Rethinking A Bad Movie

So The Wizard was on one of the HBO channels tonight. If you don't know (or don't remember, or have tried to forget), The Wizard was a 90-minute Nintendo commercial that masqueraded as a feature-length movie. I remember seeing it when it was first released back in 1989. In fact, its quite possible I saw it in the theaters (I'll look to BrotherofGiantAsianMan to confirm or deny that statement). I seem to recall having enjoyed the movie the first time I saw it, but I hadn't seen it in a while, and my opinion of the movie had dropped considerable. I used to think it was just a bad movie. And not bad in a "so bad its good" way, just... bad. But upon further review, I think I'm coming around on The Wizard. The level of unintentional comedy in this movie is just off the charts. And I'm not just talking about this scene (a.k.a. one of the greatest scenes in movie history):



In addition to this scene, there are a myriad of things that I love about this movie:

-I had forgotten that Christian Slater played the older brother, meaning that in between his career defining roles in Heathers and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he managed to squeeze in this gem.

-The horribly awkward sexual chemistry/puppy love story between 13 year olds Fred Savage and Jenny Lewis. Its just wrong. Seriously, they're 13.

-Speaking of Jenny Lewis, its possible you know her better as the lead singer of Rilo Kiley.

-Speaking of music, in an early scene, New Kids on the Block is playing in the background. I believe it was "You Got It (The Right Stuff)".

-Did you know that Tobey Maguire had a small, walk-on role in The Wizard? I didn't.

Yeah, that's Spiderman on the far left.

-The fact that the third finalist is a horribly stereotyped girl gamer with Coke-bottle glasses that could have easily been mistaken for a dude if it weren't for the pigtails. And even with the pigtails, its still a tough call.

-And finally, I love how everyone seems to know everything about Super Mario Bros. 3 when the finals was supposed to be the first time anyone had ever seen the game. The raccoon suit makes you fly? Sure, that one's obvious. Jimmy knows where the first Warp Whistle is hidden (which, aside from the unintentional comedy, is the only real thing gained from the movie)? Okay, maybe you can chalk that one up to him being a gaming prodigy, but how do the people in the crowd (ie- Fred Savage and Jenny Lewis) know that a)warping is that the whistle does and b)that there's even a hidden warp zone in Level One? I realize that Nintendo's trying to sell the game (like Mario 3 needed the help) by showing off parts of it, but couldn't they have had them react to the whistle ("Oh, the whistle takes you to the Warp World!") instead of having them already know what it does? Would've made more sense that way, but I'm guessing that "sense" wasn't a big priority on this flick.

So what does it all mean? It means that I've taken The Wizard off my "Worst Movies Ever" list (with the likes of Super Mario Bros., oddly enough, and The Core) and dropped it into the "Horribly Awesome" category (up there with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure). Too bad there isn't a deluxe special edition DVD for The Wizard; I think I'd buy that in a heartbeat. I still may have to own it anyway.