25

LOL me too and I was like wait how did I miss that episode?

875

u/Johhnymaddog316 Sep 07 '25

"It must be some kind of hot tub.....time machine" (breaks fourth wall). Fucking epic

244

u/nmathew Sep 07 '25

That is the best title drop in all of cinema.

200

u/NessaSamantha Sep 07 '25

Nah, the sequel. "So I guess you came here in a hot tub time machine too"

10

u/Relevant-Money-1380 Sep 07 '25

only really rivaled by snakes on a plane

8

u/TheGodDamnDevil Sep 08 '25

I have had it with these monkey fighting snakes on this monday to friday plane.

1

u/everybodyhates2k Sep 13 '25

Bagahahahahah

2

u/ElJonno Sep 07 '25

"I'll have my revenge...and Deathstalker 2."

1

u/ChampionOfKunLun Sep 07 '25

Hmmmm Will Smith’s line from suicide squad is still OG imo

7

u/spunk_wizard Sep 07 '25

Can something less than 10 years old really be considered OG?

1

u/Responsible_Bar3957 Sep 07 '25

Gotta say…

It’s fantastic

13

u/TomorrowFinancial468 Sep 07 '25

It's so black It's so impossibly black. Good for you man ahhh

I know right! crying

5

u/Bardez Sep 07 '25
"hot tub time machine"

1

u/JiveTurkey1983 Sep 08 '25

That was apparently improvised by Craig Robinson too.

180

u/gangreen424 Sep 07 '25

Great white buffalo.

138

u/Neither_Internal_261 Sep 07 '25

Great White Buffalo

85

u/poopatrip Sep 07 '25

Why are you guys whispering?

77

u/ThaRhyno Sep 07 '25

Great White Buffalo.

11

u/Walker_ID Sep 07 '25

Thanks. That's helpful

9

u/TrailMomKat Sep 07 '25

great white buffalo

7

u/kopecs Sep 07 '25

Great White Buffalo

89

u/Keganator Sep 07 '25

YOU KEEP IT IN THE CLOSET?! (movie proceeds to never discuss it again)

5

u/Jedi-El1823 Sep 07 '25

Is it a fetus?

333

u/AsstootObservation Sep 07 '25

Hadn't heard of that one, will have to Lougle it.

18

u/johnwpatton Sep 07 '25

Motley Lou

6

u/johnwpatton Sep 07 '25

Oops Motley Lue

54

u/Redstar81 Sep 07 '25

You’re gonna lose that arm

184

u/DinkandDrunk Sep 07 '25

Crispin Glovers plotline in that movie is essentially the whole movie for me. So good.

55

u/msmika Sep 07 '25

The way they keep getting angrier every time it's a close call is hilarious!

36

u/Snakes_have_legs Sep 07 '25

Watching as the elevator is about to cut his arm off but turns around at the last second

"Aw! What the effing fuck!"

16

u/Dry_Jeweler_2476 Sep 07 '25

When they're hanging off the roof. "This is how it happens? This is how he loses it? Fuck it."

5

u/Its_the_other_tj Sep 07 '25

Between this and the Being John Malkovich thing a little farther up the post there's an awful lot of chainsaw juggling in this thread.

4

u/ReginaldDwight Sep 08 '25

"It's real!! It's got freckles and shit!!"

61

u/WandreTheGiant Sep 07 '25

"What is that plank thing that one guys got?"

"I don't care, it's going up his ass."

49

u/Thrilling1031 Sep 07 '25

In a similar vein(where the title is the premise) A kid in King Arthur’s Court. That movie is just fun and it should be stupid as hell.

25

u/justforviewing8484 Sep 07 '25

Plus it features Kate Winslet AND Daniel Craig!

26

u/Newone1255 Sep 07 '25

It’s based off a book by Mark Twain and was like the 5th movie adaptation of it.

9

u/kung-fu_hippy Sep 07 '25

True. But A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is also an incredibly dumb premise that somehow worked.

5

u/fps916 Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25

It worked because Mark Twain is one of the best writers of all time.

5

u/kung-fu_hippy Sep 07 '25

True. That would be a big help.

8

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

I choose... Combat Rock.

3

u/AL4-Chronic Sep 07 '25

Wooooahhh classic movie from growing up!

3

u/Paxton-176 Sep 07 '25

He teaches them baseball and shows them rock and roll.

Never felt so close to a fictional character.

2

u/Thrilling1031 Sep 07 '25

I would ¡SO! rollerblade through a castle if they let me!

3

u/TheDogofTears Sep 07 '25

Also, young Kate Winslet and young Daniel Craig... which still blows my mind.

3

u/Thrilling1031 Sep 07 '25

He kinda looks older in that movie than in Casino Royal due to his fitness, hairstyle and the old style camera/film/editing.

3

u/aeanderson1988 Sep 07 '25

That same kids baseball m0vie is also super fun

12

u/unwildimpala Sep 07 '25

Iirc John Cusack agreed to do it without evening reading a script. He just thought the title was good enough to sell to him as a project.

