# Bad movies that just aren't that bad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900 "2012-04-25T13:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/61 "2012-04-26T05:47:53Z")
I’ll second many mentioned here- Nothing But Trouble, Hudson Hawk, Ishtar, John Carter, Stuart Saves His Family, most of Ed Wood’s work. Really, I will have fun deriding Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes with friends, but if it had been titled Simian World, I’d have enjoyed it a lot more. And if the glorious original Wicker Man had never existed & the Nicholas Cage version was the only one, it wasn’t horrible. But I’ll add the series responsible for the nightmares of a whole decade (1970s) Christian-raised kids… A Thief in the Night & its three sequels. Cheesy, low-budget Rapture-Tribulation films that deliver a real gut punch (the second one- A Distant Thunder - is the best). ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/62 "2012-04-26T07:25:20Z")
One that comes to mind for me is _Not Another Teen Movie_, which has a 28% on RT. I happened to catch it on TV and it was amusing. I think possibly some gross-out scenes were edited out Ebert complains of “characters being sprayed with vast quantities of excrement.” Speaking of Ebert, I thought I’d have a look through the index to his book _Your Movie Sucks_ and see which of his zero stars I’d give at least 2 and a half. I came up with _Wolf Creek_, _Team America: World Police_, and _Constantine_. I wasn’t sure about some because he may mean a remake, for instance _The Grudge_, so I left them off. Ebert’s review of _Constantine_ is one of my favorite bad reviews, incidentally. The Angry Video Game Nerd has a video about sequels that don’t suck as much as fans claim. He pointed out that _Crystal Skull_ wasn’t as terrible as the fanboys claimed, comparing the infamous refrigerator scene to the time they jump out of a plane and use a rubber raft for a parachute. South Park also satirized the perceived rape of Mr Jones. Yeah, that’s true, but it was still a pretty crap movie IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/63 "2012-04-26T07:48:35Z")
> [@SunSandSuffering](#): > > I believe “[Titanic II](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640571/)” is the poster-child for this situation. Tagline: “Also Unsinkable” (well, it ought to be) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/64 "2012-04-26T08:49:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Maybe I should find them on DVD. Turns out, it’s almost impossible to find _North_ on DVD, as it never got officially released on it in America, and other countries where it did are out of stock. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/65 "2012-04-26T09:03:13Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Okay, I’ll say it: _Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_. > > It compares quite unfavorably with the original IJ trilogy, of course. But if it were somehow possible to judge it separately from the other three, it could be argued that it was just a silly, implausible action chase film. Passable, fun popcorn fare. The expectations were just so impossibly high that a cheesy, not-so-great movie became the worst abomination ever projected on a screen. I agree, though I’m not sure most viewers or critics thought it was terrible, just a vocal minority of the original trilogy’s fans. It’s in the same category as the Phantom Menace. An actually reviled film which I personally thought wasn’t bad(note: still not good) was Uwe Boll’s Postal. I laughed many times. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/66 "2012-04-26T13:56:04Z")
I saw _Patch Adams_ in the theatre with 3 family members and we all really liked it. Looking back it was very manipulative and somewhat maudlin, but it was enjoyable and funny. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/67 "2012-04-26T14:00:41Z")
13th Warrior got slammed pretty hard by the critics and I’m not sure why. I liked the book when I read it and I thought the movie was pretty decent as well. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but I thought it did a decent job with the whole story. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/68 "2012-04-26T14:14:59Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > 13th Warrior got slammed pretty hard by the critics and I’m not sure why. I liked the book when I read it and I thought the movie was pretty decent as well. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but I thought it did a decent job with the whole story. I’ll agree with this. I liked it. For some reason there were several versions of _Beowulf_ coming out about that time, while there had hardly been anything before. These ranged from awful (the Christopher Lambert techno-Beowulf) to mediocre (Syfy’s _Grendel_) to prettyy darned good (Zemeckis’ motion-capture _Beowulf_ with its Neil Gaiman script, the Iceland-filmed _Beowulf and Grendel_ with Gerard Butler, and the Michael Crichton film). Except for Zemeckis’ version (which got a fair amount of nasty reviews), none of these got much attention or appreciation, but they were mostly much better than critics seemed to think (IMHO) ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/69 "2012-04-26T14:22:11Z")
