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There Be Spoilers Here: Worst Movie Ending

By Cindy Davis | Posted Under Comment Diversions | Comments (145)

sunshine-.jpg

Before we even get into this afternoon comment diversion, let’s set a ground rule: No spoilers for movies currently in theaters or within the past six months, please.

Friday night I was trying to get caught up on my Danny Boyle and decided to watch Sunshine. I’d been in a Facebook discussion with another Pajibette, who was surprised I hadn’t already seen the film—come to think of it, so was I—it seemed right up my movie alley. Being of small mind and unsound body, I couldn’t quite figure it out either. Science Fiction, check. Cillian Murphy, check. Danny Boyle, checkity-check-check. Why haven’t I watched this before? I settled in with a nice Shiraz, smokey gouda and some crispy crackers, as Icarus II began its journey to the sun. A warning to you all; HERE BE SPOILERS…

So things are going along nicely, with Murphy and his blue eyes perfectly capturing the seriousness of the mission to save humankind, Rose Byrne wearing her perennial beautiful frown with matching furrowed brow and the rest of the international cast doing a fine job in their respective roles. As they inevitably do on most space missions, things begin to malfunction, go wrong, distress signals are heard and what seemed a straightforward plan is suddenly very uncertain. When it becomes clear that there is sabotage at play, the film takes on a familiar spooky tone and I (at this point thoroughly enjoying the story) sat back for whatever unimagined terror might unfold. And lo, what to my disappointed eyes might appear? A frakking glowing, warping, wiggly, melty-man? What?! Are you kidding me? With no logical explanation for what was—up to this point—a fairly logical storyline, we are faced with a silly, fiery, melty-man (who had been the Captain of Icarus I, the presumed lost ship that had first attempted this same mission). From the moment melty-man made his appearance, Sunshine was ruined, I could no longer take it seriously and it really didn’t matter what happened. What a shame, because everything had been going so well; I had really enjoyed everything up to that point. And then, I finally remembered why I hadn’t seen the movie and I recalled reading the reviews that had warned me off. I returned to the Facebook discussion and read the comment that had been left for me, “The ending was weird.” Bloody right, it was weird. And nonsensical and stupid. The ending pretty much ruined the whole film. So that’s my movie warning: if you haven’t already seen it and suddenly wonder why, don’t bother watching Sunshine.

Now help your fellow Pajibans ward off the films with horrible endings. What movie has the worst ending?









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Comments

There's been so many movie ruined by the ending, I honestly can't think of just one.

Posted by: Sarah at May 16, 2011 2:06 PM

The Chronicles of Riddick? But then, the whole movie sucked...

Posted by: keith at May 16, 2011 2:08 PM

don’t bother watching Sunshine...

Actually, you should bother for the beautiful cinematography and the fact that Chris Evans really can act. Just turn it off after the rendezvous with Icarus I.

Posted by: penelope at May 16, 2011 2:08 PM

OK the end of the Solaris remake sucked.

Posted by: keith at May 16, 2011 2:10 PM

The last 2 minutes of One Hour Photo. It was all so suddenly and painfully on the nose. It ruined the movie for me.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at May 16, 2011 2:10 PM

The Mist (2007). Made me violent.

Posted by: TSF at May 16, 2011 2:12 PM

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. Absolute travesty. I know people think it's a great send-up of WW2 movies, and that it was this epic revenge fantasy for Quentin, but really, it was just complete clap-trap. The whole emotional backdrop for the movie, up until the ridiculous ending, was the dread inspired by the very real history of Nazi-occupied Europe. You quailed for Shoshana's family in the opening scenes because history taught us what was going to happen if they were found. And then at the end...it turns into a farce, the whole thing is overblown like a comic opera, and you feel like shit that you expended so much energy getting engrossed in a plot that, while fictional, was at least grounded in something of substance. Ruined the whole thing.

Posted by: Upstate at May 16, 2011 2:12 PM

Oh and the ending to Prince of Persia REAAALLLY bothered me. I mean, it wasn't a brilliant movie by any means, but I had been in the mood for a check-your-brain, fun, action-adventure, and it was pretty enjoyable.

And then they introduce the whole time-travel aspect and try to give the movie intelligence and in doing so actually make it dumber.

Posted by: penelope at May 16, 2011 2:13 PM

Sunshine is perfect for this. I love the movie, every single second of it, until the fiery-melty-man. Ugh. WTF, Danny Boyle? WTF?

Continuing the sci-fi trend, I don't love every second of A.I., but I'd like it a whole lot more if it had ended with Haley Joel Osment staring longingly, helplessly, at the blue-fairy-roller-coaster, fading to black, and then the credits. That epilogue was atrocious and not at all the emotional punch Spielberg thinks. Same with Minority Report, War of the Worlds, and Munich. Dude has a problem with endings, man.

Posted by: RobP at May 16, 2011 2:13 PM

The ending of SUNSHINE is a miss step, but I don't think it ruins the rest of the movie. Still one of the better hard sci-fi movies of the last few years. And it's absolutely beautiful on Blu Ray.

I really didn't like the ending to THE GAME.

In fact, it ruins any subsequent viewing when you know it's all bullshit and Michael Douglas is never in any danger. I enjoyed it all the way up to the ending. This is another of those "we tested you so we knew what you would do every step of the way" twisty flicks that falls completely apart when you try and examine what the hell you just watched. I would have been fine if they ended it with Sean Penn "dead" but then they do the stupid jump off the roof onto an airbag that Douglas didn't know was there. I just really don't think you can just jump off a building and unknowingly hit an airbag and just "walk it off".

Great cinematography, and some good scenes and performances, but the ending forces a suspension of disbelief that is just almost impossible meet.

Posted by: TylerDFC at May 16, 2011 2:14 PM

titanic

Posted by: arrrghzi at May 16, 2011 2:14 PM

Well...I like the VERY ending of Sunshine.

Posted by: DangadaDang at May 16, 2011 2:16 PM

Suspiria. Out of nowhere--BAM! witches are killing the students. Defeat the oldest and least capable of doing anything and you're all safe to dance into the sunset.

I don't mind a good witch film, but don't hide it as a giallo for 80 minutes then say "don't you know there's a coven" and throw in some broomhandlers in the last few minutes. That's just bad writing. It's bad enough to make me angry every time I watch the film, which is more often than you think because I love everything about it up till the BAM! witches nonsense kicks in.

Posted by: Robert at May 16, 2011 2:17 PM

I like Sunshine. In my list of "Worst Endings" it doesn't come close.

How about Smoking Aces? I get that the joke is that the guy sent to protect him is the guy who finally "gets" him, but the tone of that movie's start (and the way it was sold) was one of fun, action-y goofiness a la Guy Ritchie's best.

