10 Controversial ’90s Movies Where The Audience Missed The Point

Controversial responses to movies that came out in the 1990s occasionally illustrated how audiences had missed the point of those movies. For instance, shocking horror movies that were banned for being too violent or horrific demonstrate an aversion to graphic elements that are meant to contribute to the story. What is important in this context is that the movie’s most disturbing aspects are not gratuitous but all important to the core themes.

A lot of movies in the 1990s were controversial due to graphic violence or sexual elements; others attempted to handle heavy socio-political topics, which angered some people. However, movies become box office hits despite major controversies, and some of the selections from the 1990s are the same. The controversy surrounding a movie in this sense tends to be because a significant number of people didn’t understand the movie’s most intense scenes, demonstrated by the fact that many went on to be considered staples of cinema.

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Movie	Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
Henry & June	60%	62%	68%
Reservoir Dogs	90%	81%	94%
Indecent Proposal	34%	45%	47%
Natural Born Killers	51%	74%	81%
Starship Troopers	72%	52%	70%
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut	81%	73%	88%
The Blair Witch Project	86%	80%	57%
Dogma	68%	62%	85%
Eyes Wide Shut	76%	69%	74%
Fight Club	80%	67%	96%

Related 12 Movies That Were Greatly Overshadowed By Controversies

The potential for a movie to succeed at that box office can be quickly ruined when scandals and drama become bigger than the film itself.

10 Fight Club (1999)

Critics Argued That Fight Club Idealized The Concepts It Was Satirizing

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Fight Club is an outrageous adventure commenting on consumerism culture and featuring one of the movie characters who defined the 1990s. Fight Club proved to be controversial because of its violence and what some saw as a glamorized portrayal of toxic masculinity. Tyler Durden prompts the creation of the Fight Club as an escape from the monotony of corporate jobs, allowing (all male) participants to let loose in brutal, chaotic fights. They then move to destroy civilization, eliminating the thing “oppressing” them.

There are some moments of strange comradery and the alluring idea of liberation from mundane life, but these turn out to be fallacies where the Narrator is concerned.

However, Fight Club is very exaggerated and the actions of the Fight Club aren’t supposed to be taken as a serious revolution. There are some moments of strange camaraderie and the alluring idea of liberation from mundane life, but these turn out to be fallacies where the Narrator is concerned. Fight Club‘s ending doesn’t frame Project Mayhem as a good thing, and all of Tyler’s toxic behavior only led to a destructive conclusion that likely resulted in harm being done to more people.

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Fight Club, David Fincher’s 1999 thriller starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter, is the cinematic adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s eponymous 1996 novel. In it, reckless soapmaker Tyler Durden helps the desolate Narrator find meaning in his monotonous life by creating an underground fight club where dejected men release their frustration in the form of fistfights.

Director David Fincher Release Date October 15, 1999 Writers Jim Uhls Cast Brad Pitt , Meat Loaf , Edward Norton , Jared Leto , Helena Bonham Carter Runtime 139 minutes

9 Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman’s Psychological Thriller Shocked Audiences

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Then married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman collaborated on the thriller Eyes Wide Shut, which also delves into themes of threatened masculinity. The movie’s backlash was mainly due to its graphic sexual content, resulting in censorship during its theatrical release. It was not the first time director Stanley Kubrick had been met with such a response, as A Clockwork Orange is widely considered one of the most controversial movies of all time.

Roger Ebert is a defender of Eyes Wide Shut, claiming (via rogerebert.com): “It’s symbolic of the moral hypocrisy of the rating system that it would force a great director to compromise his vision.” Cruise’s Bill’s fascination with an underground cult that holds massive orgies is entwined with his marital problems, and his insecurity prompted by his wife’s admission that she is unfulfilled. Eyes Wide Shut is scandalous, but it was never meant to be anything else when Kubrick wanted to show an unsettling narrative about Bill’s jealousy.

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Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 drama mystery directed by Stanley Kubrick centering on a Manhattan doctor who goes to unexpected lengths to please his wife after she admits she was unsatisfied and almost had an affair a year earlier. Eyes Wide Shut stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as husband and wife.

