It's a Bad Movie, But It Was Fun to Watch Anyway


There are three types of interesting movies. First, there are great movies that are great fun to watch. Second, there are great movies that are not particularly enjoyable to sit through. Finally there are those movies that are bad movies, but for some reason are still quite fun to watch. Using some Q. Tarantino related films as examples, "Pulp Fiction" is the first type, "Resevoir Dogs" is in the second group and "From Dusk to Dawn" is in the third. What puts a film in the bad but fun category can be anything - a great performance, a single great scene, breath taking cinematograpghy etc. For instance, in "FD2D" I love the opening sequence. That plus a wild soundtrack makes for enjoyable viewing experience.

I'm interested in hearing about what others think are examples of bad but fun films. Please explain specifically what you thought made an otherwise bad movie still fun to watch.

I'd like to nominate "Congo". It's beyond dopey, but watching first class actors (Tim Curry, Delroy Lindo, Joe Pants and Ernie Hudson) ham it up to the max is a joy. I particularly like the goofey accents.
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Showing 2 responses by garfish

'61; two popped into mind before I even finished your thread: 1. "Tremors" with Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward, set in the Nevada desert, it's got fast digging under ground monsters they named Graboids (I've worked in the Nevada desert), the interplay among the characters is excellent and the "light science fiction-horror" theme is great. There are a lot of intangibles that come together that make this movie for me but especially the interplay between Bacon and Ward. I think this movie has achieved cult status.

2. "Streets of Fire", sub-titled "A Rock & Roll Fable", stars Michael Pare', William Dafoe, Amy Madigan, and Rick Moranis. The soundtrack by Ry Cooder is excellent. Set in a large city in the 1950's (maybe Chicago?), it has cowboy names, ie Tom Cody and Ellen Aim, cowboy rifles (M94 Winchesters), a motorcycle gang complete with Harley's, and a chopped 1950 candy apple red Mercury convertible. I believe this was a british "take" on the way American society works-- at least in a movie, and in the 50's-- it's great.

I think the Lethal Weapon movie series also fits into this category. Cheers. Craig
'61; you're right re "Tremors". Michael Gross, who played the part of Bert Gummer (the survivalist) and Reba McIntyre (his wife) definitely deserve mention in this one. I had to look it up to get the name right. Thanks for a fun thread. Cheers. Craig