Every movie has a main character. It’s a crucial part of any story. There has to be someone with a pure heart to set a good example for young and impressionable audiences, to show how people should act in difficult situations. Occasionally, however, a main character who doesn’t like that comes along. Sure, there’s the anti-hero archetype, but at least with those, filmmakers make it pretty apparent that just because they’re the protagonists, it doesn’t make them a good person.
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An even rarer breed of main character is the type that’s portrayed as good or honest when really, they’re anything but. In hindsight, some movie heroes feel a bit more like villains, whether they’re considered protagonists or deuteragonists.
Ariel — ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989)
Ariel (Jodi Benson) is, as the title of the movie suggests, a mermaid who happens upon a shipwrecked sailor. She falls madly in love with him, despite never really meeting him.
What made audiences scoff was that she makes a deal with a witch named Ursula (Pat Caroll) to become human to get a chance with the sailor. Ursula makes it explicitly clear that she can do it, but Ariel must sacrifice her voice. Ariel, blinded by her infatuation, agrees. She becomes human, leaving behind her family, friends, and all she holds dear, all for some random guy she’s barely spoken to. Then she has the audacity to act like the victim because she can no longer speak, despite knowing the consequences.
Greg Heffley — ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ (2010)
Throughout the movies and the books the films are based on, Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is, quite honestly, a colossal jerk. He’s full of himself and incredibly manipulative. Take his best friend, Rowley (Robert Capron), for example. Rowley is a caring, if somewhat childish, individual. He’s super kind to Greg, and how does Greg reward him? By throwing a football at poor Rowley as he rides a Big Wheel, causing him to crash and break his hand.
This is only one of many instances where Greg treats his best friend like trash. Greg is hated so much that an entire subreddit is dedicated to hating him. Granted, at least in the movies, Greg always learns his lesson. The same can’t quite be said for the books.
Grandpa Joe — ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (2005)
Another protagonist so hated that there’s an entire subreddit dedicated to slandering him, Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), is what some may call a freeloader. This can be said forWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory(1971) and the 2005 remakeCharlie and the Chocolate Factory. Though, it is more apparent in the latter.
Grandpa Joe does nothing but lay in bed all day and is deemed unable to walk or use his legs properly. His already-poor family is forced to provide for him since he can no longer do it himself. But when his grandson, Charlie (Freddie Highmore), wins a tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, suddenly Grandpa Joe is up and dancing around the room like there was nothing wrong with him the whole time.
Han Solo — ‘Star Wars’ Series (1977-)
Han Solo (Harrison Ford) was always kind of a morally grey character, right from his first appearance inA New Hope(1977). He’s a smuggler, and his only motivation seems to be money. He ends up falling in love with Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) but is nothing short of a terrible boyfriend.
He’s rude and condescending towards her and is only ever interested in his own personal gain. InThe Empire Strikes Back(1980), just before he is frozen in carbonite, Leia tells him, “I love you.” His response: “I know.” How shallow is that?
Peter Graham — ‘Hereditary’ (2018)
Peter (Alex Wolff) is your typical angsty teenager, but his awfulness goes way beyond participating in mere underaged drinking. When he intends to sneak out to a party, he tells his parents it’s simply a school barbecue, which prompts his mother to tell him to take his sister, Charlie (Milly Shapiro).
He doesn’t keep an eye on Charlie the whole party, simply giving her a piece of cake and leaving her on her own. The cake happens to contain peanuts, which Charlie is deathly allergic to. When he rushes her to the hospital,he gets into an accident that leaves Charlie deadbefore they arrive. Instead of simply continuing to the hospital, he drives home and leaves her corpse in the car overnight for his parents to discover in the morning. Then he has the nerve to blame her death on his grieving mother, who made him take her, even though it all could have been avoided if he had told them he was going to a party or had kept a better eye on her.
Frodo Baggins — ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Series (2001 - 2003)
Frodo (Elijah Wood) may be tasked with carrying the One Ring to Mount Doom, but his behavior towards his best friend Samwise (Sean Astin) is simply despicable. The Ring indeed corrupts people’s minds and hearts, but it isn’t always a valid excuse.
He ends up trusting Gollum (Andy Serkis) more than Sam,despite the former trying to murder him. Sam had his back the whole way, even carrying Frodo up the slopes of Mount Doom when Frodo couldn’t go on any longer. Though the pair have some touching moments, for the most part, Frodo is a jerk. Then, when his quest is complete, he flees to the Undying Lands while leaving his friends in the mortal world, despite the immense sacrifices they all made for him. Ouch.
Mike - ‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999)
Mike (Michael C. Williams) is one of three student filmmakers who set out into the woods to create a documentary about a supposed witch living in the area. After supernatural events begin happening, Mike is the first to snap. Heather (Rei Hance) does her best to keep everyone calm, despite her insistence that they aren’t lost, but Mike is the one who royally screws up any chance the trio has of finding their way home.
In a fit of frustration, he steals Heather’s map and throws it into a river, inevitably making the group even more lost than they were. Then he tries to defend his decision when confronted and acts like Heather is the one who is at fault. Maybe she is, but not as much as he is.
Robin — ‘Batman Forever’ (1995)
Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell) is a young acrobat hellbent on killing Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) after Two-Face kills Grayson’s entire family. It’s a devastating event for young Grayson, to be sure, but it doesn’t justify stealing the Batmobile and taking it for a joyride, snooping around Bruce Wayne’s (Val Kilmer) house, and just being a whiny little brat in general.
He always goes on about what he wants and never thanks Wayne for taking him in in the first place, nor does he ever apologize for his actions. He doesn’t even thank Batman for making his wish come true or letting him become a superhero. If the word “ungrateful” had a face, this would be it.
Willie Scott — ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ (1984)
This one should come as no surprise to anyone who has seenIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) is a singer who is inadvertently swept up in Indiana Jones' (Harrison Ford) next adventure. And she certainly doesn’t belong there.
She shrieks at nearly every inconvenience, whines and cries all the time, and is super vain. Though, there were some thatended up being okay with this. It’s also reported that Capshaw was only cast in the role because directorSteven Spielberghad a crush on her. Evidently, it worked, since the two have been married since 1991.
Sam Witwicky- ‘Transformers’ (2007)
Much like Willie Scott, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is simply a case of a character who isn’t necessarily ill-intentioned or evil but is just plain annoying. He’s your standard squeaky-voiced whiny teenager, but that’s not the main glaring issue.
His main problem is that he seems to be in the action scenes solely to be “comedic” relief from all the super awesome robot action, and his presence takes away from the moment. It would be fine if it only happened once, but it happens way too often throughout the first three films to be forgivable.
