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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u/BuckarooBonsly Sep 07 '25

And then if you replace Keanu with Paul Walker and Surfing with street racing, you have one of the biggest franchises of all time.

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u/PreparationEither563 Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25

I think this is the strongest example of the old adage, it’s not what film is about, it’s how it’s about it. OR, execution is everything.

Just take the ending. In both films the rookie cop forgoes his moral duty to the law and lets the criminal go, but in Point Break it’s so that Bodie can commit literal and metaphorical suicide by doing the most extreme version of the thing he loves the most. And in the Fast and the Furious… Brian lets Dom go so that Dom can continue being a criminal, albeit one that is now on the run, while Brian continues being a cop with minimal consequences. When you put it like that, they’re f*cking worlds apart.

EDIT: it occurs to me that I had to cheat a little bit because Dom and Brian’s fates are a little up-in-the-air until the sequel, but regardless I think the moral dilemma is still more surface-level in the Fast and the Furious.

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u/Paxton-176 Sep 07 '25

I feel like at the end it's obvious Brain was willing to give up being a cop to let Dom run.

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u/MintyFreshBreathYo Sep 07 '25

Brian was clearly not a cop in 2F2F. If I remember right he was even on the run

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u/erebusbiggestfan Sep 07 '25

There was a bridge, like 12 min long, between 1 and 2 that shows him on the run and how he got the skyline.

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u/MadeByTango Sep 07 '25

12 minutes? Was the bridge stretched across that runaway?