Jump to content
IGNORED

What makes a movie "So bad, it's good"?


Recommended Posts

I was watching the documentary "Best Worst Movie" and there was an interesting discussion about what makes a "good" bad movie. They said to achieve that status the filmmakers must genuinely care about what they're making. The best bad movies are the ones where the filmmakers tried their best to make a good movie, but failed spectacularly. When the filmmakers make odd or baffling choices, either by accident, inexperience, or because of an outsider perspective,  it becomes genuinely entertaining, or unintentionally funny.

What I've personally observed: The script, the acting, costumes, special effects, and sets can all be lousy so long as its not boring! Also, the sound and picture quality has to be good. 

Edited by G-type
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It definitely has to come from a place of genuine effort and for the greatest effect, you can never break character. You have to be like the “old” magician in The Prestige who keeps his act up even when he’s off stage. Tommy Wiseau is in on the joke. I think The Room is genuinely entertaining but since he’s entered the spotlight, you can’t take him seriously anymore. Has anyone seen Big Shark? No, because you can’t intentionally make a “so bad it’s good movie.”

Neil Breen is a generational talent. People can’t decisively say if he’s a delusional narcissist or dedicated performance artist. Every Neil Breen movie is a treat because even if I’m eating out of the hands of moviemaking’s greatest troll, he keeps up appearances so well that it’s easy to suspend disbelief.

I don’t think there are “so bad they’re good” movies though. If a movie is entertaining, it’s entertaining. They’re just good!

  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good question. I think it all comes down to the combination of entertaining and passion.

I genuinely love something like The Room because even if it's a mess it's entertaining and you can tell Tommy put real passion in to it even if he had more money than sense. Same goes with a lot of the movies we've watched so far. The budgets might be small but they worked with what they had to make their vision come out the best way possible with what they had.

When a move tries to be bad in the hopes of becoming a cult hit then I think it becomes obvious and it just ends up being a bad movie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Brickman said:

I genuinely love something like The Room because even if it's a mess it's entertaining and you can tell Tommy put real passion in to it even if he had more money than sense. Same goes with a lot of the movies we've watched so far. The budgets might be small but they worked with what they had to make their vision come out the best way possible with what they had.

This is why Ryan's Babe won my heart. It's so batshit wild but you can tell it was a passion project for the writer/director.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...