Instead, the last 10 minutes become serious as fuck and end in one hell of a downer where FBI Ryan Reynolds pulls the plug on Jeremy Piven (who hasn't wanted that) to get back at his boss Andy Garcia for double-dealing behind his back and for sacrificing Ray Liotta for nothing. Total WTF.

Posted by: Fredo at May 16, 2011 2:18 PM

Man, Upstate, you really just didn't get it, did ya? I have tons of friends who hated the ending of that as well, and it sucks because I felt the movie was fantastic and you guys missed out. Not a fault to be pointed, but I say just have fun with the ending. It's meant to be fun and an idea of what would Tarantino do if he could rewrite history, like the characters discuss in the film. Let it be just that. Fun.

Posted by: In the Morning at May 16, 2011 2:18 PM

titanic? Well it's based on a true story you see and the ship really did sink.

Tho I read where Cameron had another script with an alternate universe thing where aliens swoop in and slap a tractor beam on it and pull the whole ship out of the water but Cameron didn't have another 100 million at the time.

Posted by: logan at May 16, 2011 2:20 PM

Posted by: arrrghzi

I see what you did there. FUNNY!

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at May 16, 2011 2:21 PM

OK, so TSF beat me to the punch on The Mist, which also sent me into a rage. Surely M.Night is going to represent on this list, and my vote goes to The Happening. Sure it was bad overall, but the ending really fizzled.

Posted by: Captain Caveman at May 16, 2011 2:21 PM

The Crying Game.

that movie was a LOT better for me when i was masturbating to a chick.

Posted by: R.U. Terwilliger at May 16, 2011 2:21 PM

I really didn't like the ending to THE GAME.

In fact, it ruins any subsequent viewing when you know it's all bullshit and Michael Douglas is never in any danger. I enjoyed it all the way up to the ending.

YES! I never went back and rewatched because after the reveal, Michael Douglas is stunned and then it's happy and joking and having a party.

"HAHAHA! Remember that time that I thought I was killing you for real?! GOOD TIMES!"

Posted by: branded at May 16, 2011 2:22 PM

Unfaithful, with Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez and Richard Gere. That ending was RIDICULOUS. Every time I watch the DVD, I shut it off at the end of chapter 14. then it's just a nice, short movie about a hot older lady having a brief, hot affair with a super-hot French dude.

Also, The Perfect Storm. To be fair, I had no idea it was Based on a True Story, so I got all invested in the characters, only to have EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM die at the end. EVERY. ONE. Feh.

Posted by: Anna von Beav at May 16, 2011 2:22 PM

Your assessment of Sunshine is completely fair, but I think you are way off to try and scare other people away from this film. I personally like the ending and the whole melty-man aspect of the story. There are hints of meta-physical phenomena earlier in the film. So I don't think his appearance is totally unexplained.

At any rate, not trying to talk you out of your opinion, just saying, don't scare off others. I know many people who enjoyed Sunshine 100%.

Posted by: Brian at May 16, 2011 2:24 PM

I just watched the Mist for the first time a couple months ago and I agree, the ending made me want to punch the TV.

Posted by: Sarah at May 16, 2011 2:24 PM

OH, and by the same token, The Departed. Although in all honesty I was pretty bored by the rest of it.

Posted by: Anna von Beav at May 16, 2011 2:25 PM

Vanilla Sky

Fuck me running, I hated hated HATED that fucking ending. In fact, when it started to go sideways into are you fucking kidding me???? Cryofuckinggenics and purchased reality-dreams??? REALLY? my husband and I had a furiously whispered discussion on leaving the theater.

We stayed, enraged and incredulous, until the bitter end.

We were both quite intrigued up to that point and then it just went to complete shit.

I hate that movie.

Posted by: latvianluck at May 16, 2011 2:26 PM

I said "fuck" a lot up there.

My apologies.

I really don't like that movie.

Posted by: latvianluck at May 16, 2011 2:28 PM

Ha! Latvianluck, I hated that WHOLE MOVIE.

Posted by: Anna von Beav at May 16, 2011 2:31 PM

I'd have to agree with Morticia Addams and say The Cat in the Hat. "Oh no. He lives."

Posted by: Erin S at May 16, 2011 2:35 PM

This is easy, It's Pat. I was around 11 or 12 and home sick from school. Rented it to find out what Pat was, and they never revealed. Still to this day ranks as worst movie I ever saw.

Posted by: EB III at May 16, 2011 2:38 PM

Secret Window and Hide and Seek. I like a mindfuck when done well (Mulholland Dr. comes to mind, or The Others), but these movies just fuck with the viewers and it's irritating and contrived and it makes me wish I hadn't just spent hours of my life watching the darn things.

Posted by: Thijs at May 16, 2011 2:40 PM

I agree with those who say The Mist since they fucked up a Steven King ending that was actually just fine the way it was.

That said: IT. It was not the filmmakers' fault entirely, since the ending of the source material was flawed. But to end with the giant foam-and-faux-fur spider and NOT destroy the whole town? Very sad.

Posted by: Siege at May 16, 2011 2:50 PM

Mission To Mars

It has kind of a horror movie set-up, with various and sundry supporting characters getting killed off this way and that, and then we land on Mars, and we discover that one of the presumed-dead astronauts on the base has survived for a year and a half by living in a greenhouse full of plant farts, thus suppying him with enough oxygen (and edamame, I guess) to survive. Those of us who become easily skeptical at the slightest breach of scientific law or logic were now raising silent eyebrows.

Then some jibber jabber about human DNA and something about "completing the sequence" and transmitting it somehow so the planet would stop trying to kill everyone; more raised eyebrows.

But the real kicker was when the remaining three cast members journey to the Great Stone Face of Mars, here realized as an actual giant fucking face with doors and shit, and not just some conveniently-shaped rocks and shadows. All eyebrows and disbeliefs suspended; this just might be the payoff moment.

And then they get inside and are treated to a PowerPoint presentation, courtesy of the original long-dead Martians. The conclusion? "They seeded Earth". With the utterance of this one line, a guy in the back stood up and bellowed "Oh, come on!" not unlike Gob Bluth. The rest of the movie was basically indecipherable over the peals of catcalls, hissing, laughter, and muttering of disconent. All I remember was something about a giant bank suction tube that Gary Sinise climbed into. I guess he dropped acid before climbing in, because he kept hallucinating images of his dead wife as what appeared to be mineral oil flooded his glass tube. Then he blasted off into the cosmos, as his crewmate headed back to earth wishing him " a beautiful ride". People were now giving the screen the finger.

This widely believed to be the end of Gary Sinise's career.

Posted by: StoatCat at May 16, 2011 2:51 PM

I'm with latvianluck. I was completely amazed, frightened, and baffled by that movie...until the happy-trappy hippy-dippy ending.
ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME??? I wanted him to be completely batshit. I wanted there to be just complete insanity for no reason. I LOVED the use of The Monkees' "Porpoise Song" in the scene where he is suffocating Pene/Cameron...and then it turned into....SHIT. SHIT SHIT SHIT WHY CAMERON CROWE???? WHY???

