Reggie’s Take Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Movies

By Reggie's Take on September 27, 2017

Do you love to watch movies? Do you have movies that you love to watch, but won’t admit to in front of friends? Well, today I’m admitting to mine in my top ten guilty pleasure movies.

If you consider yourself a movie fan then you can’t deny we all have a few movies we love to watch that we would never admit to around our friends, but what makes us feel so ashamed that we can’t admit to watching certain movies?

Are we afraid to admit to watching these movies because we’re embarrassed of what our friends may say to us? Society would shun us for our taste? The thought of having to defend our taste in an intellectual manner causes us such stress that we would sweat worse then when we tried to ask out the popular girl on a date in high school?

Okay that last one might be an extreme, but in all honesty the short and simple answer is we love to watch certain movies simply because we enjoy watching them and if our friends and family knew we did that guilty pleasure we get from those movies would just not be the same.

So why do we consider them a “guilty pleasure”? It’s the big tough guy who would never cry when the two hundred pound dumbbell falls on his foot, but tears up a box of tissues when he watches a romantic comedy. It’s the movie your co-workers all talk about that sucked the big one, but you actually loved. The point being is everyone has a movie or movies that we all love no matter how bad or good they might be and we can’t explain why. We just enjoy them!

What one person sees as a great movie another may see as the worst of all time. Everyone is different and that alone makes us unique when it comes to being movie fans.

Here are just a few more examples of what may determine if a movie is a guilty pleasure.

The movie was destroyed by critics
Low Rotten Tomatoes score
It bombed at theaters
Cheesy as Hell / Stupid
Badly done
The movie resonates with you
A movie in a particular genre you publicly say you hate
To embarrassed to leave Blu-ray/DVD out

The following list is my top ten “Guilty Pleasure” movies that I enjoy watching on a semi annual basis. Obviously your list will look different then mine and a few of these movies you might think are an odd choice, but then again this is my list. See what you think and if any of the movies I have listed would be on your list as well.

#10 The Jackal
A loose remake of the 1973 movie The Day of the Jackal. This version stars Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Sidney Poitier with Bruce Willis as the villain. To be honest I’ve never seen the original film this version is based on, but when I watched the movie in theaters I walked away being entertained. As with most of the movies in this list it’s defiantly not the greatest movie ever made, but I also feel it’s not the worst either. What I loved about this movie the first time I saw it was seeing Bruce Willis as the bad guy, a nice change from his John McClane character. Richard Gere’s character got annoying at times, but I was able to overlook it simply because Sidney Poitier’s character was there to help balance it out.

The Jackal / Universal / 1997

#9 Eraser
Eraser came to theaters during that time when Arnold was beginning to having more misses then hits after dominating the 1980’s as one of the top action stars. Why Eraser? It may not be one of the best movies Arnold has ever done, but this movie does not suck, not even close. The action is typical Arnold and I liked that they paired Arnold up with Vanessa Williams. Eraser has a nice mixture of story, action and humor, making this movie something fun to watch or even listen to when you’re busy with other chores around the home.

Eraser / Warner Brothers / 1996

#8 The Final Countdown
So what do you get when you take a modern day aircraft carrier that is sent back in time with a chance to stop one of the worst attacks against a United States military base? (The Attack on Pearl Harbor) Okay the first answer would be far-fetched, but if you can put that aside it does raise some questions of what should you do? Do you let history play out knowing thousands of innocent people will loose there lives or do try and stop it and alter history as you know it? If you’ve never seen this movie or even heard of it you should at least give it a watch.

Is this movie great? No. That’s why it’s on this list, but I do find it an entertaining movie combining history with science fiction, plus it stars Kirk Douglas and a young Martin Sheen.

The Final Countdown / United Artist / 1980

#7 Entrapment
If you have to ask why Entrapment is on this list then may I suggest you read the following. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery, need I say more? This was Catherine Zeta-Jones first movie after “The Mask of Zorro” in which I loved and was the first time I had ever seen the very beautiful actress and I will admit I was infatuated as I’m sure most males were. When I first saw the trailer for Entrapment I was open to seeing it just for her alone, but when I discovered the original Bond himself Sean Connery was starring along side I was sold.

Is Entrapment the best movie ever, no not at all, but what keeps bringing me back to it are the two stars and with this movie that’s good enough for me.

