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Netflix's Most Rented Movies of All Time

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Seriously Random Lists | Comments (33)

the_proposal07.jpg

We missed this a few weeks ago when Newsweek initially published it, but Netflix put out its ten most rented movies of all time, and I think it’s worth a look. It’s an interesting list that says more about the people who subscribe to Netflix than anything else, really. I guess you might put these films in a high-brow populist category? They’re not bad movies (although, number one and number two are probably two of the five films I’ve railed against the most in the last five years); in fact, a few of them are quite good. Some are better than others, but they all seem to fit the same sort of socioeconomic profile, that of the middle-class white suburban family who thought Crash was profound. But it is heartening to see that there are no spectacularly dumb films on the list; there’s no Adam Sandler or Kevin James. There is no Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich. And hell, I own five of the movies myself, so I can’t quibble too much. Except with Crash. Jesus, that movie.

I also think that The Proposal has become the You’ve Got Mail of the last five years: That perfectly dopey charming romantic-comedy guilty pleasure with a lot of replay power (it has to say something about its replay power with this demographic that it’s in the top ten all time despite being out on DVD less time than any of the others). Give it another year, and I would bet The Blind Side would also be on this list, as it perfectly fits the profile of the rest of these films, as well as the apparent white liberal guilt of a large percentage of Netflix subscribers.

Here’s that list.

1. Crash (2005)

2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

3. The Bucket List (2007)

4. The Departed (2006)

5. Iron Man (2008)

6. No Country for Old Men (2007)

7. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

8. The Proposal (2009)

9. Gran Torino (2008)

10. Casino Royale (2006)









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Comments

The top three are awful. Not as awful as they could be (you hear me, Paul Blart?), but awful nonetheless.

Posted by: sars at July 15, 2010 11:41 AM

What an utterly bland list of movies. I suppose that's better than a list dominated by movies like Transformers and Grown Ups, but still. Yawn.

Posted by: dsbs at July 15, 2010 11:41 AM

I'll take Paul Blart, Transformers 8 or pretty much anything over the Santorum that is Crash.

Posted by: mike at July 15, 2010 11:51 AM

You have something against delicious santorum, Mike?

Posted by: sars at July 15, 2010 11:54 AM

Does this include times watched on Netflix Instant? Because that would explain the Proposal.

Posted by: ERM at July 15, 2010 11:57 AM

What you have is a list of movies people weren't necessarily interested in enough to see in theaters, but are willing to see when you're already paying a flat monthly anyway. Seriously, I have Jumper on my queue. I don't expect it to be good, I'm just curious. That and apparently I enjoy mutilating my own eyes and ears.

Posted by: L4NkYb at July 15, 2010 12:00 PM

I think No Country went to Watch Instantly as well.

Posted by: the new transported man at July 15, 2010 12:01 PM

This just makes me want to watch The Proposal again.

Posted by: tamatha at July 15, 2010 12:21 PM

Of the movies on that list, I've only seen No Country for Old Men. And I rented that from the local rental place before they finally shut down.

I just signed up for netflix not too long ago because something got me nostalgic for the cartoon Starblazers, which I LOVED as a kid. I thought my son might enjoy it (he did and I still catch him singing the theme song every once in a while) so I signed up just for that.

Right now the kids and I are watching the original Our Gang/Little Rascals shorts, which my kids are also loving. I also recently watched Freaks and Geeks because I've always wanted to see it. I have noticed, though, that a lot of the movies it recommends for me, I've already seen. I don't recall it ever recommending any of the movies on this list.

Posted by: elsie at July 15, 2010 12:25 PM

Yep, I was going to suggest what L4NkYb said. I think these movies, especially No Country and Gran Torino, are ones that people would prefer to rent rather than see in a theater. If its too slow, too long (hullo Benjamin Button), not quite their cup of tea, etc., people can just stop and pick it up where they left off a couple of days later.

Also, I like your theory about The Proposal being the next You've Got Mail.
YGM is close to my heart, so I don't really think The Proposal is anywhere near as warm&fuzzy, but I definitely see what you mean.

Posted by: gee. ay. at July 15, 2010 12:25 PM

aka: The list of movies people are too cheap to buy, too embarrassed to ask to borrow or too ashamed to be seen renting from a video store. That certainly explains some of those entries.

Posted by: Jeff at July 15, 2010 1:08 PM

To me, all of these movies are like Crash. Vomit.
Except for No Country (hugs) and Torino (courteous nod).

Posted by: bat at July 15, 2010 1:12 PM

What's so wrong with Crash? It's the type of movie that pushes the average Joe to think and talk about difficult topics, (under Hollywood's politically correct guidance, of course),rather than secretly harboring dangerous and racist ideals. I'm all for the open dialogue.

Posted by: TheBelgian at July 15, 2010 1:31 PM

Bucket List?? Wow.

Posted by: jl at July 15, 2010 1:36 PM

What's so wrong with Crash? It's the type of movie that pushes the average Joe to think and talk about difficult topics, (under Hollywood's politically correct guidance, of course),rather than secretly harboring dangerous and racist ideals. I'm all for the open dialogue.

