After my Cult Movies article got people talking and listing their favorite cult picks, I decided it was time for us at Screen Rant to confess to our favorite (and likely embarrassing) “Guilty Pleasure” movies. Before I get to the list, I wanted to first talk about what a “Guilty Pleasure Movie” is.
A Guilty Pleasure, according to Wikipedia, “is something one considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. Often, the “guilt” involved is simply fear of others discovering one’s lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes, rather than actual moral guilt. Fashion, music, and food can be examples of guilty pleasures.”
Those are easy-to-list guilty pleasures, along with TV shows (any reality show on VH1, really). However, I’m looking for the MOVIES we all hate to admit we love. To give you an example, Titanic was listed number one by SR owner and editor-in-chief Vic Holtreman. Why is it a guilty pleasure movie? Because Titanic was loved mostly by women, and though many of us were dragged to the film, we probably wouldn’t list it as one of our favorites.
Now that we have the definition out of the way, it’s time to look at a sample of what some of our writers picked:
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VIC HOLTREMAN
Titanic
Point Break
Roadhouse
“Fine, call me a wuss, but my wife bought Titanic on DVD when it came out and pulls it out to watch it about once a year – and I don’t run screaming from the room. I think it’s probably the music by James Horner that sucks me in every time more than anything.”
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KOFI OUTLAW
U.S. Marshals
Hard to Kill
X-Men: The Last Stand
“There are certain movies that steal my attention every time they’re played (ad nauseum) on cable. U.S. Marshals is one of them. While the movie is ostensibly a knock-off spin-off of The Fugitive sans Harrison Ford, U.S. Marshals still packs a great cast (Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr.), a great conspiracy story and enough twists to keep you wide-eyed. Just one of those second-tier thrillers I can’t help but enjoy.”
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ROSS MILLER
Legally Blonde
Charlie’s Angels 1 & 2
Gone In 60 Seconds (remake)
“I think the Charlie’s Angels movies, particularly the second one, fall heavily into the category of “Guilty Pleasure movies.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not oblivious to how cheesy and over-the-top these films are. However, something about them is so fun to watch, not only for the first time but everytime. Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore are all very… watchable in their respective roles, and I think the ridiculousness of some of the scenes just adds to the fun.”
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ROB KEYES
Judge Dredd
Boondock Saints
U.S. Marshals (loved it!)
“Judge Dredd stood out for me as a kid because I loved the character on screen. Confident, cocky, with a sweet (read: big) gun that he could talk to, that could fire all sorts of convenient types of ammunition – if you’ve seen this movie, you know what I’m talking about. The vehicles were sweet and the bad guy robot was scary, I loved the design and look of this movie as a kid and to me, this is a classic that I look forward to watching again.”
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BRUCE SIMMONS
The Boy Who Could Fly
Dog Soldiers
Bad Boys
“Dog Soldiers is just good, down to earth hand to claw combat between soldiers who don’t care who the enemy is, as long as they bleed. There’s no backing down until someone falls. That’s all there is. I approach life much that way and I can relate. That and the werewolf effects are still close to top-notch, even today.”
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HEATH MCKNIGHT
Ladybugs
Deep Rising/Virus/Relic (all one-time summer movies delayed until January because they were rotten)
Godzilla (1998)
“I saw Ladybugs on a double date years ago and didn’t think much of it. About a year after that I saw in on video and I couldn’t stop laughing at Rodney Dangerfield’s jokes. It has since become the ultimate guilty pleasure movie for me, because it’s essentially for tween girls but Rodney’s in it. Which makes no sense, but I love it.”
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Some other picks by the Screen Rant staff: Tango and Cash (Niall Browne), Remo Williams (Mike Wilkerson), Fool’s Gold (Jacob Waldman), Hard Rain (Paul E. Young), and Miss Congeniality (Rob Frappier).
Funny enough, many of us seem to love the same things (you may not see our full lists, but Judge Dredd, U.S. Marshals, and Deep Rising kept popping up). So I’m curious to see what you all think, now that we here at Screen Rant can’t go outside without paper bags over our heads to hide our shame.
What are some of YOUR deep, dark. guilty pleasure movies? Don’t be afraid – most of you use aliases! 🙂
