In a previous article, I discussed what it takes to make a film "so bad, it's good." Since then I've wanted to go back to the topic of "bad movies" and discuss how friends can bond with each other by watching them together. Sometimes, my friends and I can find more entertainment in a "bad film" than a "good" one.
One of the seminal "bad movie" experiences of my life was showing "Transformers: The Last Knight" to my group of friends for the first time. I work as a theater employee and was able to see it for free, and to say the film was bad would be an understatement. The film is filled with irritating characters, sophomoric humor, laughably bad plot points and bizarre amounts of silly and convoluted world building that pays little to no attention to the previous films' continuity.
When the film came out on video, my friends and I decided to watch it, since we had already seen the other four films and we just love torturing ourselves. Nothing could match the fun I was having that day watching my friends react to the absurdity they were witnessing on screen such as transformers fighting with King Arthur, Transformers playing soccer in Cuba, or the fact that historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, William Shakespeare, and George Washington were all part of a secret organization that kept the existence of transformers secret throughout history.
Everything I just said actually happens in this film and it is hysterical to watch others react to something so absurd that you already had prior knowledge of. That day we laughed and cried in equal measure. I remember that was a day I needed a bit of a "pick me up." I don't remember the exact details, I just remember having a mediocre day and receiving an antidepressant in the form of watching a bad film with friends.
The entertainment value that comes from a few "bad films" is often lost on most people today. I even used to watch "bad films" to make me feel better when I was sick in grade school. I would often watch the infamous "Batman and Robin" and get a good laugh at the goofy costume/set design and the cringe worthy one liners spouted by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Not all "bad films," however, are good candidates for an enjoyable day with your friends. The "bad film" in question cannot be boring or bland. The best "bad films" are the ones that absolutely lose their minds and do some of the most entertainingly stupid things imaginable. They do things that are so absurd and dumb that people making "good films" wouldn't even consider doing. They're the films that feel it's a good idea to have Batman surfing through the skies of Gotham to escape an exploding rocket. They're the films that have the confidence to say, in a serious tone, that the planet earth has been a giant dormant transformer this entire time. These are the films that boldly go where no sane filmmaker would dare go and for that they have my eternal gratitude.
