Guilty Pleasures Part I - Movies

What is a guilty pleasure?  Wikipedia (is there another unverified news source in the world I should be using?) says A guilty pleasure is something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. The "guilt" involved is sometimes simply fear of others discovering one's lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes.  So when it comes to movies, there are plenty that I enjoy, yet don’t necessarily tell others about.  When people come over, I may remove these DVD’s from the visible shelf and make sure to replace them with Casablanca, To Kill a Mockingbird, & the Shawshank Redemption.  OK – while I may not actually do that, I do have a couple of guilty pleasure movies that I enjoy watching and re-watching without necessarily advertising the fact.

Sydney White:  I might as well say all Amanda Bynes movies although Sydney White is my favorite.  Well at least her old movies. I don’t know, there is something about the very easy to follow and innocent stories that Amanda Bynes movies seem to tell.  Who wouldn’t like a Snow White story set in college with the eventual outcast uprising of the “geeks”.  Yes its formula driven (OK unless you’re Inception or the Matrix, what isn’t…wait, don’t answer that).  I know she can’t stay the young idealist character (or age for that matter) forever – I just hope she doesn’t become another Lindsay Lohan whose early movies I also used to like as guilty pleasures (think Parent Trap and Herbie not post bat-sh*t crazy Lindsay).

Galaxy Quest:  I am a fan of Science Fiction movies and shows.  However, Galaxy Quest, which had a ridiculous Rock Monster and turned the volume up on classic science fiction stereotypes, really had the potential to be too campy and “silly”.  However, I found myself not just laughing (or more like chuckling) but really enjoying this movie.  The movie is about the cast of a space TV show who have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help.  It was almost nostalgic how they over-emphasized the stereotypes from the “red-shirted security guards who die in every episode to the fans of the show at a convention who ask questions of the actors like the show was real.  Although in this case, the fans were right.  As a side note, if you never seen William Shatner’s Get a Life skit on Saturday Night Live, go find it on YouTube.

Ready to Rumble: David Arquette & Scott Caan star as wrestling fans who follow around Jimmy King (Oliver Platt) and try to get him to resurrect his career and get his revenge on the wrestlers who did him wrong.  Ready to Rumble is NOT the Wrestler, which is a real movie about fake wrestling (see how I did that).  So, while the Wrestler is a much better film and a pleasure (not a guilty pleasure), Ready to Rumble is campy, poorly acted, immature jokes YET one that doesn’t make me think too hard and still comes away with the predictable and happy conclusion (I was going to write ending but…)

Midnight Madness: The movie featured an event called the “Great All-nighter” with college kids and it did not refer to any lust filled drink fest! OK I may have lost a whole generation brought up on American Pie & Superbad but hey, I was also brought up on Animal House and Porky’s and yet, I still enjoyed this movie.  It has the standard cliques (Nerds, Jocks, Sororities, etc) competing against each other in a cross-town scavenger hunt.  It also had Michael J. Fox in his movie debut (actually listed as Michael Fox in opening credits – but don’t worry he picked up the J. by the end credits.  The movie was cheesy but again, I am drawn back to the innocent fun (see the theme in my guilty pleasures).  The only thing that could have made it better is if Amanda Bynes was alive at the time to star in it.

Private Eyes: What, you never heard of this masterpiece?  Maybe not a popular movie and yes, it does star Mr. Furley (Don Knotts from Three’s Company) as a somewhat dimwitted Sherlock Holmes type character with his sidekick Tim Conway trying to solve a murder.  One of the re-occurring events of the movie are clues in the form of poems – that are supposed to rhyme by they don’t.  For example: Now you will see, I can do something right. I'm going to show you, a killer tonight. I want Phyllis to come to my chamber, and see. Who was the one, who murdered myself

So, as I look through this list, I notice that a common theme is simplistic, innocent movies that are just fun.  Maybe I don’t feel so guilty after all.

Honorable Mentions:  Big Trouble in Little China.  The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh