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24 June 2005

Guilty Pleasures? What's your guilty pleasure movie? It was never nominated for an Oscar. It wasn't even nominated for an MTV movie award. But it never fails to make you feel better.

I have two: Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Eurotrip. With a side order of Mommie Dearest.

What's yours?
post by: LeeJay at: 17:22 | 55 comments
The Coca Cola Kid. And the Bill & Ted movies, I love them. Also anything with Gamara in it.
posted by mygothlaundry 24 June | 17:30
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
posted by weretable and the undead chairs 24 June | 17:35
Tremors. The DVD extras are priceless.
posted by matildaben 24 June | 17:36
Overboard with Goldie Hawn. I wore out the tape and had to buy it on DVD. I may be the sole purchaser...

Also, Auntie Mame...the Russell version, not, gods forbid, the Lucille Ball travesty.

And I'll admit this: if Keanu is in it...I'll watch it. I lurve me some Keanu. The Replacements? One of the best bad movies ever.

Also, I got a Marx Brothers set for my birthday last year (Thanks, M.!)...it's on pretty constant rotation. I may have the only toddler in history that can do a Groucho impression.
posted by PsychoKitty 24 June | 17:39
PsychoKitty: I love Overboard. Love it. And only a philistine would choose the Ball Mame over the Russell Mame. You and I would get along just fine on movie night. :)
posted by LeeJay 24 June | 17:44
One of favorite movies is Barbarella - whenever I tell people that it always seems to raise an eyebrow.

Send Me No Flowers always cheers me up even though it's just an over-long sitcom. Certain lines seem funnier now we know Rock liked cock - and Paul Lynde is hilarious.

I love crappy horror films, particularly portmanteaus - you know, the ones where you get three or four stupid stories. I really wish they'd release Tales That Witness Madness on DVD because it has the story of the man who falls in love with a tree. It ends when his wife, Joan Collins of all people, comes home early and finds him in bed with 'twiggy'. Naturally he has no choice but to cut her up with an axe. Joan that is, not the tree.

I really like Bond films too.
posted by dodgygeezer 24 June | 17:44
Good lord, Overboard. I really enjoy it as well. I always feel really sorry for Goldie when she finally works out she's been conned. Actually I really like Private Benjamin as well.

The critical reappraisal of Goldie Hawn starts here!
posted by dodgygeezer 24 June | 17:48
I'm extremely undiscriminating when it comes to movies. It's kind of embarrassing. That being said, some of the movies I will drop everything to watch if I see them on TV:

Conair (John Malkovich...)
The Wedding Singer
Empire Records
Serendipity
Someone Like You
As Good As It Gets
Dirty Dancing
posted by iconomy 24 June | 17:51
Oh and

Cruel Intentions
Simply Irresistible
Picture Perfect
Office Space
posted by iconomy 24 June | 17:54
Point Break (except without the guilt)
Orgazmo
Starship Troopers
Big Trouble in Little China
Grosse Point Blank
posted by dreamsign 24 June | 17:56
Big Trouble in Little China! My favorite Movie!
posted by puke & cry 24 June | 18:00
Doctor Hannibal Lecktor: You want the scent? Smell yourself!
Manhunter is a great thriller that is perfectly cast.
posted by JohnR 24 June | 18:05
And Conan. I forgot Conan & Red Sonja & almost any kind of barbarian sword clanging dragon chasing wizard movie. Even Dungeons & Dragons, although okay, it SUCKS!
posted by mygothlaundry 24 June | 18:06
Dude there's no way anyone should feel guilty about seeing Manhunter, it's a bona fide classic (and a damn sight better than Silence of the Lambs).
posted by dodgygeezer 24 June | 18:09
PsychoKitty, I have a friend who's a huge silent film buff and her 3-year-old can discuss the differences between Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton, so I certainly wouldn't put a Groucho imitation past him.
posted by matildaben 24 June | 18:14
I think the very worst movie I ever saw was Double Dragon...holy shit it was bad. Mindbogglingly bad. I kept watching it because I was appalled with how bad it was, and I kept thinking "any minute now it's going to get good" and then it was over. I saw that on TV.

The two worst movies that I actually paid to hate were Super Mario Brothers (yes, I'm ashamed, ok?) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. It's so bad, and not in a cult status kind of way. Just. Plain. Bad.
posted by iconomy 24 June | 18:14
Oh here's another truly awful movie that I love:
Barb Wire starring Pamela Anderson (futuristic pastiche on Casablanca)
posted by matildaben 24 June | 18:15
iconomy, I love Buckaroo Banzai and have seen it a million times. I'll kindly ask you to take your duct tape and go home now.
posted by matildaben 24 June | 18:16
Mother Wore Tights
The Shadow
The Saint
Sleepy Hollow
Chaplin

Doesn't quite fit your criteria, but I always watch Tombstone when I'm home sick. Its comforting, and I adore Val Kilmer in it.

