What Makes a Film Bad?

When discussing films from a critical standpoint, viewers are often inclined to refer to a movie as either “bad” or “good” depending on the quality. This may lead someone to ask what exactly it is that makes a film good or bad.

Many may say that it’s a measure of quality or that it depends on how technically well made the film is. Others may say it is based on whether or not the film succeeds in what it’s trying to accomplish, while even others may be inclined to cite public consensus as a true measure of quality. After all, if most people like something, could it really be bad?

I, however, feel that all of these determinations are wrong. As someone who has watched on average 16 films a week this year, I think it’s fair to say I watch a lot of movies, so why is it that I find myself watching critically hated films like 1997’s “Batman and Robin” or the 2000’s critical and financial failure “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2”? Better, yet why do I find myself loving them? Why do I find Marvel’s Avengers films so painfully boring when so many others adore them? Why can I watch Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room,” a film so fundamentally riddled with technical errors and bad acting, and yet find something so uniquely compelling about it? Are these films I hold so near and dear to my heart bad films that I just enjoy? Is “The Avengers” a masterpiece even though I don’t enjoy it? My answer to these questions is one simple word: no.

However, you may think differently, and I don’t think that that’s invalid. Although we may disagree, or even argue at the end of the day that quality is derived purely from how much the viewer enjoys the film. If someone was to watch “Citizen Kane,” a film often considered one of the greatest films of all time, and say “I hated it; it was so boring and long. It was a bad movie,” then I for one think their opinion would not be invalid despite the millions who love “Citizen Kane,” myself included.

I may also be one of the few who hates James Cameron’s “Avatar.” I find it to be a boring mess that serves nothing more than to be visually impressive while telling an unoriginal, uninspired story filled with dull one-note characters who are all incredibly forgettable. This doesn’t change the fact that it is the most financially successful film of all time and is loved by many. While numerous people will likely revisit that film time and time again, I for one am more likely to revisit the widely hated 1993 film “Super Mario Bros.” because it is one of my favorite films of all time.

The point of all of this is to say that there is no definitive “good” or “bad” with a film. People will enjoy what they enjoy, and although someone in my position may argue that these hated films are simply “misunderstood,” in all likelihood, no amount of words could convince someone that the film they hated is any better than they felt it was. People will like what they like, and to me that’s the only thing that’s objectively good.

If you’re interested in checking out some hated films that I personally love, I’ve provided a short list of some of my favorites that haven’t been mentioned above:

Monster Trucks (2016)
Frogs (1972)
Dunston Checks In (1996)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Kuffs (1992).