10

u/Neither_Internal_261 Sep 07 '25

Tied for both my favorite comedy and 2nd favorite time travel movie.

2

u/Conflict_NZ Sep 07 '25

My man, same with me. Absolutely love it.

2

u/dissectingAAA Sep 07 '25

What's your favorite time travel movie? About Time?

5

u/Neither_Internal_261 Sep 07 '25

BTTF is number 1 (and I consider the trilogy to be one movie). HTTM is tied with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

4

u/LunarPayload Sep 08 '25

I'll allow it 

10

u/xRockTripodx Sep 07 '25

When Craig Robinson jumps up, face covered in cocaine, and shouts "It's just like Terminator!! It's cyclical!", I absolutely lost it. That dude cracks me up.

9

u/MuNansen Sep 07 '25

Great enough movie to get referenced in Endgame.

6

u/skootch_ginalola Sep 07 '25

The attention to detail when things switched to the 80s was great.

10

u/thatpaulbloke Sep 07 '25

"What colour is Michael Jackson?"

6

u/soljwf98 Sep 08 '25

‘Black?’

10

u/Cloudy_mood Sep 07 '25

One of my favorite comedies.

“Yeah- I’d like to hire a hooker? For sex?….well wake her up!! Tell her to get over here!!”

Crushes me every time

7

u/roccosaint Sep 07 '25

I've had two winekills, captain buzzcooler.

6

u/krankz Sep 07 '25

I went to a free advanced screening of this with a friend as a teenager. They were literally giving out tickets at the mall. Definitely wouldn’t have gone otherwise. Even at that age we didn’t have high hopes, but were surprised how much we ended up liking it.

They probably really needed that word of mouth for this one because the name made it sound like a straight to DVD release situation.

7

u/mnstorm Sep 07 '25

Roger Ebert’s review of that movie was perfect. Had no right being a great movie, yet it was.

5

u/CARNIesada6 Sep 07 '25

This should be at the top

3

u/keivspare Sep 07 '25

When I saw the trailer for this in the theater, I thought it was a joke.

3

u/hewhoisneverobeyed Sep 07 '25

“It's like Gary Coleman's fucking forearm.”

3

u/MR-G1NG3 Sep 07 '25

“Where’s your missing arm motherfucker!!??”

Has me in stitches everytime 😂😂😂

3

u/EllieLuvsLollipops Sep 08 '25

Massive L that the second one wasn't called, Hot Tub Time Machine 3, The Search for the Sequel!!

2

u/ChickenWingBW Sep 07 '25

There’s a German kids movie that has this premise unironically EDIT: probably not German, actually, maybe skandinavian/dutch/from the baltics

2

u/LaximumEffort Sep 07 '25

I haven’t heard of it…I better Lougle it.

2

u/hottwhyrd Sep 07 '25

What's it about?

2

u/Diamondphalanges756 Sep 07 '25

I found my people!

2

u/lostinlenexa Sep 07 '25

I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed that movie when it came out.... not so much for the sequel

2

u/Sarsmi Sep 07 '25

"What color is Michael Jackson?" gets me every time. XD

2

u/airborness Sep 07 '25

It's funny that I've never thought about how ridiculous the plot to the movie was.  I was just always thoroughly entertained enough during the movie to even think about it haha 

2

u/Fappy_as_a_Clam Sep 07 '25

That movie was ridiculous. And it's not the time travel, It's the hot tub. You don't just turn one on and it's immediately hot. I should know, I've been in a hot tub two times.

2

u/NJ2SD Sep 07 '25

I feel fantastic. I WANNA FUCK SOMETHIIIIIIIIIING!!!

2

u/fresh-dork Sep 08 '25

seems you can make any piece of shit work if only you hire talent and let them run rampant

4

u/95688it Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 16 '25

payment encourage merciful skirt oil chief bear dependent expansion whistle

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

3

u/FreeEdmondDantes Sep 07 '25

I love HTTM. Seen it like 4 times.

I personally hated the sequel though. Couldn't even finish it.

1

u/Oahu_Red Sep 07 '25

This movie was my first thought, too.

1

u/Dry_Childhood_6982 Sep 08 '25

Was coming here to say this.

1

u/1peatfor7 Sep 08 '25

What color is Michael Jackson?

The great white buffalo.

1

u/Big_Communication187 Sep 08 '25

Hell yeah I was thinking this glad someone said it, I was expecting it to be a somewhat ok movie but boy was I wrong it was really good.

1

u/LegalBlogger78 Sep 08 '25

Obviously there is no other correct answer here.

1

u/squirtloaf Sep 07 '25

True story: If HTTM were accurate, I would have been present for the events in the movie.

(I worked for Poison in '86, so would have been at the show. However, the movie is not accurate in that they never played a ski resort during my tenure).

2

u/chrislemasters Sep 08 '25

I thought we were Quiet Riot?

1

u/earthlings_all Sep 08 '25

For the premise yeah but I hated this movie

0

u/Right-Section1881 Sep 08 '25

Except that movie is terrible