Fame (1980)

[majoraphasia 6]

Looking through the recommendations, I see many movies that are generally (and honestly) regarded as bad, films that beg for 90 minutes of "can you believe ____?!" statements. But what are we to do with a film like the original Fame? It's bad in all the right places: the acting, the script, the editing... everything. Taking shots at an obviously bad remake would be too easy. The original film, a most exceptional cinematic abortion, is ideal Bad Movie Night Material. And you would never know while you hum along to the theme song, likely the only thing you know from the movie. I submit it as a special challenge for anyone looking to go further off the beaten path for bad movies.

 

And all these years you thought it was a bulletproof classic.

[seanotron 2307]

This is going to be a tough sell. Well-reviewed, Oscar-winning, and it basically revived the movie musical genre.

[majoraphasia 6]

I fully expect the much-deserved second look at Fame, the one that would reveal this movie's general shoddiness, to remain a desire held by me and only me.  Though I offer this: the critics, at the time of its release, were divided on the film and the two Oscars went to the score and radio staple song.  The one that you're humming right now.  As for the claim that it revived the movie musical genre?  That's debatable.  Grease, released two years before, weathered the critical storm better and made about five times as much at the box office.  Didn't have those Oscar wins, however.  Still, Fame lives on in high regard despite my contention that nobody has really watched the movie in some 30 years, at least without nostalgia-colored glasses.  It is a sincerely bad movie despite its status as pop culture wonder, a kind of inverse hidden gem.  I will stand by this submission; it's not easy prey like Sharknado 2 (or any deliberately clunky movie designed to be a cult classic) but a bona fide failure that earns its bad movie status the only way a bad movie really can: through reaching really high and falling really short.

[seanotron 2307]

It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, so it wasn't entirely about the music, either.

 

I don't especially like it, but I still think it's going to be a tough sell for the show.

[majoraphasia 6]

Without a doubt. In the cold light of morning it seems like any case I could mount wouldn't be nearly as strong as that offered by a Saved By The Bell biopic does by merely existing. What can I do? A grassroots effort is in order.

[seanotron 2307]

Don't give up! Treat it like a senior thesis. BE LIKE KATNISS