Watching 'Birdemic' with my niece showed me I was taking bad movies too seriously

So my 12 year old niece came over last weekend and wanted to watch a scary movie. I figured 'Birdemic: Shock and Terror' was safe, you know, because the effects are so goofy. I was explaining all the behind the scenes stuff, like how the director used stock footage and why the green screen looks that way. About halfway through, during a 'tense' scene with the plastic birds on strings, she just looked at me and said, 'Uncle Kevin, you talk more than the movie. It's funnier when you just watch it.' That hit me. I was so focused on analyzing why it was technically bad that I forgot to just enjoy how funny it is when a guy swings a coat hanger at a cartoon eagle. I was treating it like homework instead of a comedy. Now I just let the badness wash over me. Has anyone else had a movie where they needed to stop thinking and start laughing?

3 comments

3 Comments

leep8920d ago

Your niece is a smarter critic than @wesley_fox92 and me combined.

nguyen.dylan1mo ago

Oh man, that is the BEST lesson. I did the same thing with "The Room" for years, treating it like a film school lecture. You gotta just shut off the critic part of your brain. Let the movie happen to you, don't try to solve it. The magic is in the shared, stupid fun, not in pointing out every single flaw. Your niece is a genius for that.

wesley_fox921mo ago

How many movies have we ruined by trying to be the smartest person in the room? I used to pick apart every bad line in those old monster flicks. Now I just laugh with my friends and throw popcorn. That switch makes all the difference. Your niece gets it way earlier than most of us did.