"As entertaining as a blowtorch" - good or bad?

When I was kid, my dad would use the New York Times TV listings to pick movies for us to watch. Most movies came with a pithy, one-liner review and a star rating. One of them - I can’t remember which - always had the review “As entertaining as a blowtorch.”

I don’t know if we ever watched the movie, but we always debated whether the usually stodgy New York Times meant that in a good or bad way.

As a bonus, does anyone know which movie this referred to?

It depends on which end of the blowtorch you’re on.

My blowtorch has provided me with more hours of fun than any movie I can think of.

I think that it was the unentertaining one.

Blowtorches are for gettin’ mediaeval on some muthafuckah’s ass! :mad:

I’d definitely assume entertaining, having seen what pyrotechnics some industrial bands get up to onstage with blowtorches and anglegrinders :slight_smile:

That’s a negative review.

I have no reasoning to back that up, it’s just a gut feeling.

Depends whether it’s your blowtorch or mine. If I have it, I can be entertained for hours. If you have one, I’m looking for the nearest exit.

I would say it’s intended to be a negative review, presumably because the writer was imagining watching a blowtotch flame for a couple of hours, but as others have said, personally I think blowtorches can be very entertaining! So the writer missed the mark with this one.

Personally, I don’t think burned flesh smells all that bad. You get used to it after awhile, especially if you’re conditioned early, like in kindergarden.

It depends on whose flesh. Jolene the Chicken? Burn, baby, burn!