Posted by: anon33 at May 16, 2011 2:52 PM

Next. The only movie I've ever seen that actually threw ITSELF under the bus.

Posted by: emotionalpedant at May 16, 2011 2:53 PM

Secret Window

Johnny Depp still owes me $20 for this complete shitfest.

Posted by: D-Day at May 16, 2011 2:55 PM

I liked Sunshine, the ending was alluded to earlier in the film at several points so it didn't just come out of nowhere. Hancock is the worst one I can think of.

Posted by: Steph at May 16, 2011 2:55 PM

Identity

It’s the only movie I can think of (at this moment) that had me doing the high pitched “What the fuck did they just do?!” outrageous whining. I don’t even remember what the movie was about. Just that there was John Cusack, possibly a couple of murders and a lot of stupidity.

Posted by: Scully at May 16, 2011 2:55 PM

My only beef with the ending of The Departed was that Marky Mark just looked so goofy in that get up.

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at May 16, 2011 2:56 PM

BTW, can I ask what is it about The Mist's ending that's got so many people up in arms? Is it that they shoot one another in the face? Or is it that what prompts it is the truck full of survivors coming to their rescue?

I'll also add Avatar. Let's see: it doesn't resolve the overall issue (humanity's need for...unobtanium) and it only leads to a possible return of the Terran troops with bigger bombs and guns to come blast the super-Smurfs away. So great victory! Yay!

Posted by: Fredo at May 16, 2011 2:58 PM

The Game +1. Also, Contact.

Posted by: fracas at May 16, 2011 2:58 PM

"Traffic" was just (finally) getting interesting, when ... it ended.

Posted by: , at May 16, 2011 3:00 PM

The Village. The whole movie was terrible, but the ending enraged me. It's not really the olden times and this blind bitch just needs to get to Walgreens?!?!?! AWFUL.

Posted by: KiwiBrownn at May 16, 2011 3:02 PM

You have hit the mole with the hammer, Fredo. Avatar really had me for about half the movie, y'all. I thought Cameron was setting up a great tragedy, with a character stuck between two worlds, belonging to neither, and I thought that certainly the only option was for him to ultimately sacrifice his life to either help the natives escape to some newer life, or at least to stave off the inevitable with some heroic action.

But no.

A magic fucking tree? Really? You turned that beautiful tragedy into an attempt to turn the character into a giant iPod undergoing a system reboot from back-up discs.

You add that in with Fredo's point about the pyrrhic nature of the native victory, and the fact that Sam Worthington ultimately had as much depth and charisma as a box of staples, and you have a turd so glossy that you could hang it from the ceiling as a chandelier and light the room with the CGI crap-sparkles.

Posted by: StoatCat at May 16, 2011 3:05 PM

Oh, totes, Scully. I was more disappointed about it later, though. I think because the conceit was actually not uninteresting, it was just the execution that was god-awful. It was one of those "I got what they were going for, I just don't like the way they went for it" kind of things.

It was definitely a "WHAAAAAT." immediate reaction though.

Posted by: Anna von Beav at May 16, 2011 3:06 PM

I hated the ending to The Mist at first. Then I thought about it. Then I thought about it some more. I decided that just because we're following a group of people in a movie? It doesn't mean they're the smartest people. It doesn't mean they make the best decisions. It doesn't mean that they get the happy ending. And then I felt better about it. But right after the movie ended? HOLY SHIT-FIRE, was I pissed.

Posted by: Pinky McLadybits at May 16, 2011 3:07 PM

Ok, I don't know if any of you have seen this and I'm only posting it here because I just watched it this weekend and it fits this discussion PERFECTLY-

Big Man Japan

If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, carry on...

Posted by: JFD at May 16, 2011 3:07 PM

Goonies

So a wooden pirate ship trapped in a moldy, dank cave for centuries is released by a massive rockslide and is still seaworthy? My dick, goonies.

MY FUCKIN' DICK, GOONIES!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Kballs at May 16, 2011 3:08 PM

I found the ending of SUNSHINE completely satisfying. It's the kind of genre-blending that I find really satisfying, like 28 DAYS LATER & MILLIONS, you think you're getting one thing and then it takes a turn that is unexpected. It's surprising and challenging. As for movies where the ending ruined the rest, I might propose HIGH TENSION. I thought the film was really well made and terrifying, until I realized she was hunting herself. Really? Thanks.

Posted by: Otherguy83 at May 16, 2011 3:09 PM

The end of House Bunny totally ruined what would have been an excellent film. I just didn't see it coming. To think that Kathrine McPhee had that amazing performance wasted.

Posted by: DemojnWaterPolo at May 16, 2011 3:09 PM

I guess I need to re-watch Sunshine to see if the ending is justified at all as some of you contend, but I did not dig that turn with deranged Solar-Beastman either. Having one of your characters addicted to staring at the Sun was a compelling element, but it's not a significant foundation for what transpired, in my opinion.

What makes it so frustrating is that the first half of it was so great; it's beautifully shot, and it's about the closest thing Hollywood ever gives us to "hard science fiction." To go from that genre to an all too typical homicidal-maniac-in-a-confined-spaceship story was jarring. I'd still recommend giving the film a chance for its good points, and the ultimate endgame was acceptable. I just wish Solar-Beastman was out and Boyle had gone with a quieter, more contemplative character-driven resolution.

Posted by: DarthCorleone at May 16, 2011 3:11 PM

Yep, throwing another vote at The Mist...The ending of the story was perfectly reasonable. The ending of the movie made me want to tear the DVD apart with my teeth and then go after the script writer. Asshat.

Posted by: JenVegas at May 16, 2011 3:11 PM

I remember Jeepers Creepers actually giving me the willies (which is something few movies have ever, ever done). But then they went and blew it all by showing the monster. Bleh. Totally took the creep factor out of it.

Posted by: TheAdam at May 16, 2011 3:14 PM

So when I watched it again recently, I was a little irked at the end of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World when he didn't stay with Knives. What was the point of showing how he and Knives were such a great team together then?

So in the end Scott's still a little too self-absorbed and I'm left feeling sorry for Knives.

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at May 16, 2011 3:15 PM

Broken Flowers. Then again, this movie felt like a prolonged ending from 0:00:01 onwards.

The Forgotten. I don't even know any more *what* was going on in that movie, but I know - kinda like with Sunshine - that it made sense to a point and then just went batshit crazy, in a bad way. I remember Julianne Moore flying.

