Do you Hate-Watch movies?

[themaque]

Are there movies, TV shows, Films, or even books you HATE but can't stop watching or reading? There is something almost cathartic about having a good righteous anger over something so absolutely horrible?

For me, that move is League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I would have trouble putting into words my deep and unabashed hatred for nearly every aspect of this film. It's a failure in nearly every capacity and yet... If it's on I will watch it. I will sit there and seethe and scream bloody vitriol at the screen and.... then go about my life.

Am I merely insane or do other people do this as well?

(And Yes, I am a big fan of the comics, but I have no problem with adapting a story to a new medium. Its not JUST that they made changes but they made so very very wrong ones. )

[Rodin]

Naruto's kinda gotten that way for me. Been watching it for over 10 years, and I'm only still watching it because I want to see the conclusion. Ever since about the 3rd season post-timeskip, the show has just been terrible.

I also went through a period of this with John Ringo's works as his political views became more extreme and invaded his books more pervasively. Yes, John, the Green Party is totally going to betray humanity so that we all get eaten by a horde of alien locusts in order to protect the planet. You...you just keep on believing that.

The Honor Harrington books were another one that I hate-read that fell under "this has gone on too damn long" territory. The story got to a point around about the end of Ashes of Victory that the plot could have been wrapped up in about a half dozen chapters. There've been at least a dozen further books in the franchise since then. Go start another series or something instead of running the franchise into the ground...

[Traab]

I used to do that with the old school chop suey kung fu flicks. Terrible dialogue, even worse dubbing, lame effects, lame fights. They were entertaining because of just how bad they were.

[JoshL]

I like to watch bad movies, but I don't hate them. I love them! I don't think that's the same as what you're talking about though. Usually if I hate a film I forget about it. Very few films have angered me enough that they keep my attention. There's enough in the real world to make me angry that I don't need that in my entertainment time.

[Thrudd]

I saw the recent Fantastic Four movie was streaming on HBO and I couldn't help but watch it, even though I knew already that it was a steaming pile. It was just as bad as everyone said.

[An Enemy Spy]

I watched The Last Airbender for no other reason than that I wanted to hate it, and I had fun screaming at my TV, taking the occasional break so I could walk away and rant about it to people I knew didn't give a crap about the movie.

[Kitten Champion]

Sometimes you see a debate on the internet over a movie, and the only way you feel entitled to enter it is by actually watching it. That was sort of me with watching the Transformers movie franchise (on television, in a marathon), though I genuinely did not think it was going to be that bad, I still knew I wasn't going to like it and it was going to take a day out of my life I'd never get back.

I did something similar with Catwoman and Green Lantern, though they were more interesting to dissect on a critical level. Tranformers just revels in how much it doesn't care that it's bad, it's going to make money regardless.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Sometimes you see a debate on the internet over a movie, and the only way you feel entitled to enter it is by actually watching it. That was sort of me with watching the Transformers movie franchise (on television, in a marathon), though I genuinely did not think it was going to be that bad, I still knew I wasn't going to like it and it was going to take a day out of my life I'd never get back.

I did something similar with Catwoman and Green Lantern, though they were more interesting to dissect on a critical level. Tranformers just revels in how much it doesn't care that it's bad, it's going to make money regardless.

This is pretty much me with Sword Art Online 2. I feel like I'm not allowed to properly say I despise Sword Art Online unless I watch all of it to make sure.

[BWR]

I used to do that with the old school chop suey kung fu flicks. Terrible dialogue, even worse dubbing, lame effects, lame fights. They were entertaining because of just how bad they were.

Did you actually hate them?
Because I too find them entertaining for all their faults but they don't engender anything resembling anger in me.

No, I don't hate-watch things. I might watch things in disappointment because I hope it is going to get better. I might watch something once just to see what people are on about so I can properly critique it but I won't continue to watch (in the case of series) or rewatch something that I rage at. DW is the closest thing to that these days because it has become so bad but it used to be good and I hope it will be so again. That is disappointment with some heat, not hate.

[Ruslan]

Watched the Angry Birds Movie this weekend. It was about as bad as I expected, but luckily no worse than that.

[Zigwat]

I hate watched 8 Crazy Nights, but I did it while completely numb on gin and RC cola. It was just as terrible as I figured it would be... and even more terrible. It was BAD!

One movie I refuse to give any sort of money to is Ghostbusters 2016. They can call me sexist if they want, but if the trailer is any indication, it's going to be TERRIBLE.

