Movie Quality vs Movie Enjoyability

Rodney 93 Comments

A clever little webcomic online called xkcd often tickles me, and today’s strip embodies exactly how I feel about the scale of Movie Quality vs Movie Enjoyability.

Everytime you look back and wonder if there was ever anything worse than JarJar in the Star Wars films, remember the Holiday Special. George Lucas denies it exists for a reason.

He still accepts that JarJar exists even though he knows it was not his best idea!

So what are your “So-Bad-It’s-Good” films??

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93 thoughts on “Movie Quality vs Movie Enjoyability”

  1. Oddly enough, two of them are with Dolph Lundgren

    So bad it’s good movies:

    – Showdown in Little Tokyo
    – Masters of the Universe
    – Deathbed: The Bed that Eats
    – Burial Ground: Nights of Terror
    – Quick Change

  3. What about Last Action Hero? Was it so bad that it overshot the “it’s so bad, it’s good” mark? That movie still stands out to as one of the worst ever.

  6. Under the category, “it’s so bad that it’s fun to heckle with friends” would have to be
    Deathstalker 2.

    The first movie (a sword/sorcery flick) is bad, but the second one set out to be intentially bad — horrible acting, same 5-6 guys as the goons just dressed up in different ways for different fights, very low production values, and no-talent playboy centerfold playing both the heroine and the heroine’s evil twin.

    Best part? Outtakes at the end. Including outtakes of the sex scene.

    And now that its on DVD? They’ve even got a commentary mocking themselves.

  12. The topic crops up every so often, and it’s always fun to talk about. Some of the int’l friends know my lists of the brain twists, but here’s a recap:

    – Blue Monkey

    Old guy wants to pick up an old gal; he checks out an exotic plant in her greenhouse, and infects him. A short time later, a giant maggot emerges from his dead body. The maggot grows into a mutant man eating giant female preying mantis. The hospital is under quarantine, and the authorities kill more folks than the bug. Steve Railsbach and Susan Anspach hunt the bug down.

    I still have my VHS copy; I would like to find a DVD somewhere..

    – Only The Strong

    Acting’s bad. The story is paper thin. But Mark Dacascos has some charisma; he’s this ex-Special Forces dude who helps get the dope dealers out of a Miami high school. How? By teaching the misfit students martial arts, specifically capoeria. Also noteworthy is the film’s soundtrack, which I have. You all have heard one tune from it at one point or another and not even known it.

    Here’s a hint: “Zoom. Zoom. Zoom”
    Think about car commercials
    .

    – No Mercy

    It got a bad rap because Richard Gere drags Kim Basinger through the bayou in handcuffs for a few minutes. And the film opens with Gere stopping a drug bust and getting all soaked in suds for his effort (bust went down at a buggy wash) but there was some good action and…Jeroen Krabbe as Lasado was a total BADASS.

    – The Return Of The Living Dead.

    More brains. Send more paramedics.
    Nuff said.

  13. Mean Guns. It has probleams some of the acting is a little off and they do this weird “speed up” thing with the film during one of the action parts and it looks weird and even laughed the first time I saw that part. But I love this kind of cheese action film and I would recommend it to any action fan.

  15. Mr. Jingles I believe falls in the category of so completely and utterly stupid that it’s hilarious. Horrible acting even worse effects and a demonic killer clown, What’s not to love?

  17. Evil Dead as a series. they are SO bad, but i can never lose my love for them cause they just make up all the plot consitinces by being entertainging as hell. i finnaly got the first one on dvd

  19. The only way a “So bad its good” film is enjoyed is when you are watching it with a bunch a friends and able to heckle it together. Uwe Boll films would go into this category as well as the Mortal Kombat films and Street Fighter with JCVD. Actually, Street Fighter might hit the top of the list.

    As for sitting alone, All of Peter Jackson’s early work and Cannibal: the Musical.

    Ricki-oh is a real good one, too.

  20. One of the worst movies ever (even according to Rotten Tomatoes): The Covenant. I was in the mood for a mindless action sci-fi flick when it came out though and, without reading the reviews, made my friends go see it (despite protests). We laughed so freaking hard at how bad it was, throughout the entire thing. Truly an epic failure, though with moments that were so bad it was, well, not good… but at least unintentionally hilarious.

    1. The late Andy Sedaris was behind those intentionally high camp DTV series that featured various Playboy playmates w/automatic weapons, and WMDs of another sort. Cheap, cheesy and gave new meaning to the word exploitation.

