Not Guilty, Your Honor
Alt title: "Innocent Pleasure" but that sounds weird
About a year ago I created an account on Letterboxd (brave), a social media app for movie people. Used to log, review, and discover movies, Letterboxd wasn’t about growing a new social following or diving deep into a new app to distract from the horrors, I mean, delight of real life— that’s what TikTok is for!
The irony in me thinking I am adept at reviewing movies is that my outlook on life has always been “MOVIES FUN” and until now I have not been a harsh critic; this goes for television too. Screens FUN! Concurrently, I’ve often thought of myself as a writer, a *~*sToRyTeLLeR*~*. This opposition makes me special. End of thesis. End of post.
…
I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I’ve left a movie— always at the end, never have left a movie in the middle— and thought it was BAD1.
I’ve had a rip-roaring good time pretending to be a good critic as I’ve used Letterboxd, but when the year closed (surprise: more “reflecting on 2023” content), looking at the stats made it all worth it. Letterboxd is less about rating movies and more about data: how many movies have I seen this month, this year, this LIFE?2 The app is also known for a feature called “top 4”. Displayed front and center on one’s profile is their top 4 favorite movies. Perhaps it’s because four movie posters fit nicely on a 9:16 vertical phone screen, perhaps it’s a way to standout among normal list numbers like top 3, 5, 10.3
Back in the summer between high school and college (brag: I got into college!) I went on a soul searching domestic backpacking trip because I am white. Organized through my church’s youth group (pearly white!) we trekked through the Adirondack mountains for about 8 days and it was terr— I mean it was great and I found myself. A part of this itinerary was a solo day; use the camping skills we acquired to go out on our own (not too far from others, don’t worry) and spend 24 hours alone, setting up an area to be one with nature and if my memory serves me right, it was a fast as well, preparing my digestion system for a journey on Survivor one day. I had some paper and a pen with me to journal so I spent about 6 hours of sunlight that day… pondering my all-time favorite movies (up to that point, summer 2006). My definition of finding myself was finding what movies make up my personality. My brain will be studied by academics!
The movie on top of my Letterboxd profile and at the top of my tattered journal in the woods in 2006 is Finding Nemo. My instinct here is to make a self-depricating joke like “lol when will I grow up?!” but let’s dig in instead.
In a 2011 interview with The AV Club, Mindy Kaling said:
I once heard that Quentin Tarantino, who I obviously love and think is a genius, says that there’s no such thing as guilty pleasure, there’s only pleasures. And I loved that. I thought that was so smart, and emancipating. […] I do love that idea, because I do think that there’s a pretentiousness when people make a list of their favorite things. Not to keep quoting people, but I love Nelly Furtado, and she once gave this interview where she was saying, “People always ask me what my influences are, and they always say people who were pre-1970. We can’t be influenced by our peers or things we grew up on.” She was talking about Green Day, or some band that was almost her contemporary that she thought was great. She wasn’t going to say Etta James just because everyone else thought that would make her artsier. Anyway, I’m going off on this, but I like to live a life where I don’t think of my pleasures as guilty pleasures.
I had never heard the validity of a guilty pleasure be challenged by Kaling, Tarantino, anyone before I had read this years ago. I recently wrote about earnestly loving reality shows people often categorize as guilty pleasures but to me, just pleasure. It truly doesn’t compute why I would ever feel guilty for liking something.
When I meet age cohorts and it comes up in conversation that Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nominee Finding Nemo is my favorite movie, earnestly, reactions are telling (this has very useful when dating in Los Angeles— big red flag if one scoffs at this being at the top of my list!!!!!). Some millennials haven’t watched Finding Nemo on the eve of scary or important events in their lives (before heading off to college, to celebrate/mourn the beginning of a period of unemployment) and it shows!
To take a single paragraph to defend my choice gives in to the existence of the guilty pleasure and that I must explain my choice so allow me to just leave this anecdote:
A former boss of mine referenced this podcast episode as a formative teaching on screenwriting, in which we break down Finding Nemo to teach the basics of story structure. On his recommendation, I’ve listened to this episode and taken notes more than once and I’m a better writer for it and for the existence of Finding Nemo. Of course, maybe 2003 me didn’t think that deeply when I walked to Blockbuster on my high school lunch break to buy Nemo on its DVD release day. But I don’t feel guilty for it now nor did I back then.
All movie ratings are subjective of course, and maybe most of mine are rated through my optimistic glass-mostly-full Ryan-colored glasses, but sometimes I think the other way would be exhausting. Can you imagine going to a movie theater expecting to have a bad time more than half the time? Who’s got the time for that?
So most of my Letterboxd ratings are at least 3.5 stars (out of five). Most movies deserve! The first movie I logged on January 7, 2023 was M3GAN. Instant four stars. If opening a family-size bag of sour candy that I bought at Target beforehand to get more bang for the buck and not feeling limited makes me happy, if the familiar euphoria of the lights dimming (to evoke AMC-era Nicole Kidman) makes me happy, if I had fun for 100+ minutes, then the movie did a great job.
The rest of my top 4, currently, and perhaps subject to change in time4: Bridesmaids(2011), National Treasure (2004)5, The Parent Trap (1998). Having an optimistic view of movies— most are good, fewer are mid, only a handful are bad— is a personality trait that isn’t a bug but a feature. One I’m not wasting guilt over.
I’m often shocked when I ask loved ones about their favorite movie(s) and they… do not know? Now I understand it’s not a touchstone of everyone’s personality (ask the date I once went on and then let him know we were “ultimately incompatible” because he just didn’t like movies in general). But, I think everyone has seen enough to be able to recall or remember one or a few they loved?
I recommend sitting for a moment and thinking of your top 4, even if you’re never inclined to create a profile on an app for movie lovers. And let me know what you pick (that’s called engagement with my following 🦊). Maybe you’ll be inspired to rewatch one of them when you have the time and need the familiarity.
The worst movie I saw last year that nobody else saw was called What Happens Later, starring a return-to-rom-com Meg Ryan, which sold me. I desperately wish other humans had seen this movie just to know the absurdity of the final shot. One day I’ll get the strength to rewatch it just to walk through its absurdity at every turn.
As of this writing, it’s approximately 1,774 in my lifetime. What if we weren’t meant to know this much about ourselves?
Look for Letterboxd on other social platforms: they’re always trolling press junkets and red carpet events asking various celebs about their top 4.
At the risk of letting out too many future recommendations at once, I won’t link to my longer list of all-time favorite movies but… it’s out there on the internet if you’re savvy enough.
I didn’t even see this in theaters or in 2004, this was a later watch and rewatch and rewatch. The sequel is not as good— imagine that!!!