What makes a movie good?
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I recently introduced a good friend of mine to the original Jurassic Park movie. A film that’s won over 20 awards and is considered by some, (or at least me), to be the epitome of filmmaking, I couldn’t imagine anyone disliking such a classic.
“Huh,” she said to me as the credits rolled, “that was really bad.”
My dear friend, whom I still love despite that assertion, has a fondness for movies made by Hallmark. Rom coms, melodramas, and reality television are where she spends most of her viewing hours and are all things I consider “really bad.”
But what exactly makes a movie bad?
Is it films that don’t win awards? Because we’ve all seen performances and films we’ve felt were worthy of accolades come away without a win, like well-loved movies, Saving Private Ryan, Pulp Fiction, and even Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. None of which won best picture.
Is it films that don’t perform well at the box office? What about movies that simply have bad timing on release, getting fewer views due to other films with larger releases coming out at the same time or, say, trying to release during a global pandemic?
Is it the film’s ability to go viral online? I’d say the movie Morbius recently disproved that one, as people online referenced it so much that its producers rereleased it to theaters, not understanding that the “fans” were poking fun at the feature instead of singing its praises.
What about films that perform badly on release, only to become “cult classics” later? The Roxy theater in Missoula recently held a showing of Tommy Wiseau’s, The Room, which I can say without hyperbole is the worst movie I have ever seen (just look up some clips and you’ll quickly understand). Yet, the theater was packed with enthusiastic watchers who seemed to revel in the shared teasing of each scene and knew every line.
All in all, there’s no accounting for taste. Everyone will like what they like, regardless of broad appeal or shiny awards. Everyone’s opinions are just as valid as everyone else’s, and, as I teasingly responded to my friend’s critique of one of my favorite films, “It’s okay, you’re allowed to be wrong.”
