How to Ruin a Movie

I've seen many films. Upwards of 1000. Ranging from the 1920s to the 2020s. And something I've noticed, in the deciding factor of a movie's reputation is one thing: the end. When a movie has a bad ending, it tanks the reputation of the whole movie, here are a few examples. In 1976's Murder by Death, the whole movie is fun, and funny, up until the last 10 minutes. It goes completely off the rails, and the ending us unsatisfying as a result. It took about five to six years after I first watched it, for me to want to rewatch it, and that was entirely because of the ending. What could've been a funny, cult classic movie, became "hey, remember Murder by Death?" "Wasn't that the one with the dumb ending?" You shouldn't leave the theatre thinking, "did I enjoy that?"

Another example would come a year later in 1977's Slap Shot, where again, I'm having a great time enjoying myself, but during the final match, the team, who had just learnt that they should stop making fools out of themselves and take the game seriously, start beating the crap out of the other team because there are scouts watching them, undoing everything the movie had worked for. What's worse is when the one sensible player goes out on to the middle of the ice and starts stripping in front of a crowd of some 4,000 odd people, and the other team gets so made, they accidentally forfeit the game because they assaulted the referee. Again, it leaves you with the question of "did I enjoy it?"

A more negative example than just wondering if you enjoyed it would be 2021's No Time to Die, a movie that could've squeezed into the mediocre category when it comes to James Bond movies but completely destroyed its chances at anything by breaking the one rule of Bond: James Bond doesn't die. I truly believe that if No Time to Die didn't end with Bond's death, it would've been, at least somewhat, better received.

The last example I have is from this year, 2026's How to Make a Killing. (Spoilers ahead if you haven't seen this, as it's fairly recent.) I remember sitting in the theatre enjoying the movie until Becket, goes with Julia. My problem is that, despite Becket literally committing familicide multiple times, he was cheated out of an inheritance, and I wanted to see him get it back, instead I saw the bratty already decently wealthy villain, not only get the money but also the guy. Becket had a perfect relationship, and instead of trying to fix things, he left with the villain. It was ultimately unsatisfying. When the credits rolled, I sat there with the most confused look on my face, that's when the question "did I enjoy that movie?" first came to me,

Overall, what I've learned, is that it doesn't matter how good a movie is the first two acts, if it fumbles the third, it tanks the entire reputation of the movie.

-MM