There is a lot of discussion about what a “guilty pleasure” really is. Some people say it’s an excuse Stanley Kubrick lovers use to admit they like some silly romantic comedy. But as far as I’m concerned, some silly romantic comedies are actually quite good, so there’s no reason to feel guilty about it.
To me, a “guilty pleasure” is a movie that goes against what I believe good filmmaking should be, but for some reason, I still enjoyed watching it one or more times - either because it’s entertainingly bad or I just have no real argument to defend it, which for someone who loves movies as much as I do, inspires the guilt part.
Famous guilty-pleasure movies that are NOT on this list - and why:
- Mean Girls - This movie is awesome and I can justify it perfectly well. Therefore, it’s not a guilty pleasure.
- Killer Klowns from Outer Space - I can see why people like this movie, but I didn’t enjoy it that much. It’s mostly boring, honestly.
- Snakes on a Plane - Fun little film, but too self-aware to be considered a guilty pleasure. It's a comedy and it's proud of it.
- Grease - This musical is actually a lot of genuine fun with great tracks, not to mention it’s iconic from beginning to end.
- Independence Day - Definitely an okay action movie, but besides the memorable (and now dated) special effects, there isn’t much left.
- Dirty Dancing - A harmless little movie that’s quite charming - nothing wrong about liking it.
- American Pie - A tremendous hit at the time, but it’s nothing more than a silly comedy with absurd male fanservice and adults playing teens.
- Clueless - It’s silly, but the dated pop culture references and jokes are even funnier today.
- 13 Going on 30 - Another example of a great romantic comedy being overlooked just for being a romantic comedy. This is a good one and there’s no reason to call it a guilty pleasure.
Finally, the movies aren’t in order by any criteria. Just pick them out and have fun (or in many cases, don’t)!
Sucker Punch
Level of guilt: I watch it for the plot
Times rewatched: at least five times
Zack Snider is not that bad of a director as many have come to label him, but this certainly isn’t the movie to prove that point. Sucker Punch is about… something, I guess. But what matters most is that it involves gun wielding hot girls with sexy armour in a fantasy world that borrows from video game logic. Can’t argue with that.
Twilight (the first one)
Level of guilt: I was 16 when this movie came out, ok?
Times rewatched: three or four times, maybe five
OK, say what you will about the Twilight Saga (and there is a lot to say), but if there was a movie I could give the award for “Not The Worst Movie Ever”, it would go to the first Twilight.
The silly plot is laughable, the dull protagonist Bella Swan doesn’t help (a dullness that’s far from being Kristen Stewart’s fault, I might add), and the uninteresting - often ridiculous - vampires are hard to swallow. But the overall teenager drama and romance are serviceable - which to everyone in their 14’s and 16’s at the time, was more than enough to boil some hormones.
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of Crystal Skull
Level of guilt: a lot
Times rewatched: five or six times
WHAT? I like Indiana Jones 4?!
Well, no. Critics and the public rightfully disliked Indie’s return to the big screen, and it aged even worse for starring the now controversial figure Shia LaBeouf. And I must agree: Indie’s fourth adventure is too overblown, too digital and too generic - not to mention it has aliens. Yes, aliens.
But having said that… I still really loved seeing Indie again. I grew up watching his adventures and there are some moments where I felt happy to be there - like Indie’s skeptical grim when being explained the alien plot, or Marion’s smile after Indie’s love declaration - which is the best exchange in the entire movie.
Face/off
Level of guilt: ...
Times rewatched: not enough
John Travolta isn’t known for being the most subtle of actors, despite his iconic role as the smooth Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction - just take a look at him on his most famous bad role on the infamous Battlefield Earth.
And Nicolas Cage, well, we all know how that turned out.
Now imagine a movie where over-actor Nicolas Cage has to overact like over-actor John Travolta - and the other way around - directed by John Woo, the chinese master of overblown action. This movie may be a mess, but OH JOY, what a fun mess it is.
Fast Five
Level of guilt: just a little bit
Times rewatched: only twice (is that too many?)
Think of how much you care that someone in the world stubbed their toe last week. Then you can guess how little I cared that the fifth installment of the Fast and Furious series was released at the time. However, I did end up seeing it and I enjoyed every second of it.
Maybe it was because of Vin Diesel’s odd accent, The Rock’s oily muscular presence, or the absurd heist plans to the final chase that involves an entire safe being dragged across a city by two cars.
And. So. Many. Gear. Shifting. Close-ups.
The Mummy Returns
Level of guilt: Well, it’s not as bad as the third one. Right?