We also watch The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers endlessly, but I don't feel guilty about it.
posted by anastasiav 24 June | 18:16
Heathers
posted by Cryptical Envelopment 24 June | 18:26
Tombstone is a masterpiece. Actually I consider Big Trouble in Little China to be a masterpiece too, but I guess normal movie-goers do not.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs 24 June | 18:28
Bring It On.
Dude Where's My Car.
The Relic.

They're all movies that, given their genre, are much better than they need to be.
posted by Armitage Shanks 24 June | 18:43
Definitely Heathers, and The Women, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and Valley of the Dolls, and every single Molly Ringwald and Natalie Wood movie.
posted by amberglow 24 June | 19:08
The Magic Christian
posted by PinkStainlessTail 24 June | 19:12
I have seen "What About Bob?" about a dozen times. I don't even know why I love it so much. If I were flipping through the channels right now and came upon it I would watch it again.
posted by sophieblue 24 June | 20:16
About A Boy
posted by Feisty 24 June | 20:18
Tremors
Starship Troopers
Big Trouble in Little China
Ghost
The Breakfast Club
April Fool's Day
posted by deborah 24 June | 20:19
oops, it was nominated.
posted by Feisty 24 June | 20:20
And ya know what? A lot of the movies here were! Y'all aren't coloring within the lines!
posted by Feisty 24 June | 20:22
Yes, Tombstone. Forgot about that one.

Total guilty pleasure: Solaris (yes, the remake). The soundtrack and mood put me at ease.
posted by dreamsign 24 June | 20:30
Okay, I'll play by the rules. "Dancing at the Blue Iguana" is a Jennifer Tilly/Darryl Hannah vehicle about the poignant struggles of Hollywood strippers. It's so cliched and awful, and the acting is so all-over-the-map qualitywise, that I just can't not watch it. It shows up a lot on IFC. Oh, and it's got a poetry subplot!

Also, anything with Theresa Russell, although "Whore" and "Track 29" are real standouts.
posted by maryh 24 June | 20:51
I watched dazed & Confused and Clerks every chance I get, but I feel no guilt about it since they're both legitamitely excellent flicks. There's a film called sahkedown that I love for no good reason except for the fact that consummate cinematic badass Sam elliott (a dead ringer for my brother-in-law is in it).
posted by jonmc 24 June | 21:03
A.I. -- I know it's terrible on the merits, but I find it absolutely fascinating on a number of levels.

The only movie I really feel bad about having on DVD shelf is The Matrix Revolutions, but I'm too much of a completist to not have it, even though it's total garbage.
posted by aaronetc 24 June | 21:13
Also, anything with Theresa Russell,

Saw the second half of Black Widow - looked interesting.
posted by Feisty 24 June | 21:26
Office Space
The Diehard Trilogy
Clerks
Turner & Hootch (I cry everytime the damn dog dies)
The Long Kiss Goodnight

And when I am sick in bed I always watch Fargo. It cheers me up.
posted by leftcoastbob 24 June | 21:51
Black Widow, as I remember it, is actually a pretty fun noir. I'm thinking more of movies that I'd truly be embarrassed to recommend to anyone. Then again there's movies I genuinely like (Rosetta, for instance) that I would feel really guilty about inflicting on most people. Not a date movie, that one.
posted by maryh 24 June | 21:58
I completely refuse to acknowledge the guilty part of pleasure and heartily exercise my happy right to bad taste. In general, anything with lots of explosions, bonus points for weirdo sci-fi/absurd paranormal treatments.

Amongst many of those listed above:

Happy, Texas
Drop Dead Gorgeous
10 Things I Hate About You
Born Romantic
Woman On Top

Dreamsign, the soundtrack to Solaris (which I've seen no less than five times and still absolutely love) was done by the same guy who did Traffic, The Limey, and Sex, Lies and Videotape. The latter two are a bit hard to find, but the one for Traffic is fantastic.

posted by Frisbee Girl 24 June | 22:20
Hmm, I've seen all of those except The Limey, and never really noticed the soundtrack. Time to check it out. Thanks!
posted by dreamsign 24 June | 22:29
Pandemonium. With Tom Smothers and Paul Ruebens (pre Pee-Wee). My mother and I can still crack each other up quoting set-up lines to each other.

"You are frightened of the night?"
"Baloney!"
"You are frightened of baloney?"
posted by yhbc 24 June | 22:33
Buckaroo Banzai
Miller's Crossing
Riders of the Storm (especially on election night)
Copacabana (Groucho & Carmen Miranda)
The Big Lebowski

guilt does not enter into the picture
posted by warbaby 25 June | 00:25
anastasiav, so glad to have a soul sister regarding the wonder that is Val Kilmer in Tombstone! Mr. taz and I have stolen his "I'm your huckleberry" line from that movie, except we say "I'm your dingleberry".

