Jnuke

U-571 and Pitch Black.

I don't know if I thought that either of them was going to "suck", exactly, but I was pretty leery when I rented them. But both are solid, well cast, exciting adventure films.

devilshalo

The Matrix - i read the script and thought, "yeah right. no, f'n way this will look good"...

Big Trouble in Little China - i never knew for the exact same reasons as i thought the Matrix would suck.. american made kung fu, yeah right.

BuddyRevell

Frequency (Dennis Quaid)

and most recently Shaolin Soccer.

BassDude

Another vote for Fight Club

Thought it was one of those "Rage in the Cage" type of stories and let it slide. (Although I had enjoyed his films, I didn't know who Fincher was.) Rented it based on this site's review. Bought it the next day, and it's in my Top Twenty films.

wm lopez

OCEAN'S 11

B.A.

I thought X-Men and Spider-Man would be very disappointing and I thought they were both great...I thought Moulin Rouge would be horrible, too, and it blew me away, very funny and interesting movie, except that opening sequence, I thought it was going to make me sick.

joeydaninja

Scooby Doo

Deadpool

Moulin Rougue
Austin Powers IMOM
The Green Mile
Princess Mononoke

Rypro 525

another one was sleepless in seatle, thought this would be a boring chick flick to to watch with the girlfriend but i loved it.

DVD-Justin

28 Days - (presmise didn't seem all that interesting, but Sandra Bullock's performance was great, which made the movie enjoyable)

The Matrix - (seriously, i can't even remember watching the TV ads when they were on TV to promote the movie coming to theatres, i had no interest in this movie whatsoever. That is, until a few friends of mine brought me along to see it, I'm glad I did)

gachamann

Princess Mononoke. I was put off by the DVD cover and didn't care for the style of animtion used (how the made the faces, ugh..unrealistic), but after many recommendations I finally bought it and sat down to see it. Probably in my top 3 animated movie favorites of all time now (including Disney classics). Unbelievable film and an instant classic. Choked me up, even.

Rypro 525

I'll bump it for Chicago. I wasn't going into this movie with high expectations (Richard Gere singing for one thing), but all that hype and since I had a free day, I saw it and wow, best movie of the year.

RyoHazuki

Harry Potter and the Sorceres Stone. I saw countless comercials and ads of it and I just knew it was going to be another lousy kids movie that doesnt realize that the audience has a brain. Saw the movie and I absolutley loved it. Ive watched the dvd well over 70 times now.

Pulp Fiction was another one. When I hear aboot a movie a lot I tend to get mad at the movie and pretend like its really bad. I heard people saying how great Pulp Fiction was but I didnt want to see it. Finally my friend let me borrow it and it was as good as everyone said it would be.

DrCaligari

Austin Powers 1: I thought this looked horrid from the trailers and refused to see it in a theatre. I ended up seeing it on hotel pay per view with some other people since the weather was awful that night. Good times.

Deuce Bigalow: Saw this for free at a preview. I figured it would be stupid but went anyway since it was free. My friends and I were crying we were laughing so hard.

Scary Movie: I was concerned that the trailer had all of the funny parts. I was wrong.

Tremors: Again, I had free passes to see this. Looked like a cheesy, cheap horror flick. Ended up seeing it 2 more times that month.

Already mentioned elsewhere in this thread:

Moulin Rouge
Mothman Prophecies

Rypro 525

Alot of the funny jokes, they couldn't put on the trailers.

Red Dog

#1 - Raiders of the Lost Ark - I was 10 when it came out and the name made it sound like something I would hate.

#2 - Shawshank Redemption - same thing as above.

Xanager

Monster's Inc.

RayChuang

I think the reason why Moulin Rouge is such a polarizing movie is the fact the first 20 minutes or so of the movie can really turn off moviegoers to no end. But get past that and the movie does a major 180 and suddenly becomes REALLY good.

I definitely agree that poor marketing of a movie can cause people to think the movie was terrible when in fact it's the exact opposite.

tanman

EXACTLY! Moulin Rouge was advertised as a horrible, sex filled, brainless movie but turned out to have the most heart in a movie in a long time.

Same thing with...

Gladiator - I remember they advertised this on the Super Bowl and advertised it as a mindless gore fest and compared it with a football game. It really surprised me as to the depth of the movie

My Dog Skip - really surprised me in that I thought it would be another Beethoven but turned out to be a movie with real heart and some history.

Jeraden

I've always assumed Bubble Boy would be one of the stupidest movies I'd ever see and have never had the slightest desire to see it. Well, I discovered Jake G-whatever was in it a while back (who I really liked in Donnie Darko and Moonlight Mile) so my interest was someone raised for it. It was on last week on Encore so I decided to finally watch it. And to my surprise, I loved it! Bubble Boy is hilarious! Now its been added to my dvd wish list. If you want a great "stupid" comedy, this is one of the best. Several laugh-out-loud moments and entertaining throughout.

texaspete

Ditto for Raiders due to the title here. Didn't sound very inviting.

I'll also add "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as another uncatchy title.

Rocky_Stallone

I thought "Donnie Darko" and "XXX" were both going to suck but ended up loving both movies.

bouncingsoul

I enjoyed Hart's War, and surprisingly, Death to Smoochy.

Mopower

"Drumline" Shocking but true.

atari2600

transporter!