Entrapment / 20th Century FOX / 1999

#6 Scooby-Doo 2 Mosters Unleashed
The sequel to the 2002 movie “Scooby-Doo” starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar. So why is this movie on my list and not the first one? Nostalgia. It reminded me so much of the original animated television series that I love this movie regardless of the problems the movie may or may not have. Yes, I could of done with out the dance sequence with Scooby-Doo in the bar, but that’s the only scene I felt was unnecessary. All of the villains we got were at one time in the animated series and I loved seeing each and everyone come to life on the big screen. Granted this movie didn’t do nearly as well as the fist movie, but reminded me more of what I watched as a kid and in this instance I wish Warner Brothers had given a third movie a shot.

Scooby Doo 2 / Warner Brothers / 2004

#5 The Villain
If you read that a movie stars Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret and Paul Lynde and it was a Western you might be intrigued to check it out, right? But what if I told you it also starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, would your interest still be peeked? The Villain is a 1979 western/parody directed by Hal Needham the same director behind Smokey and the Bandit. Okay I’m not going to try and blow smoke up your backside and make you think this movie is smart, intelligent or thought provoking, its not. Take a Wile E. Coyote type character played by Kirk Douglas who’s trying to steal a large some of money from “Charming Jones” played by Ann-Margret, who’s being escorted across the west by Schwarzenegger’s character “Handsome Stranger”. That alone should be enough to tell you what kind of movie this is. As stupid or ridiculous this movie might be, I still can’t help but laugh every time I watch it. Do I watch it on a regular basis? No, but sometimes you just need a good dumb movie to lift your spirits and this movie fit that bill 100%.

The Villain / Columbia / 1979

#4 My Fellow Americans
Starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two ex-presidents who really don’t care for one another, but when someone tries to set them up for a bribe the current Vice President is responsible for they are reluctantly forced to work with each other. My Fellow Americans may not be the smartest comedy, but what makes this movie work for me is the cast. Jack Lemmon, James Garner, Dan Aykroyd and John Heard keeps this movie in my rotation as one of those movies that can make me laugh no matter how many times I watch it. Jack Lemmon and James Garner banter between the two may be crude at times, but they make it look so easy and natural it keeps me coming back.

My Fellow Americans / Warner Brothers / 1996

#3 The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
This movie was a total flop at theaters, it made a little more than half of its budget back, won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and I’m not even a fan of Andrew Dice Clay’s comedy and yet it made my list, why? Okay I can’t totally tell you why it made my list, but for some strange cosmic reason I’ve had attraction to this movie ever since I first saw it on home video. Yes the comedy is not that great and Andrew Dice Clay is not a great actor, but somewhere underneath it all, this movie has a certain addiction to it. You either enjoy it for what it is or just hate it, period. I can’t actually defend as to why I like this movie, but it does fit perfectly on this list and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

The Adventures of Ford Fairlane / 20th Century FOX / 1990

#2 Hard Rain
Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid, Minnie Driver and Edward Asner. Sounds like a cast from a movie you wouldn’t think would make this kind of a list, but it has. First I have to say this is one of my favorite movies on this list and I won’t deny it. It took me years and years to find a Blu-ray copy and when I did I bought it with out a single thought. The movie financially flopped at the box office only earning $20 million domestically on a $70 million dollar budget and I never understood why. The movies plot is pretty straightforward with a couple of twists and turns as you move along that actually keeps the movie from becoming stale or predictable. Christian Slater’s character is the main hero with Morgan Freeman introduced as the antagonist, but it doesn’t stay that way. Betty White is also in this movie and plays a bit of a bitch, something you wouldn’t expect, but it works. I really don’t want to give away the entire plot encase any of you out there have not seen the movie and wish to possibly check it out. Of all the movies on this list, I feel Hard Rain could be the best all around movie listed, but that alone doesn’t make it my number one movie.

Hard Rain / Paramount / 1998

#1 Down Periscope
So why is Down Periscope listed as my #1 movie when I just mentioned that Hard Rain could be the best all around? This may sound stupid, but it comes down to re-watch-ability. Of all ten movies on this list, this is the movie I go to the most when I’m looking for something fun and a good laugh. Yes, Hard Rain might be the better all around action movie on this list, but Down Periscope is the tops when it comes to comedy. Starring Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Harry Dean Stanton and William H. Macy, Down Periscope is about Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge, played by Grammer who’s given his first command of a submarine, but not a nuclear one as he assumed, but a WWII era diesel. He’s given no choice but to accept command of the broken down sub and a crew of misfits and told if he can win a simulated war game then there’s a chance he could be given command of a proper nuclear sub.

The movie has a good enough plot that it works and makes it enjoyable. As with the rest of the movies on this list it may not be brilliant, but it doesn’t have to be in order to enjoy the movie, cast and humor. If you’ve never seen Down Periscope I strongly suggest you view the movie at least once and see what you think. It may not be the prettiest girl at the dance, but you will have an excellent time while your there.