Closer.
She walks... and walks... and walks... and Damien Rice keeps singing... and singing... and singing... and yes, we do get that you can't take your eyes off of her. Roll credits. What? WHAT? That's it? Or do I have to flip the tape now? I feel cheated.

The inevitable: Inception. Not so much for the ending itself, but for the endless, fruitless hours of discussion and brain-spraining that ensued, which resulted in liking the movie itself a lot less.

Posted by: Rooks at May 16, 2011 3:19 PM

Haute Tension. Really, the main character was the killer all long? Wow, what a twist. Except that it made no fucking sense.

Posted by: keith at May 16, 2011 3:25 PM

My vote is Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Yeah, it's a little fun movie and it was all going great. The part where they're fighting in the Ikea store and Brad and Angelina are all shot up hiding in the shed ready to go down together. One of them goes, "We'll always have Bogota" or something like that and they run to the door and the bright light opens and I'm all pumped like "They did the Butch Cassidy and the Sundace Kid Ending! Awesome!" Because it looks and feels excatly like that. I was about to completely geek out.

And they they show gun porn for another 5 minutes of them killing everyone.

Really? You set everything up. You unbuckle my pants then tell me to turn around and bite something for the pain. Now everyone enjoys that "Ask me the sex question again," line when the movie should've ended.

Damn you Hollywood and your happy endings.

Posted by: MTGColorPie at May 16, 2011 3:25 PM

OH AND ALSO, That One With Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. With the car and the guns and the tattoos when she got out of the tub and the training and the dodging stuff and the telling the job to go shove itself and then the STUPID, STUPID end. Loom of My Ass, more like.

Posted by: Anna von Beav at May 16, 2011 3:31 PM

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Goddamit, you're supposed to have Indy's dad take the crusader's place, the culmination of his life's work. Such a beautiful thought.

Riding into the sunset? &^%E$#@(*)* you

Posted by: dorquemada at May 16, 2011 3:38 PM

AvB - omg yes, Wanted! I couldn't fricking believe it, a magical loom?? No. Just no.

Splice is the first one that comes to my mind. Genetic experiments and playing good = a really good setup. Having sex with your female monster right before it kills you and turns into a dude and rapes your wife, impregnating her? Terrible payoff.

Posted by: Even Stevens at May 16, 2011 3:39 PM

and by playing good I meant playing God.

Posted by: Even Stevens at May 16, 2011 3:40 PM

Buried.

Fuck that movie. I haven't been that upset at an ending in a long time.

Posted by: TWoPFan at May 16, 2011 3:42 PM

SIGNS - Alien invasion turned into commentary on the importance of an enduring faith in god. Blech.

PAY IT FORWARD - Okay, this entire thing was terrible, but killing the saintly teary-eyed, lip-quivering kid and turning him into a Precious Moments-like martyr was super terrible.

Hmmm....I guess what I'm saying is that I hate when something potentially interesting ends up being a treacly religious allegory in disguise (hence, the reason I'm not planning on watching the last two seasons of Lost - eff that noise).

Posted by: Nicole at May 16, 2011 3:42 PM

"Unfaithful" Every goddamn time I see that movie the ending just burns me good. I hate it because when this fucker finds out his old is stepping out on him, he curls up in the corner like some punk-bitch and starts bawling his eyes out. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but you white guys will start crying at the drop of a hat over a bitch. Brothers don’t do that crying shit; brothers will go out and get that shit straight.

Posted by: Pookie at May 16, 2011 3:45 PM

Jesus, how could I forget Haute Tension? Yeah, that one has a horrible ending. I went from being somewhat entertained but not getting what the hype was about to enraged smashing of the power button on the DVD player to make the movie stop.

Also, Jeepers Creepers was awful too. And on that note, so was Mimic. Most of Mimic was terrible, but I especially like the ending with the last hero guy in a room full of methane desperately trying to make a spark with a shovel (which he does) and then the fireball starts across the room from him and he has time to jump in a hole to safety before the giant cockroaches (yes) are vaporized. That movie is just awful. I love Guillermo Del Toro but that one is just irredeemably bad.

Posted by: TylerDFC at May 16, 2011 3:46 PM

1. The Abyss. A friend who'd seen it first told me, "When Ed Harris gets to the bottom of the ocean, and you'll know when that is, get up and leave the theater." He was right. Great action flick and nice sad ending if you do it that way. Frakking ridiculous if you stay for the actual ending.

2. Lost in Translation. I hated ScarJo throughout, so perhaps my anger at the whisper was influenced by that -- but still, ARRGGH.

3. A.I. Not a great movie, but certainly an absorbing one - but again, should haven gotten up and walked out when they froze next to The Blue Fairy.

Posted by: Louise at May 16, 2011 3:48 PM

I totally second Haute Tension. At no point does it make a lick of sense she was the killer. I felt like it was joke especially because I kept hearing how great it was. Also the ending of The Last Broadcast. Faux-doc into a narrative? the movie was fine until they revealed the killer.

Posted by: dna at May 16, 2011 3:49 PM

Cloverfield. Jaysus wept.

Admittedly, this has a great deal to do with watching it in the cinema. I went with my sainted, long-suffering mother, I finished my popcorn far too early, then I saw a RAT running around the cinema, the hand-held camera action made me really nauseated. Towards the end, I HAD to use the bathroom and rushed out for a quick whizz. Came back to see the credits rolling. Then I look it up to find that it was a feckin' sea monster.

Posted by: Frances at May 16, 2011 3:51 PM

Quarintine. Damn, people be stupid.

Posted by: TWoPFan at May 16, 2011 3:55 PM

I actually liked the ending of Mist. I thought it was true to what may happen in reality in such a situation. American cinema always has a happy ending and things aren't always happy.

I partially liked the end of Sunshine, but do agree that the movie lost something with the appearance of melty man.

I HATED the ending of the Ninth Gate. Such a interesting movie with Depp doing his usual weird but good job up until The Girl begins to play a bigger role. Then the whole sex scene surrounded by fire...such crap...ruined the experience for me.

Posted by: Rob at May 16, 2011 3:56 PM

WOrd on SUNSHINE. I was loving it and then the last act happened. I only saw it once and that was it. I think if it just stayed on the straight an narrow then it could have been great.

Other Worst Endings:
Dr. T and the Women. What the Fuck!
Remember Me
Mystic River
The Village

Posted by: junierizzle at May 16, 2011 4:01 PM

I came here to make sure there was some Shyamalan hate flying aroud, and I'm not disappointed.

Speaking of disappointment, I see we're all trying to forget that utter failure to capitalise on two of the most fascinating and pretty first and second acts ever, Donnie Fucking Darko never happened. Good call, people. I'll let you get back to it.

Posted by: The Only New Zealander at May 16, 2011 4:09 PM

Seconding whoever said Buried. Fucking movie upset me for days.

Posted by: Lillie at May 16, 2011 4:12 PM

Arlington Road.