[thirsting]

I think Force Awakens was hatewatch for me. It was not all terrible, but.. It did try to be so much a good SW movie that it forgot to be a good movie. No one in my friend circle shares this view though.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah, I'm also not sure what the point of hate-watching is, unless you're filming yourself as part of the narrow Youtube/Twitch market for watching+mocking something as 'entertainment'. Too much good stuff out there to waste time with the bad.

[BWR]

I think Force Awakens was hatewatch for me. It was not all terrible, but.. It did try to be so much a good SW movie that it forgot to be a good movie. No one in my friend circle shares this view though.

I wouldn't say I hated it, I was just bitterly disappointed. It's sad when you can say that for all it got very wrong, TPM was still a better SW movie.

Anyway, by 'hate-watch' I believe the OP meant 'things you already have seen and know you hate but rewatch anyway', not 'things you watched once and didn't like'.

[Comet]

I do like watching bad movies sometimes. It's good, silly fun, especially with friends.

Watching a movie specifically to be angry, though? More than once? Life's a bit too short.

[The Second]

Every so often I'll fire up The End of Evangelion just to experience the colossal cluster-fark that it is.

Alien Resurrection too, its so terribly bad. I mean the script was possibly salvageable; maybe better direction would have helped... maybe.

The AvP franchise is jaw clenching, nails-gouging-the-sofa-cushions torture for me.

[Rodin]

I wouldn't say I hated it, I was just bitterly disappointed. It's sad when you can say that for all it got very wrong, TPM was still a better SW movie.



You take that back! NOTHING is as bad as "Jar Jar's Big Adventure"! NOTHING.

Heck, I think the Ewok movies were better than TPM.

...Actually, on further thought I recant the earlier statement. There is always the Holiday Special That Shall Not Be Named.

I think the Ewok movies kinda count as a subversion for me. I watched expecting to hate them simply because there was literally nothing else on TV at the time, and actually found them oddly enjoyable. Not high cinema by any means, but far better than I thought they'd be.

[themaque]

Yes, some people like BWR have gotten my point.

I will watch movies I suspect to be bad, and not be wrong. But that's not a hate watch.

I will watch movies that are horrible but I still love them. Troll 2 for example is a movie that got everything wrong but I still can't help but enjoy. That isn't really a hate watch either but me just enjoying admittedly bad movies and figuring out how and why they made the choices they did.

LoEG I used to watch because I hated it. I didn't enjoy the movie like I do Troll 2. It made me mad. My wife agrees with many of you, that life is to short. It's almost cathartic to be able to just get a good head of steam and let loose on something that is ultimately meaningless.

I don't do this much these days. Like everyone says who has the time? I can't keep up with all the GOOD stuff out there.

I would like to address a few side bars...

Ghostbusters (2016)
I think it's biggest problem is marketing. NONE of Paul Feig movies have good trailers but I've repeatedly enjoyed his films. They keep trying to nail Nostalgia in the trailers and that's a mistake.

the UK trailer was MUCH better because it didn't drive home the tenuous connections to the first film. I'm willing to bet this will be at least OK and probably better than 2.

Star Wars
This movie was safe. They almost HAD to lob a softball across the plate just to show "Look we can make a Star Wars Move".

I agree it suffers from MCU-Envy. Trying to hard to set up a world without really filling in enough for the movie you are in. I partially blame Abrahm's film making style for this one.

Overall the film is Good. not great, not bad, just okay to good.

Phantom Menace sucked the sweat of a dead dogs #@$.

[BWR]

You take that back![/B]
.

Or what?

TPM did have some good stuff where as TFA didn't apart from SFX. Most importantly, TPM wasn't afraid to try new stuff whereas TFA was so pathetically desperate to show "we aren't the prequels" that they shamelessly recycled the plot from ANH, made bland, uninteresting and in one case overpowered characters. TFA did absolutely nothing to try to make it visually or narratively distinct from the other movies, which the prequels, for all their faults, did. For all the good effects it was less spectacular and impressive in scope, especially visually, than ROTJ, much less whatever we see in the prequels. Had TFA been anything but a SW movie it would have been quite good. It was just not a good SW movie.

I do agree that the Ewok movies are not nearly as bad as their reputation. Like the Ewok cartoon it's best to think of them as something other than SW (especially when you see how low-budget the second movie is) with beings that happen to look exactly like SW Ewoks.

