In Defense of "Dumb" Movies
A Case for Watching Silly, Nonsensical, Gut Busting Films
Hi there. I’m not sure if this is your first time reading one of my articles. But if it is, welcome! I have been writing on some pretty heavy subject matter lately, and so I feel like this piece comes from a place of both self-reflection, and advice for all.
Not only do we live in a time of constant information at our fingertips, but we also live in a time of constant judgment and “brand awareness”. As a result, people sometimes feel the need to always give their “takes”, especially in the sports realm, react to everything, and feel like they have to have some profound opinion on every little thing that happens in the world. Is there any wonder why anxiety and depression are so sky high?
I fall into this far too often. Even while actively fighting against the usual urges to put all my thoughts out on social media, sometimes I am overcome with the “urge” to do so. More often than not it happens for sporting events personally. For me, I see that as far less harmful compared to what others do such as put horrendous political/culture takes out on their platforms, many of which are just plain factually incorrect.
But! This is not an article to trick you with an intriguing headline to drag you into a depressing conversation. I really do want to talk to you about “dumb” movies.
What constitutes a dumb or bad movie is really subjective, but one could say it has no depth, rarely if ever makes you feel anything, and more often than not are action or comedies if we want to get genre specific. I’m sure plenty of examples come to mind for you. I know they have for me. Lately, we aren’t making many movies like this. When’s the last time you went to a theater knowing you were going to spend most of the time smiling or laughing? Apart from maybe those who have seen Deadpool and Wolverine (seeing it this weekend for my birthday), these films are few and far between.
Why is that?
As mentioned before, we live in a world that takes everything so seriously that we seem to ignore laughing and smiling. Everything has to be a part of some major think piece or part of a political agenda that people will go out of their way to make something fun and silly anything but. You think I am making this up, but I am dead serious (the irony not missed on me there).
Certain grifters spent their own money to go watch Barbie in 2023 just to be mad at a film they knew would help enrage their followers. Apparently, the same thing has been happening to Deadpool and Wolverine. The debunked social media posts about people being attacked while seeing the first Black Panther film are probably the worst form of this kind of stupidity and brain rot.
Like, what are we doing?!?!?!
What happened to just going to a movie in good spirits, no agenda, having an open mind, and thoroughly enjoying oneself because you laughed so hard you cried and got in a good ab workout?
*Deep Breath*
Why am I writing this? Well, like I said I fall sometimes into the category of taking things too seriously. I want to fill my days with always being productive and sometimes I forget to nurture my funny bone and inner child. I did so on Sunday not on purpose, but by chance.
As I was flipping between Olympic events, I noticed the movie Grown Ups was on TBS. If you’re unfamiliar it’s a movie with a pretty star-studded cast including Adam Sandler (and friends), Chris Rock, Selma Hayek, David Spade, Maya Rudolph, Kevin James, and others. Objectively, it is an incredibly dumb movie. Its Rotten Tomato score is 10 percent. Very little depth if any, and some of the jokes don’t age particularly well.
I couldn’t stop watching it. I was laughing and smiling like I was watching it for the first time.
Then Grown Ups 2, boasting an illustrious score of 8 percent on Rotten Tomatoes came on right after it. I watched that too. I was for some reason hooked on this objectively terrible piece of cinema. Why?
I think it was my brain and body’s way of telling me to take a break.
As I have mentioned in a previous article, we live in a world where the people with the most influence don’t want you making healthy decisions. Their goal is to make you addicted to their products. In the case of “reactions” around movies and shows, unfortunately there’s a culture of rage against productions rather than propping them up as of late. Hating a movie or show can be as lucrative and clout building as much as loving one, and sometimes even more so. Living in those spaces and feeling the need to always have an informed, incredibly serious opinion is exhausting.
I think my brain was literally telling me, “Do not change that channel, and let us nurture your funny bone with this stupid crap”.
I am glad I listened. I hope when I say dumb and stupid they do not come off as insults. I think even the people who make certain movies would come to their own conclusions saying well yeah, we know we weren’t going to Oscar performances here. And that’s fine. Not everything needs to be Oppenheimer. We don’t need to walk out of a movie feeling like we have had a life changing experience. We can watch a show just because it makes us laugh and feel good.
Personally, I think we need more movies like Grown Ups in our lives, now more than ever. Maybe if we laughed a little more together like we used to, we’d realize most of us have way more in common than the powers at be want us to think.
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I love a movie that is just for fun. We do not really get comedies anymore. Most of them are tied down with action or romance these days. The Naked Gun movies are some of my favorites because they are all about the humor. A gag a second! If you have not seen them I would recommend checking them out. Really any of the ZAZ movies are great! I hope we see more comedies like this in the future. I really miss hearing the entire theater laughing.
As a pop culture podcaster (shameless self-promotion), I appreciate "guilty pleasure" flicks. I'm not so much a Grown Ups guy, but I am an Expendables guy and none of those movies are winning Oscars anytime soon. Btw, Deadpool & Wolverine is 5-star fun. Deadpool is perhaps the best solo Marvel trilogy so far. Great read, Preston!