      I used to dig’ em, the L.E.T.H.A.L. series. Used to.

  26. Have any of you seen Black Sheep? Not the one with Chris Farley…the one made in 2006 about a failed genetic experiment that turns the sheep into maneaters!! Now that is a great movie! The effects suck, the actings sucks, but the idea of the story is so damn hilarious that I LOVED IT even though it was terrible. I recommend you go out and rent it tonite!!!

  28. I put my love for dance movies in here… ie Stomp the Yard… I just cant get enough of that movie.

    and Sky High? but I’m not sure if I even think it is bad hahah

  31. A very guilty favorite of mine that definitely falls under this category is Gymkata… Horrible movie from the 80’s that makes me giggle and cringe. That scene in the town of crazy people and the pommel horse? That alone makes it worthwhile.

  35. Last Action Hero and The Last Boyscout.

    As for the debate “so bad it’s good” is the same as “guilty pleasure”. You know the movie has flaws, but you love it for some reason…

  36. can I throw any Arnie classics into the ring? Commando is, in my opinion, The Best-Bad Movie Ever Made.
    Terrible acting/dialogue (Arnie:”I LIED!!!”)
    effects (blatent dummies getting blown up)
    story (what? go there, get daughter, kill everything)
    music (steel drums for every occasion!)
    bad-guy (Freddie Mercury’s lost brother!)

    …but, its entertaining as hell!! Utterly hilarious! Raw Deal should also maybe go on the list.

  38. I’m impressed with will people beliefs that movies are either black or white. That there is not a single movie that you find enjoyment from that is generally and overly bad movie.

    Like Teeth, a movie about a vagina that bites, sounds like a horrible premise for a movie, yet was entertaining, and quite cringe worthy, none the less.

    Or, for me anyway, Dude Where’s My Car… where the majority of viewers hate it because it is so stupid, and I know it was stupid, yet for some reason I have found enjoyment in watching it just because of how stupid it is.

    It’s like comparing the two Street Fighter movies. Both of sucked horribly; however, the first one sucked so bad that it will be remembered forever. Whereas the Legend of Chung Li sucked of so much mediocracy that it will be forget within a year or two. That’s why one has a following and the other nothing. I personally hated both, but I do recognize the following the first one has. Despite it horribleness there is no denying it did something right.

  41. That doesnt exist, if a movie is bad, it fucking sucks. Period.

    I hate it when people make that excuse, Drag Me To Hell gets that “Oh it was so bad i kinda liked it a lot”

    No, that movie was fucking horrid, it was SO BAD that I hated every secound of it.

    Maybe theres a bad movie that had good stuff in it that you like? Thats different, but never is a movie “So bad that I liked it”

    10,000 BC was so bad I grabbed my neighbors baby and ripped her hair off.

    1. You’re wrong James. Technical aspects of a movie can be well executed but the movie overall can still be unenjoyable … and vice versa. Just because a Movie Is Technically “Bad” doesn’t mean that it “fucking sucks”.

      1. I know that, i basically said that on a comment response up top ^^^^^^

        What my point is: No movie ever sucks so hard it magically becomes good.

        Maybe you likes something about it and hated something about it…. so that makes it an OKAY movie, not a bad movie yo loved.

        Instead of complicating things and saying “I hated it so much, that out of hatred, i loved it a little”
        just say “It was meh”

      2. …and as for “Drag Me To Hell” there was nothing “Bad” about it. It was flawlessly executed and very well put together, plus it was also enjoyable and entertaining. But The Last part is an opinion … Subjective from one person to another.

      3. Lmao okay. No movie is loved or hated by everyone.

        Have you ever watched a movie that was so bad you found YOURSELF embarrassed around people watching it with you?
        That was me while watching it. I even whispered “I am so sorry” to my family for recommending it to them.

        Last time ill ever listen to the TomatoMeter

      4. Well, James … I don’t believe any of these people are saying anything about a movie “sucking so bad that it suddenly becomes good” … just because they word things differently than you isn’t a proper reason to mildly attack the way a person states something. People aren’t always going to say things in your range of stating them. Maybe instead of criticizing the way others word things, just let them write it and read (or don’t read) what they right. Just a hint. It’s less aggressive and sounds more adult.