[Jayngfet]

You take that back! NOTHING is as bad as "Jar Jar's Big Adventure"! NOTHING.

Heck, I think the Ewok movies were better than TPM.

...Actually, on further thought I recant the earlier statement. There is always the Holiday Special That Shall Not Be Named.

I think the Ewok movies kinda count as a subversion for me. I watched expecting to hate them simply because there was literally nothing else on TV at the time, and actually found them oddly enjoyable. Not high cinema by any means, but far better than I thought they'd be.

The Ewok movies get a lot of crap mostly because they were basically in the same vein as the holiday special as made-for-tv Star Wars and featured the band of characters OT fans love to hate, and didn't conform to the unspoken "rules" about the force that fans had built up in their heads. So they're written off as being kiddy fare despite the fact that they have to tackle death in a darker and less fantastic fashion than the actual trilogy and have the Ewoks fight far more violently than they did in ROTJ.


For me though in all honesty Steven Universe is a hate-watching masterpiece. If one took a shot every time there was a glaring animation error, or a character was horrendously off model, you'd die of alcohol poisoning before episode three. That's to say nothing of it's ...interesting... idea of what makes character designs appealing to begin with. Don't get me started on the writing of the show.

[KillingAScarab]

The concept of hate-watching is... bizarre to me. Except, the discussion of The Phantom Menace reminded me of RedLetterMedia. I tried to get through that but... no.

If I have ever hate-watched anything, it was by RedLetterMedia.

[Blue Ghost]

No, I don't deliberately watch bad movies just to hate on them. I think there's enough hate in the world without my contributing to it. I might watch a movie that I have low expectations of just out of curiosity, but not for the express purpose of hating on it.
I have read books that I vehemently disagreed with in order to tear apart the arguments within. And... Internet comments. I should really stop reading those, but I can't help myself.

[JoshL]

I will watch movies that are horrible but I still love them. Troll 2 for example is a movie that got everything wrong but I still can't help but enjoy. That isn't really a hate watch either but me just enjoying admittedly bad movies and figuring out how and why they made the choices they did.

I have possibly watched Troll 2 more than any other DVD (and VHS because I have both) that I own. I love that movie and it never gets old! I also love the Ewok movies (and cartoon, and had all the comics as a kid). For me the real Star Wars stinker is AotC, though even that has fun moments. But it makes TPM seem great in comparison.

[GloatingSwine]

I barely have time to watch things I actually like.

So no. No I don't.

[Zigwat]

Yeah, I'm also not sure what the point of hate-watching is, unless you're filming yourself as part of the narrow Youtube/Twitch market for watching+mocking something as 'entertainment'. Too much good stuff out there to waste time with the bad.

Excellent philosophy, and one I share. However, there are times that I want to watch something terrible (normally drunk). It's just... a thing. Much like when I attempted to watch Elektra, but I ended up doing it in two sittings instead.

[tomandtish]

Yes, some people like BWR have gotten my point.

I will watch movies I suspect to be bad, and not be wrong. But that's not a hate watch.

I will watch movies that are horrible but I still love them. Troll 2 for example is a movie that got everything wrong but I still can't help but enjoy. That isn't really a hate watch either but me just enjoying admittedly bad movies and figuring out how and why they made the choices they did.

themaque has mostly summed up my philosophy here. I've watched movies I suspected were bad, and even finished a series where I strongly disliked the first movie just so I could say I've seen them all and argue from an informed position if someone wanted to discuss them.

Case in point: I actually did not like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I went ahead and watched the second because family wanted to go to it, and waited for the third for cable. But I didn't hate them before I saw them. And I just won't watch them again.

There are some bad movies that are bad enough to be good, and those are fun. it's also fun to have a few drinks and mock a bad movie, but I don;t hate the movie when I do that.

[Pex]

This is what MST3K is for.

Currently for me it's Person Of Interest. CBS is showing off the last few episodes because they have to and give it a finale. I've long since stopped liking the show when they went off their premise and became a lame spy genre. I'm just watching it to get a conclusion and because I like Jim Caviezel.

[KillingAScarab]

This is what MST3K is for.I got the impression the activity described here is quite different from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and its successors. I know when I put on Santa Claus I don't watch it just for the parade of stereotypes in the opening. Anyone else want to weigh in on that?

[Rodin]

I got the impression the activity described here is quite different from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and its successors. I know when I put on Santa Claus I don't watch it just for the parade of stereotypes in the opening. Anyone else want to weigh in on that?