My boyfriend suggested that I would really like it, so we watched it together a few months ago. I almost didn't make it to the end I was spewing so much venom, ranting about walking out (of my place) demanding a refund (from a movie I didn't pay to watch), and then locking myself in the bathroom out of fear I might throw down fisticuffs bc he thought I would like a film as shit as that.

I am a huge proponent of a nice, simple revenge plot, ending in proper comeuppance to whomever perpetrated the bad and/or sucked the worst. You might think me simple, and that's fine bc you are now dead to me. I just find nothing more satisfying (no matter how shit a film is) than a motherfucker getting his motherfucking due, bc I can't pay $20 to roundhouse some douche in the face in my real life (erm...I mean, I choose not to). So when the protagonist isn't entirely unlikeable, I will flip out if I've just spent 2 hours watching him getting his ass kicked for no reason. I can do that with real life for free.

Which brings me back to Arlington Road. That Goddamned stoopit motherfucking douche twat wazzle of an ass blasting turd rocket of a film almost caused me to kick my boyfriend out and set fire to the world for even suggesting I watch it in the first place.

So yeah. The. Worst. Ever.

Posted by: beet salad at May 16, 2011 4:16 PM

AvB - Agreed. James McAvoy is easy on the eyes but that doesn't replace the stupidity of that movie.

The Matrix film was one that I hated. So after all that, Neo gets to talk to Col. Sanders who explains that nothing that happened in three movies was important at all and that it would all happen again with someone else. So why the hell did I waste my time?

Posted by: greenblue at May 16, 2011 4:16 PM

The Devil's Advocate. Admittedly, this is a terrible, terrible movie except for Pacino's incredible speech, but seriously? An Alarm Clock ending?! My English teacher told us not to do that shit IN THE SIXTH GRADE.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at May 16, 2011 4:18 PM

1. The Abyss. Silly deus ex machina ending.

2. The Planet of the Apes remake. Contrived and moronic "twist" ending. "Damn you all to hell!"

3. Avatar. Combination of #1 and #2 above.

4. Godfather, Part III. Yeah, okay, we know Michael dies at the end, but why/how did he end up where he ended up? Did the puppy survive?

Posted by: The Wanderer at May 16, 2011 4:18 PM

Okay, so it was a shitty movie anyway BUT Knowing had an incredibly stupid ending, which was only made better by the anhilation of Nicholas Cage. Also, if he was my prof at MIT, I would ask for my gazillion dollar tuition back, because that dude knew nothing, even if the refund wouldn't matter because the entire world was burnt up except for the kids in the space ship with the rabbits. Seriously, I was dumber after watching that movie.

Posted by: RebaSays at May 16, 2011 4:20 PM

I liked the ending to Sunshine better once I decided that the melty man wasn't anything supernatural, just a guy who'd gone insane from a religious experience of staring at the sun up close and getting a really bad case of sunburn.

Posted by: Jesse M. at May 16, 2011 4:27 PM

Atonement. Hated how that ended.

Posted by: EJ at May 16, 2011 4:30 PM

Fuck you. I loved Sunshine. Still better than roughly 95% of all movies out there and that includes the ending.

I'm with the rest of you lot on Secret Window, though. I love Johnny Depp but that just wasn't worth it.

Posted by: Zirze at May 16, 2011 4:33 PM

I have throw my vote to Unfaithful as well. After a great buildup, with all the sex, lies and more sex and lies, that's what they came up with. The SUV in front of the police station!

Posted by: TheBlackMenace at May 16, 2011 4:50 PM

Unthinkable - Really? An hour and a half of torture and then there's a magical 4th bomb?

Darjeeling Limited - I now oscillate between loving and hating the "shedding their father's baggage" scene, but effing hated it at first.

Shutter Island - It was so obvious that I was 100% sure it couldn't possibly be coming...but then it did.

Posted by: Emcee Peepants at May 16, 2011 4:55 PM

hey beet salad, why dont you tell us how you really feel

Posted by: craig at May 16, 2011 4:57 PM

The movie "NEXT" had the worst ending ever. Nicolas Cage wakes up in the last minute of the film and the last 60 minutes you saw were all a dream. Great twist, motherfuckers.

Posted by: Jakob Montrasio at May 16, 2011 5:03 PM

Haute Tension makes sense if you accept that the lead we're suppose to sympathize with is a latent lesbian who generates the persona of the serial killer (who she is afraid to accept) as a way to approach her sexual desires for her college roommate. The killer will stop at nothing to break down all the possible barriers in their relationship. He is driven by sex with women from his very first appearance masturbating with the decapitated head of his latest victim. Only in killing the killer can the leading lady accept her sexual identity and pursue her true feelings for her roommate. By that point, the roommate is so afraid of our leading lady that she can't trust her anymore and rightly runs to the police for help.

Posted by: Robert at May 16, 2011 5:17 PM

Although it didn't ruin the movie for me, The Prestige had a pretty frustrating ending. It actually took me a while to rap my head around it. It was like, "BOOM, sci-fi twist!" and then rushed to credits.

Posted by: kiz at May 16, 2011 5:28 PM

I liked "Sunshine," including the ending. Yeah, the melty man did defy reason (ie, nobody burned that bad would have lived long without medical attention). But it's still a good movie.

Bad movie ending: Fatal Attraction. Supposedly, the ending had been planned to have the Glenn Close character killing the Michael Douglas character, or killing herself and making it look like he did it, or somesuch crap, but the test audiences they showed those endings to hated them so much they had the movie end with the one that ended up making a ton of money and Michael Douglas walking off with his wife after getting rid of the inconveniently crazy girlfriend. So who says studios don't give people what they want?

Posted by: Slash at May 16, 2011 5:28 PM

To all those who mentioned Haute/High Tension, good one on ya. I will also add that the real part that almost ruined the movie for me in hindsight was the fellatio-with-severed-head scene, which made absolutely no sense, given the ending, and appeared to have nothing to do with anything whatsoever. Gratuitous indeed, and more annoying than the ending for me at least.

Posted by: Drea at May 16, 2011 5:30 PM

Loved High Tension.
Loved Sunshine.
Loved The Mist. I think people hate the ending because it is gut-wrenching. Imagine living through that and then not having a bullet left and giving up and seeing that it's over?!
And a note on that: Stephen King has stated that Frank Darabont wrote the ending he should have.

I guess I'm in the minority but these are all really well made films.

Posted by: grendel at May 16, 2011 5:34 PM

Oh, man, I watch "Knowing," too. If there's one movie you should make sure NOT to watch, it should be "Knowing." Seriously, it wasn't bad about 1 hour in or so, but then it cartwheeled downhill quickly after that and smashed into the WORST ENDING EVER list.

I didn't think it would be a great movie, but I didn't think the ending would be so ... shitty.

