Dive into a nostalgic journey through the 2000s with a collection of underrated and overlooked cinematic gems. From action-packed adventures to quirky comedies, we're revisiting movies that deserve a second look and might have slipped under your radar.
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00:00Hey, what did you do?
00:02Did you provoke her?
00:04What did you do?
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo!
00:08And today we're counting down our picks for the best
00:10Oz movies that often get overlooked.
00:12Since animated movies deserve their own list,
00:14we'll only be including live-action works
00:16this time around.
00:18Call me a fox, for that is all I am to you.
00:20A fox? Oh, then a fox you shall be
00:22until I find your name,
00:24my foxy lady.
00:26Number 10, The Rundown.
00:28I'm not taking another step until you let me pee.
00:30If you want to keep on going, you're just gonna have to
00:32carry me, and I guarantee I'm gonna pee on your head.
00:34You threatening me? You threatening me with pee?
00:36For fans of Dwayne The Rock Johnson,
00:38The Rundown still stands up more
00:40than two decades later. Aside
00:42from The Scorpion King, it's one of the first
00:44movies fans point to as the signal
00:46of his transition from the wrestling ring
00:48to the silver screen. In it,
00:50he gets to flaunt both his comedy chops
00:52and his wrestling moves for a new
00:54audience, but with his trademark rock-bottom
00:56finishing maneuver in the opening sequence.
01:00Even though the film only earned
01:02$80 million at the worldwide box office
01:04against its $85 million budget,
01:06it would mark the beginning of things to
01:08come for the man who would become one of the
01:10biggest stars in Hollywood, both physically
01:12and financially.
01:14Get out of here, monkey!
01:16Number 9, A Knight's Tale.
01:26This
01:28inventive and fun film
01:30marks one of the early standout performances
01:32of the late, great Heath Ledger.
01:34After Ten Things I Hate About You,
01:36Ledger moved from a Shakespeare adaptation
01:38to palling around with another luminary
01:40of English literature, the Canterbury Tales
01:42author Geoffrey Chaucer, played by Paul
01:44Bettany.
01:56God, I'm good!
01:58Ledger showed his talent in handling romance,
02:00comedy, action, and musical
02:02numbers. The contrast between the medieval
02:04setting and the classic rock soundtrack
02:06makes this movie a hidden gem
02:08in Ledger's engaging career.
02:10We will, we will
02:12rock you!
02:14If you've ever wanted to rock
02:16out to tracks from ACDC,
02:18David Bowie, Eric Clapton, and Queen
02:20while watching a jousting tournament,
02:22this is the movie for you.
02:24Rock in the garden of his
02:26turbulence!
02:34Yeah!
02:36Yeah!
02:38Number 8, Stranger Than Fiction
02:40Harold just thought it was a Wednesday.
02:42I'm sorry,
02:44did you hear that?
02:46The voice, did you hear it?
02:48Harold just thought it was a Wednesday.
02:50Don't worry, it is Wednesday.
02:52What if you weren't real?
02:54What if you only existed as
02:56the lead character in someone else's story?
02:58That's where IRS agent
03:00Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell,
03:02finds himself in this surreal comedy.
03:04As the story unfolds, Ferrell's
03:06character hears an unseen narrator,
03:08played by Emma Thompson,
03:10relating the events of his boring, humdrum day.
03:12What? Hey!
03:14Hello?
03:16What?
03:18Why?
03:20Why my dad?
03:22Hello?
03:24Thompson plays an author who's made a career
03:26out of killing off her main characters,
03:28with Ferrell's character next on her hit list.
03:30But I think it'll actually kill me,
03:32so I just need to talk to her,
03:34and ask her to stop.
03:36Ferrell's character is a bit unusual over the top performances,
03:38as he actually lends a grounded presence
03:40to the otherwise rather outlandish premise.
03:42USA Today critic Corey Woodruff
03:44called Ferrell's performance
03:46heartfelt, and one of his best roles.
03:48No. Huh?
03:50No. It's ridiculous.
03:52Agreed, but let's start with ridiculous
03:54and move backwards.
03:56And you thought you had relationship issues!
03:58Ryan Gosling plays Lars,
04:00a socially awkward young man
04:02who struggles to connect
04:04with the people around him.
04:12Lars finds his answer
04:14in a doll from an adult shop,
04:16which he names Bianca.
04:18He introduces the doll to his circles as his girlfriend,
04:20who all play along,
04:22treating the doll like she's a human being
04:24in an effort to help Lars.
04:26Well, that's okay, Karen,
04:28because Bianca doesn't really care
04:30about superficial things like that,
04:32so it's okay.
04:34This low-budget film was a box office bomb,
04:36having not even made back its $12 million budget.
04:38However, it still pulls at the heartstrings
04:40and highlights why Ryan Gosling
04:42is the A-list star he is today.
04:44What?
04:46Bianca's very sick.
04:48No. 6. I'm Not There
04:50Are you saying I'm not sincere?
04:52No more than you.
04:54No more sincere than you are.
04:56The life of music icon Bob Dylan
04:58is so multifaceted
05:00that capturing its many dimensions
05:02in a single performance
05:04might seem like an impossible task.
05:06While the 2024 film A Complete Unknown
05:08specifically focuses on Dylan's rise
05:10to the heights of popular music
05:12in the early 1960s,
05:14the 2007 film I'm Not There
05:16takes a broader approach.
