When it comes down to it, making movies is a business, and studios will market films to appeal to as many potential viewers as possible, even if that means misleading them. Between trying to pass off a nihilistic drama as an upbeat comedy and making a melodramatic documentary look like a horror flick, Reddit thinks these are the worst offenders.
Godzilla (2014)
During the height of Breaking Bad's popularity, Bryan Cranston became one of the most sought-after actors at the time. Studios seemed to be banking on fans' love of his portrayal of Walter White, and he appeared in dozens of blockbuster movies almost overnight. One of those blockbusters was Godzilla, and as Billy_Gilmore believes, Warner Bros. was "focusing the advertising on Brian Cranston."
Leading up to the movie's release, everybody was under the impression that Cranston was the lead character, and he was the movie's second-biggest selling point after the monster itself. Unfortunately, Cranston was killed off just a third of the way into the movie. Though the 2014 release is still the best recent Godzilla film, Cranston's minimal screentime was disappointing, to say the least.
Jennifer's Body (2009)
Megan Fox was to pop culture in the 2000s what Marilyn Monroe was in the '50s, and what Ria Hayworth was to Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption. After the success of the Transformers movies, she was on posters in so many teenagers' bedrooms, and as one Redditor points out, that's what seemed to lead to the odd marketing for Jennifer's Body.
The Redditor explains how the movie was "marketed toward teenage boys because of Megan Fox." However, Jennifer's Body turned out to be a fascinating story of female friendship. Thankfully, it has had something of a resurgence in recent years, as it's a popular film amongst the LGBT+ community and it's finally getting the acclaim it deserves.
Kangaroo Jack (2003)
Kangaroo Jack is infamous for its marketing campaign, which focuses on a dancing kangaroo to appeal to kids. But the actual movie barely features the kangaroo at all and is more of a road trip teen comedy than anything. Fusionman51 was most disappointed, claiming that it "p****d off 9-year-old me. I thought I was getting talking kangaroos."
The movie is also notorious for having so many jokes edited out of the final cut, as it was originally intended to be R-rated, but the final result was PG. And according to Comic Book Resources, actor Jerry O'Connell claims he even did full frontal nudity for the movie.
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Robin Williams was most famous for his outrageous comedy roles like Mrs. Doubtfire, and audiences knew that if the actor was starring in a movie, it's all but guaranteed to be hilarious. That's why Buena Vista fooled audiences into thinking Bicentennial Man was another Williams-led comedy.
HardSteelRain puts it best by explaining that it "was marketed as a comedy but was a decent sci-fi film." but people who were expecting more slapstick humor would have been bitterly disappointed. The film is almost the exact opposite, being an existential drama about a robot going through an identity crisis.
Downsizing (2017)
Coolyouthpastor remembers how mismarketed Downsizing was, calling it a "total bait-and-switch." The user is referring to how it was marketed as a fun Honey I Shrunk The Kids-like comedy. The trailer featured ant-sized people drinking from life-sized bottles of vodka and being millionaires in a shrunken world where everything is a fraction of real-world prices.
But the movie is quite serious, philosophical, and very Charlie Kaufman-esque in how irreverent it is and how it uses surrealism to tell a story about heartbreak and tough relationships. Not only that, but as Kristen Wiig was featured heavily in the trailer, making potential viewers believe she played a lead character, she was barely in any of the movie.
Catfish (2010)
One of the major movies of the 2010s that led a zeitgeist was Catfish, and the title of the movie has become a popular phrase uttered on a daily basis. But as Whendovesfly points out, the actual movie wasn't what was marketed to viewers. It was sold as a Blair Witch kind of horror film, but it was really just a very melodramatic documentary. The Redditor hilariously observes that Catfish "literally catfished me with their trailer."
It was even adapted into a reality TV series that saw the two documentarians become hosts who helped people suss out whether or not they were being catfished.
The Village (2004)
The Village was the beginning of audiences starting to see the cracks in M. Night Shyamalan's formula. The film was marketed to appeal to fans of the director's previous works, such as The Sixth Sense and Signs, where everything is wrapped in mystery and not quite as it seems.
However, Jay12678 claims that it's simply a gothic romance film where "drama and romance [are] front and center." And though there was another typical Shyamalan twist in the movie, it almost felt like a 1900s-based soap opera.
Drive (2011)
Bishbashbosh2421 remembers that Drive was "marketed like The Fast and the Furious and audiences were p*****." The Redditor is not wrong, as, according to The Guardian, one disgruntled viewer even tried suing the studio. But it's hardly surprising when the movie turned out to be more Lynchian than anything.
And though the 2011 movie is all about one of cinema's best getaway drivers, there's really only one getaway scene, which is at the very beginning of the film. However, it's still one of the most gripping and intense car chases in recent memory, especially as it feels so isolated due to every shot being from the inside the car.
In Bruges (2008)
There are so many great non-family-friendly Christmas movies, and one of them is In Bruges, even though it isn't remotely festive and there's absolutely no Christmas spirit. RyzenRaider claims that, even though it's great, all of the laughs of the movie played like a veil for the real film.
The Redditor notes that In Bruges is an "adult drama about processing guilt and redemption," but it was marketed as a light-hearted comedy. And while it is somewhat of a comedy, it's far from light-hearted. The very thing that sets the movie's events into motion is a hitman accidentally murdering a child.
Battleship (2012)
Interestingly, where most Redditors are complaining about studios fooling them into thinking they're going to see a completely different movie, Leftside72 is giving the marketing team for Battleship pointers.
As Battleship is a movie based on board a game, the Redditor thinks it would have grossed so much more money "if they had put the line 'You sunk my battleship!' in the trailer." But though that might have gotten a few laughs, there was no way the movie wasn't going to sink at the box office, as it was critically scathed and had a narrative that was stretched rather thin.