(1980) *1/2So I'm confused how to rate this film. It is truly awful, but 1. I watched it in excellent company, which made for much fun and 2. we followed it with Showgirls, which makes Xanadu look like the Godfather. I'll fall back on the rating I was going to give it before I watched (echh) Showgirls. The plot of Xanadu involves a thwarted artist (Michael Beck), his muse (Olivia Newton-John), and a semi-retired former clarinetist/club owner (Gene Kelly). They unite to build a roller disco. I guess it's a musical of sorts, the music (some of which I liked) provided by ELO and Olivia herself. The acting and dancing are pretty bad, the "plot" flimsy and ludicrous, the dialogue outrageously stupid. Gene Kelly's presence provides the movie with a hint of talent and integrity, but was distracting in that we spent the whole movie wondering why he did it. Did he need the money? Did he read the script? Xanadu was nominated for 6 Razzies the very first year of the competition, but somehow didn't win worst picture. I understand Xanadu is now a Broadway production; stay tuned for my review.
4 comments:
damn, my local video store doesn't have Sgt. Pepper's, but the guys there did load me up with some wicked bombs for the rest of the weekend. without giving anything away about the lineup, i have a great idea for yet another weekend competition: van damme-athon!
Holy crap, ac, you're on fire! I must confess, I didn't realize any sort of competition was going on this weekend. I understand your struggle over how to rate Xanadu. Yes, it's an abomination, yet it's so damn fun to watch for its sheer awfulness. Also, it (unfortunately) presents Gene Kelly's final performance on film, man how depressing. On the other hand the film boasts a fun 70s soundtrack, cheesy 70s style that was considered hip at the time, and bad fx. I love this damn film.
AC, I can copy you Sgt. Peppers if you want it. Be warned, it's very difficult to get through!
thanks jpx! how many stars would you give xanadu? i'm not worried about me getting through sgt peppers (which will have to wait for another weekend anyway), since i know and love-to-hate it, it's my friends i'm worried about. they don't know what they're in for. of course they made me watch showgirls, and payback is a bitch.
i don't think there is any official competition. i was doing a purely social bad movie minithon today anyway, then got fired up to make a weekend of it. if anyone else wants to fire up a couple of stinkbombs, great; otherwise you can just share my pain vicariously. :)
I had someone's copy of this movie for a few months but I couldn't get past the first five minutes. For me it's a huge problem when the subject of a story is someone who's meant to be a great artist but the art is actually really sucky.
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