lately, I've had an odd compulsion to think of as many movies as I can from the first half of my lifetime so I can rewatch them and see how my new impressions square with the memories of my youth. Before I could pursue this, I felt I first had to establish some loose criteria to help me focus my search, and here's what I came up with - I can't have seen the movie since my first viewing, the movie must be ten years old or more, it must be at least moderately obscure (it counts if it was big at the time but has since been mostly forgotten), and it's a bonus if I already know the movie is genuinely bad. Those are some of my favorites, the ones that I know are bad, but I love them despite that fact. So without further ado, here is my barely thought out list of mediocre, ten+ year old, semi-obscure to totally obscure movies to rewatch...
Oh, and I did some meticulous research to find an interesting fact about almost every movie. By meticulous research I mean I read the trivia page for each movie on imdb.com to see what it said.
My Boyfriend's Back - Aside from the fact that I remember this movie being the epitome of rediculous awesomeness, it also stands out for having perhaps the most small roles filled by future stars. Philip Seymore Hoffman, Matthew Fox, and Matthew McConaughey all have parts ranging from very small to, in McConaughey's case, being credited as Guy #2.
Cold Blooded - All I remember from this movie is the exchange Jason Priestley's hitman character has with his shrink, in which he responds to a question about his love life with the unforgettable line, "I have been seeing the same hooker for awhile." That's enough for me.
Men at Work - Aside from the brilliant and unappreciated Dean Cameron playing the pizza guy, this movie also pissed off the Japanese garbage collectors' union for its disparaging portrayal of trash collectors. That has to count for something, right?
Julian Po - Basically, this movie - which is about a man who arrives in a small town bent on suicide, thereby inciting a paparazzi-like ferver amongst the locals, all of whom are curious and want to watch him do the deed - is wierd enough to be memorable, and I've never made it to the ending for some reason so I'm damned curious.
Ski School - This was the first movie that held the title of "Funniest Movie of All Time" in my mind, thanks to the brilliance of Dean Cameron. It also didn't hurt that Boner Stabone from Growing Pains was the sidekick. I fully expect to be severely disappointed when I watch this movie now that I'm not thirteen, but I'm gonna give it a shot.
Reckless Kelly - I've always been fascinated by Yahoo Serious. From whatever info I can find on the guy, he's an uncompromising artist who will only pursue a project if he is intimately involved with every detail and he truly believes in its merit. Yet his film credits include only three movies, all of which are utterly absurd. I've seen Young Einstein a million times, I just bought Mr. Accident from the bargain bin at Movie Trading Company, so I'll get to that soon, but I don't remember much about Reckless Kelly, and I feel like I should.
Stay Tuned - I'm not sure how I can explain the greatness of this movie. In a nutshell, a TV addicted couple buys a special satellite from the devil which ultimately sucks them into a strange and sinister TV land. Their dorky son then has to try to track them through the TV back in the real world and try to help them escape. Despite all of this wierdness, the strangest thing is that apparently the movie was inspired by an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Huh? Oh, and I had a huge crush on Pam Dawber after watching it.
Mom And Dad Save The World - This is the epitome of a movie that is so bad it's good...at least to me. I'm a sucker for Jon Lovitz playing an idiot (which is pretty much all he plays) and Kathy Ireland made any movie watchable in the early/mid nineties. I acknowledge that I deserve any and all abuse that comes my way as a result of endorsing this movie.
Undercover Blues - Honestly, I don't remember hardly anything about this movie except being terribly amused by Stanley Tucci's character "Muerte"'s constant aggravation over the frequent mispronunciation of his name as "Morty". It was also Dave Chappelle's second movie role, following his unforgettable turn as Ahchoo in Robin Hood: Men In Tights.
Backdraft - I just remember this movie kicking ass, so I need to see it again. There are also two bits of interesting trivia regarding this film. The first is that the soundtrack was later used in the TV show Iron Chef. The second is that Billy Baldwin beat out Brad Pitt for the lead role, which forced him to break his contract to play J.D. in Thelma and Louise, which Pitt was then hired for, which turned him into a star.
The Great White Hype - Between early Jamie Foxx, Jon Lovitz, the racist trainer, and Peter Berg, this movie still cracks me up when I think about it. It's about time I revisit it.
Howard The Duck - Where to start? There are so many things to love and/or hate about this movie that I'm not gonna even try. If you're like me and you can't resist the allure of bad cinema, this is a must see. An alien midget-sized duck does battle with an intergalactic Dark Overlord to save our planet. Who green lighted this project? George Lucas spent $2,000,000 on the duck outfit alone. Yes, $2,000,000 dollars. He then proceeded to lose $21,000,000 on the movie overall, forcing him to sell his company's fledgling CGI department to Steve Jobs to stay afloat. That nascent CGI venture is now Pixar Studios.
I feel the need to limit myself to twelve movies in this list because it really could continue forever, but the rest of my hastily researched list includes Love and Death On Long Island, Timecop, Necessary Roughness, The Paper, Dick Tracy, Johnny Dangerously, The Getaway (at 14, seeing Kim Basinger disrobe was a life changing experience. Just a fact.), Hiding Out, The Arrival, The Hudsucker Proxy, and Serial Mom.
-T
p.s. Should anyone read this and have any suggestions about movies that fit this mold, please let me know. I'm on a mission.
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