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The sad fate of Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story got me thinking. Every year good movies are overlooked by audiences. Most of them are offbeat or unconventional. More rare are essentially mainstream films that, in spite of quality and exposure, fall short of all reasonable expectations. Many of those that do—Galaxy Quest, Shawshank Redemption, Tremors—eventually attain the recognition they deserve as cult hits. Perhaps Walk Hard will find such affection in the movie afterlife. But there are also good, mainstream movies that never quite found their audiences and are now gradually slipping out of memory. Here are a handful:

Flirting with Disaster (1995): Director David O. Russell’s second movie was well received by critics, but in spite of a terrific cast headed by Ben Stiller, Patricia Arquette, and Tea Leoni, never caught on with moviegoers. I think it’s one of the 10 or so best comedies of all time. With inspired support from Alan Alda, Lily Tomlin, Josh Brolin, and Richard Jenkins, and a performance by Mary Tyler Moore that puts her Oscar-winning work in Ordinary People to shame, Flirting with Disaster is a neurotic masterpiece.

Conspiracy Theory (1997): This was hardly a bomb, yet the teaming of superduperstars Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson was supposed to reap a far greater bounty. Perhaps I remain stubbornly in the minority, because I thought this was a snappy thriller. Yes, casting Mel Gibson as a charming semi-stalker and conspiracy-theory nut was a stretch. And having the central mystery not actually be a conspiracy was a head-scratcher. But thanks to some smart crafting by writer Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), a zippy score from Carter Burwell and a pair of true movie star performances, Conspiracy Theory is a very easy-to-swallow weekend afternoon movie.

Adrian Brody and John Leguizamo in Summer of Sam. (Courtesy photo)

Bowfinger (1999): Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy were both at near-peak levels when they teamed for this fun, if slight, comedy. Martin is the Hollywood hack director attempting to land megastar Kit Ramsey (Murphy) in his next picture. But the real fun is Murphy’s other role, as Kit’s naïve brother Jiff. It’s one of his best characterizations. Bowfinger is one the better movies in the careers of both stars, yet has fallen below such junk as Bringing Down the House, Daddy Day Care and Father of the Bride. It should have been a little better (Martin’s script is a little too easygoing), but it’s still a very fun watch as is.

Summer of Sam (1999): Perhaps Spike Lee is as polarizing as some people say. Nearly his entire career is a succession of good movies that don’t find the audiences they deserve. S.O.S. is one of Lee’s most accessible movies, starring then-rising hotshots John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino, and Adrian Brody. Centering on an Italian-American neighborhood in New York during the height of the Son of Sam killings, S.O.S. is overlong and often disjointed. But like classic Spike Lee, it has a density that allows you to get pleasurably lost. It also contains one bravura montage that ranks among the best sequences the great filmmaker has ever pieced together. The movie has tremendous production design and a real feel for its era. Only Lee could make something this good-looking for so little money…and then watch the movie earn even less.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.