The Worst Trailers for the Best Movies
Even by that standard, the Rear Window trailer stinks. The five minute bit basically consists of Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart explaining the plot of Rear Window to the audience. Well, more accurately, they explain aspects of it to audiences, focusing on the various neighbors that Stewart’s Jeff watches and on the romance between his character and Grace Kelly’s Carol. The trailer pays way too much attention to unimportant aspects, never giving viewers a sense of the tense thriller that Rear Window actually is.
3. Pitch Perfect (2012)
Many of the trailers on this list simply misrepresent the movies they’re advertising. That’s not the case with Pitch Perfect, which has a trailer that does lay out the basic plot. Beca (Anna Kendrick) comes to school, reluctantly joins an a cappella group, and then inspires that group to do “remixes” of modern songs. Along the way are a couple of romances and some raunchy jokes.
Again, that’s more or less accurate. Yet, the trailer gets the spirit of Pitch Perfect all wrong, even if it understands the facts. In particular, the trailer really foregrounds Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine, who both give big, loud performances. Meanwhile, the music, one of the pleasures of the film, gets downplayed, as well as the wholesome energy that makes the louder humor less abrasive.
2. Star Wars (1977)
Star Wars famously changed the spirit of science fiction movies in the 1970s, moving the genre away from the slow-paced, contemplative films represented by 2001: A Space Odyssey to something more fast-paced and adventurous.
Whoever put together the first trailer for Star Wars didn’t get that memo. The trailer relies heavily on the Star Wars logo sloooooowly making its way toward the camera and voiceover narration. The flat, steady voice talks about an “adventure like no other,” an unconvincing claim given the random shots of TIE fighters flying across the stars or C-3PO introducing himself. Worst of all, the trailer lacks music from John Williams, which would have better indicated the majesty and wonder that made Star Wars such an enduring film.
1. Paddington (2014)
Anyone who doesn’t spend a lot of time on Film Twitter might not realized just how beloved the Paddington franchise is. Written and directed by Paul King and based on the children’s books by Michael Bond, Paddington and especially its 2017 sequel have been a delightful exception to the rule of most kids’ films, which tend to be crass and cynical. With King’s whimsical visuals and a gentle voice performance by Ben Wishaw as Paddington, the movies are everything that kid’s movies should be, but rarely are.