Posted by: Slash at May 16, 2011 5:40 PM

The ending of Spielberg's War of the Worlds just made me RAGE. His teenage son runs off into a three-mile-wide fireball, but then shows up at the end of the movie without so much as a scratch?

On the other hand, if Pretty Woman had kept the original ending, where Richard Gere pays her and leaves her sobbing in the gutter, I'd probably watch that every Christmas.

Posted by: Craig at May 16, 2011 5:49 PM

And TITANIC!?! The fucking boat sinks! Where the hell did that come from?

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at May 16, 2011 5:53 PM

StoatCat's review of "Mission to Mars" is one of the most fucking hilarious things I've read on this site. Gold stars for you, sir/madam.

Posted by: Slash at May 16, 2011 5:55 PM

How about Guy Richie's Revolver? After seeing Lock Stock and Snatch, I thought I had discovered something awesome, and assembled my friends. Guy Richie movie with Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Mark Strong...

It made no sense, was weird, and ultimately had an ending like a damp rag thrown at your feet. Guy Richie was really into Kaballah when he made the film, which is always a good sign. Oh yeah, and Ray Liotta played a character called Dorothy.

Posted by: Benjamin Arthur at May 16, 2011 6:30 PM

So I guess the only explanation for a WTF?! ending is to make up for a film that's either too meh, or a too turd...sandwhich-y.

(oh yeah, Mom's real proud)

I just can't believe how many of these crap baskets that I have actually wasted my life watching (seriously, I haven't thought about The Game since I mistakenly chose to watch it whilst playing hooky from school).

Now I'm depressed.

Posted by: beet salad at May 16, 2011 6:40 PM

500 DAYS OF SUMMER

Seriously: he meets a girl named AUTUMN? FUCKING AUTUMN?

That movie was incredibly good. That goddamn line ruined the whole thing for me. Can't wait for the sequel where he meets Winter, then fucking Spring.

Call it an "Eternity of fucking seasons", and send it straight to DVD.

Posted by: MachineGunJeanMaurice at May 16, 2011 6:44 PM

See, not only did I think Smokin' Aces was a great action film, I thought it was a great satire of action films. It showed me that Reynold's could act. And I thought the ending was note perfect. If I never see another action film I will be OK. This one hit all the notes for me. Great fun.

A.I. ended badly though.

Posted by: Tetsubo at May 16, 2011 6:56 PM

A.I. with it's "Disney" ending. Spielberg, what a sell out!

An American Haunting- The present day bullshit that ruined a perfectly good curse/haunting story.

Midnight Meat Train- Interesting story about a photographer's obsession with a serial killer, then poof, must feed alien zombies.

Skeleton Key- seriously lame. Really? They switched bodies? Gee, didn't see that coming.

Dreamcatcher- Duddits was an alien this whole time? I still want my money back and I watched it on cable.

Orphan- Law and Order SVU made it first.

Number 23- Sooo, you wrote the book while locked up in the looney bin but don't remember writing it? K.

War of the Worlds- Ahhhchoo! Oh sorry, I have the flu.

Posted by: diggydoo at May 16, 2011 7:06 PM

Well as for War of the Worlds. It does make sense, scientifically speaking, and Herbert George had it written that way...

Posted by: MachineGunJeanMaurice at May 16, 2011 7:20 PM

Matchstick Men.

Posted by: superasente at May 16, 2011 7:23 PM

I Am Legend. It does so well, right up until the appearance of the mother and son. I couldn't give a damn about animals usually, and Sam's fate (and the effect it had on him) had me practically weeping. The first hour of the film sets up the tone beautifully... and then there's a Christ allegory which appears out of No WHERE, and messes the whole thing up. It was so annoying - I'd almost rather the film had been bad all the way through, than build my expectations up for an hour or more only to disappoint so completely.

Posted by: fionna at May 16, 2011 7:33 PM

Van Helsing. I'm not saying any of it was good (it wasn't, I only saw it because I got in free) but the ending with Kate Beckinsale's face staring down from the clouds and "single tear-ing" a dove (I might be misremembering that bit, I was clawing my own eyes out at the time)...dear God, that was bad. The audience had been steadily turning on the movie but at the end, at least 15 people simultaneously yelled out, "Oh, COME ON!"

Posted by: JennieHaniver at May 16, 2011 8:05 PM

Swimming Pool . . . Glorious Boobies (TM) be damned.

Posted by: BWeaves at May 16, 2011 8:06 PM

"500 DAYS OF SUMMER

Seriously: he meets a girl named AUTUMN? FUCKING AUTUMN?

That movie was incredibly good. That goddamn line ruined the whole thing for me. Can't wait for the sequel where he meets Winter, then fucking Spring."

I hated that Summer had gotten married. Would've been much, much more compelling had she stayed on her own and simply didn't want to be with him.

Posted by: samantha t at May 16, 2011 8:10 PM

How exactly does The Prestige have a Sci-Fi twist?? I feel like I must have been watching a different movie.
I'm not sure how *spoiler* they were twins! qualifies as a sci-fi twist.

Posted by: DominaNefret at May 16, 2011 8:11 PM

I'm not going to get too much into the A.I. debate again, because I do think it's short of greatness in some ways. That said, I do believe that ending is a lot darker than people seem to acknowledge. Sure, robot boy gets his wish...for one day followed by his immediate death. This far-distant future planet Earth doesn't have any organisms left; it's just a habitat of super-advanced Mecha with all humanity's hopes and dreams gone forever. The clinical and purely logical machines are all that remain. A fairy tale ending in some ways, but that's a pretty grim edge to it, I think.

Posted by: DarthCorleone at May 16, 2011 8:40 PM

The "sci-fi twist" of The Prestige is simply the fact that Tesla's transporting/duplicating machine actually works. Unlike Sunshine, that's one shift that I bought completely.

Posted by: DarthCorleone at May 16, 2011 8:42 PM

Not half as grim as your imminent, bloody demise will be during the EPOCH OF ROBOTS, DarthCorleone!

Posted by: DarthCorleone's Robotic Executioner at May 16, 2011 8:49 PM

Bridge to Terabithia

Posted by: Jo at May 16, 2011 9:06 PM

It wasn't so much the ending that bothered me per se, it was just that The Return of the King had about seventeen endings and I felt like a robot because I was the only person in the theatre who wasn't crying. Wasn't the first time, c'est la vie.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at May 16, 2011 9:09 PM

What bothered me about the ending of the Mist is not that it's so completely different from the book ending and it's not that the survivors just decide to kill themselves. Whatever, they're all a bunch of weenies anyway.

It's that the Mist is just "blowing away", moving it's self on down the road. What about all the fucking creatures that are in that Mist? Are they just going to keep moving with the Mist, murding who ever gets in their path? Or are they going to die when the Mist blows completely away? What the fuck people? It just didn't make any sense to me. Mist blows in, bringing horrifying creatures. Mist blows out...leaving horrifying creatures? Or not? Do they just disappear? WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!?