05:18Why do you think that is?
05:20I don't know.
05:22I got a lot of thoughts
05:24inside of me,
05:26and most people,
05:28they keep them all inside.
05:30Director Todd Haynes
05:32employs numerous actors
05:34to convey the range of Dylan's talent
05:36and genius.
05:38The cast includes Christian Bale,
05:40Heath Ledger, Richard Gere,
05:42and Cate Blanchett,
05:44each of whom plays a key figure
05:46of Dylan's popular image,
05:48while the film as a whole
05:50has some formulaic musical biopics.
05:52I'm Not There is what you're looking for.
05:54What we're saying is that you and your boys
05:56can go do as you please,
05:58just as long as you stay clear of Riddle County.
06:02Number 5. Road to Perdition
06:04Remember, if you see anything,
06:06you hit that horn twice,
06:08and you don't get out of the car, no matter what.
06:10What does a Depression-era Chicago hitman
06:12have in common with a medieval Japanese samurai?
06:14In the case of the 2002 film
06:16Road to Perdition, a lot.
06:18Tom Hanks plays Michael Sullivan,
06:20a hitman forced to take his young son
06:22on the run after the boy witnesses a murder.
06:30Hanks sheds his
06:32good-guy persona for this film,
06:34adopting instead to take on the part of a mob enforcer.
06:36Max Allen Collins,
06:38who wrote the graphic novel the movie is based on
06:40and also helped write the screenplay,
06:42attributes the Japanese manga series
06:44Lone Wolf and Cub as a major inspiration
06:46for the story.
06:48The cast is also a murderer's row of acting talent,
06:50including Paul Newman,
06:52Jude Law, Daniel Craig,
06:54and Stanley Tucci.
07:00Number 4. The Assassination of Jesse James
07:02by the Coward Robert Ford
07:04The old saying goes,
07:06never meet your heroes.
07:08In the case of Robert Ford, played by Casey Affleck,
07:10that advice gets thrown out the window.
07:12The movie sees him idolizing
07:14infamous outlaw Jesse James,
07:16played by Brad Pitt.
07:34Idolization eventually turns to resentment,
07:36as Jesse fails to live up to the image
07:38the younger outlaw holds for him.
07:40The ambitious project did terribly
07:42at the box office, likely contributing
07:44to its forgettability.
07:46However, Affleck's performance earned him
07:48an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor,
07:50while the film's imagery of the Wild West
07:52earned a nom for Best Cinematography.
08:04Number 3.
08:06Drag Me to Hell
08:14Writer-director Sam Raimi
08:16launched his career by crafting low-budget,
08:18high-tension horror films.
08:20His first professional feature, The Evil Dead,
08:22quickly became a cult classic.
08:24After his success with the original Spider-Man trilogy,
08:26he returned to his roots with Drag Me to Hell.
08:28The story follows a young bank employee,
08:30played by Alison Lohman,
08:32who tries to earn a promotion by foreclosing
08:34on an elderly woman's house.
08:36When the woman puts a curse on her,
08:38she has three days to pass it on,
08:40or she'll be dragged to, well, you read the title.
08:48The film came out during the Great Recession
08:50and the Mortgage Crisis,
08:52and although Raimi has stated the timing was coincidental,
08:54the parallels certainly helped lift the film's impact.
09:02Number 2.
09:04The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
09:22Wes Anderson does Moby Dick.
09:24This simple yet surreal sentence
09:26could sum up the plot of 2004's The Life Aquatic.
09:28The film features an obsessive oceanographer
09:30played by Bill Murray,
09:32who goes on a search for the shark
09:34that killed his partner.
09:36Anderson said that he wrote the role with Murray in mind,
09:38which explains why the actor feels so perfectly cast
09:40as the expedition's lunatic leader.
09:42Much like Captain Ahab,
09:44Murray Zissou is on a desperate mission
09:46and gathers a motley crew for his epic hunt.
09:48Unlike the legendary literary figure,
09:50Zissou also employs a full camera crew
09:52and an editing suite on his submarine
09:54to record their adventure for his latest documentary.
09:56The cast features frequent Anderson collaborators,
09:58Angelica Houston, Willem Dafoe,
10:00and Owen Wilson.
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10:38Number 1.
10:40Best in Show
10:42What do you get
10:44when the creative minds
10:46behind This Is Spinal Tap
10:48and Schitt's Creek team up?
10:50How about one of the funniest movies
10:52of all time?
11:04Writer-director Christopher Guest
11:06and co-writer Eugene Levy
11:08also star in this scathing mockumentary
11:10about the high-stakes world
11:12of competitive dog shows.
11:26The cast features comedy all-stars
11:28Jennifer Coolidge, Catherine O'Hara,
11:30Fred Willard, and Will Sasso.
11:32Meanwhile, the film received
11:34rave reviews from both ticket buyers
11:36and critics with a 93% rating
11:38on Rotten Tomatoes.
11:40A 2022 article in Rolling Stone
11:42called Best in Show the greatest comedy
11:44of the 21st century.
11:46And still, we rarely see it get the credit
11:48it deserves.
11:52Do you have a forgotten favorite film
11:54of the 2000s? Leave your suggestions
11:56in the comments.
12:08You