History JerksAreWorseThanVillains / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/ProjectX'': Costa is utterly despised by viewers for his repugnant nature, being so bigoted and amoral. Compare that to T-Rick, an AxCrazy drug dealer who goes as far as ''purposely setting the entire neighborhood on fire'' out of pure spite. It also helps that the latter gets arrested for his actions, while the former ends up getting away with his behavior.

* ''Film/ProjectX'': Costa is utterly despised by viewers for his repugnant nature, being so bigoted and amoral. Compare that to T-Rick, an AxCrazy drug dealer who goes as far as ''purposely setting the entire neighborhood on fire'' out of pure spite. It also helps that the latter gets arrested for his actions, while the former gets away with his behavior.

* ''Film/ProjectX'': Costa is utterly despised by viewers for his repugnant nature, being so bigoted and amoral. Compare that to T-Rick, an AxCrazy drug dealer who goes as far as ''purposely setting the entire neighborhood on fire'' out of pure spite. It helps that the latter gets arrested for his actions, while the former gets away with his behavior.

* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'': Despite being Willy Wonka's many arch enemy who bribes the golden ticket finders with money and a better life in exchange for stealing an Everlasting Gobstopper from Wonka he is not the most hated character in the film nor the four bratty kids who are supposed to be hated for being spoiled the most hated. None are more hated by people than Grandpa Joe who's seen as as a lazy leech that said he'd help Charlie support the family if he could get out of bed, but the only time we actually see him trying is so he can go to the chocolate factory, where he sings ''[[ItsAllAboutMe I've]]'' Got a Golden Ticket about his grandson's find. Him taking the fizzy lifting drinks and willingness to sell out to Slugworth after Wonka's rant are also sometimes held against him (although the last one he was angry at Wonka for crushing Charlie, but understood why Charlie couldn't do it). ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'' points out that even at the end, when Charlie is being given the greatest opportunity a little boy could want that will secure him a bright and happy future, Grandpa Joe's only question is [[ItsAllAboutMe how it will benefit him.]].

** ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'': Anakin Skywalker, despite being a protagonist, is much more disliked than any of the film's actual villains, who are largely kept off-screen or have bland personalities. Anakin, on the other hand, gets hate for being petulant and immature, whining about the Jedi Council holding him back, and giving Padmé creepy sex-looks that make her feel uncomfortable. The fans don't even hate Anakin for slaughtering a village of Tusken men, women and children--they hate how he whines about it afterwards. Despite Anakin becoming full on evil in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' (his deeds include helping the BigBad evil dictator rise to power, slaughtering human children, and nearly choking his pregnant wife to death), fans hated him far less than they did in ''Attack of the Clones'' simply because he's less whiny.

* ''Film/DrillbitTaylor'': The main villains are the two [[BarbaricBully Barbaric Bullies]] Filkins and Ronnie, who terroize the main characters Wade, Ryan, and Emmitt on a daily basis and are the reason why they hired the titular Drillbit Taylor as their bodyguard. However, they are impossible to fully hate due to having a bunch of hilarious moments, and even a few EvilIsCool moments such as the rap scene. The same extends to Wade's {{Jerkass}} step brothers and step father, the latter of whom even gives Wade a couple heart-to-heart pep talks. Don and the other homeless people, on the other hand, serve as a bad influence to Drillbit, with Don dishing out quite a few KickTheDog moments to the latter, and even rob Wade's house even after Drillbit expressly states he doesn't want to do it, which leads to Wade, Ryan, and Emmit breaking off their friendship with him. To add insult to injury, when Drillbit goes to save the stolen stuff and return it to Wade, [[NeverMyFault Don believes it's Drillbit's fault that their own friendship is falling apart, saying "I'll give you one last chance to save this friendship!"]] Aside from Don, [[LaserGuidedKarma who gets his face kicked by Drillbit, gets his fingers slammed in a van door, and is later arrested,]] [[KarmaHoudini the homeless people never get punished for their actions]].

* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'': The biggest villain is Christof, since he's the creator of ''The Truman Show'' and the main manipulator of Truman's life, but he's also a [[EvilIsCool cool]], interesting and enigmatic character, and has some AntiVillain trais. On the other hand, Truman's "parents" and his wife "Meryl" just come off as unlikable and uncaring people who only use Truman for their careers. Sans deleted scenes, Louis/Marlon isn't much better, taunting Truman as he makes his final escape. "Meryl" gets this treatment the most, due to her blatant BitchInSheepsClothing obnoxiousness and having many scenes with Truman.

* ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'': Mrs. Deagle is one of the most obnoxious old {{Rich Bitch}}es ever put to the silver screen, while the eponymous creatures are gleefully, LaughablyEvil. Hence, she ends up an AssholeVictim whose death (caused by the Gremlins themselves) is treated purely as BlackComedy.

* ''Film/ReAnimated'': Craig, Jimmy's horrendous excuse as a "[[WithFriendsLikeThese best friend]]", is far more despised than Sonny, a PsychopathicManchild who wants to ''kill'' Jimmy to further his own goals. The fact that the latter is LaughablyEvil also helps his case.

* ''Film/ReAnimated'': Craig, Jimmy's horrendous excuse for a "[[WithFriendsLikeThese best friend]]", is far more despised than Sonny, a PsychopathicManchild who wants to ''kill'' Jimmy to further his own goals. The fact that the latter is LaughablyEvil also helps his case.

* ''Film/{{Orphan}}'': John (the clueless adult who [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter trusts Esther]] more than his own wife, and used to cheat on his wife ten years ago) is more hated than Esther herself (the EvilOrphan who wants to kill the whole family).

* ''Film/{{Rope}}'': Rupert is a philosophy professor who taught all his students that there were a class of natural elites who had the right to murder the commoners, [[spoiler:then [[NeverMyFault insisted his words had been "twisted"]] when one of his students acted on his suggestions.]] He often gets more hate from viewers for his hypocrisy than Brandon does for actually committing the murder.

* ''Film/BlackChristmas2019'': Kris is the most despised character in the film, even up against the frat house of rapists and murderers. This is because she is a terrible friend to Riley and anyone calling her on her nasty behavior is portrayed as a {{Strawman}}. She also goes through no meaningful CharacterDevelopment and becomes a complete KarmaHoudini by surviving to the end. Not to mention that she is the most responsible for the continued abuse her sisters get from the frat. A contributing factor is that while the villains are all one-dimensional {{Hate Sink}}s, Kris is [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic supposed to be sympathetic to the audience]] despite having few positive qualities.

* ''Film/TheCraft'''s JerkJock Chris doesn't do much more than spread a mean rumor that Sarah slept with him after she turned him down, although it's implied he's done this to more girls at school. His attempted rape of Sarah later in the film is the result of a love spell she cast backfiring, but {{Fanon}} likes to imagine this as his true nature manifesting itself. Compare him to Nancy -- who murders two people, possibly helped kill a third and was giddy about it, threatens her friends when they disagree with her, tricks Sarah into thinking her parents died in a plane crash, psychologically tortures her and tries to make her commit suicide -- and the fandom loves her. Her case is helped by being a TragicVillain who was subject to SlutShaming from Chris and lives in a trailer park with a stepfather who sexually harasses her once in the film. The two people Nancy kills are in fact [[spoiler: Chris and the stepfather, the latter of whom gets killed after he hits her mother]].

* ''Film/CentralIntelligence'': Even though [[spoiler:Phil]] is the BigBad, he is still far more entertaining than JerkJock Trevor, who bullied Bob Stone in high school by throwing him into the gym while he was still naked after taking a shower. Twenty years later, when Bob runs into him again, [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp he continues to make fun of him and still feels quite proud of what he did to him in high school]]. Fortunately, he gets his comeuppance when Bob, who has had enough of his antics, knocks him out cold.

* ''Film/CentralIntelligence'': Despite the fact that [[spoiler:Phil]] is the movie's main antagonist, many people find him more entertaining than JerkJock Trevor, who bullied Bob Stone in high school by throwing him into the gym while he was still naked after taking a shower. Twenty years later, when Bob runs into him again, [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp he continues to make fun of him and still feels quite proud of what he did to him in high school]]. Fortunately, he gets his comeuppance when Bob, who has had enough of his antics, knocks him out cold.

