Topher Grace's Favorite Kevin Bacon Movie Is Not The One You Think | Sorry Not Sorry
Not every favorite movie is an obvious one. A lot of them don't become part of the cultural zeitgeist. Instead, they continue to live in the background because they were actually really good, even if no one noticed. The 1989 comedy The Big Picture is one of those films. And Topher Grace didn't hesitate to hype it up when revealing his guilty pleasure rewatch.
WATCH: Topher Grace's Favorite Kevin Bacon Movie Is NOT The One You Think!
"It didn't do well, but I think people like it," Grace told JustWatch while promoting his 2026 horror-thriller movie Buddy. "It's this film called The Big Picture… starring Kevin Bacon. I think it came out in the late '80s, and it's a fantastic film. It's probably the best movie that Hollywood ever made, I think." It's a bold take, especially for a film that rarely comes up when people talk about Bacon's career.
Most folks would blurt out something obvious like Footloose (1984) or A Few Good Men (1992). But the actor's career is much more complex than that. Between his biggest hits is a stretch of work that doesn't carry the same immediate recognition but ends up saying a lot more than one would expect. And that's where something like The Big Picture comes in.
The Movies Hollywood Loves Aren't Always The Ones We Remember
Despite its poor box-office takings ($117,463 from a budget of $5 million), The Big Picture has everything going for it. A young filmmaker (Bacon) gets his big break, only to watch his vision slowly get eroded by studio requirements. It's a premise that might feel a little familiar now, but at the time, it wasn't exactly packaged in a way that audiences could latch onto.
There's no clear villain and no clean resolution. Just a series of compromises that are a little too real. That's probably part of why it didn't make much of an impact with viewers. It just showcases the way things are done in the entertainment industry, which isn't always satisfying to watch. But that same quality is exactly what makes it resonate with people inside that system.
When Grace calls it the best movie Hollywood ever made, it doesn't feel like he's trying to elevate an obscure film for the sake of it. If anything, it sounds more like he chose it because he's spent enough time in Hollywood to see how much a movie like The Big Picture lines up with reality. And that gap between perception and experience is what gives the film its staying power.
Underrated Movies Tend To Age Better Than Big Hits
The films that arrive with hype usually have to meet a very specific version of success. They need to be understood quickly and to leave a clear impression that audiences can take with them. When they do, they become fixed in that moment—tied to how people felt when they first saw them—which doesn't always leave much room for change.
Underrated films don't have that problem. Because they weren't fully embraced the first time around, they're not locked into a single interpretation. They can change depending on who's watching and when. So what once felt slow can start to feel deliberate, and what seemed uneventful can reveal a structure that wasn't obvious before.
That's where The Big Picture benefits over time. It wasn't designed to meet any type of specific expectations, so it doesn't carry disappointment or nostalgia. It just exists as it is, waiting for the right context to click. As audiences become more familiar with how creative industries actually work, the film starts to feel more observational and less like a simple artist versus studio friction story.
Why To Watch 'The Big Picture' (And What To Watch After)
What The Big Picture gets right is what it feels like to want something that's just out of reach. Not fame exactly, but the version of success that comes with it, like recognition and control. Instead, the film spends most of its time showing how quickly that starts to change. The closer the main character gets to that version of success, the less control he actually has.
Decisions get filtered through other people. Small changes start to stack up. And before long, the thing he set out to make doesn't really belong to him anymore. But it's not framed as a dramatic downfall. It's more gradual than that. And that understated approach is what makes it worth watching now. It's not trying to make a statement as much as it's reflecting a pattern that still exists.
If you find this type of story appealing, there are a few other Kevin Bacon films that share a similar vibe. The Woodsman (2004) is probably the most obvious choice. It's a much heavier film, but it has the same focus on internal shifts rather than big ones. Digging to China (1997) is another one that doesn't come up often because it's built more around tone and character than plot.