Definitely different. If you're watching it because it's So Bad It's Good, then you're watching for legitimate enjoyment instead of watching for that feeling of rage you get when you watch it.

I think this is the big appeal of Youtube channels that review bad movies. You get to have a feel for the movie, the reviewer makes lots of jokes for you to laugh at, and above all you only spend about 10-20 minutes on the movie instead a full 2 hours out of your life.

Third Hobbit movie was definitely a hate-watch for me as well. Enjoyed the first (although I understand why it didn't appeal to everyone), second one really went off the rails and left me disappointed, and by the third I was expecting nothing good but was determined to see it out.

Stubbornness is the common theme for me. I started the series, by God I'm going to finish it even if it kills me. It's only when the author/showrunner makes it apparent the show is never going to end that I give up.

[Zigwat]

I got the impression the activity described here is quite different from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and its successors. I know when I put on Santa Claus I don't watch it just for the parade of stereotypes in the opening. Anyone else want to weigh in on that?

The first time I ever subjected myself to Santa Claus on MST3K I had to turn it off because those kids singing was giving me nightmares. Once the initial shock wore off I put it back on and I enjoyed it. You are correct, though, the stereotypical crap in the beginning was very cringe worthy and whoever wrote that needs to be kneecapped.

I still stand by my decision that The Wild World of Batwoman was the worst movie they ever riffed. I found it more appalling than Manos the Hands of Fate ever was.

[Legato Endless]

Yeah, I'm also not sure what the point of hate-watching is, unless you're filming yourself as part of the narrow Youtube/Twitch market for watching+mocking something as 'entertainment'. Too much good stuff out there to waste time with the bad.

This is ostensibly not the same thing as what Themaque is talking about, but there is a number of reasons to watch things you don't expect to be good. If you really want to understand some aspect of something, you have to spend time with it, and when it comes to fiction in any form that often means consuming a huge variety. Merely seeing the critically acclaimed or popularly hyped fails to give enough grounding or balance.

Its also often educational to see the ambitious failures and deconstruct why they fail. To say nothing of the more ethereal emotional aspects of storytelling, the kind of things you feel when it works but you can't precisely rationalize why. Your only guide then is usually comparing and collating off the ones that don't if you've any chance of doing the same, most of us mortals can't just intuit that, and very few creators really embody anything close to the spectrum.

[Knaight]

I don't. I do however occasionally watch things that I know are absolutely terrible, because the shared experience of watching and mockery with friends is enjoyable even if the work involved is all sorts of awful. I also watch (but mostly read) things to try and get a cultural grounding in the various literary and film canons, and some of these I've had to force myself through.

[FinnLassie]

Sex and the City. The TV series. I really dislike it, but yet... it just... I just end up watching it anyways. I cannot really call it a guilty pleasure because I get no pleasure out of it. It's just there. Numbing my brain. And it seems that I voluntarily choose to numb my brain to SATC. :smallsigh: :smalleek:

EDIT: Oooh, and Evolution, the movie from 2001. I hate it, but I can't resist seeing that sweet, sweet Duchovny of a man.

[Aedilred]

Pretty much any Pirates of the Caribbean film after the first. They're terrible, but I've watched them more than they merit, and through choice at that. But whether I'll watch them again - I don't know. Hopefully not. But I might find myself really, really, bored one day...

I had kind of the same relationship with the Spartacus TV series, but that was arguably more of a guilty pleasure. It was so obviously crap that, looking past that, it was kind of fun to watch the ridiculous fight scenes.

[KillingAScarab]

EDIT: Oooh, and Evolution, the movie from 2001. I hate it, but I can't resist seeing that sweet, sweet Duchovny of a man.So much (http://itlookshuman.blogspot.com/2013/01/evolution-2001-part-i-theyve-evolved.html) bad (http://itlookshuman.blogspot.com/2013/02/evolution-2001-part-ii-selenium-could.html) science (http://itlookshuman.blogspot.com/2013/02/evolution-2001-part-iii-rapid.html), so little time. But, this is a movie where the governor of Arizona wears a fur coat, and I'm an X-Files fan... I stayed in the theater and shut my brain off.

This reminds me, I can't play a Pokémon game without mentally replacing "evolve" with "metamorphose." If I were a super villain, my plan would involve changing the text of every copy of every game of that series to be more accurate and every copy would be bundled with a free Franz Kafka story.