      6. 1) Im not attacking anyone

        2) Im not being aggressive to anyone, Its hard to see this because youre reading it instead of listening to me, if you were listening to me youd understand my tone, thats just how i usually talk (completely irrelevant)

        3) “So-Bad-It’s-Good” is exactly what everyone here is saying. Its just another way of saying “It sucks so much baby balls it morphs into a good movie id recommend”

      7. Using cuss words is generally interpreted as anger in diction. This comes off as aggressive behavoir. Every line you write, for the most part sounds angry. You may want to consider that when writing then … because I don’t think that even though you “didn’t mean to sound aggressive or angry” it still comes off that way. But what do I know. Sorry for missinterpreting your statements.

        …and your #3 comment makes zero sense at all while being very vulgar as well … but if that is the way you choose to project yourself … who am I to criticize?

    2. The phrase “so bad it’s good” does not literally mean that. It basically sums up when someone finds they enjoy something despite the fact that by all rational analysis, it really does lack what they would normally categorize themselves as liking.

      Often film buffs like ourselves who visit sites like this and give a lot of thought to films can give a really good explanation of the type of movie we like. We can describe the technical aspects of what makes a quality film. But from time to time there will be a film we still enjoy, despite the fact that on paper, we really wouldn’t expect to.

      You’re saying that if a film is technically bad, yet still enjoyable, we should describe it as “meh”. No, that’s when a movie is mediocre. If we really enjoyed it, then we really enjoyed it. The “so bad it’s good” part comes into describing why we liked it, when you really can’t justify it by any rational means like ‘good script’, ‘great acting’ or ‘fantastic effects’.

  42. Damn I thought this was going to be an in depth debate about analyzing the merits of movie quality vs. movie enjoyability. I was preparing for war as I clicked the link. Oh well, another day.

  45. I think that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, for me at least, could get to “so bad it’s good” status.

    Plan 9 from Outer Space is definitely the King of All Bad Movies that are Good.

    Others are The Covenant and Pathfinder

    For my Razzie ballot, I’m gonna check out some films that may get there one day, like Obsessed

    And I’m gonna try to check out that awful Star Wars Holiday Special just to laugh at it haha

    2. I don’t know how the rest of the year will pan out, but so far in my view, ‘Obsessed’ is the worst film I have laid witness to so far this year. Beyonce better stick to musicals, because she can dance and sing; she cannot, however, act. That film also wasn’t bold, daring, engaging or suspenseful. It could have went the ‘Fatal Attraction’ route; but it lacked tension. It could have went ‘Disclosure’, but it dropped that angle of he said/she said.

      The big hype was the catfight.
      And it was short, but not sweet.

      It didn’t deliver.
      …and for gosh sakes, if a hot gal like Ali Larter is going to play vixen, she should actually be convincing…

      I must stop now, before I rant away…..

  46. The way I view the statement “so bad it’s good” is much like how I view the “guilty pleasure” statement. You know the movie is bad, you know you should not like it, yet for some reason you like it anyway. Is that an accurate description of that?

    Remo Williams would fall under this category for me.

    1. i cant agree with you on this, they’re kids cartoons. They’re great for what they are and there by no means good movies to the general pop. but to put them in a so bad its good category i wouldnt agree

  48. Movies are attempting to make us believe in a story and get us immersed into it. When they fail at it miserably, we can get laughter out of how pathetic the attempts to make us emotionally respond turn out to be. We’re not laughing with it, but we’re having a great time laughing at it.

    Same for the worst contestants in talent shows who still make it on TV. Human nature has no mercy for piss-poor performances blended with a genuine conviction to achieve something great.

      2. NO ONE hates a movie so much they hate it.

        Theyre just confused.

        Allow me to correct them.

        They saw a shit movie that was supposed to be say- a horror. But it fucking sucked, however… it was extremely funny and ridiculous in an Evil Dead sort of way. So they laughed and loved the gore, but it wasnt the movie they expected, and it obviousy was a fucking horrible movie.

        So they hated it, but admit it had good things going for it, which ended up being really good (the humor, for example) but it failed at being what it was supposed to be, a horror, and the story was dog shit, therefore it sucked kitten balls.

    1. I enjoyed ‘The Core’, I don’t understand why people hate it so much. The acting was decent, the visuals were impressive, and the characters were pretty solid.

      1. Because the science was just ridiculous, and the plot and dialogue were predictable to the word. In short, great fun! Watched it with my flatmates and we were quoting it for the rest of the year…

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