The 10 Most Heavy-Handed Message Movies

Bob Goldthwait's sledgehammer approach to satire in God Bless America and other ham-fisted films that prove there's something to be said for subtlety.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Bobcat Goldthwait's new reality-television satire God Bless America, in theaters now, may have been meant as a well-meaning attempt at condemning our superficial culture, but it's hard for us to digest a flim's message when it's being ceremoniously shoved down our throats by the movie's lead characters via bitter, ranting monologues by Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr.

It's not even his Aesop's fable approach to storytelling that irritates us most; we just take issue when filmmakers insult our ability to discern a movie's meaning ourselves. We can appreciate a nuanced film with subtle storytelling meant to provoke thought; We can't support a one-dimensional plot that's merely meant as a mouthpiece for the filmmaker's preaching, or worse yet, a contrived morality tale concocted to win Oscars.

Goldthwait wasn't the first filmmaker to underestimate our intelligence, and he probably won't be the last. We're taking a stand against movies that underhandedly sledgehammer us with a message, and don't even have the decency to be frank about their intentions—you know, like Keenen Ivory Wayans was in Don't Be a Menace... was when he bellowed, "MESSAGE!" during particularly preachy monologues. Here are the films that unintentionally took the same obnoxiously obvious approach: The 10 Most Heavy-Handed Message Movies. Consider our lesson learned: We'll never watch these films with an open mind again. After all, you never know what they might try to drop in.

Written by Shanté Cosme (@ShanteCosme)

Follow @ComplexPopCult

10. God Bless America (2012)

Not Available Interstitial

9. Remember the Titans (2000)

Not Available Interstitial

8. House of Sand and Fog (2003)

Not Available Interstitial

7. Wall-E (2008)

Not Available Interstitial

6. Crash (2004)

Not Available Interstitial

5. Babel (2006)

Not Available Interstitial

4. American History X (1998)

Not Available Interstitial

3. Pay It Forward (2000)

Not Available Interstitial

2. American Beauty (1999)

Not Available Interstitial

1. Avatar (2009)

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Pop Culture