The Most Underrated Movie of Every Year of the 21st Century
There have been a ton of movies released since the 21st century began, and that’s a fact that turns into more of an understatement as the years march on. Some of the biggest and best have come out in that time, including The Lord of the Rings films, Parasite, The Dark Knight, and Ratatouille, to list off just a handful of random ones that are all acclaimed and popular.
But for every well-known movie that got its deserved time in the spotlight, there are a handful of movies that didn’t really get the time to shine that they should’ve. The following ones fit into that camp, because each of these feels like the most underrated release of the year they came out. That is something that feels a little subjective to do, and so you might not agree with all of these picks, but these films are very good, aren’t always super well-known, or they might’ve been talked about a little (but not to the extent that they deserved).
25
‘Bamboozled’ (2000)
The best known Spike Lee films include early efforts of his, like Do the Right Thing and more recent ones, like BlacKkKlansman, but between them is Bamboozled, and it should be just as celebrated. That being said, it is likely a more difficult film to watch than those two aforementioned ones (which are hard-hitting and challenging in their own ways), since this is a very dark comedy/satire.
It’s kind of like The Producers, in terms of its premise, given it’s about someone who wants to create the worst and most offensive piece of entertainment they can, but then has to deal with the consequences of it actually becoming popular. Bamboozled sees Spike Lee passionate, angry, and with a “take no prisoners” sort of approach to exploring racial issues, which is what he often does, sure, but rarely with as much force as is seen here. It’s a disquieting drama/comedy film, and an honestly pretty great one.
24
‘The Experiment’ (2001)
Since it’s intense and claustrophobic, The Experiment almost feels like a horror-focused bottle movie, but it’s probably technically more of a psychological thriller. It’s indeed about an experiment that’s conducted at a university; one that involves a varied group of individuals taking part in a study that’s supposed to replicate a prison environment.
It’s comparable to the real-life Stanford prison experiment, which was controversial and done in 1971, though The Experiment isn’t like a biographical or strictly historical take on that specific event. It explores the same things that experiment sought to, though, and does so with a persistent grimness throughout. It’s not an easy film to watch, though it is engrossing, and it makes the most of a straightforward premise and an uncomfortably confined setting.
23
‘Bloody Sunday’ (2002)
Aside from the films in the Bourne series that he directed, Paul Greengrass’s filmography is largely defined by his tendency to make gritty drama/thriller movies based on actual events. United 93 and Captain Phillips are both fairly well-known films of his that demonstrate that, but Bloody Sunday predated those, and is just as strong/striking, being about a 1972 massacre that came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
Since it focuses on that main event, it is ultimately just about a small part of the conflict known as The Troubles, but the approach works, and the film still feels like it adds to the conversation about the broader conflict at hand. It’s an uneasy, tense, and tragic movie, but it does what it sets out to do and ultimately succeeds at feeling startlingly close to a documentary in style and presentation.
22
‘Windy City Heat’ (2003)
While Windy City Heat might be one of the meanest movies ever made, even by the standards of the prank “genre” (if it can be called that), it’s also one of the funniest movies of the past few decades. Maybe you have to be willing to laugh at someone being mocked mercilessly to find it funny, but Perry Caravello is a man who kind of has it coming, and never feels very sympathetic, to put it mildly.
Windy City Heat is anarchic, cruel, darkly funny, and almost always uncomfortable.
His apparent friends are terrible to him, but he’s terrible to them (and everyone else), so you kind of just have to laugh at what they put him through after convincing him he’s the star of a movie that doesn’t actually exist. Windy City Heat is anarchic, cruel, darkly funny, and almost always uncomfortable, and even with it very much being an acquired taste, it still doesn’t get quite as much attention as it deserves.
21
‘The Calamari Wrestler’ (2004)
If The Calamari Wrestler had a main character who wasn’t a giant squid, it would probably feel like a fairly ordinary sports movie, and might run the risk of losing its appeal. Thankfully, it is a movie about wrestling where the title is not clickbait, because there is a calamari wrestler, and the whole thing is hilarious (and underrated) because of that.
