BEETLEJUICE
er. Audiences didn’t go along for the ride.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” (2016) Nia Vardalos’ charming indie original has her young Greek woman getting married to a non-Greek guy, and she struggles to get her family to accept him while coming to terms with her heritage and cultural identity. Fourteen years later, the sequel failed to recapture that same innocent sitcom-like quality. Regardless, it must have been popular enough to warrant “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” released in 2023.
“Psycho II” (1983) Alfred Hitchcock’s horror classic is one of my favorite films, and a sequel seemed blasphemous to me. Apparently it did to others, as well, as this follow-up 23 years later bombed. Mother would not be happy.
“Independence Day: Resurgence” (2016)
Coming out 20 years after the 1996 original, this seemed almost like a remake rather than a sequel, and not having original cast member Will Smith’s star quality and humor didn’t help. I was almost rooting for the aliens so it would just all be over.
“Dumb and Dumber To” (2014) This sequel has to be way up there with the dumbest ideas ever. And while in the original it was funny to see Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels bumble around as idiots, 20 years later it was just sad to watch. They didn’t totally redeem themselves (a pun from the original movie).
“Zoolander 2” (2016)
OK, I thought the original was pretty pointless to exist, anyway, with Ben Stiller as a clueless, vain, bored fashion model.
Fifteen years later, he was still a clueless, vain, bored fashion model. Audiences were equally bored.
“Zombieland: Double
Tap” (2019) Now this one hurt, as the 2009 original is one of my favorite zombie films, but this sequel was lackluster, uninspired and even the actors seemed to be phoning it in for a paycheck. “Double Tap” should have been “double check” if a sequel was even needed — or wanted.