My Favorite Bad Movies

Maybe bad movies are an acquired taste or maybe it's a repercussion of studying film in college, but I love a bad movie almost as much as a really great one. The criterion for what makes a movie bad is always different - different depending on the person, your mood, the genre of the film and the era the film was made. I've consciously left horror films off the list because I've only so far seen the better ones (horror film is something I've only recently gotten into).

Here are my top pick for favorite bad movies, in no particular order:

1.) Doc Hollywood

This is definitly a cheese fest movie. Michael J. Fox plays the big city doc who gets stuck in the boondocks and grows to love the town and the people and falls in love while he's at it. Let me just say that I hate sappy romance movies, I think that's what makes this one of my favorite bad movies - it's inplausible and stupid, but I enjoy it.

2.) Staying Alive

Yes, I said it, I like the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. What's not to like in this one? It's got all the essentials of a great bad movie: bad acting, 80's hair and clothes, egotistical dancers in spandex singing and dancing on Broadway.

3.) The Thing Called Love

If I were going to pick a movie that would top all my bad movie charts, this would be it. I've seen this movie probably no less than 50 times. Samantha Mathis leaves NYC to come to Nashville and be a country singer. She ends up in a love triangle between River Phoenix and Dermot Mulroney. Check out her roomate in the film -Sandra Bullock in one of her first roles.

4.) Flashdance

This one's so bad it hurts. I've gotta say, I can't even handle watching this one too often, I've gotta be in just the right mood.

5.) Beauty Shop

All my friends look at me like I'm crazy when I say this one, but I love Alicia Silverstone, and come on Kevin Bacon playing a metrosexual Austrian hairdresser is just awesome.

6.) Overnight Delivery

I also happen to love Reese Witherspoon, I'll watch just about anything she's in. This one is a classic, Reese and Paul Rudd try to stop the mail man from delivering Rudd's kiss off letter to his girlfriend at college. Things blow up, people get arrested, people fall in love...

7.) Freeway

Another Reese Witherspoon film, also starring Keifer Sutherland. This one is dark, twisted and ascerbic - a nice switch from the typical romantic comedies that are so hard to stomach.

8.) Pump Up the Volume

Teenage angst runs amok in this dark comedy. This one features a young Christian Slater playing a highschool V-J with a dark side. He teams up with Samantha Mathis and the tow turn the school inside out.

9.) Pretty in Pink

Okay, Pretty in Pink has to be the height of 80's cheese. This one, like all the others, is to be taken with a grain of salt and mocked while watching to be fully enjoyed. If you're a James Spader fan, you'll enjoy his role in this film.

10.) Breaking Up

Starring Russell Crowe and Selma Hayek. Not too many people I know have seen this movie, but it's a good one. It just follows a couple through break up after break up. They break up cause it's not working, but they miss each other so they get back together, once they're together again they quickly remember why they couldn't stand each other. Breaking Up is a great chaser for a smaltzy romantic movie.

11.) If Lucy Fell

If Lucy Fell follows 2 roomates (Sarah Jessica Parker and some guy I don't know) who made a pact when they were younger to kill themselves if they weren't in good relationships by the time each turned 30. With one month to find a relationship, each trys to delay death by going on as many dates as possible to find "the one."

12.) The Spaghetti Incident

David Bowie plays Rosanna Arquette's sidekick in her attempts to be a great Illusionist. See, with a terrible description like that you know it's gotta be so bad it's good.

13.) Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael

This movie reaches new heights of bad. To be honest with you, I can't figure out why the hell I like this movie, but I do. It features Jeff Daniels (can't remember if it's him or Bill Pullman, I always mix those two up) and Winona Ryder.

14.) Mermaids

YOu got Cher and the 60's and that really hot guy from Sixteen Candles - what more do you need? Another Winona Ryder film, also featuring Christina Ricci in her younger years.

15.) Mystic Pizza

A group of highschool girls deal with love, infidelity, college and money while working at a pizza joint in Mystic, Connecticut.

16.) Married to the Mob

I can't remember the guy who stars in this one, but the female lead is Michelle Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer finds herself at the center of all the drama that comes with being married to a mob boss and she does it sporting big permed hair and leather jackets.

17.) The Fabulous Baker Boys

Jeff and Beau Bridges accompany Michelle Pfeiffer as they travel the hotel lounge act circuit. FYI: Pfeiffer is actually singing in this film.

18.) Satisfaction

Whereas the movie I just listed above actually featured halfway decent singing, this one doesn't. Julia Roberts, Justine Bateman, Trini Alvarado, and (the blonde whose name I don't know) form an all girl rock group and "tour" for the summer.

18.) Miami Rhapsody

I can't pass up Antonio Banderas. This one stars Banderas and Sarah Jessica Parker.

** Some of the films on this list, like Miami Rhapsody, are so low on plot that the only way you'd watch is if it featured an actor you liked - hence, no plot description, just actors.

19.) The Replacement Killers

Stars Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino. Chow Yun-Fat should just be declared the millenium's Carey Grant in my opinion. He gets tangled up with Mira Sorvino while trying to avenge a family member who was killed.

20.) Nowhere to Run

You know this one is going to be painfully bad because it stars Jean-Claude Van Damme. This is the only one of his films I can tolerate and don't ask me why. The plot is thin, basically Van Damme comes in out of nowhere and protects her from the rough necks who are trying to force Arquette to sell her land, much fighting ensues, blah, blah, blah.

** I have many others I could add to the list (the Sci-Fi Channel Original Movies alone could fill a list), but I'd be here all night. Obviously these are just my tastes and if you don't have a prediliction toward bad films, you probably won't like any of the movies on my list - but there they are just the same.

If you've never tried hosting a bad movie night at your house, give it a go. Try one of these and a few of your own favorite bad movies, call up some friends, make cocktails and watch and mock away, I bet you'll have a blast.