Let’s Retire the Term “Popcorn Movie”
Article by Paul Preston
You’ve probably heard the term “popcorn movie”. It’s often used in the sentence, “it was a pretty good popcorn movie” or “It was good FOR a popcorn movie”. You may have even said the phrase yourself. My suggestion – let’s stop.
A “popcorn movie” is usually a bad movie to which people give a pass. Urbandictionary.com calls it “Not monumental. A good waste of time.” Take a look at the top ten movies of the country the week this article was written (mid-April, 2019):
Now, Rotten Tomatoes relies on you trusting decaying vegetables as a movie worth measuring stick. And, of course, there’s the fact that they’ll determine their percentages of quality by combining the insight and journalism of the L.A. Times and TIME Magazine with the level-of-family-friendliness rating of Movie Mom. So, if you buy into all that, this isn’t a good-looking chart. Most movies are bad.
If that’s the case, why would we want to enable more bad movies by creating and repeating a term that celebrates their poorness? Anyone who thought Venom was a fun popcorn movie helped elevate it to the top spot in the box office for two weeks in a row. What if we rejected that movie’s awfulness? Demanded more? Better? Maybe we’d get it? Calling it a “popcorn movie” says it’s OK that it was terrible.
The definition can go the other way, too. Deeming a film a “popcorn movie” can often unfairly take the movie out of contention for higher regard and/or awards love. My favorite film of last year was Avengers: Infinity War. Too quick a judgment (and too shallow a perception while watching), and you can dismiss this superhero movie as a “good time”, “fun popcorn movie”. I would even go so far as to say Infinity War was not only my favorite film, but the BEST film of 2018. I’m not going to relegate the movie to some secondary bin where popular and genre films get deemed second-class citizens while supposedly higher art gets all the accolades. Infinity War transcended its genre, achieved heights in storytelling that are on another planet and was rich with emotion. There will be no second-class status that can contain it.
Love the movies you love. Having to put the caveat on a movie that it’s part of some special tribe of films that are OK to like because they’re not trying hard isn’t fair to the movie and undercuts your ability to like something. I’m gonna flip this article on its head by spinning back around to Venom. By all standards and critics, Venom is awful. The box office would tell you otherwise. I suggested calling it a popcorn movie gives it an unearned pass, and I stand by that. But let’s say you loved it and all its over-the-top nonsense. Here’s reason #2 to not call it a popcorn movie – love the movie you love. You do yourself a disservice to love it, but classify it as a “popcorn movie” – something not worthy of your fandom (if you’re aware it’s bad and love it anyway, that’s a guilty pleasure – different article!).
Also, movies about something CAN be entertaining. Many moviegoers want escapism from their trip to the multiplex, and often dismiss or forget the fact that escapism can also come with thoughtful filmmaking. People looking for a popcorn movie would be remiss to skip something as wholly entertaining as Birdman, Blackkklansman or Philomena ‘cause they look like stuffy awards fodder. I bet you would be surprised by how much you need substance in your movie whether you’re looking for it or not.
So, public, let’s shift our vocabulary away from this phrase. A film can succeed or fail in its genre, but no need to make up a new one to forgive or condemn it. “Popcorn movie” as a genre is about as exciting as a wet paper plate. And what the hell did popcorn do to get lumped in with all this mediocrity? It’s only the greatest food in the world! You can add almost anything to it – garlic, butter, chocolate, cheese, caramel – and it’s still awesome. Maybe Venom is a Milk Duds movie?