[Zigwat]

This reminds me, I can't play a Pokémon game without mentally replacing "evolve" with "metamorphose." If I were a super villain, my plan would involve changing the text of every copy of every game of that series to be more accurate and every copy would be bundled with a free Franz Kafka story.

You monster...

But anyway, if you want to get into bad science, I am trying to remember the movie where there was a creature that was copying DNA from other people and turned into a humanoid thing because both the man and the woman scientist ended up having sex with it. I don't remember the name for the life of me, but it was the dumbest science movie I have seen outside of B and C movies.

Edit: SPLICE! That's the movie. Splice, dumbest science movie I've seen in a very long time.

[Knaight]

So much (http://itlookshuman.blogspot.com/2013/01/evolution-2001-part-i-theyve-evolved.html) bad (http://itlookshuman.blogspot.com/2013/02/evolution-2001-part-ii-selenium-could.html) science (http://itlookshuman.blogspot.com/2013/02/evolution-2001-part-iii-rapid.html), so little time. But, this is a movie where the governor of Arizona wears a fur coat, and I'm an X-Files fan... I stayed in the theater and shut my brain off.

The science is why you watch that movie. It's just so completely hilarious in its absurdity, and the chutzpah involved in being that wrong is impressive. The whole accelerated growth and evolution due to nitrogen thing, the whole concept of extended nitrogen polymers for genetic material, everything involving selenium, it's beautiful.

[Winter_Wolf]

I love hatedoms and hate watching/reading. I don't engage in it at all because I've got hundreds of things that are better uses of my time and money. But people who hate watch are just feeding more publicity and more money into that which they claim to despise. Don't think the makers of the stuff you hate watch care about your feewings, they're laughing all the way to the bank.

[Kyberwulf]

I can understand watching something to see how bad it is.

But to watch something you didn't like, over and over? Sounds like you actually DO like the movie, but feel like you shouldn't. Whatever negativity you associate with the move, you should let go and just enjoy what you apparently think is a good movie.

[Lethologica]

I don't need to hate-watch fiction. I have politics for that.

Having said that...I hate-watched Battleship.

[Aedilred]

You monster...

But anyway, if you want to get into bad science, I am trying to remember the movie where there was a creature that was copying DNA from other people and turned into a humanoid thing because both the man and the woman scientist ended up having sex with it. I don't remember the name for the life of me, but it was the dumbest science movie I have seen outside of B and C movies.

Edit: SPLICE! That's the movie. Splice, dumbest science movie I've seen in a very long time.

Was it worse than Species? Or, dare I say it, Species 2?

[The Glyphstone]

Was it worse than Species? Or, dare I say it, Species 2?

I'm not sure anything can trump The Core for sheer density-of-bad-science movie-ness.

[Kitten Champion]

The science is why you watch that movie. It's just so completely hilarious in its absurdity, and the chutzpah involved in being that wrong is impressive. The whole accelerated growth and evolution due to nitrogen thing, the whole concept of extended nitrogen polymers for genetic material, everything involving selenium, it's beautiful.

Yeah, I took the science in Evolution as trying to capture the same spirit and humour of the Ghostbusters franchise, along with everything else really.

[Legato Endless]

But people who hate watch are just feeding more publicity and more money into that which they claim to despise. Don't think the makers of the stuff you hate watch care about your feewings, they're laughing all the way to the bank.

For this niche a hobby? Pfft. You're giving people too much credit. Hate watching is pretty unlikely to make any meaningful difference as it's too populist a pursuit. By the time Twilight became known enough for people to mock it was at the same point what profits Meyer made from ironic buyers were too small to be meaningful. As for publicity, that's likely a drop in the bucket compared to simple word of mouth, advertising and unpaid generic dislike.

The only way Hate Watching would make any kind of banking difference is if attached itself to newly emerged unknown properties. The kind who would love the attention or try to feed off controversy. Sadly for creators the hobby is pretty snobby about what's "in."

[Zigwat]

Was it worse than Species? Or, dare I say it, Species 2?

At least in Species the alien was hot.

[Kyberwulf]

How can you know what the species looked like... in .. species? I thought she was an Alien/human hybrid. That her "Human" form was just a camouflage. I also thought her "Alien" form was also close to us because of the Human DNA

[Zigwat]

I saw that movie way before I should have because it came on the movie channels. I was around 13 years old, so it's been well over a decade since I've seen it.

[Knaight]

I can understand watching something to see how bad it is.