Director Stanley Kubrick Release Date July 16, 1999 Writers Stanley Kubrick , Frederic Raphael Cast Marie Richardson , Todd Field , Sydney Pollack , Nicole Kidman , Tom Cruise Runtime 159 minutes

8 Henry & June (1990)

Henry & June’s Rating Disrupted Hollywood

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Henry & June, starring pre-Pulp Fiction Uma Thurman, is remembered as the first NC-17 movie released in theaters after the MPAA implemented it as the replacement for the X-rating. Again, the filmmakers clearly thought the graphic sex was a part of the story, which revolves around a love triangle that arises when Anaïs finds herself attracted to both Henry and his wife June. However, the generally precocious ground of the NC-17 rating combined with this label still being in its early days didn’t help Henry & June.

Henry & June was removed from theaters because of its content and/or rating but went on to win an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. However, Travis Yates argues (via SlashFilm) that “an implicit bias looms over the NC-17 rating to this day.” They often prompt discussion about why the movie necessitated such a rating. For instance, Ana de Armas’ performance in Blonde won her an Oscar nomination, but the movie was still met with criticism for its constant graphic scenes. Blonde director Andrew Dominik’s response to the backlash also missed the point of these sequences not always being needed.

7 Dogma (1999)

Kevin Smith’s Religious Satire Was Not Universally Well-Received

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Long before the days of the Good Omens and Hazbin Hotel, Dogma was criticized by religious groups for ever-controversial director Kevin Smith’s comedic take on Christianity. Dogma was generally well-reviewed, and a box office hit in its time. Pre-Good Will Hunting Ben Affleck and Matt Damon star as two fallen angels looking for a way to reenter Heaven, with the stipulation that it will destroy all of humanity. A cast of heroic characters then assembles to stop them.

Reid Goldberg calls Dogma (via Collider) a “satirical tribute to faith,” while Ebert says it “takes church teaching jokingly and very seriously indeed–both at the same time” (rogerebert.com). In a straightforward save-the-world comedy, Dogma asks some critiquing questions about religion but concludes with a resolution of faith. In the spirit of Dogma being about open discourse, Smith famously went to a protest against his own movie just to see what it was all about.

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Dogma is a 1999 comedy that revolves around two fallen angels, Bartleby and Loki, who try to get back to Heaven after getting thrown out by God. It is part director Kevin Smith’s the View Askewniverse, and it counts with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Linda Fiorentino, Jason Lee, and Jason Mewes.

Director Kevin Smith Release Date November 12, 1999 Writers Kevin Smith Cast Ben Affleck , Chris Rock , Matt Damon , Alan Rickman , Linda Fiorentino Runtime 130 minutes See at Walmart

6 Indecent Proposal (1993)

Critics Hold Opposing Opinions About Indecent Proposal’s Meaning

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Fresh out of the Brat Pack era, Demi Moore starred alongside Robert Redford and Woody Harrelson in another sexual 1990s movie that provoked some backlash. Achieving a standard R rating rather than NC-17, Indecent Proposal‘s controversy stemmed from the story itself. The depiction of a woman who accepts a small fortune to sleep with a billionaire so she and her husband can use the money to get his career off the ground was criticized by feminists. Co-screenwriter Amy Holden Jones is the movie’s biggest defender, having said (via New York Post):

“The idea that a woman should not be tempted by any of those things, or she should be so pure that you can’t make a movie about her feeling that way […] part of feminism for me is that women can be portrayed not as visions of perfection on-screen, but as whole human beings with choices.”

Jones also notably wanted Indecent Proposal to end with the female lead leaving both men, which reveals another possible interpretation of the movie. The premise inherently implies a lot about gender power politics, even if the movie focuses more on the couple trying to save their marriage in the aftermath. There is a potential discourse about why Diana does what she does in Indecent Proposal, even if the movie’s critics make valid arguments.

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Indecent Proposal is a drama film directed by Adrian Lyne. Released in 1993, the movie stars Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson as a couple facing financial struggles. Their lives are thrown into turmoil when a billionaire, portrayed by Robert Redford, offers them a million dollars in exchange for one night with the wife. The film explores the moral and emotional ramifications of this provocative proposition.

