We’ve all got a few of those guilty-pleasure movies stuffed in the back of the entertainment center. We pull them out on special occasions, like when we’re sick with the flu or we just suffered a massive breakup, and we use them for comfort. Then we hide them away until next time and hope that no one ever finds them. And whenever you see them on the TV guide, you just have to flip them on and watch for a while, even if it means missing this week’s episode of American Idol or CSI: [insert city]. Here are a few of the best (or worst, as the case may be) movies that you hate to love.
5. Twilight (2008)
With wooden acting and diamond-skinned vamps hopping from tree to tree, it’s pretty amazing that this awful movie made its money back. But considering the mob of preteen fans devoted to Stephanie Meyers’s book series, it’s really no surprise. Eye candy like Taylor Lautner (pretty even pre-abification) and Robert Pattinson (looking a little paler than his days as Cedric Diggory, but nonetheless passable) will help you ignore the clunky script, and the air of soapy dramatization is enough to make this movie into a guilty pleasure classic.
4. Bring it On (2000)
This overblown battle of cheerleading squads is just about as vapid as the leads (with such witty banter as “Missy is the poo, so take a big whiff”). But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a kick out of spirit fingers, falling pyramids, and some of the incredibly well-choreographed cheer sequences. Throw in hot girls in skimpy cheerleading outfits, a boyishly charming Jesse Bradford, and Buffy alum Eliza Dushku (not to mention a dancing-in-pjs-with-pom-poms scene from Kirsten Dunst) and you’ve got one movie that will bring it every time.
3. The 13th Warrior (1999)
Can you really go wrong with a movie starring Latin heartthrob Antonio Banderas, the sexy scene-stealer from Interview with the Vampire and the star of such hit films as Desperado and The Mask of Zorro? According to Rotten Tomatoes, you can (this movie scored only 33%). Okay, so he hasn’t exactly hit a home run with any of his films, but this one was viewed as a particular dud. However, with such quotable lines as “This is the old way. You will not see this again,” (in reference to a virgin being put aboard a flaming death barge) and a truly awesome enemy in the form of a fire dragon, this better-than-camp historical thriller is a great way to waste a rainy afternoon.
2. Pretty Woman (1990)
This “hooker with a heart of gold”, rags-to-riches tale is nothing new (you probably saw it for the first time under the title of Cinderella). But whether it’s the totally ‘90s soundtrack, Julia’s sunny smile, or the knight-in-shining-armor complex portrayed by Richard Gere (punching his long-time colleague in the face and then firing him for making goo-goo eyes at his lady? You go, bro!), you just can’t help but get sucked into the spell that is cast by this silly fantasy.
1. Road House (1989)
Oh, Patrick Swayze, how fantastic you look in those skin-tight jeans and feathered hair. This barroom bouncer biopic followed hot on the heels of Swayze’s Dirty Dancing success, but alas, it didn’t live up to the hype. Still, his stint as Dalton, a cooler who breaks up fights in notoriously rough road houses, isn’t all bad. We get to see his well-muscled torso beating the crap out of a bunch of other guys, and Ben Gazzara is creepy as ever as resident bad guy Brad Wesley.
Now that she’s out of Spiderman, what is she going to do?
Bring it On! Thats for sure one of my guilty pleasures. It’s one of the few movies that i like Kristen Dunst in.
Cocktail was a decent film. The classic songs “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and “Kokomo” came out of that film too. In fact, there have been a number of movies that have spawned hit songs: “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, “Circle of Life” from The Lion King, and “Unchained Melody” (previously released but the movie put it back on the charts) from Ghost. And the list goes on….
I couldn’t agree more with you on ‘Big Trouble’. I’d also have to add to the list ‘Cocktail’. The Vin Diesel flick ‘Chronicles of Riddick’. Also ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ the much hated Nic Cage version and finally ‘Semi Pro’ the raunchy sports themed comedy starring Will Farrell.
Now this is a good topic that should have everyone admitting their guilty pleasures. Films that I liked for some reason: Rising Sun, a Michael Critchton story like 13th Warrior; I Robot, starring Will Smith as a detective who hates technology; Amazon Women on the Moon, a John Landis film of a series of short skits loosely strung together; and Big Trouble in Little China, starring Kurt Russel in arguably one of John Carpenter’s best films.