19 Iconic '90s Movies No One Ever Talks About Anymore
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1.Excess Baggage (1997)
Off the back of her monumental success in Clueless, Alicia Silverstone starred alongside Benicio del Toro and Christopher Walken in this crime-comedy about a spoiled, lonely rich girl who fakes her own kidnapping in order to get her dad's attention — and is then accidentally kidnapped by a car thief, who she naturally falls in love with. Was it a great movie? Who can remember?! It sure was fun at the time, though.
2.Inventing the Abbotts (1997)
Genuinely a great movie that not enough people talk about, Inventing the Abbotts was set in the 1950s and told the story of two intertwining families: the rich Abbotts with their three daughters (played by Joanna Going, Jennifer Connelly, and Liv Tyler), and the poor Holts — a single mother with two sons (played by Billy Crudup and Joaquin Phoenix). It's a sexy, angsty, melodramatic tale with a surprisingly tender romance running through it.
3.The Pagemaster (1994)
Starring Macaulay Culkin and the voice talents of Christopher Lloyd, Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Stewart, and Leonard Nimoy, The Pagemaster was about a timid, anxious boy who gets trapped alone in a library during a rainstorm, meets three talking books, and has to fight his way through iconic stories in order to escape. It's a magical tribute to storytelling that got overshadowed by everything Disney.
4.The Hairy Bird/All I Wanna Do/Strike! (1998)
With a messy and confusing distribution, All I Wanna Do, aka The Hairy Bird in Australia and Strike! in Canada and the UK, was under-watched and underrated even at the time of its release. But for those who did manage to watch it, it's a beloved classic, about a group of girls in the '60s who fight against their school turning co-ed. It stars almost all the girls you wanted/wanted to be in the '90s: Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffman, Rachael Leigh Cook, Monica Keena, Heather Matarazzo, and Merritt Wever, with Vincent Kartheiser, Matthew Lawrence, and Lynn Redgrave rounding out the cast.
5.Curly Sue (1991)
This John Hughes movie has not had quite the lasting cultural impact of some of his other iconic creations, perhaps because it seems like only kids really liked it. Jim Belushi stars as a homeless man who adopts an orphan named Curly Sue (Alisan Porter), and enlists her help to scam people. Their lives change when they scam the wrong (or is that right?!) person.
6.Gattaca (1997)
A box office flop, if you were one of the people who caught Gattaca on cable or rented it from Blockbuster, you no doubt watched it more than once. The sci-fi is set in the "not too distant" future, in which eugenics separates people into "valids" and "in-valids", with the "in-valids" having restricted rights. Ethan Hawke plays Vincent, an "in-valid" who poses as a valid because he dreams of going to space, and whose plans come into jeopardy when he gets caught up in murder investigation led by his own brother. The cast also includes Uma Thurman and Jude Law.
7.Corrina, Corrina (1994)
Panned by critics and a failure at the box office, Corrina, Corrina still found its way into the hearts of many '90s kids. Set in the '50s, Whoopi Goldberg stars as the titular Corrina, who becomes a housekeeper and nanny for a grieving widower (Ray Liotta) and his young daughter (Tina Majorino), who is mute since her mother's death. They all fall in love, of course.
8.Bio-Dome (1996)
A stoner comedy with an environmental message, Bio-Dome is a classic Pauly Shore vehicle, with Stephen Baldwin along for the ride. The pair star as two friends who accidentally get stuck in the "Bio-Dome", a closed ecological system, as part of a year-long experiment. They wreak havoc with a heavy dose of the kind of humor that's specific to boys aged 12-13. The movie did mark the debut of Tenacious D, so that's something.
9.FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
Another '90s movie with an environmental bent, FernGully: The Last Rainforest is an American and Australian co-production set in an Australian rainforest, about fairies who protect the trees and do battle with loggers and Hexxus, an embodiment of pollution. With a voice cast including Tim Curry, Christian Slater, and Robin Williams, it's perhaps best remembered today as the movie James Cameron was accused of plagiarizing for Avatar.
10.The Little Giants (1994)
The Mighty Ducks and The Sandlot seem to take up most of the nostalgic energy for '90s kids sports movies, but The Little Giants was iconic. Featuring the requisite rag-tag group of uncoordinated underdogs up against the slick, rich and talented team, it was a funny and quotable movie and most importantly starred everyone's fave poster boy, Devon Sawa.
11.3 Ninjas (1992)
There are several movies on this list that probably haven't aged well, but this one is right up there, which is perhaps why it's been so thoroughly left behind by the culture. But it was huge at the time — in fact, there was a whole series of 3 Ninjas movies! They were about three brothers who are taught ninja skills by their grandfather, and then do battle against the FBI and other evil organizations. Sure.
12.Coneheads (1993)
One of many movies to come out of Saturday Night Live comedy sketches in the '90s, Coneheads is about aliens stranded on Earth, starring Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Michelle Burke, David Spade, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Drew Carey, Parker Posey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Jason Alexander. It's not a great movie, but it was hugely popular amongst kids who thought being able to quote comedies word for word was the height of humor.
13.Andre (1994)
Everyone remembers Free Willy, but what about Andre? Based on a true story and set in the '60s, Andre is about a little girl and her family who take care of an injured seal. It was funny and emotional as all good animal movies should be, and starred Tina Majorino, who was in every kids movie that Mara Wilson wasn't.
14.It Takes Two (1995)
It's The Parent Trap without being The Parent Trap. The Olsen twins star as identical strangers (lol) — one an orphan, Amanda, the other a rich girl, Alyssa, who meet at summer camp and decide to switch lives, and then hatch a plan to get Amanda's social worker (Kirstie Alley) together with Alyssa's father (Steve Guttenberg). The Olsen twins made a lot of movies in their childhood, and you know what? This was one of the best.
15.Baby's Day Out (1994)
Another Hughes movie that didn't have quite the legacy of some of his others, Baby's Day Out answers the question: "What if Home Alone featured an actual infant?" It's about three criminals who kidnap a baby from a wealthy family and are then outsmarted by the baby. It's 99 minutes of pure slapstick comedy that makes absolutely no sense but is absolutely hilarious when you're a kid.
16.FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
Set in England in 1917 and loosely based on a true story (as the title suggests), FairyTale: A True Story is about two girls who take a photograph of fairies that shocks the world. It's a charming movie and an even wilder true story, but the movie at least seems to have been mostly forgotten since the '90s.
17.The Flintstones (1994)
This movie was huuuuuuuuuuuuuge and then, after an aggressively mediocre sequel in 2000, kind of never spoken about again? John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Elizabeth Perkins, and Rosie O'Donnell brought the iconic cartoon characters to life, with Halle Berry and Elizabeth Taylor rounding out the cast. It was so silly and so fun.
18.The Horse Whisperer (1998)
An absolute angst-filled film that appealed to every dramatic horse girl: a young Scarlett Johansson stars as teenager Grace, who is in an accident while horse-riding with her best friend. While Grace and her horse are severely injured, her best friend and friend's horse are killed. Grace's mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) takes Grace and her horse to a horse whisperer in order to heal. It's the kind of movie you watch when you need a good cry, but doesn't seem to be revisited as often as other tearjerkers like Beaches or The Notebook.
19.Disturbing Behaviour (1998)
The '90s were full of teen slashers, some more memorable than others. This is one that history seems to have mostly forgotten. James Marsden, Katie Holmes, Ethan Embrey, and Nick Stahl star in this sci-fi horror about teenagers who essentially get the Stepford Wives treatment. It's not a great movie, but that never stopped any tween or teen in 1998 from enjoying it.