Director Adrian Lyne Release Date April 7, 1993 Cast Robert Redford , Demi Moore , Woody Harrelson , Oliver Platt , Seymour Cassel Runtime 118 Minutes

Related 10 Controversial Movie Scenes That Had To Be Cut Before Release

Movie scenes get cut all the time, but these 10 movie scenes have the interesting quality of having been deemed too offensive to release.

5 Starship Troopers (1997)

Starship Troopers Attempted A Complex Political Commentary

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Starship Troopers was poorly reviewed in general when it first came out due to unnecessary violence and bad acting but has since become a sci-fi cult classic. In addition to the parts of the movie that are just bad, Starship Troopers engages in a historical and political discourse that is bound to displease someone given the subject matter. Robert A. Heinlein’s novel upon which the movie is based has been accused of promoting fascism.

Meanwhile, movie director Paul Verhoeven has stated his Starship Troopers is a satirical criticism of fascism. Starship Troopers came 20 years after Star Wars, which also features an evident WWII metaphor in the form of the Empire. Rather than a straightforward good vs. evil story, Starship Troopers goes for the riskier format of showcasing the perspective of those living in a militaristic hierarchy.Starship Troopers’ real meaning is to condemn this society, and even the violence can be interpreted as in service of that moral.

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Considered a cult classic film, Starship Trooper is set in the not-too-distant future when humanity is at war with an alien race called the Arachnids. The film follows Johnny Rico, a teenager recruited into the military and the war against the Arachnids. Casper Van Dien stars as Johnny Rico, with a further cast that includes Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, and Neil Patrick Harris. 

Director Paul Verhoeven Release Date November 7, 1997 Writers Edward Neumeier Cast Jake Busey , Denise Richards , Dina Meyer , Neil Patrick Harris , Casper Van Dien , Patrick Muldoon , Michael Ironside , Clancy Brown Runtime 129 minutes

4 The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project’s Shaky Format Prompted Some Backlash

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The Blair Witch Project is a staple of 1990s horror which is credited with popularizing the found footage horror subgenre. However, this technique wasn’t the most enjoyable thing to watch for some in the 1990s. A large part of the controversy surrounding The Blair Witch Project was people finding the shaky cinematography disorienting, causing motion sickness in some extreme cases.

The team behind The Blair Witch Project really committed to the gimmick.

The team behind The Blair Witch Project really committed to the gimmick. The lead actors were listed as missing online, true to their mysterious disappearance at the end of the movie. They went all in concerning their new take on the horror genre, which claimed as much pseudo-realism as possible to elevate the effect. Unfortunately, the byproduct of this was some unpleasant viewing experiences of The Blair Witch Project, sparking a backlash that largely had nothing to do with the movie itself.

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The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 horror film that follows three film students who venture into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland. As they document their search for the Blair Witch legend, strange and unsettling events unfold. Presented as found footage, the film is directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, and it pioneered the found footage genre in mainstream cinema.

Director Eduardo Sánchez , Daniel Myrick Release Date July 30, 1999 Writers Daniel Myrick , Eduardo Sánchez Cast Joshua Leonard , Michael C. Williams , Heather Donahue Runtime 81 minutes

3 Natural Born Killers (1994)

Natural Born Killers Became Too Real

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Written by Quentin Tarantino but directed by Oliver Stone, Natural Born Killers follows a young couple with traumatic pasts who go on a killing spree and are made into media icons by news outlets. It is fully intended to be a commentary on the mentality of the killers and the media making a spectacle out of their crimes. However, shortly before the movie’s release, Stone said (via SlashFilm): “[Natural Born Killers] began as satire and became more real, less surreal, and, to be honest, I think the Mickey and Mallory story […] could happen any day now.”

In 1995, a teenage couple then embarked on their own crime spree they said was inspired by Natural Born Killers, leading to a lawsuit for inciting violence against Stone and Time Warner. The case was eventually dismissed, but the movie was forever marked with controversy. Unfortunately, tragic real-life events and Stone’s accurate prediction made the movie’s fictional scenario much more dangerous.

