Movies that were huuuuge hits in the ’80s and ’90s and considered hilarious at the time often don’t hold up well in hindsight. Reddit user ImpishBelsnickel asked people to share the “funny” ’80s and ’90s movies that wouldn’t work today, and it’s quite a list…
(Content warning: mentions of sexual assault, racism, and anti-LGBTQ).
1. Revenge of the Nerds (1984), which is a clusterfuck of terribly aged moments — for example, the sequence where the main character sexually assaults a woman.
20th Century Fox
“The main character rapes the antagonist’s girlfriend by wearing the same costume the antagonist has.”
“Isn’t that entire movie comprised of varying degrees of sexual misconduct?”
“So much of the movie is just people doing criminal shit.”
2. American Pie (1999), which also generally hasn’t aged well, but especially the sequence where foreign exchange student Nadia is livestreamed on the internet, without her knowledge or consent, as she gets undressed and engages in sexual acts.
Universal
“People go to prison for this, but in the movie the only one who gets in trouble is Nadia, the victim. That scene is way more fucked up than any other in the movie, and that’s saying something.”
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3. Sixteen Candles (1984), which features horrible racial stereotyping, and a romantic lead who trades his heavily intoxicated girlfriend with another guy.
Universal
“It was one of my fave movies of all time. I recently re-watched it with my nephew and niece and felt so awkward and ashamed. ‘No, it’s NOT alright to sell your unconscious girlfriend to another male for sex in exchange for the underwear of a girl you’re stalking.'”
“All that Long Duck Dong shit in Sixteen Candles.”
4. The Breakfast Club (1985), where the “hot” guy, a romantic interest, sexually harasses the popular girl.
Universal
“Bender hiding under the desk during The Breakfast Club, putting his face between Claire’s legs. It was definitely crazy then but it was ‘funny’ because of how audacious it was. Now it’s just assault. And yeah, everyone is different but the fact she ends up with him at the end is worrying.”
5. Never Been Kissed (1999), in which a teacher believes he’s falling in love with a 17-year-old student (even though she’s 25), while a grown man in his late 20s actually hooks up with a teenager.
Flower Films
“Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore.
Her 25-year-old character Josie enrolls in high school, no questions asked, as part of an undercover story for the newspaper she’s working for. Her teacher ends up falling for Josie due to her intelligence and maturity, despite the fact that he thinks she’s only 17. She’s unpopular with the other kids, though, and to boost her image, her cool older brother enrolls in high school again, and no one bats an eye, and absolutely no one is suspicious or questions anything at all. He just hangs out with teenage girls all day who are throwing themselves at him. Oh, and the school throws this costume party dance, and he shows up pantsless as Tom Cruise’s character in Risky Business.
Of course, her cover is blown, mayhem ensues and misunderstandings abound. Her teacher is absolutely pissed at her and feels betrayed when he figures out she’s actually 25 and not 17! Instead of being relieved that she’s not actually a minor, he’s more angry that she deceived him.”
6. Soul Man (1986), in which a white man uses Blackface and pretends to be a Black man to get a college scholarship.
New World Pictures
“People criticized this movie heavily at the time. It was passed because it was trying to make good points but failed miserably.”
7. Big, in which statutory rape of a 13-year-old boy is depicted as “okay” because he’s in an adult body.
20th Century Studios
“At the end when she sees him turn back into a child, she doesn’t run away screaming wondering what she’s done.”
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8. The Toy, in which a white businessman hires a Black man as a “gift” for his son.
Columbia Pictures
“A movie about a rich white man buying a Black man for his kid.”
9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), which is rife with transphobia centring around the reveal that the villain is a trans woman.
Warner Brothers
“The ending where everyone mocks the trans character, complete with the entire cast vomiting. That definitely wouldn’t fly today.”
10. Overboard (1987), about a man who lies to a woman with amnesia about being her husband.
MGM
“My big one is Overboard. Woman gets head injury and man takes her home to have her do chores and raise his kids, eventually sleeping with her on false pretences.”
11. Mrs Doubtfire (1993), about a man who disguises himself as a woman to stay in his ex-wife’s life and create trouble for her.
20th Century Fox
“Mrs. Doubtfire for really the whole movie. It’s billed as a family comedy/redemption story. I love Robin Williams, but the whole movie is just cringe in that context. The divorced dad wears prosthetics to stalk his ex-wife and trick her into hiring him… All while he attempts to sabotage the ex-wife’s new relationship, and actually commits attempted murder via tampering with his food. If you re-edited the movie and billed it as a suspense/horror it would actually work a lot better today.”
12. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), especially when the main character kills a dog.
Warner Bros
“Vacation and the dog that was dragged behind the car for miles.”
“And the fact they strapped their old relative (great aunt?) to the car after she died and left her by the front door. Vacation had some messed up parts. Griswold also basically cheats on his wife multiple times.”
13. The Sandlot (1993), when a character pretends to drown in order to forcefully kiss a lifeguard.
20th Century Fox
“I just watched The Sandlot with my daughter the other night. The movie is still amazing, but the pool/lifeguard scene is iffy. Especially when the narrator says that it was ‘legendary’. It was sexual assault.”
14. Trading Places, where a white character uses Blackface for a large chunk of the film.
Paramount Pictures
“From Don Ameche dropping a hard N-bomb to Dan Aykroyd doing Blackface. Gotta say, it’s still a great movie, it’s just a shame that they can never show it because the fact that Dan Aykroyd does Blackface for about 20 minutes is kinda integral to the plot.”
15. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, in which the main characters frequently use anti-gay slurs.
Orion Pictures
“The one that caught me off guard on a rewatch was both of the original Bill & Ted movies, Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey. The gay slur that starts with an ‘f’ was dropped by them in both movies, and I had totally forgotten that.”
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16. Uncle Buck (1989), which has multiple rapey jokes.
Hughes Entertainment
“Bug gets rapey with a new girl at the party because Tia turned him down.
A guy in his 40s tries to pick up Tia, when she says her throat is sore, he makes a joke about head.
Uncle Buck talks to the washing machine like he’s raping it while trying to get it to work.
That weird, unconsensual, dirty dancing thing Laurie Metcalf does to Buck.
Not rapey, but Buck kidnapping a minor, locking him in a trunk, then taking him to a field to shoot golfballs at him.”
17. Milk Money (1994), in which a group of underage boys hire a sex worker so they can see her naked, and one brings her to school to strip in class.
Paramount Pictures
“He brings her into class to show everyone what a naked women looks like for sex ed.” —DramaticPush5821
18. Blank Check (1994), where a woman in her 20s kisses a child.
Disney
“Thirty-one-year-old FBI agent kisses 11-year-old boy.”
19. And just the entirety of Porky’s (1981).
20th Cenutry Fox
“My friends and I tried to watch Porky’s about 1992 on a ski trip because we thought it would still be funny. We made it about five minutes before stopping it.”
“Porky’s, Porky’s 2, Porky’s 3.” —InevitableStruggle
What other comedies have actually aged like milk? Share your thoughts in the comments or the anonymous form below!
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