I'm a big fan of "it's so bad it's good" movies (check my IMDb reviews). I've enjoyed watching them since I was a kid, even before the concept of bad movies a la Ed Wood became an "in" thing. Some bad movies are so beautifully bad that they're almost an art-form. Some films definitely deserve to be made fun of, like TERROR IN THE JUNGLE, DRAGON HUNT, NIGHTMARE WEEKEND, A NAME FOR EVIL, DON'T GO IN THE WOODS come to mind. But there are also big Hollywood movies which are as bad if not worse than the majority of obscure grade-z films.
So as an avid fan of bad movies, I finally decided to watch several MST3K episodes and I never laughed at anything. Anyone can do funnier improvisational bits than these guys. In fact, drunk guys who know nothing about movies would be funnier than these guys.
I watched the episode with THE CRAWLING EYE and it wasn't funny at all. The movie itself is not great but with so many bad movies out there, which are much worse than this, THE CRAWLING EYE didn't deserve to be made fun of. Some films are so bad unto themselves that add-libbing comedy bits to them is hardly a remarkable or a clever feat.
This is the main problem with these guys. Not only they think they're funny, when in fact they're not, but they selectively choose certain films to make fun of, mostly old low budget movies, when big budget atrocities released by Hollywood, past and present, like THE PHANTOM MENACE or VAN HELSING, deserve more derision than these often forgotten or deservedly forgotten films. It's very easy to make fun of old movies if you're a snobby Fanboy. It's ironic that a low-budget show like this one can only afford low-budget films. Getting the rights of big budget films would be too costly so these poor unfunny comedians are stuck trashing films which are mainly public domain stuff.
But there's something more disturbing about this show. It's the inherent elitism it reeks. Today's generation rarely watch old movies. There's so many disposable new films on DVD or cable, and so much specialty programming spoon-feeding these young viewers that this generation can hardly think outside the box when it comes to entertainment. When I was young, everyone watched old movies and as well as current films. There were just a few channels and we could watch something made in the 1930s as well as the 1970s or 80s. It wasn't unusual for me to watch a WC Fields movie one moment and then watch a brazen Blaxploitation film right after. Ask anyone under 30 who WC Fields is and probably no one would know who this comedian giant is. And it's not just about old movies, but TV shows, music, books, etc. A 20-something will see an old film on TV and immediately switch channels. We have an entire generation of moviegoers who don't even watch movies which are 5 years old, never mind one that is 40 years old, no matter how good or bad they are. And these MST3K guys feed into this massive generation gap, by trashing old movies mainly because, well, they're just old. For many, an old film = bad film. Just check the MST3K IMDb forum for examples.
In the end, if you're a fan of bad movies, you don't need to watch MST3K to enjoy them. I certainly won't be watching this unfunny show anymore.
So as an avid fan of bad movies, I finally decided to watch several MST3K episodes and I never laughed at anything. Anyone can do funnier improvisational bits than these guys. In fact, drunk guys who know nothing about movies would be funnier than these guys.
I watched the episode with THE CRAWLING EYE and it wasn't funny at all. The movie itself is not great but with so many bad movies out there, which are much worse than this, THE CRAWLING EYE didn't deserve to be made fun of. Some films are so bad unto themselves that add-libbing comedy bits to them is hardly a remarkable or a clever feat.
This is the main problem with these guys. Not only they think they're funny, when in fact they're not, but they selectively choose certain films to make fun of, mostly old low budget movies, when big budget atrocities released by Hollywood, past and present, like THE PHANTOM MENACE or VAN HELSING, deserve more derision than these often forgotten or deservedly forgotten films. It's very easy to make fun of old movies if you're a snobby Fanboy. It's ironic that a low-budget show like this one can only afford low-budget films. Getting the rights of big budget films would be too costly so these poor unfunny comedians are stuck trashing films which are mainly public domain stuff.
But there's something more disturbing about this show. It's the inherent elitism it reeks. Today's generation rarely watch old movies. There's so many disposable new films on DVD or cable, and so much specialty programming spoon-feeding these young viewers that this generation can hardly think outside the box when it comes to entertainment. When I was young, everyone watched old movies and as well as current films. There were just a few channels and we could watch something made in the 1930s as well as the 1970s or 80s. It wasn't unusual for me to watch a WC Fields movie one moment and then watch a brazen Blaxploitation film right after. Ask anyone under 30 who WC Fields is and probably no one would know who this comedian giant is. And it's not just about old movies, but TV shows, music, books, etc. A 20-something will see an old film on TV and immediately switch channels. We have an entire generation of moviegoers who don't even watch movies which are 5 years old, never mind one that is 40 years old, no matter how good or bad they are. And these MST3K guys feed into this massive generation gap, by trashing old movies mainly because, well, they're just old. For many, an old film = bad film. Just check the MST3K IMDb forum for examples.
In the end, if you're a fan of bad movies, you don't need to watch MST3K to enjoy them. I certainly won't be watching this unfunny show anymore.