What Makes a Movie Bad?
As host of The Never Heard Of It Podcast I watch A LOT of movies. We actively seek out films we think people probably haven’t seen before. We don’t purposely seek “bad” films, there’s just a high chance it will likely be bad (which is why you haven’t heard of it). However, saying a movie is bad is very subjective. Tons of people flock to see The Room whenever it plays in theatres. It even spawned another highly acclaimed film with James Franco. So what exactly makes a movie a bad movie?
We can get super technical and say things like the quality of the movie. Sure, if it looks like you shot it on your Dad’s Sony Handycam that will make it look and likely sound terrible. Maybe you didn’t do any lighting at all so everyone is either completely blown out or sitting in the dark. And I can get even more technical than this! Let’s say you don’t understand the basic composition of a shot. Your characters have too much head room (the space between their head and the top of the shot). Or not enough! Honestly this is typically one of my big indicators for a bad movie, WAY TOO MANY CLOSEUPS. Or even deeper, eyeline! A consistent eyeline is necessary for creating space in your movie. If you are bouncing between shots of two characters speaking to each other, eyeline refers to the direction each character is looking in their shots. This helps your viewer understand that the characters are, in fact, speaking to each other, even when they aren’t in the same shot.One of the biggest offenders of this was in a movie we covered called Cannibal Cop. Actually, this movie did all of the things I’ve listed so far. And so, so many more.
Let’s remove the technical and go with another element; Writing/Acting/Directing. The big ole W.A.D. that can make or break a film. We’ve seen some fantastic ideas just straight up ruined because of one of these three. One of the more recent examples is Justice League. Snyder having left the film mid-production due to a family tragedy, leaves Joss Whedon in charge of finishing up. Now, full disclosure, I was a fan of Whedon’s works. I mean, we had Buffy, Angel, Firefly, The Avengers, Toy Story (yes, Whedon wrote the screenplay for Toy Story), and my current new fav The Nevers. But we’ve also learned how much of an absolute shithead he is, so no more! But Joss Whedon took an arguably decent movie (I’m not a fan of either cuts but it’s clear Snyder’s was more cohesive a story) and just tanked it. But going back to The Room it goes without saying that Tommy Wiseau is the triple threat of bad Writer/Actor/Director.
Any one of these things can be balanced by a phenomenal showing from the others. Bad director, but amazing actor performance. Spectacular story will always shine over a mediocre performance and directing. Typically if you have a good director, you’ll get a good acting performance. Of course, there are the rare occasions this is not the case.
I’ve listed a lot of different things that can make a movie “bad” but it’s really more of a perfect storm. If I told you that a movie with all novice actors, crew, producers, with little to no budget, about a priest who becomes part dinosaur and fights catholic ninja drug dealers was an amazing movie, you’d think I was insane. On the other hand, how about a movie with a star studded cast including Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Rebel Wilson, and music power houses Jason Derulo (you totally sang his name while reading it, didn’t you?) and Taylor Swift. Directed by a multiple Academy Award winner based off the most popular Broadway musical of all time. How can that go wrong? Well…
Again, bad is subjective. You may see the aforementioned The Velocipastor and disagree and think it’s a terrible movie. You’d be wrong, but you can totally think that. Perhaps a better example is Kung-Fury. Also, little to no budget, relatively unknown actors but a feat of filmmaking. It created a unique idea, with a unique style of filming, on top of grossly self-aware writing. It knew exactly what it wanted you to feel and did it flawlessly. So much so it’s getting a sequel with Michael Fassbender. I can also name more mainstream examples like Moonlight or Slumdog Millionaire, all relatively unknown filmmakers and actors but flawless movies.
So what makes a bad movie? In the end a lot can contribute to a bad movie, but what it really boils down to is: Did you make the movie you meant to make? Did you do the thing you meant to do? If you answered yes, you’ve made a good movie. If you answered no, for whatever reason, be it technical or artistic, then your movie is bad. But you know what? Congrats, you made a movie! I’ve worked on lots of films, some pretty big ones too (dis me) and let me tell you an industry secret. The fact that ANY movie gets made is a goddamn miracle. It’s a wild, crazy, sometimes completely unorganized and rushed chaotic storm of swear words and fruit snacks. But gosh darnit, we make movies and sometimes they turn out pretty damn good.
To hear about other movies you probably haven’t heard of please check out The Never Heard Of It Podcast! We really try to bring you some awesome movies for you to enjoy, or movies to get together with (your vaccinated) friends and just dunk on for kicks.
Michael Fight is the host of Never Heard Of It and The Storyteller Series. You can also follow him Twitter.