Posted by: Kelly at May 16, 2011 10:32 PM

Hahahahahahaha... I have to comment on these two:

Arlington Road

Yes, in fact... HELL YES. I saw this movie and invested a lot of time into feeling like this was going to end well. It reminded me a lot of Blown Away, which I'd seen only a few days previously for the first time.

And then it ended, and I still think that guy has some creepy boy fetish going on, which makes it even worse!




Bridge to Terabithia

I sure hope you're kidding... or are you not talking about her dying, or was it the sister part you did not like?

The funny part of this movie being released into theaters was all of the parents that took their kids to it having no idea at all that the main concept of the book is the death of a character, and the effect it had at a young age. I had a few close friends who were outraged when they brought their children to the movie and had no idea how sad it was going to be. Ummm... Yeah. Get off your ass, or better yet get on your ass, and read a book from time to time. These types of misunderstandings wouldn't happen if you'd read the book, or even a review online, and you have nobody to blame but yourself.

Beyond that, this was one of my favorite childhood books, and the movie didn't do it great justice, but it did push along a lot of the things that made the book so thematic, and I think that was a good thing overall.

Posted by: Spiffy McFly at May 16, 2011 10:34 PM

I'm going to go curl up into a little ball now. Arlington Road does that to my psyche.

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at May 16, 2011 10:52 PM

I hated A.I. across the board, but I actually cried out in horror "For the Love of God, no!" when the stupid coda '2000 years later' appeared. It worked for Thundarr the Barbarian, not the idiotic robot built to "love" Pointless waste of time from start to finish...

Ditto for Arlington Road- when your plot "twist" relies on magical psychic terrorist, you suck.

Posted by: Ohgoodygoody at May 16, 2011 10:52 PM

Gonna second I am Legend. It only made me more angry when I found out they filmed a far superior ending that ACTUALLY MADE A DEGREE OF SENSE. I also read the book and found that ending to be a fair bit more profound than either of the movie endings. But seriously, the first two acts are profoundly affecting, and then it just haaaad to go all Summer Blockbuster...

Posted by: Claire Allison at May 16, 2011 10:54 PM

A small caveat: Shitty movies with chicken-shit endings like Secret Window are mitigated by the salient fact they're already shitty in the first place.

Abyss
Should've ended once Harris hits bottom of the ocean. But once the entire underworld civilization rises to the surface, the audience is left agog with this cheap-ass plastic thing-a-majig.

Matrix
Yes, I went there. The movie hits on all notes, right until the last two seconds where Neo flies towards the camera. W.T.F. I believe we were all too jazzed to notice, but that was a harbinger of more shitty films to come.

AI
Jesus Christ, a near perfect scifi film... possibly mostly Kubrickian, but alas, ruined by the tacked-on cheesy as hell and utterly sentimentally cheap Spielbergian ending. That's going to be his epitaph: he went Disney on us in the end.

Pretty Woman
Original had Gere dumping Julia and leave her sobbing in the gutter. Hollywood wusses out again with feel good ending.

Vanilla Sky
It was all a dream? Fuck u Hollywood.

Every film by Danny Boyle. They all suffer from the same disease: third act collapse. Sunshine is merely the best/worst example.

Posted by: Oroboros at May 17, 2011 12:10 AM

Hmmm... had to skim comments, but I have to say:

Yeah, I was a little annoyed by the turn taken by Sunshine (fucking melty man!), but it was still better (in my opinion) than the majority of sci-fi movies (or all movies) out there. Danny Boyle's good, and he did the whole "omg our mission is going awry and we kind of have space madness, what is happening?" thing really well.

Also, I liked the ending of The Mist, but I haven't read the SK story, so whatever. I mean, it was shitty, but I didn't think it was totally out of left field.

Also, Robert is right about Haute Tension. You may still not "like" the ending, but the movie does have its own internal logic and there was an actual point to the twist/deception/switcheroo other than "ha ha we tricked you".

But I'm an easy sell with anything horror, sci-fi, etc. If I enjoy the majority of the movie, I give a wide latitude. I'm trying to think of a movie that just outrageously pissed me off at the end. I'll get back to you.

Posted by: MM at May 17, 2011 12:16 AM

OK, I've got it.

It - Stephen King. I don't really think of the movie ending as pissing me off because the book ending pissed me off first, but yeah.

I mean, Stephen King spent 1,000 or so pages writing simultaneously a wonderful novel about childhood and the fucking scariest character ever, Pennywise. As we know, King is wonderful when he's writing about childhood. The dynamics, the friendships, the struggles, the good and bad families, cut with the undercurrent of genuine dread of the evil in the town. We all float down here.

And then, the last 30 pages or so: Fucking TURTLE vs. SPIDER???? Fuck you, Stephen King. Seriously, fuck you.

Posted by: MM at May 17, 2011 12:31 AM

"Tin Cup".

he spends the whole movie trying to compete in the US Open, golfs like a genius, and blows it at the end trying to prove he can make a certain shot. what a jackass. hated that movie so very very much.

and yeah, "The Game" sucked too. If my brother did that to me I would KICK. HIS. ASS. and then, i would totally tell on him. Plus, why did so many of his friends/family think this was such a great idea? Was he really that much of prick?

Posted by: bokchoi at May 17, 2011 12:46 AM

Any movie with an ambiguous ending. Filmmakers can't figure out how to end the film so they just stop at some random point, leaving a small section of very sad people debating on what the ending meant.

The ending meant that the people working on the movie had a hankering for bad Chinese food, so they left to eat and stopped working on the movie. It's not clever, it's just lazy.

Posted by: Kris at May 17, 2011 12:46 AM

also, i might be in love with Fredo.

Posted by: bokchoi at May 17, 2011 12:47 AM

The ending of Haute Tension bothered me because, essentially, she went on a killing spree because she was gay. I know it was motivated by the unrequited love of her friend and all, but still it all comes down to her homosexuality leading to mass murder. Homosexuality = twisted, perverted violence. I thought the French were more open minded.

Posted by: fracas at May 17, 2011 1:46 AM

You know what made me angry about the ending of Sunshine? It wasn't melty man (he showed up well before the end anyway), it wasn't Cillian vacillating between being an idiot (there's an extra crew member? Hmmm, I'll just go investigate this alone, without telling anyone) and sacking up, it wasn't the impossibility of Cillian and the other crew member sliding around on his nuclear package and managing to land in just the right place (more than once), etc. It was that Chris Evans' character, the only one in the movie who seemed to have an ounce of sense in him and also the only character who didn't go off any sort of psychological deep end the entire movie (well, except Michelle Yeoh a bit, but I digress), not only bites it along with the rest of them (although he takes it like a man, why couldn't there have been at least one little escape pod for him?), but doesn't even get the satisfaction (which Cillian essentially does) of knowing they succeeded.