Times rewatched: easily more than 20 times
After the commercial hit of the first film (which was already pretty silly), naturally, a sequel was on the way. It’s pretty much the same film again, including some legitimately fun callbacks - like the first one was some sort of classic, which is very cute. I watched this movie countless times when I was a kid, and I currently have no excuses for it. The only excuse I can conjure up is this: sure, it’s very silly, but at least it recognizes that and owns it, resulting in a light-hearted adventure that although forgettable, is still enjoyable.
Not to mention this is the movie that launched Dwayne The Rock Johnson’s acting career - people tend to forget the CGI abomination he becomes on the third act. I'll give this movie credit though: it has the best reaction shot in movie history.
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
Level of guilt: PG-13 fan service
Times rewatched: at least ten times - my sister in an accomplice
What even is this movie? The action scenes, the acting, the “story” - nothing comes remotely close to being considered serious or reasonable, but for whatever reason, it’s so bananas it’s actually a lot of fun. The main trio clearly had a great chemistry on set and if you can have at least 5% of the fun they’re having, it’s enough to forgive this movie.
But don’t get me started on that Crispin Glover character. I still see him in my nightmares.
Mamma Mia
Level of guilt: “Here I go again”
Times rewatched: a solid five times
I guess this movie is the definition of a guilty-pleasure for me - I can’t defend it, but I still like it. Sure, Meryl Streep is trying hard as usual and the songs are naturally catchy, but he movie lacks a decent structure and dodges drama like it’s the plague, like no one is allowed to feel bad about anything. Not to mention non-singing actors like Pierce Brosnan getting the award for “At Least You Tried” - my guess is that if you don’t cringe as soon as Amanda Siegfried kicks off “Honey Honey”, you’ll be ok for the rest of the movie. The Nostalgia Critic did a great job on tearing it to pieces, if you’re curious.
Transformers (the first one)
Level of guilt: all the guilt
Times rewatched: *sigh* four times
The Transformers saga is one of the stupidest commercial successes I have ever seen - it never brings anything new to the table in terms of story and cinema, in fact, it only seems to get worse every time. And it never ceases to amaze me how after exploiting Megan Fox for the first two movies and getting a lot of heat because of it, Michael Bay’s response was getting a different actress to exploit in both the next movies, one of them being an underaged character (?!).
However.
The first Transformer movie is actually quite serviceable. Sure, it’s dumb, overblown, sexist and lacks any real story, but we didn’t really expect anything else, did we? The robot fighting was fun, Shia LaBeouf was a great revelation, and Michael Bay’s lack of sensibility worked fine under the circumstances - almost like he was born to direct a Transformers movie. This doesn’t excuse his mistakes, but if you can forget the sequels, this one isn’t that bad. Even though I hate admitting it.
The Happening
Level of guilt: Probably excusable
Times rewatched: three very entertaining times and more to come
I’m almost sure The Happening was supposed to be bad. Almost. Either way, this confusion about the movie’s theme and tone is where most of the fun lives - not to mention Shyamalan’s necessity to draw attention to his writing by creating characters with quirks rather than personalities, and his ability to turn good actors into unfocused cardboard cut-outs of real people. There are lots of memorable scenes, like Mark Wahlberg's character introduction, the hot-dog monolog (yes), most of Zooey Deschanel’s line deliveries and the crazy old lady that shows up around the end of the second act and has nothing to do with the plot.
But it’s worth mentioning there’s a lot of discussion about this movie’s tone - the late Roger Ebert offers a different perspective, having legitimately liked the movie for what it is, NOT as a "good bad movie".
I may not agree with Ebert, but I’ll give M. Night Shyamalan credit for making a movie that inspired so many different opinions - even if I’m not sure it was done on purpose.
House of the Dead
Level of guilt: please, don’t tell anyone
Times rewatched: *long sigh* like ten times when I was little, OK?
Uwe Boll is notoriously famous for ruining several video game adaptations beyond repair - and it’s still mysterious to me how anyone let him go that far. This movie, like all the others, was a mistake. It’s filled with stereotypes instead of characters (and bad ones at that), terrible action scenes that desperately wants to be "The Matrix", enemies that look faker than in the original 3D game, and generally not a single moment of actual good filmmaking that I can remember. And precisely because it’s so bad, it’s actually a lot of fun.
Also, this is probably Uwe Boll’s best movie. Which is really saying something.
The Room
Level of guilt: “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!”
Times rewatched: four times was still not enough
Oh, this movie. If you’ve been on the internet anytime soon, you know why this is here. If not, I’ll let you research about it - you can thank me later. This was made to be a serious drama, but the clumsy writing, directing and acting by the movie’s creator Tommy Wiseau is so incompetent that even a simple scene of a character going to store to buy flowers becomes something... magical.
Did I miss any of your favorite guilty-pleasure movies? Feel free to add some more in the comments and share this article with your movie-loving friends on Facebook!
