Audiences don’t understand camp. Two recent examples being Masters of the Universe and Stop! That! Train!
I genuinely think audiences have forgotten how to understand/appreciate camp, and it’s robbing people of the ability to enjoy movies that are being extremely clever and funny on purpose. Everything gets judged by the same weird standard of realism and sincerity now. If something is heightened, ridiculous, aggressively theatrical, or knowingly stupid, people treat it like the filmmakers accidentally made a bad movie instead of considering that maybe the absurdity is the entire point.
Masters of the Universe and Stop That Train! are two recent examples that made this especially obvious to me. Both understand exactly what kind of movie they are making and commit to the bit, which is what makes them so fun. I can’t think of a better moment in cinematic history than “THE BRAKES ARE FRIED” and then a sudden cut to train brakes…covered in breading and frying in oil??? I think about this daily.
Are there any other movies that come to mind that were either received poorly or didn’t get the accolades they deserved?