One Of My Least Favorite Movies Of All Time Is Now Streaming On Max (And You Probably Love It)

Get your pitchforks ready, because this is my spiciest take in all of film–and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I’m not normally a hater. Unlike many other entertainment journalists, it takes a lot for me to hate a movie. There are plenty of films that others thought were duds that have managed to make it among my personal favorites. For instance, The Beekeeper was one of my favorite movies of 2024. I really can’t hate on a Jason Statham action fest.

That means that when there is a movie I truly revile, it has to be bad. Normally I’m in agreement with the critics and fans when it comes to schlock, but not this time. One of my least favorite movies of all time has a Rotten Tomato rating of 87% and a Popcornmeter audience score of 91%. Clearly I’m in the minority, so there’s a good chance you’ll be excited to hear that Inception is now streaming on Max.

Spoilers ahead!

Why do I hate it so much?

1. Dreams don’t feel like real life outside of the movie.

Inception supposes that the only way dreamers know they’re in a dream is if they see their totem doing what it can only do outside of the dream world. What? Since when were dreams so hard to decrypt? Lucid dreaming–the art of knowing you’re in a dream–is a very common thing in real life, so why doesn’t it exist in the world of Inception?

2. “But it’s a dream” excuses way too much bad storytelling.

Whenever I complain about the total lack of character depth or growth, Inception stans fall back on “It’s a dream.” After all, people in dreams rarely have thorough backstories. Any complaint you may have about the plot holes and the lack of character can be excused by the film’s central plot device: That it takes place almost entirely within the world of dreams. I’d understand if this movie pushed the surreal, but it doesn’t. Sorry, but “It’s just a dream,” isn’t a good enough excuse for a lack of storytelling.

3. The ambiguity of the ending isn’t fun–it’s lazy.

The thing that most fans of Inception love is the ambiguous ending. At first glance, it seems like the choice between two outcomes: If the top falls, Leo is living his happy ending. If it stays upright, he’s dreaming it. And, with the little wobble, it certainly seems like the former. But let’s say it’s a dream. Does that mean he’s never going to be happy? Does it mean that the entire movie was a dream? (Because that is a basic storytelling no-no you learn in Writing 101.) And if it is a dream, then why care about anything you just watched? Then again, maybe the top was never his totem and it was instead his wedding ring. Yes, yet another possible ending. While some ambiguous endings are fun, this one just feels like Christopher Nolan couldn’t make up his mind, so he made us do all the work.

4. The “You just don’t get it” defense.

If you’re a fan of Inception, you might have already thought this phrase as you read through my complaints. “This writer is so dumb. She just doesn’t understand the movie.” No, I do get it. It’s actually pretty easy to understand. I just don’t like it.

But I understand why people love it.

With all these complaints, there are still things to like about Inception. It’s a creative premise with some solid actors helming the production–especially Leonardo DiCaprio and Elliot Page. The visuals as Elliot folds the dream world are stellar. Plus, the score? It changed the way music elicited drama in films for years afterward.

And let’s not forget the Joseph Gordon-Levitt fight sequence inside the zero-gravity hotel hallway. It remains one of the best fight sequences in cinema. I admit it, okay?

Inception is now streaming on Max.