School Ties, Peggy Sue Got Married, Sky High
For me a guilty pleasure is watching something others might look at you and say “WTH?”. It might be a movie you watch over and over (Legally Blond comes to mind), or movies like Pitch Perfect or Bring It On that would seem totally off base being the person you are.Movies you watch over and over and know the dialog are not really guilty pleasures to me, they are treasures, I memorized a lot of the dialog to Mel Brooks original “Producers” movie (which if you haven’t seen it, from 1968, watch it…Zero Mostel and Gene wilder and a cast of unbelievably funny, crazy actors). . Movies like the Right Stuff, that I used to watch over and over, and now i realize why I did:).
The Little Mermaid.
I don’t have any guilt over enjoying the great teen films of the 80s. Maybe a little guilt about Long Duk Dong.
I’ll list some all time greats that nobody mentioned.
Blues Brothers - What kind of music do you usually have here, "We got both kinds, we got country and western.
Bull Durham
The Sting
Speaking of Zero Mostel, The Hot Rock was on the other day. Always loved Donald Westlake.
George of the Jungle
Not a well regarded film by any means but my kids LOVED it as tiny tots. It really cracked them up and it remains a family favorite almost 20 years later.
So for me a guilty pleasure is a movie I know is not that good (bad acting, cheesy dialogue, etc) but I will watch it whenever it is on and I also just might happen to own the dvd so I can watch it while folding laundry.
For Keeps (bad teen pregnancy flick starring Molly Ringwald, filled with awesome lines like “I love it when the smart kids are so stupid” and “Stretch marks are the badge of a real woman!”)
Center Stage—I love any movie about ballet since I used to dance as a kid, and this one has lots of real dancers in it. Unfortunately they are better dancers than actors. Best lines: “Mom, I’m not you. You didn’t have the feet. I don’t have the heart.” and " Cooper, you’re an amazing dancer, and you’re a great choreographer, but as a boyfriend you kind of suck."
Stick it–I also used to do gymnastics, but these movies are much rarer. This one is truly insane. Jeff Bridges is the coach! Gymnasts get angry at the judges and decide to take over the competition. Crazy shenanigans like music on a beam routine and everyone pulling their bra straps out of their leos! Real Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin is in it as herself, lending cred.
My H loves the horrible teen ski movie HotDog.
There’s Something About Mary, Men In Black trilogy.
TCM is running Gidget right now and somehow I thought of this thread. Yes, I’m watching it. 
“Stick it”
Now you reminded me of the guilty pleasure “Bring it On.”
I said brrrr, it’s cold in here!
You know there must be some Toros in the AT-mos-phere!
@LasMa I recently rewatched Gidget. As much as I like watching it in a guilty pleasure way, I was surprised by how inappropriate it seemed to me in a lot of ways from a 2016 perspective. Did you think the same?
@Hanna, I don’t think Bring it on is necessarily a bad movie. I think it is pretty well cast, well acted, and well-written. I love it (and yes, own the dvd), but I put it a level above the others I mentioned. I just think it is better made.
And not that these ratings really mean anything, but on Rotten Tomatoes:
For Keeps 22%
Center Stage 43%
Stick It 31%
Bring it On 63%
Bring it On is the only one rated Fresh. The others are all rotten to the core!
For me guilty pleasure does not equal that the movie is necessarily bad… It means that I’ve seen this movie so many times that I have the dialogue memorized and probably I should be doing something more worthwhile with my time… reading War & Peace perhaps?? Cleaning out the front closet??
That said, I did fold my laundry today while watching Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger… gotta love all those early Bond movies. I always get sucked into watching when they are on TV
I thought guilty pleasure meant you didn’t necessarily tell people you watched it… too embarrassing.
Mine is Pitch Black. And the first Fast and Furious movie.
I only saw them the first go round because my sons wanted to see them. Then I went back to see one of them by myself, and didn’t even tell anyone. You are the only ones to whom I’ve revealed this.
For me, it means I’m careful whom I tell, lest they wonder.
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.
Of course, Legally Blonde.
Mean Girls. And more.
I have no problem explaining to anyone, no matter how intellectual, that Legally Blonde is a feminist masterpiece. Even my husband is finally in agreement.
It does. Until I came across this thread, I had never heard of anyone having an alternate definition of the phrase (or for that matter defining what it means on a person-by-person basis…i.e. “to me”). Utterly bizarre. The best explanation is post #40.
The Godfather, West Side Story, The Sting, This Is Spinal Tap, Wizard of Oz, Groundhog Day, Pixar stuff, Monty Python, and Ferris Bueller are not guilty pleasures, no matter how many times you rewatch them.
Now that my rant is over, as a man my guilty pleasure is Fried Green Tomatoes.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Everyone has pleasure in that one. Not sure about guilty.
Fixed that for you. Let’s not forget who really came up with the cheer (and I * know * you don’t think a white girl made that &@%$ up :p)
As a man, I agree about Fried Green Tomatoes.
@guidedbywire, Fried Green Tomatoes is a great movie.
As a man, I like the Notebook too.
This thread has the largest list of bad movies that are actually good movies.
Does the word “Bad” actually mean good? Did I miss the change of definitions?
Guilty pleasures–I’d be embarrassed if my kids saw me watching these movies. Knowing that I watched and really, really enjoyed these movies makes my spouse think less of me as a person. I’m sort of ashamed of how much I liked these movies, but I would watch them when no one is around: Borat, The Interview, Knocked Up, Blades of Glory.