Guilty Pleasures

I ran some errands today out of sheer boredom. I needed a ride to work, but I needed it at the same time as my teenage sister, so I asked Uncle Ken to drop me off a few hours early.

In addition to picking up shampoo (Prell likes my hair) and a new pair of simple khaki pants from Wal-Mart to replace the cheap ones I grabbed from the thrift shop , I dropped by the FYE in the same shopping center and picked up the new two-disc, original version of The Empire Strikes Back as part of my ongoing attempt to replace get movies I either really, really like or taped off of TV on DVD. I also could not resist grabbing the new Warners Supergirl DVD release.

Yes, I know this is not a great movie. It's not even a good movie. Justin's complaints at Mutant Reviews are really rather on-the-mark. The dialogue ranges from cheesy to just nonsensical, the special effects were actually pretty lame in the 80s much less now, Faye Dunaway chews every bit of scenery within a five-mile radius, the plot makes no sense, and the whole thing looks rather cheap in comparison to the actual Superman films that bookend it.

I can't help it. I love it anyway. I love the cheesy effects. I love the weird plotlines. I love the stiff "love interest" and how she saves him at the last minute. I love the mountain sprouting up in the middle of town. I love all the "L" names. I love that a girl is the one who gets to be the hero without even ruffling her cape, and her mentor is Peter O'Toole. Even Dunaway's rabid overacting fits the general air of weirdness. I love that the fortress of doom is in a working amusement park ride.

And I REALLY love how she can go from blond to brunette in a single bound!

Like many guilty pleasures, this movie seems to have a very divisive following - either people adore it, or think it's one of the worst movies ever involving superheroes. I say, if you love the idea of a movie with a female superhero as much as I do and don't mind some very thick cheese, it's definately worth a shot.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088206/