The 90s were a pretty wild time in cinema. It’s that decade that every artform goes through where everything goes and no idea is too offensive or out of the box. It was also one of the last eras before streaming, where more financial risks were taken on certain movies because there’s always the DVD sales afterwards. Sadly Hollywood now has to make pretty much all of their money on box office results. Not all of the 90s movies aged well. Whether the entire movie is now cringeworthy or some specific scenes would be done differently, here’s a few movies that were huge hits in the 90s but wouldn’t get made today.
Chasing Amy (1997)
While this Kevin Smith movie was certainly progressive for its time, especially when it came to sexuality and having an openly bi main character, it sadly does so through the viewpoint of the 90s. If you watch it today, the views that were deemed progressive 25 years ago are definitely dated and sort of awkward to watch now.
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
This parody series spawned a pretty successful trilogy of movies, but the humor that the movies are built on wouldn’t fly today. There’s a lot of racism, sexism, and basically almost infantile jokes involved and while that was something loads of people enjoyed in the 90s, we know better now. There’s a reason that fourth Austin Powers movie has been put on hold for what seems like decades.
Trainspotting (1996)
While it is still a good movie and the story in itself would probably still get made today, the movie does often get criticized for somewhat glorifying drug use. There’s a lot of it in this movie and it can often be made to look “cool”. The sequel is a bit tamer in that regard, although it’s not a tame movie by any stretch of the imagination.
American Pie (1999)
I mean, you knew this was going to be on this list when you started reading the article, didn’t you? It was barely passable in 1999 so it’s definitely a movie that wouldn’t get made today. The declining revenu made by the dozens of sequels and spin-offs over the years prove this point perfectly.
American History X (1998)
While it’s definitely one of the best movies of its era and maybe of all time, some of the violence and racism in it may be a bit too raw and uncensored for today’s audiences. I think we can all agree that this is one of those cases where having a remake done could only end up making the movie worse. It needs that rawness.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Most Paul Verhoeven movies probably wouldn’t fly today but this one takes the cake with that infamous interrogation scene. With the whole #MeToo movement and people – finally – paying attention to having women feel comfortable when showing their bodies in front of a camera, this simply wouldn’t fly anymore.