/seizes up

//vomits blood

Posted by: The Other Agent Johnson at July 15, 2010 1:46 PM

Is The Pursuit of Happyness that vile Todd Solondz piece of shit?

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 15, 2010 1:55 PM

Except for the fact, of course, that You've Got Mail is legitimately kind of great and The Proposal is the kind of good that makes you hate yourself afterwards.

Posted by: whatBENwatches at July 15, 2010 1:58 PM

RE: Crash (and hell, some of the others) let's not forget that sometimes people rent a movie to form an opinion about it - one that can't really be valid without having seen a movie.

It's not like this is a list of the most re-rented movies.

Posted by: Sara Tonin at July 15, 2010 5:45 PM

Wow, I'd say 1-3 and 7-9 are pretty high on the lame and/or schmaltz scale.

UGH. That is all.

Posted by: MM at July 15, 2010 6:01 PM

"Crash"??

Dear Netflix viewers of America,

What the fuck is wrong with you? Christ, keep that over roasted excuse of a film where it belongs, in the rubbish. Man/Woman up! Rent "Children of Men" instead. Good gravy this is depressing.

Posted by: Barnes78 at July 15, 2010 6:12 PM

Why did I just scream out loud when I saw number 1? It was totally spontaneous. What a horrible movie to be at number 1.

Posted by: Candy at July 15, 2010 6:53 PM

Okay, let me elaborate. I am not insinuating Crash is some kind of work of cinematic genius. I am just pointing out that, given who the average, movie-going public consists of, I'd much rather see that on the top 10 than a film which promotes the entrenchment of hostile, racially-motivated prejudices. Open dialogue, spurred by whatever movie, is a good thing (Even considering the audiences' intelligence levels and how quickly such things can go awry.). Yes, I am an optimist.

Posted by: TheBelgian at July 15, 2010 7:08 PM

Whoa, I know everyone's in love Sandra Bullock right now (her baby is pretty and divorcing the Nazi was the preferred choice), but let's not go fooling ourselves into thinking she's in decent movies.

I'm going to have to see this Crash film at some point, decide if it's as bad as everyone here says it is, of if the hatred is just contrarian toe the line huffiness.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at July 15, 2010 9:19 PM

Has DK seen Lawrence of Arabia yet?

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 15, 2010 9:20 PM

in love with. Lord, send me literacy!

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at July 15, 2010 9:20 PM

Jo,

Don't say we didn't warn you.

Posted by: , at July 15, 2010 9:29 PM

That and apparently I enjoy mutilating my own eyes and ears.

Yep, Jumper will do that for you.

Posted by: Uriah Creep at July 15, 2010 9:55 PM

i mean... out side of Crash (and having throughly steered clear of ben button) i could probably take a couple of bong rips and enjoy pretty much any of those movies...

especially if i had a bag of sour patch kids...

Posted by: asthon koosher at July 15, 2010 10:46 PM

Um...it's not like Newsweek got an exclusive or anything. The whole list from 1-100 is right there on the Netflix site at the "Netflix Top 100" tab and has been for years. That's not a list of top-rated movies, it's a list of most-rented movies. They used to do a separate list for the Top 25 most-watched under Watch Instantly, but they dropped that.

Posted by: KRK at July 16, 2010 12:51 AM

Proposal is the only one out of that ten.....scratch that, Casino Royale and The Proposal are the only two out of that top then that I'd bother buying and watching over and over again. all the rest are garbage.

as for Crash, my college is all about "racial harmony" or something like that...not saying I'm racist or anything, but when you put Crash on and then ask for a discussion afterwards.......I do not and never want to see Crash again in my life. It's a horrible movie, in part because it's not going to ever fix anything in any of the racial communities. ever. We as people need to get up out of our seats and do it ourselves, and go make friends with our neighbors and all that.

Posted by: LordNinja at July 16, 2010 1:44 AM

Oh my god! you really want me to hate Ryan Reynolds. Why is he on everything you write???
"The proposal" is plain stupid...it's so obvious and ludicrous. And Betty White was singing in the woods dressed like a crazy woman!! How could you go beyond that scene???!! I don't get it. It was painfull to watch half of that predictable thing!

Posted by: james at July 16, 2010 1:56 PM


i side with the belgian. " crash " doesn't have to be considered
profound to be enjoyed . where does the hate come from? am i
supposed to believe that pajibians are the cinematic intelligentsia
and this movie is simply beneath them ? give me a break.

nice to see the list but " white liberal guilt "???? what is that
supposed to mean?

Posted by: snake at July 18, 2010 1:09 AM

This irrational Crash hatred is ridiculous.

You all could come up with a list of a HUNDRED films that suck worse than Crash and you fucking know it.

So you think it's trite, cliche pablum. Whatever. The sort of endless loathing I see on this site hurled at this film is unbelievably out of proportion to what would EVER be warranted. So it won the Oscar instead of Brokeback -- I was furious, too. But come the fuck ON.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at July 18, 2010 6:14 PM