The Sweetest Thing and dumb movies w/ charm

[Ernie]

I was just watching the last 20 minutes or so of this movie on MAX an hour or two ago and I didn't think it was that bad at all. So I wondered if anybody else here had seen it and if I should bother renting it to see the whole thing or if I should tape it if MAX reruns it. I can't really explain why I enjoyed it...it was just sooooo fucking cool to see Thomas Jane again for the first time since Boogie Nights and then although I didn't see her in any of the parts I saw, I heard that Parker Posey is also in it and I just love her so much. It just was so happy and stupid, it didn't seem to mean any harm.

You know, it's weird...I've been noticing lately just how much I love watching dumb, shallow movies every once in awhile. I realize this thread may very well lead to my demise of respectability on this site but just bear with me and I'll try to explain. I wouldn't call these kind of movies my favorites but I watch them a lot...like Sweet Home Alabama...I thought that was totally watchable for some reason. It was impossibly shallow and predictable but I loved watching it and would watch it again in a second. There's a lot of other movies of the type that I'm trying to describe...I just can't think of any of them. I'm not talking about BAD movies...I'm talking about bad movies with charm. God, I love those fucking movies...call me crazy. Josie & the Pussycats is another example of the kind of movies I'm trying to talk about....sort of like guilty pleasures...more like REALLY guilty pleasures.

So anyway, let me stop rambling and you guys can give me your 2 cents on this whole crazy thing and maybe...tell me a little bit about The Sweetest Thing or other good, dumb, shallow, charming movies that you can recommend to me.

[bonanzataz]

I realize this thread may very well lead to my demise of respectability on this site

What respectability?

Har har har.

No, I know exactly what you mean. I personally hate romantic comedies, but I understand where you're coming from. The Sweetest Thing is a movie that's trying to be a mix of Sex and the City, a Farrely Bros movie, and South Park, but it fails, I think because of the direction. The director is the same guy that did Cruel Intentions (which I did enjoy), but the only other thing he ever did was Cruel Intentions 2. He's not particularly talented and his schtick is getting old. He reminds me of Brett Ratner only without the ability to maintain a cohesive story. There are parts in The Sweetest thing I found amusing (to an extent), but it gets really old really fast. My sister enjoyed it and I bought her the DVD for xmas. I guess it's worth a watch if nothing else is on TV, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.

[MacGuffin]

The director is the same guy that did Cruel Intentions (which I did enjoy), but the only other thing he ever did was Cruel Intentions 2. He's not particularly talented and his schtick is getting old. He reminds me of Brett Ratner only without the ability to maintain a cohesive story.

Listen to his commentray track on the Cruel Intentions DVD. When the director of photography said he was gonna blow out the windows, Krumble said something along the lines of, "What, with dynomite?"


And ebeaman, if you enjoyed the last 20 minutes of the film and like watching dumb films anyway, why do you need our approval to watch the rest?

[Duck Sauce]

I realize this thread may very well lead to my demise of respectability on this site but just bear with me and I'll try to explain.

That statement has a better chance at doing it than this thread, which is a good one. I like movies that make me feel happy, and I cant really say whether I have any "guilty" pleasures or not, because I am not really ashamed of anything I like.

[polkablues]

Unlike bonanzataz, I love romantic comedies.  Even the bad ones.  Maybe especially the bad ones.  There's a sort of clarity of form to the romantic comedy genre that I respond to very well.  "Sleepless in Seattle", "Serendipity", "Three to Tango", "The Cutting Edge", "40 Days and 40 Nights"... when I'm sitting around with nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon, this is the sort of movie I usually end up watching.  Some people go for martial arts movies, or straight-to-video action flicks, but on the whole, I go for romantic comedies.  They make me happy.

[Ernie]

I realize this thread may very well lead to my demise of respectability on this site but just bear with me and I'll try to explain.

That statement has a better chance at doing it than this thread, which is a good one. I like movies that make me feel happy, and I cant really say whether I have any "guilty" pleasures or not, because I am not really ashamed of anything I like.

Yeah, wow...I never really thought of it that way. I'm not particulary guilty about the bad movies that I like, I just call them my guilty pleasures because that's what everybody else calls the bad movies they like.

[moonshiner]

True Romance

[Raikus]

True Romance

Um... please expound.

[Ghostboy]

I like good romantic comedies, and I enjoyed Sweet Home Alabama too, despite myself, but I HATED The Sweetest Thing. Seriously, now, how can you enjoy that but not Lord Of The Rings?

The line about the dynamite...man, that's pure gold. I'm going to try and use that on every movie set I work on from now on.

[Newtron]

I realize this thread may very well lead to my demise of respectability on this site

I think that happened when you added "69" to your name.

Since then it's been:

[moonshiner]

Um... please expound

True Romance doesn't really fall into that category, my problems with True Romance are probably more appropriate elsewhere...i just thought Tony Scott ruined a pretty good screenplay, turning it into an action-comedy farce...with the beautiful romantic comedy ending, which wasn't the one Tarantino envisioned.

[Raikus]

Well, I disagree completely, but that's fine.

Thanks for the explanation.