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The 1994 crime thriller Natural Born Killers, adapted from an original story by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Oliver Stone, tells the story of two murderers who become celebrities due to their charming personality. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis star as criminals Mickey and Mallory Knox, with Robert Downey Jr. as sleazy journalist Wayne Gale, Tom Sizemore as Detective Jack Scagnetti, and Tommy Lee Jones as Warden Dwight McClusky.

Director Oliver Stone Release Date August 26, 1994 Writers Quentin Tarantino , Richard Rutowski , Oliver Stone , David Veloz Cast Robert Downey Jr. , Juliette Lewis , Tom Sizemore , Woody Harrelson , Rodney Dangerfield Runtime 118 minutes

2 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

The South Park Movie Was Criticized For The Same Reasons As The Show

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Like the flagship TV show, the tie-in South Park movie was criticized for constant profanity, crude jokes, and taboo subject matter. Except for the entire plot of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut revolves around fictional parents blaming the creators of a vulgar movie their children loved for society’s decline and launching a campaign that escalates into a war between America and Canada. The satirical response to the MPAA is on the nose given the long behind-the-scenes debates about the movie’s rating.

There are a lot of things that prompted backlash in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, including the infamous depiction of Satan being in a relationship with Saddam Hussein. Ebert calls it (rogerebert.com):

“[…] an unending stream of satirical abuse, ethnic stereotyping, sexual vulgarity and pointed political commentary that alternates common sense with the truly and hurtfully offensive. I laughed, as I have reported. Sometimes the laughter was liberating, […] and sometimes it was simply disbelieving.”

Ebert’s circular assessment demonstrates what this movie has in common with South Park episodes that haven’t aged well. On the other hand, the show being criticized for its use of profanity, the creators then making a movie with as much profanity as possible to comment on this, and then that movie also being criticized for profanity is a full loop of the pointed, if vulgar, commentary being disregarded.

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From the minds of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is an adult animated comedy film released in 1999. All hell breaks loose when Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny sneak into an R-rated film that features their favorite Canadian comedic duo, leading their parents (and the U.S. Military) to declare war against Canada to censor their naughty language.

Director Trey Parker Release Date June 30, 1999 Writers Trey Parker , Matt Stone , Pam Brady Cast Trey Parker , Matt Stone , Mary Kay Bergman , Isaac Hayes , George Clooney , Brent Spiner , Minnie Driver , Dave Foley Runtime 81 Minutes

Related 10 Most Controversial Biopics (& Why They Were So Divisive)

While historians and diehard fans will always have notes, some biopics sparked controversies due to their depictions of real people and events.

1 Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Quentin Tarantino’s Characteristic Violent Movies Initially Shocked People

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Today, rampant, gratuitous violence is a stipulation of going to see any movie directed by Tarantino. Back when the director was still making a name for himself, audiences weren’t yet accustomed to the gore that always comes with his razor-sharp writing and twisting plots. While the writing of Reservoir Dogs (and Pulp Fiction) was praised by critics, the violence scared people off. This was despite warnings advertised ahead of the movie about its extreme moments.

Reservoir Dogs eventually outgrew this criticism and people who don’t like this aspect of it know not to go see Tarantino movies now. Tarantino has had a highly successful career of similar movies, such as Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Other movie controversies from the 1990s that overshadowed the actual movies were concerned with more extensive debates, but Reservoir Dogs was mostly just the initial shock at the extreme violence that could be shown on screen.

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Quentin Tarantino’s feature-length debut Reservoir Dogs is an ensemble movie starring Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Chris Penn, and Edward Bunker. The 1992 film centers around a group of criminals who begin to suspect one of them is an undercover cop when their supposedly perfect diamond heist goes wrong.

Director Quentin Tarantino Release Date October 9, 1992 Writers Quentin Tarantino Cast Quentin Tarantino , Tim Roth , Michael Madsen , Harvey Keitel , Steve Buscemi , Chris Penn Runtime 99 minutes

Source: rogerebert.com, SlashFilm, Collider, New York Post

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