My guilty pleasures include just about any sci-fi, fantasy, or horror (not slasher stuff) film - of course, now I can't think of specific ones, but if it is based on a fairytale, has any combination of witches, wizards, ghosts, monsters, fairies, dragons, animals with magical powers, spaceships, aliens, time travel, parallel universes, magical or cursed items, androids, tiny and/or giant people, secret portals, or satan, I'll put on my jammies, grab the blankie and a bowl of popcorn and watch it.
posted by taz 25 June | 01:15
Taz, A Wrinkle in Time has some of that. Gotta bring your own popcorn though.
posted by Feisty 25 June | 02:43
Someone else likes Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man?
Woo-hoo! Some of the most outrageous male-bonding in cinematic history. Wonderful...
posted by longbaugh 25 June | 03:13
Feisty, I didn't even know there was a film version of "A Wrinkle in Time" (!), but yeah - that would be exactly my cup of Earl Grey.
posted by taz 25 June | 03:14
dodgygeezer, I love Barbarella too! I got the soundtrack on vinyl. I've seen it in Paradiso's Rocket Cinema in Amsterdam with a new soundtrack added live by DJ's while I was stoned out of my head (the scary doll scene was very very scary then!) I even tried to model my wardrobe after hers. Capes, miniskirts and kneehigh boots rule. ;)
posted by dabitch 25 June | 06:33
I'd get some clothes like the ones in Barbarella but the options for men aren't so great. Furs or wings and that's it.

And Mrs Geezer was nice enough to get me the ultra rare soundtrack LP as well. Ahhh, great stuff....
posted by dodgygeezer 25 June | 06:47
Taz, soul sisters indeed! I watched Labyrinth just last night, in fact. (Also a big Henson fan, so its a fairly tale/muppets super bonus double prize!)

Which reminds me of another pleasure ... Ever After. Also The Wedding Singer, mostly for the scene with Billy Idol on the airplane at the end.

A.I. -- I know it's terrible on the merits, but I find it absolutely fascinating on a number of levels

A.I. is one of my favorite movies, and I've never, ever been able to see what is 'terrible' about it. most critics agree with me and you that its an excellent film, although it does try to serve two masters, which is difficult. I always cry at the end -- not when the day ends, but when I realize that poor Teddy is going to be alone for eternity.
posted by anastasiav 25 June | 09:58
Seconded on Bill and Ted, particularly Bogus Journey, which I adore beyond all reason.
posted by ITheCosmos 25 June | 10:24
I liked AI, too, but of course it's right up my alley. Plus, I can't help it, I just adore that kid. ...And I had the same sense of desolation regarding Teddy, anastasiav!

Oddly, even as a guilty pleasure, I didn't very much like the Robin Williams version of "I, Robot", but maybe it was just me; even though I like Robin Williams as a guy, his personality is so strong that it almost always shreds the thin tissue of willing disbelief for me. But, as the photomat serial(?) killer, I thought he was wonderful.
posted by taz 25 June | 10:41
Ishtar.

Put it on fucking DVD already! And the soundtrack!
posted by dobbs 25 June | 12:10
Taz, Disney decided to tackle Madeleine L'Engle's book in 2003. Sadly, they seemed more to have bumped into it. The child characters weren't able to pull it off.
posted by Feisty 25 June | 13:48
I have to see AI again. I remember liking it up to where the film should have ended but didn't.

Liking Legend with Cruise might be considered a wee bit embarassing.

I also adore religion-based films: The Seventh Sign, The Prophecy series with Walken, Stigmata, Rosemary's Baby, Angel Heart, The Omen, The Exorcist, End of Days, etc.
posted by deborah 25 June | 15:03
I always have to laugh (ha ha!) at topics like this when they happen to be the same thing I have been paid to write about (Halfway down the page: Silent Running). Of course, I must admit this was one of my more subversive bits of writing - while others went literally for their favorite junk, mine was more of an underrated goodie. In fact, while cashing in some Amazon gift bucks I'd won from the EdgeCurve caption game (I am really blowing my own cock today, aren't I?), I bought a half dozen DVD packs of TV shows: "Pete and Pete", "The Tick", "The Lone Gunmen", etc.; and one DVD movie: "Silent Running".

Also in the category of "favorite underrated movies" for me: The President's Analyst. But then, that's not what you asked... True guilty pleasure: feature films based on old cartoons ("Rocky and Bullwinkle", "Boris and Natasha") and the intersecting sphere of Brendan Fraser comedies ("George of the Jungle", "Dudley Do-Right", "Looney Tunes Back in Action", leading to "Monkeybone" and "Bedazzled"... no "Mummys", please, just comedies). Fraser's just the best living cartoon character we've got in the movies these days and should be barred from serious movies. Just sayin'.

posted by wendell 25 June | 15:30
porn. seriously.

in the non- X-rated section of the video store, I'd say Miami Vice. but mostly, it's porn. and I blame the "guilty" pleasure part to Catholicism
posted by matteo 26 June | 09:04
labyrinth
heathers
bill & ted's excellent adventure

but it's bowie and teenage jennifer connelly, and the best 80s teen rebellion movie ever, and the role keanu was born to, dammit. so why do i still feel guilty?

on preview: beaten to all three. phew.
posted by soi-disant 27 June | 06:22
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