It’s easy to recommend great movies to watch — especially when those films have the Rotten Tomatoes scores to back it up.
But we all have those critically scorned films we secretly love, even if their RT green splats feel like scarlet letters designating us as tasteless cinephiles.
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, though, and these good new Netflix movies with bad Rotten Tomatoes scores are worth watching in June.
From a lowbrow Melissa McCarthy comedy to a better-than-expected 1999 horror film featuring Famke Janssen, these films won’t rock your world but will definitely keep you entertained.
‘Identity Thief’ (2013)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 20 percent
Denver family man Sandy (Jason Bateman) is in a lot of trouble. A con artist, Diana (Melissa McCarthy), stole his identity and has been using his personal information to purchase thousands of dollars in merchandise somewhere in Florida. When his name is used to purchase drugs, Sandy finds himself in hot water with the cops. The only way out of it is to find Diana and bring her back to Denver to prove his innocence. But Diana doesn’t want to turn herself in, and neither do the drug dealers who want to kill her and anyone else who stands in their way.
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Even typing Identity Thief’s plot makes me feel embarrassed. It’s silly and contrived, and the jokes are often very basic and involve people slamming each other into objects. I can see why most critics hated it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t laugh a lot while watching it. The odd pairing of Bateman and McCarthy is the secret ingredient to the movie’s comedy sauce. Bateman’s usual dry observations play well against McCarthy’s physical comedy, and they both aren’t too proud to beg the audience to laugh with them and at them. The movie is a great example of performers elevating the thin material they’re given and making it watchable and fun – just don’t tell anyone you actually liked it, though.
‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’ (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 67 percent
After she loses her unborn child due to Claire’s (Annabella Sciorra) justified sexual assault allegation against her guilty gynecologist husband, Mrs. Mott (Rebecca De Mornay) vows revenge. She poses as a nanny, Peyton Flanders, and is hired by Claire to watch over her newborn son and young daughter, Emma (Madeline Zima). But Peyton does more than watch – she slowly takes over Claire’s life, turning her children, husband and sanity against her. Will Claire realize the friend she welcomed into her home is really her worst enemy?
The answer is yes, of course. You wouldn’t have a thriller otherwise, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is one of the ‘90s best. That’s why its decent Rotten Tomatoes score doesn’t do it justice; this is a well-directed, well-acted movie that tackles serious themes about motherhood and marriage. It’s also a shamelessly manipulative thriller, with an ending that is absurd yet delivers the karmic goods. (Hint: picket fences can be pretty damn lethal!). De Mornay gives a superb performance as a woman who has lost everything and has nothing to lose. She’s entitled to what Claire has, and De Mornay makes you sympathize with her even as she slowly plots her rival’s demise.
‘House on Haunted Hill’ (1999)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 20 percent
Evelyn Price (Famke Janssen) is stuck in a bad marriage to amusement park mogul and serial practical joker Stephen Price (Geoffrey Rush), but that doesn’t mean she can’t celebrate her birthday. To make it truly memorable, Evelyn suggests they hold a party at an abandoned psychiatric hospital, invite five strangers to spend the night in exchange for a cash prize of $1 million and try to scare them away before the sun rises. But the Prices soon realize the trick’s on them as they discover the hospital is actually haunted – and the ghosts are none too pleased to see the living on their dilapidated stomping grounds.
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A remake of the similarly shlocky 1958 B-movie starring Vincent Price, House on Haunted Hill topped the chart on Halloween weekend in 1999, even though it fell to the bottom of many critics’ year-end lists. Both then and now, the film is surprisingly spooky, with standout scare scenes that will make you jump and cover your eyes. Taye Diggs and Ali Larter are the nominal stars of the movie, but House on Haunted Hill belongs to Rush and Janssen’s feuding couple. Bound by mutual hatred of one another, they’re like a cheapo horror version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’s George and Martha, and their bitchy banter is fun to listen to and watch.
