[“I Can See Clearly Now” by Jimmy Cliff]
It is Valentine’s Day! In the spirit of love and relationships, I decided to watch a romcom or romance. Upon arriving at the theater, our options were Anyone But You or Lisa Frankenstein. Frankenstein stars Kathryn Newton (who you may know from Freaky or the Ant-Man series) and Cole Sprouse (who you may know from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody or The Suite Life on Deck). A movie about an angsty girl who falls in love with the reanimated corpse of a dead bachelor—Frankenstein seemed like a nice choice. And the trailer was so fun!
[Lisa Frankenstein trailer]
I was planning on interviewing other movie-goers, but ultimately failed this very simple task. Sometimes movies make you pause and think a lot after watching them because of how good they are. This movie, instead, made me mute for an extended period of time following my viewing experience because of how much I did not enjoy it. I exited the theater in a trance, unable to track down potential interviewees.
[“The Promise” by When in Rome]
Lisa Frankenstein opens with “The Promise” by When in Rome, a song I absolutely love, and it stays faithful to its 80s theme through both soundtrack and style. Other notable mentions include “Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon…
[“Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon]
…and “Up the Down Escalator” by the Chameleons.
[“Up the Down Escalator” by the Chameleons]
Usually, I like campy or so-bad-that-it’s-good types of movies, but I felt like this one fell flat. I kept waiting for some sort of consistency in genre or humor or outrageousness. It was like Lisa Frankenstein couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. But, maybe this movie just isn’t my type of thing. While Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 50%, the audience score was a solid 82%. It got me thinking about what really makes a movie bad. I definitely have some favorite films that other people probably hate.
[Eden] Most recently, I watched Palm Springs. And, I know that’s like a really big hit…amongst some people. I just think that I didn’t really understand it. I wasn’t really, like, captivated by it. I wasn’t really, like, watching the whole time because it wasn’t really like capturing my attention, I guess. And, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad movie—I just think it wasn’t for me. I just don’t think I understand…why some people might like that movie.
Of course my friend Eden, the first person I ask, says she hates one of my favorite movies.
[Emily] Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which I know is a bit controversial…
My friend Emily had some divisive opinions as well.
[Emily] There was a lot of gore and like a lot of, like, shock factors to it. And, I was like going into it, like, thinking “Oh it’s a superhero movie, there’s going to be a lot of action” ‘cause I love action. But, it was just a lot of…ugh.
But—and now we’re getting into interesting territory—you can still love a “bad” movie.
[Ryan] The Zoolander was a work of art. Not really, it was horrible—but…it was good, though. I liked it. It was really bad to the point that it was good. And, there was like two jokes and the plot made no sense, but it was good—I liked it.
As Ryan says, a multitude of factors can affect one’s enjoyment of a film. Chloe and Emily agree.
[Chloe] I think that the people that you watch movies with and comment movies—like comment on movies with—are people that make the movie better. So, who you’re watching a movie with adds to the experience and takes a really terrible movie into a good one.
[Emily] I don’t watch that many movies, and—when I do—most of the time I, like, enjoy it. I don’t ever really think “Oh that was a bad movie.”
[Ryan] I’m horrible as a movie critic ‘cause any movie that was entertaining to me I just count as a good movie.
Thinking back on my initial reaction to Lisa Frankenstein, maybe the issue was just the conditions of when I watched the movie. Maybe I’d have liked it better if there were more people in the theater. Maybe I was tired that day or wore the wrong shirt. It’s probably not that specific, but enough people liked the movie for it to have an audience rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, maybe I was wrong! Maybe you will love Lisa Frankenstein. You just have to figure out if it’s bad enough to be good for you.
For WNUR News, I’m Max Milo.
Music from YouTube.com
