During a movie night with my friends, we struggled to find something entertaining to watch. As we were about to give up hope, we unearthed our (un)holy grail, the crème de la crème: Cop Dog (2008).
Cop Dog (2008), a movie currently sitting at a 2.6/10 on IMDB, is one of the worst movies I have personally seen, but it has quickly become one of my favorite movies ever. Not because of its quality, but because of the memories I made.
This has become a weekly thing for my friends and me, getting together and proposing what bad movie we should watch this week. Pointing out all the dumb things happening, laughing at all the cringe-worthy dialogue and being confused has brought me some of the best moments of watching movies.
My friends and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the antics of this ridiculous, cheaply-made movie since we watched it and it has become a running joke between all of us.
Movies provide some of the best easy entertainment there is, but when it comes to choosing a movie to watch, most people try to seek out a movie that they think will be good. People don’t realize that bad movies can provide the same amount of entertainment, and possibly more.
Consuming movies that are terrible will help you to appreciate the movies that are actually good much more. Setting the bar lower than the actual floor will make the somewhat decent movies seem like masterpieces in comparison.
There are so many things that get taken for granted in all the movies you watch: the score, the script, the cinematography, the editing, etc. When all of those things are so incredibly horrendous, it becomes noticeable how much they’re needed to make a successful movie.
Having a range of varying quality movies at your disposal will help boost your appreciation of movies and allows you to gain perspectives on each side of the spectrum.
This low expectations form of watching something allows the viewer to learn new things about the movie and enjoy things in the movie that may have not been meant to be enjoyed for the particular reason you do.
Choosing to watch a movie with no objective in mind, like giving the movie a particular rating, opens up your mind to being able to enjoy it for the sake of enjoying it. If you choose to watch a bad movie, knowing it’s bad, you assign it the quality based on how much you enjoyed it rather than its artistic value.
Watching movies without a critical lens, good or bad, will bring out more enjoyment for a movie because you’re not thinking about it too hard.
Like most things, numbly enjoying things without giving it too much thought allows for the mind to not expel too much energy — the same goes for movies. Going into a movie for pure enjoyment rather than trying to decipher whether or not what you’re watching is actually good makes movies more fun to watch.
A night dedicated to watching a bad movie could provide a great way to spend time with your friends and family as you all enjoy a terrible movie. Sharing a few laughs watching a movie that is critically panned can create some great memories. The amount of good memories I have with my friends watching some of the worst movies we’ve ever seen is astronomical.
While I find a great deal of value in watching bad movies, I understand why others wouldn’t. Others may rather spend their time watching something they’d find more intellectually stimulating, especially if they pay for the experience.
At the end of the day, art is something that is valued and enjoyed by the individual. A worthless movie to one is an absolute treasure to another. There is no one right way to make a movie or enjoy it. Regardless if it’s good or bad, what matters is the memories made from the experience.
Next time you or your friends choose to watch a movie, consider watching a movie that has overwhelmingly bad reviews. You might find some entertainment that you would’ve never found just by picking that movie you’ve only heard bad things about.
Jalen-Thomas Kroger is a freshman sports media and communications, journalism, and broadcasting triple major. Reach him at [email protected].