Not to mention that if anyone had listened to Chris Evans in the first place, they would have never gotten themselves into the entire pickle. Plus they douched him with that fakey hair and beard at the beginning. I was so angry.

Posted by: idrathernotsay at May 17, 2011 1:59 AM

I have not yet seen the movie of The Road, but the ending of the book was so awful that it made me retroactively hate the rest of the book. Whenever it comes up in conversation (usually from someone who adores the book) I go into lengthy diatribes against it. I hate the book so much that I'm avoiding the movie, and if the movie stays true to the book's ending then it has to be one of the worst endings of all time.

Posted by: Bistro at May 17, 2011 2:27 AM

Fuck all of you, I thought The Mist had one of the most brilliant endings ever.

Posted by: AlexaCastro at May 17, 2011 2:49 AM

Well, I'm obviously the oldest one here, but if we're talking great movies ruined by bad endings, I can only raise my voice and say "Angel Heart."

Posted by: Karstark at May 17, 2011 2:57 AM

I know most Pajibans have no use for Shyamalan anyway, but as soon as I saw this I knew I had to say "The Village." The ending of that movie made me want to find him and punch him in the face.

I actually didn't mind the rest of the movie until the end. How lame???!!!It completely ruined the whole movie for me and I am mad that it took 2 hours of my time and I hate it, hate it, hate it--the whole movie because of the ending and I make it my mission to warn people not to watch it...

Posted by: ChaCha at May 17, 2011 3:04 AM

Right there with you, Bistro.

I just watched Sunshine for the first time a couple months ago and had a similar reaction, but I still liked it in spite of the melty-man.

Posted by: Uda at May 17, 2011 6:40 AM

C'mon guys. There's no worse offender than fucking Remember Me. Seriously, that was the most offensive, out-of-nowhere, shit-shock ending of ALL TIME. Nothing else even compares.

Posted by: Joshua at May 17, 2011 7:04 AM

Matrix
Yes, I went there. The movie hits on all notes, right until the last two seconds where Neo flies towards the camera. W.T.F. I believe we were all too jazzed to notice, but that was a harbinger of more shitty films to come.

Imagine my surprise when I watched the second one. First question I asked was, "Why the fuck is he flying now?"

Posted by: duckandcover at May 17, 2011 7:47 AM

500 Days of Summer

Autumn? Really? Fuck right off.
That epilogue completely undid the entire mood and the message of the entire film. How JGL ever let that shit fly I don't know.

Posted by: millabot at May 17, 2011 8:31 AM

Joshua,

The opening scene shows that it is New York and the date of 1991. The next scene says 10 years later.

Five minutes into the movie you can pretty easily guess how it ends.

Is it the use of such a sensitive event itself that makes it a bad ending or just that the ending seemed like a cop-out? I'm interested to know what the general consensus is of those who thought it was a bad ending.

Please don't burn me!

Posted by: latvianluck at May 17, 2011 8:55 AM

I think Hancock has the worst ending I've ever seen. As I was watching I kept thinking, "Why wasn't this well-reviewed? This is pretty great!" and then the plot twist came in, and it went from an above average action comedy with heart to the melodramatic wet dream of a prepubescent fanfic writer. Lame shit.

Posted by: Jordan Berry at May 17, 2011 9:27 AM

Dear Godtopus in her blue watery mercy....I actually suffered thru "Knowing" to see....
KIDS TRANSPLANTED TO THE PLANET OF HAPPY BUNNIES!!!!!!! WTF???????

Posted by: dammitjanet at May 17, 2011 9:48 AM

ALSO suffered thru "There Will Be Blood" (BOOOOOOOORRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGG---even though DDL is always amazing, THAT was just painful) and it just....

ended.

Kinda the same with "Burn Before Watching."

AI was the most horrible thing EVAH.

Posted by: dammitjanet at May 17, 2011 9:59 AM

The end of 500 days does suck, contrived much?
Also I know I know this isn't a movie but it deserves mention as THE WORST ENDING OF ALL TIME TO ANYTHING: the end of the series LOST was def the worst peice I have ever witnessed.

Posted by: Allison at May 17, 2011 10:57 AM

I feel as though I can mention LOST becuase I wasted much more time on that than any movie, except the way AI made me feel. One decade later I was finally out of the theater, yeesh.

Posted by: Allison at May 17, 2011 11:00 AM

The Breafkast Club

Posted by: Caspar at May 17, 2011 12:59 PM

Magnolia

Posted by: Addict at May 17, 2011 5:33 PM

I really liked "I Am Legend" up until the end....

Posted by: Katie at May 17, 2011 9:19 PM

Pretty in Pink's crimes against filmography were so galling that a whole other movie had to be made as an act of contrition. And then that movie had to go and feature Lea Thompson, didn't it?

Double Fault.

Happy, Molly? Are you and your television baby hoors satisfied? Did you pay the troll toll to get inside Hughes' soul?


Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at May 17, 2011 10:51 PM

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Am I the only one who wants to stab Ramona's big fat face for being all self deprecating and lame?! If I wrote her a letter it would sound like this:

Dear Ramona,
Scott fought seven evil exes for your stupid ass. SEVEN! Do you know how unsettling it must have been for Scott to not know when the attacks were coming? Or what the exes looked like? ANSWER ME YOU STUPID COW! I HATE YOUR FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Also, I found it weird that she was the least developed character in the movie yet it's about her. That seems like another comment for another thread to be posted another day.

Posted by: L-Za at May 17, 2011 11:47 PM

I liked Sunshine. The melty-man didn't bother me much on a film where it's implied divine intervention is taking place.

Recent worst endings:

Get Low - Watched it a couple of days ago, and for all the interesting build-up, the film ends with a whimper (I'm talking about the protagonist big reveal at the funeral party, not the actual ending of the movie). It needed something with a little more punch to make it work.

Source Code - The ending really pissed me off, especially after seeing what I thought was the perfect ending for the movie just a few minutes prior (the freeze frame shot).

Posted by: Ozpinhead at May 18, 2011 4:30 PM

any "worst of" list must by definition include Rocky

Posted by: Say Tann at May 22, 2011 3:25 PM

I have got to say that the movie Unthinkable with Samuel L Jackson has got to take the cake. Seriously you torture this guy to find some bombs. You kill his wife in front of him. You try to kill his kids in front of him and he caves. Then you let the kids go and decide there is another bomb. Then you let the guy you've been torturing the whole fricking movie kill himself, and you never even find out if there is another bomb or not. They just end the darn movie!!!

Posted by: Squirrel Master at June 6, 2011 5:51 PM