It’s the clashing of the earnestness that comes with making a formulaic sports drama and the offbeat decision to have a squid (plus some other mollusks) that makes The Calamari Wrestler special. Sure, it’s kind of a one-joke movie, and if you don’t find that joke funny right away, the entire thing might be patience-testing, but if you want something weird and think you’ve seen it all when it comes to sports movies, this one might well go the distance.
20
‘The Wild Blue Yonder’ (2005)
It’s hard to define just what The Wild Blue Yonder is genre-wise, so maybe that makes it a bit less surprising that few people have seen it. Even when judged against other Werner Herzog movies, it’s odd, and Herzog has always been one of the best of the offbeat filmmakers out there. The Wild Blue Yonder is kind of a documentary, mockumentary, and sci-fi movie, all at once, but also something else (maybe?) that’s hard to describe.
It’s about an alien living on Earth, and he bemoans the tragic nature of his species and home planet, all the while humans also set off into space on their own expedition. The Wild Blue Yonder uses a ton of stock footage to depict all the space-related stuff, and maybe that’s where the documentary feel comes from… plus a few interviews that seem done for real. But everything blurs and becomes a hazy sort of melancholy, hitting similar sad notes to Herzog’s other 2005 film, the more well-known Grizzly Man, which is also a bit strange, but easier to define as a documentary. And that one is better, but it doesn’t change the fact that The Wild Blue Yonder remains overlooked/overshadowed.
19
‘Reprise’ (2006)
Forming part of a thematic trilogy that ended with 2021’s The Worst Person in the World, Reprise is equal parts excellent and heavy-going. It’s about a group of young men dealing with young people problems, and much of it feels very grounded and authentic. You might see it listed as a dramedy according to some sources, but it’s much heavier on drama than comedy.
But Reprise never feels melodramatic, and there is a certain balance here that’s achieved in terms of not showcasing life as something that’s only miserable. If you want a more persistently downbeat film from Joachim Trier, then that’s what the second film in the thematic trilogy, Oslo, August 31st, is for. As for The Worst Person in the World, that one’s kind of a rom-com, in parts, but also very downbeat in other regards. In other words, these movies sort of hurt to watch, but they are fantastic.
18
‘Control’ (2007)
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Undeniably one of the best music biopics of all time, and one of the most unfairly overlooked, Control is authentic and somber in a way that’s both admirable and fitting for the subject at its center. That central figure is Ian Curtis, whose life and career were both tragically short, owing to the personal demons he struggled with, but what he achieved has proven influential and enduring.
Curtis was the frontman of Joy Division, and this film about him (and the band) was directed by Anton Corbijn, who photographed the actual band when they were active, and also directed the music video for their song, “Atmosphere.” This might’ve helped Control with its sense of authenticity and intimacy. It’s confronting at times, owing to how unwaveringly it explores Ian Curtis and the things that challenged him during his short life, but it is a rewarding and ultimately empathetic film.
17
‘Rachel Getting Married’ (2008)
Jonathan Demme is well recognized for directing one of the best concert movies ever (Stop Making Sense) as well as a pretty much perfect thriller (The Silence of the Lambs), but he was also behind the excellent Rachel Getting Married. It’s a film about a woman struggling with personal issues while trying to put on a happy face, so to speak, at the wedding of her sister (the titular Rachel).
Since the director’s been behind some fairly big movies, and Anne Hathaway is also the star, you would expect Rachel Getting Married to be a little more talked about than it is. Certain parts of it did earn it acclaim upon release, but nowadays, it might exist in that awkward middle ground between being a true classic and a more relevant/recent release. It’s held up well so far, as a rather honest look at addiction and depression, and time should continue being kind to it as the years march on.
16
‘Occult’ (2009)
Occult’s director, Koji Shiraishi, is one of the most underrated horror filmmakers of the century so far, being best known for Noroi: The Curse, which itself is a little slept on outside horror circles. Occult is almost just as good, and it has a similar presentation, with a mockumentary/found footage format, and a plot that also revolves around a filmmaker exploring a bunch of strange occurrences.
While some found footage movies stick to the formula and well-worn conventions, Occult feels willing to get weird and unpredictable, and is all the better for it. To say too much about the plot would feel wrong, as it’s the sort of film you’re best off just diving into, letting it take you on a very strange ride. It’s offbeat, unsettling, and sometimes oddly realistic/grounded stuff, and overall very clever, as a horror movie.
