Mixed Message Movies

Earlier this morning, assisted by a snooze-alarm-induced twilight of not-quite-awake yet not-quite-asleep, I started thinking about The Breakfast Club. More specifically, I reflected upon the fact that while I basically like the film, on some level it also really depresses me, and always has. Despite being regarded as absolutely brilliant by many within my age cohort (and others beyond it, one imagines), there's something about it that has always troubled me. Today, in my ambiguous-state-of-wakefulness, I finally pinned down why:


* All of your angsty teen problems can be magically fixed by hooking up with someone. Just make sure they're fucked up in a way that either compensates for or somehow complements your own particular flavor of fucked-up-ness.

* Unless you're a nerd, in which case, the very best you can hope for is that if you rebel against authority and get high and hang out with the cool kids desperately enough, they might go from hating your guts to ignoring and barely tolerating you.

I mean, yeah, I get that most of my peers responded well to the 'youth coming together to rebel against authority' message, particularly inasmuch as they truly resented the exercise of petty power. The movie works on that level. It's just that I find that this *other* stuff troubles me enough that (for me, at least) it undermines the bigger-picture message. Because the kids aren't all in this together, ultimately; they're still pretty much in the same social roles as before. They've merely traded any pretense of seeking the respect and approval of adults for the possibility of seeking it from each other instead. Which, as already mentioned, doesn't work for everyone. Realistically shitty, I suppose.

So it occurred to me I'd love to see a thread about 'good' movies with bad messages. Which movie, generally regarded as an otherwise good film, has one or more messages that bug you so much that it's hard to enjoy the movie for its good points?

I added the 'generally regarded...' qualifier because I'd like the topic to be primarily about movies that have some redeeming features aside from the crap-tastic message. Otherwise it would be very easy to wind up talking mostly about movies with wrong-headed premises (because Mel Gibson is the perfect person to tell us What Women Want!) or else movies that mine a particular subject for cheap laughs only to tack on an eleventh-hour Aesop to try to make it all better (yes, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, I'm glaring at you).

While I love to kvetch about bad movies as much as (perhaps more than) the next person, for this thread I'd like to focus on the ones that are almost good, but somehow still manage to throw in a disappointing sucker punch or two.