I can fall asleep from boredom watching Batman (89), but I think Batman and Robin is pretty entertaining. It’s not good, and it’s pretty cheesy, but it’s a lot more fun than Tim Burton’s first movie. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/70 "2012-04-26T14:26:08Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > The movie that leapt to mind for me is Godfather 3. When compared to the sheer genius of the first two, the third movie is lousy. But as a standalone picture, it’s not that bad and certainly not as gawdawful as most would insist it is. It’s by no means a masterpiece, but it doesn’t deserve all the flak it has received over the years. Some of the flak, certainly, but not all. Change ‘Godfather’ to ‘Terminator’ and this would be my post word-for-word. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/71 "2012-04-26T14:56:14Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > The Angry Video Game Nerd has a video about sequels that don’t suck as much as fans claim. He pointed out that _Crystal Skull_ wasn’t as terrible as the fanboys claimed, comparing the infamous refrigerator scene to the time they jump out of a plane and use a rubber raft for a parachute. So he compared the dumbest scene from the worst movie to the dumbest scene from the second worst movie and called that a defense? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/72 "2012-04-26T15:12:26Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > So he compared the dumbest scene from the worst movie to the dumbest scene from the second worst movie and called that a defense? 😛 He was pointing out, I think, that some fans were acting like there’d never been a dumb scene in the Indiana Jones movies before the nuclear fridge. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/73 "2012-04-26T16:08:50Z")
_Land of the Lost_ wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. I even laughed out loud a couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/74 "2012-04-26T17:16:04Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > _Land of the Lost_ wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. I even laughed out loud a couple of times. I laughed quite a bit at Land of the Lost. My kids, however _loved it_. At a certain point in the movie, my son actually paused it, looked at me and said, “This is the greatest movie ever made.” So, I think it depends on the audience. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/75 "2012-04-26T18:14:10Z")
_A Night at the Roxbury_. 11% at Rotten Tomatoes, with particularly harsh reviews from Ebert and James Berardinelli, both of whom I like a lot. It’s not a good movie. But, to echo the common refrain in this thread, I’ve seen worse. It did have its funny moments- there was a good send-up of the “You-had-me-at-hello” scene from Jerry McGuire, after the brothers made up after an argument. When the brothers weren’t speaking to each other, we got to see Chris Kattan, seemingly on the verge of tears, staring forlornly out a window into a rainy night as sad music played, comforting himself by snacking on Readi-Whip sprayed straight into his mouth from the can. It was stupid but funny. Also, it featured a completely unexpected- and thus completely hilarious- ass-over-head pratfall by the Chris Kattan character. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/76 "2012-04-26T18:20:34Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > So he compared the dumbest scene from the worst movie to the dumbest scene from the second worst movie and called that a defense? 😛 You should watch the Mr. Plinkett review of Indy 4. Even with his analysis tearing it apart, you can tell that he mostly likes the movie. Indy 4 is definitely nowhere near as bad as the Star Wars prequels. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/77 "2012-04-26T19:51:29Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > I saw _Patch Adams_ in the theatre with 3 family members and we all really liked it. Looking back it was very manipulative and somewhat maudlin, but it was enjoyable and funny. Unlike the real Patch Adams. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/78 "2012-04-26T21:05:43Z")
“1408” (or was it “Room 1408”?) A Stephen King-ish writer who investigates haunted houses is locked in a hotel room, #1408, as a matter of fact. Stars John Cusak and it isn’t entirely awful. (Though he must be one HELL of a writer, he’s wildly popular with his fans. Something like his job seems more made-for-cable-tv). ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/79 "2012-04-26T21:36:27Z")
_The Tourist_ with Depp and Jolie. I don’t get why people say it’s a bad movie. Depp is funny & charming and Jolie looks every inch the A-list movie star. I defy anyone to watch the opening sequence of Jolie and not say to himself or herself, “Now _that’s_ what a movie star is supposed to look like.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900/80 "2012-04-26T21:55:05Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > … > And if the glorious original Wicker Man had never existed & the Nicholas Cage version was the only one, it wasn’t horrible… I think the Cage version was SO bad that it circled around and became good, as a hysterically funny, if unintentionally so, parody of… something. I swear I almost fainted with laughter a couple of times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-that-just-arent-that-bad/619900.md?page=5)