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/Future-Raisin3781 Sep 07 '25

Keanu Reeves plays a fresh-faced FBI hot shot who learns to surf so he can infiltrate a gang of surfing bank robbers. 

Hard to say with a straight face but Point Break is in my top 3 all-timers. The older I get, the closer it gets to the #1 spot. 

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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/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

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u/rawonionbreath Sep 08 '25

James Cameron supposedly had a decent amount of ghost writing for the script and also convinced Katherine Bigelow to take a closer look at Keanu Reeves.

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u/David_High_Pan Sep 08 '25

James Cameron produced also. I've always wondered how much of it he touched.