DISQUS

ANGRYBROOMSTICK · 7 months ago

excellent post. you nailed it right on the hammer about why this film was a hit at the B.O. Yes, it's a bad movie and everyone knows it, but it's good for a laugh, nothing more, nothing less. There's also that sleaze factor, which the audience is craving for these days, to escape the awful economic climate we're all being faced with.

Cole_Abaius · 7 months ago

I think the key factor is a lack of talent. Since filmmaking is a team sport, movies can sometimes rise above a little bad writing or bad acting or bad directing if every other element is strong. But when you assemble a team of people without much talent, they usually view each other's work as fantastic (perhaps where a lack of self-awareness comes in).

Those lines might be bad, but a few cuts and some better actors, and this film could have been great. It's weird to think that that's all it takes sometimes. Although I can see easily why a group of people trying to create a vehicle for a pop singer lacked the self-awareness to realize they weren't all that talented.

And, Broomstick, why does everything have to be about the economic climate? I'm not quite sure that there's evidence that anyone headed out to see this to escape.

_Christopher_M · 7 months ago

it's all about exploiting the niche and dumb moviegoers...these awful movies do it to almost an art form....seriously why do people make Paul Blart and Fast & Furious, obviously horrible movies into massive hits...it just means we're going to be subjected to more copycat garbage in the future...if you look at My Bloody Valentine 3D or Crank 2 they are also bad movies but they're at least fun to watch....

why anyone would put themselves through such pain is beyond me...it's like when I was talked into seeing Spiceworld in grade 8 expecting some decent cleavage from Geri Halliwell and all I got was a mind numbing headache...movies being made because of star power/popularity always seems to be a disaster in the waiting...

did anyone else notice Halliwell played Chev's mum?...lol

Cole_Abaius · 7 months ago

What's wrong with Paul Blart? or Fast & Furious?

_Christopher_M · 7 months ago

lousy movies pretending to be "fun" flicks

LandonPalmer · 7 months ago

It seems that, at least with movies like Paul Blart, Fast and Furious, and especially Obsessed, there is a tacit contract between audiences (or, at least audience members over 15) and the film that acknowledge that the film is stupid, mindless entertainment, and it can thus be enjoyed on those grounds. Of course, if a film whose aspirations do not seek beyond mindless entertainment fails to be adequately entertaining, that's a different issue entirely...

But what I think is the bigger threat are films marketed to tweens (17 Again, Hannah Montana). Tweens are not only dominating the box office, but pretty much every aspect of pop culture as we know it, and the age group consuming these products aren't old and discerning enough to realize that what they are consuming is nothing more than cultural junk food. Where films like Fast and Furious exist largely because of audience demand, trends are carefully created for films directed towards tweens based on the tendency for this age group to have uniform tastes. If tween culture continues to dominate, the qualitative future of studio films doesn't look promising...

Bethany P · 7 months ago

i laughed my way through "Crouching TIger, Hidden Dragon" and got thrown out of the theater for it. just, fyi.

Jim_Rohner · 7 months ago

The erotic thriller hasn't been successful in recent years because they're no longer being written by Joe Esterhaz.

LandonPalmer · 7 months ago

That is, of course, under the assumption that Showgirls wasn't part of the "death" of the erotic thriller

LandonPalmer · 7 months ago

That is, of course, assuming that Showgirls wasn't part of the "death" of the erotic thriller