But to watch something you didn't like, over and over? Sounds like you actually DO like the movie, but feel like you shouldn't. Whatever negativity you associate with the move, you should let go and just enjoy what you apparently think is a good movie.

There's a very big difference between liking something and thinking it's good. I know for a fact that some of what I like is abject crap, and that there are works that are undeniably good that I don't particularly like. Citizen Kane is a classic for a lot of very good reasons, and the artistry involved is impressive. I can admire the artistry while simultaneously not enjoying it. Meanwhile Them was drek, a ludicrous sci-fi about giant ants that didn't even manage internal coherence all that well. I still enjoyed it.

[themaque]

How can you know what the species looked like... in .. species?

In the film, only AFTER making Eve, they made a non-mixed version of the DNA creation and it was a.... squiggly lump of tentacles that attacked anything that moved.



But to watch something you didn't like, over and over? Sounds like you actually DO like the movie, but feel like you shouldn't. Whatever negativity you associate with the move, you should let go and just enjoy what you apparently think is a good movie.

NOPE. As I've mentioned, I have no problem admitting I enjoy BAD movies. Such as.... Troll 2. Oh my gosh that was.... No word. No Words. But I enjoy watching it just the same.


There's a very big difference between liking something and thinking it's good. I know for a fact that some of what I like is abject crap, and that there are works that are undeniably good that I don't particularly like. Citizen Kane is a classic for a lot of very good reasons, and the artistry involved is impressive. I can admire the artistry while simultaneously not enjoying it. Meanwhile Them was drek, a ludicrous sci-fi about giant ants that didn't even manage internal coherence all that well. I still enjoyed it.

What this guy said.

[Psyren]

I love RLM/Plinkett's Star Wars critique but fast-forward through the unfunny rapey bits.

Overall though I go with Glyphstone's stance out there - there's far too many good things out there, and once I notice something is bad, I don't waste any more time on it unless I have absolutely nothing else to watch. For instance, I don't think I've gone back to Matrix Revolutions in years, unless I was somewhere where it was playing on the TV and I had no choice but to sit there, like a waiting room or cafeteria or something

[Themrys]

But people who hate watch are just feeding more publicity and more money into that which they claim to despise.

I don't hatewatch. Was has been seen cannot be made unseen.

However, I hateread. I have a library card anyway, so the amount of money the authors get from me is minimal.

Not that I really hateread whole books that often - what I know about Fifty Shades of Grey I know from other people's hatereading and chapter by chapter criticism of the books. The only bad book I've ever fully read through was Twilight.

All in all, there's more productive things to do with one's time, but reading a good criticism of a horrible book is educative; you learn what exactly was done wrong.

[TheThan]

So my buddies and I are watching the Rebuild of Evangelion animated movies, we watched the first two last night and may finish the series off tonight. They are Based on the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime from 1995-1996. These movies are actually a little bit better than the series but I still HATE them.

The characters are all really detestable
Shinji is still a selfish, self loathing, gutless wonder
Rei still has no personality, even though she’s starting to develop a tiny bit.
Asuka is still an arrogant self entitled bitch.
Misato is still a drunken slob (probably the least hate-able character)
Gendo is still an evil man with no love or respect for his own son.

Despite all this, these films are not as horrible as the anime even though the series is still stuffed with pointless pseudo-religious symbolism, teenage angst and general despair. The character’s personalities are condensed down to their base elements; so you get less instances of self loathing, from shinji, but when those instances occur, the self loathing is kicked up to 11. Everything about the characters are pushed to the extreme which makes most of the characters extremely unlikable.

I knew all this stuff going into it and i knew I was going to hate it, and I still chose to sit there and suffer through it.
Although sitting there and riffing it with my friends was hilarious. (honestly, the second film is better than the first. but not as fun to riff on).

[Psyren]

All in all, there's more productive things to do with one's time, but reading a good criticism of a horrible book is educative; you learn what exactly was done wrong.

This is why I like caustic reviewers - I learn what they screwed up in a very entertaining way, and it usually takes much less time. Watching RLM excoriate the Star Wars prequels for instance, or Confused Matthew rip through Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, is much faster than rewatching those things myself.

[KillingAScarab]

I love RLM/Plinkett's Star Wars critique but fast-forward through the unfunny rapey bits.The only thing I felt I learned from RedLetterMedia I couldn't have from another source was that there is a word for serial killers whose victims are their multiple wives.

[Timble]

I sometimes purposely watch bad shows/movies so I can judge what they did wrong and if they could have been good.