The Good, the Bad and the Good-Bad (Movie)

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Rachel Abrams (0:16)

Hey everyone, it's Rachel. I wanted to let you know that our colleagues over at Popcast, which is The Times pop culture chat show featuring music critic John Caramanica and reporter Joe Coscarelli, they have a brand new look. Now they're going to be coming out weekly in both video and audio.

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From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily on Sunday.

SPEAKER_3 (1:12)

No magic is stronger than sisterhood.

Rachel Abrams (1:15)

The film Practical Magic 2 opened in theaters this week.

SPEAKER_4 (1:19)

Here's the thing about magic, it won't be silenced.

Rachel Abrams (1:24)

If you weren't familiar with Practical Magic 1, it came out in 1998 Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play sisters, dealing with a pretty inconvenient generational curse that kills any man they fall in love with.

SPEAKER_4 (1:36)

It was the curse, wasn't it?

Rachel Abrams (1:39)

He died because I loved him so much. Also, by the way, they're witches.

In Practical Magic 2, we learn that Sandra Bullock's character has passed the curse on to her daughters, who are also witches.

SPEAKER_4 (1:53)

We're witches in the curse's room. I will never trust you again.

Rachel Abrams (1:59)

The release of Practical Magic 2 has prompted a lot of conversation here at The Daily about a particular kind of movie. Not a good movie, not a bad movie, but movies that are good bad.

Because for a lot of movie lovers, the movies that we love the most, they're not necessarily the movies we think are the best.

SPEAKER_5 (2:20)

What to you is a movie that you really love, even though you know that it is bad?

SPEAKER_6 (2:27)

Looney Tunes Back in Action.

Rachel Abrams (2:29)

And if you start asking people about their favorite good bad movies, you'll find they have a lot to say on the subject.

SPEAKER_6 (2:35)

Like, listen, 2003, Joe Dante made this movie because he hated Space Jam. He's like, I'm gonna make a proper Looney Tunes movie and that's like Steve Martin.

Rachel Abrams (2:42)

Like a lot to say.

SPEAKER_6 (2:43)

And it's like a subtle critique of capitalism.

Rachel Abrams (2:46)

You kinda can't stop them.

SPEAKER_6 (2:47)

And then transfer them back into people and buy the stuff.

SPEAKER_7 (2:50)

And it's like, oh yeah, it's like a subculture. I would say something about Mary. I love that movie, but it's not in the, what's that dumb closet everybody goes into?

The Criterion.

SPEAKER_8 (3:02)

But A Knight's Tale.

SPEAKER_4 (3:04)

And they do the Dance to Golden Years by David Bowie.

SPEAKER_3 (3:07)

It's kind of like very going back to my childhood as like a young straight man, but Jackass too.

Gilbert Cruz (3:14)

I mean I like love High School Musical.

SPEAKER_3 (3:16)

They live.

Rachel Abrams (3:17)

Twilight.

SPEAKER_6 (3:18)

Any classic Adam Sandler movie?

SPEAKER_8 (3:21)

Like Waterboy?

Rachel Abrams (3:23)

It's the Spice World.

SPEAKER_5 (3:25)

I'm so glad that Spice World made it to Ukraine.

SPEAKER_1 (3:27)

Spice World, you know? It's true.

Rachel Abrams (3:30)

These Good-Bad Movies occupy a special place in our hearts, despite the fact that they're probably not going to win any Oscars. And so today we are going to talk about Good-Bad Movies and about what makes a bad movie so eminently watchable. I'm joined in my Good-Bad Movie deep dive by my colleague, Maya Salam, who for the last year has been writing a column about Good-Bad Movies for The Times. And later in this episode, I will gather a couple other of my esteemed colleagues, Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Gilbert Cruz, to tell me about their must-see Good-Bad Movies. It's Sunday, September 13th.

Maya Salam, welcome to the Sunday Daily.

Maya Salam (4:11)

Thank you so much, Rachel. I'm thrilled to be here.

Rachel Abrams (4:15)

So, Maya, you have been working on this project, which seems very fun, about Good-Bad Movies. You have been naming Good-Bad Movies. You have been dissecting them. You have been trying to figure out the specific ingredients that make a Good-Bad Movie so beloved. And I want to talk about all of those ingredients, but first, let's define what we are talking about. What do we mean when we say Good-Bad Movie?