* ''Film/TheCraft'''s JerkJock Chris doesn't do much more than spread a mean rumor that Sarah slept with him after she turned him down, although it's implied he's done this to more girls at school. His attempted rape of Sarah later in the film is the result of a love spell she cast backfiring, but {{Fanon}} likes to imagine this as his true nature manifesting itself. Compare him to Nancy - who murders two people, possibly helped kill a third and was giddy about it, threatens her friends when they disagree with her, tricks Sarah into thinking her parents died in a plane crash, psychologically tortures her and tries to make her commit suicide - and the fandom loves her. Her case is helped by being a TragicVillain who was subject to SlutShaming from Chris and lives in a trailer park with a stepfather who sexually harasses her once in the film. The two people Nancy kills are in fact [[spoiler: Chris and the stepfather, the latter of whom gets killed after he hits her mother]].

* All three main villains in the ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' series have their own fans -- Maleficent for a hammy and enjoyable performance by Creator/KristinChenoweth and her dragon transformation during the climax, Uma for her cunning and [[JerkassHasAPoint sympathetic motives for wanting revenge on the heroes]], and Audrey for her ''awesome'' VillainSong and, again, [[AllForNothing her relatively sympathetic motives]]. On the flip side, you'd be hard-pressed to find ''anyone'' who likes Chad Charming, a hypocritical, sexist ladies' man who's willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top and whose only purpose seems to be serving as Auradon's token jackass. What makes him even more dislikable is his [[InsufferableImbecile sheer stupidity]] in it all.

* The 2004 version of ''Film/TheStepfordWives2004'' makes Joanna and Bobbie {{Adaptational Jerkass}}es and adds a new character Roger, who embarrasses his partner in public. As a result, viewers tend to see them as {{Asshole Victim}}s, far more than the husbands of Stepford - who are brainwashing their wives into being passive domestics.

* ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'': Sure, Gorr became an homicidal maniac bent on killing all gods, a class which includes the title character. But his very first victim was a JerkassGod who clearly didn't care for his followers and [[LaserGuidedKarma very much had it coming]]. And when Thor tries recruiting other deities against Gorr, he discovers they tend toward being unpleasant, cowards and hedonists - best case being Zeus, who embodies all those characteristics to the point it's very satisfying to see Thor opening a hole in his chest.

* In ''Film/AboutTheLittleRedRidingHood'', there are three old women and a shepherd boy, all of them bitter, bad-tempered and petty but nothing more. They are despised by viewers much more than the actual villain of the film, the near-psychotic She-Wolf who wants to avenge her son (TheBigBadWolf of the original fairytale), arranges the kidnapping of Little Red Riding Hood, and is almost murderously abusive towards her surviving WhiteSheep son.

* In ''Film/TheDevilWearsPrada'', Miranda Priestly is an abusive boss who regularly verbally belittles her employees, robs her friend of his dream job just to keep her own, and openly admits to trying to corrupt protagonist Andy into being ruthless like herself. However, due to her charisma, and being played by Creator/MerylStreep, most fans will often go to great lengths to justify and explain away her deeds. Meanwhile, Andy's friends are rude to her at the dinner table by playing keep away with her phone and get mad at her for getting swept up in her job. However, fans are far less forgiving of this, even claiming that her boyfriend, Nate, is the real villain due to him getting angry with her for putting her job first.

** The homeless PhonyVeteran who Foster easily catches in his lies about having fought in [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]]- no, sorry, UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar, and is strongly implied to have made up his sob story just to fleece gullible, sentimental passersby.

* In ''Film/AboutLittleRedRidingHood'', there are three old women and a shepherd boy, all of them bitter, bad-tempered and petty but nothing more. They are despised by viewers much more than the actual villain of the film, the near-psychotic She-Wolf who wants to avenge her son (TheBigBadWolf of the original fairytale), arranges the kidnapping of Little Red Riding Hood, and is almost murderously abusive towards her surviving WhiteSheep son.

* ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'': The most disliked character in the film is Sally, Charlie's [[ParentalNeglectful neglectful mother]], who constantly criticizes her daughter for being "mopey" (despite having lost her father not too long ago), not to mention jumping to conclusions and punishing Charlie for stuff way out of her control. This is in contrast to [[BigBadDuumvirate Shatter and Dropkick]], who are quite enjoyable to watch thanks to their EvilIsCool status, and [[AlphaBitch Tina]], who is a clear unsympathetic HateSink.

* ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'': The BigBadDuumvirate of Shatter and Dropkick are willing to murder innocents and take over the world, but their EvilIsCool nature makes them very enjoyable to watch. Meanwhile, Tina is a cruel AlphaBitch who constantly ridicules Charlie and has a sick KickTheDog moment by mocking her ''[[SpeakIllOfTheDead dead father]]''. Fortunately, she gets her comeuppance when she gets her car totaled by Bumblebee.

* ''Film/BlankCheck'': Preston's father, Fred, comes off as the most hated character in the movie, even more than the villains. [[ParentalFavoritism He lets his two older sons dominate Preston's room for their own business (despite being incompetent at computers)]] and berates Preston for not doing the same despite being clearly too young to do so. He also [[SkewedPriorities grounds Preston for ruining his bike]] rather than worried that he was almost hit by a car. Even when Fred speaks to "Mr. Machintosh" about how he dislikes that he's taking his son's time away from him, his out-of-nowhere [[PapaWolf concern for Preston]] feels lazy and insincere.

* ''Film/BlankCheck'': Preston's father Fred comes off as the most hated character in the movie, even more than the villains. [[ParentalFavoritism He lets his two older sons dominate Preston's room for their own business (despite being incompetent at computers)]], berates Preston for not doing the same despite being clearly too young to do so, [[SkewedPriorities he's more concerned about how Preston's bike was ruined]] rather than worried that he was almost hit by a car and grounds him for it. Even when Fred speaks to "Mr. Machintosh" about how he dislikes that he's taking his son's time away from him, his out of nowhere [[PapaWolf concern for Preston]] feels lazy and insincere.

* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': The xenomorphs, as horrifying and vicious as they are, are [[NonMaliciousMonster Non-Malicious Monsters]] who kill because it's in their biological nature to do so. [[spoiler:Carter Burke, on the other hand, is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who betrays Ripley and the rest of TheSquad on [[SuitWithVestedInterests the orders]] of an amoral MegaCorp that wants a xenomorph sample to experiment on, after he'd gained Ripley's trust by being among the first people to reach out to her after her escape pod was picked up.]] When the xenomorphs die, it's cool. When he dies, it's ''cathartic'', to the point that his actor [[spoiler:Creator/PaulReiser]] said that ''his own mother'' cheered when his character was killed off.

* ''Film/DieHard:'' While Hans Gruber is the BigBad of this film, his AffablyEvil personality almost makes him nicer compared to the arrogant [[FBIAgent FBI Agents]], [[PoliceAreUseless Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson]], and the slimy {{yuppie}} Harry Ellis. But the biggest jerk in the film is Richard "Dick" Thornburg, the [[ImmoralJournalist amoral TV reporter]] who ends up exposing Holly's identity to the terrorists by threatening their immigrant housekeeper with deportation for the sake of a story. He gets his comeuppance when Holly punches him in the face at the end of the movie.

** The {{gangbangers}} who tried to mug Foster and then murder him with a drive-by shooting, killing several innocent people in the process. Most people agree that the one who survived the subsequent car crash [[spoiler:deserved to get shot in the leg by Foster]].

* ''Film/FiveNightsAtFreddys2023'': William Afton is, well, [[WouldHurtAChild William Afton]], but [[spoiler:Matthew Lillard]] is clearly [[ChewingTheScenery having a blast playing such a deliciously evil character]] that it's hard to ''totally'' hate him. The same cannot be said for [[EvilAunt Aunt Jane]], who tries to get Mike fired from his new job by having her goons smash the place up, calls Abby "mentally ill" in an insulting manner, is haughty and mean towards ''everyone'' all of the time, and only wants custody of Abby to receive money from the state rather than out of any familial love.
* ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'': The villain of the story is the nightmare demigod Gozer, but the most hated character by far, even amongst the Ghostbusters themselves, is Walter Peck, a smarmy, sneering Environmental Protection Agency Officer who wants to shutdown their operation.

* ''Film/FiveNightsAtFreddys2023'': William Afton is, well, [[WouldHurtAChild William Afton]], but [[spoiler:Matthew Lillard]] is clearly [[ChewingTheScenery having a blast playing such a deliciously evil character]] that it's hard to ''totally'' hate him. The same cannot be said for [[EvilAunt Aunt Jane]], who tries to get Mike fired from his new job by having her goons smash the place up, calls Abby "mentally ill" in an insulting manner, is haughty and mean towards ''everyone'' all of the time, and is implied to only be after Abby, not out of any familial love but rather just to receive money from the state.