mcLOL.com

Movies That Have Attempted To Turn Lame Premises Into Cool Stories

While some movies have great premises that get executed wonderfully, some storylines  are so preposterously ridiculous we’re all left guessing what the crack was laced with when the Hollywood boardroom said “Let’s make a movie about it.” The following list highlights the archetypes of movies that have attempted to turn lame premises into cool stories, some doing so with far greater success than others.

Tap (Tap Dancing)

Tap is a look at the edgy, fast-paced world of… tap dancing? The movie begins with Max (played by Gregory Hines) who after his release from prison must choose between going back to a life of crime or pursuing his passion: tap dancing. For the already microscopic portion of the population that would be able to tolerate an entire feature length film about clicking your heels, this is one premise that was taking a real shot in the dark to turn tap dancing into something cutting-edge.

Boiler Room (Telemarketing)

Boiler Room turned a rather mundane storyline into a dark and enjoyable film. After all, you do have to be pretty creative to base a movie on a telemarketing firm and equivocating the business of buying and selling shares to selling illicit drugs. Giovanni Ribisi eloquently states in the film, “Stocks are the white-boy way of slinging crack rock.” Scenes loaded with all the pimping eye candy one could ask for: expensive cars, luxury homes, and of course beautiful women.

Bring It On (Cheerleading)

When I first saw the trailer for Bring It On, a part of my soul died. Bring It On is an all-American movie about two competing all-American high school cheerleading squads. The movie is a self-mocking popularity satire and actually does a pretty decent job at poking fun at American high school life. But couldn’t one Bring It On have sufficed? Wikipedia just informed me that subsequent to the first movie, four direct-to-video sequels followed including: 2004’s Bring It On Again, 2006’s Bring It On: All or Nothing, 2007’s Bring It On: In It to Win It and 2009’s Bring It On: Fight to the Finish.

Drumline (Marching Bands)

Just as I finished mentioning my dismay with basing a movie on cheerleading, Drumline is the story of a university marching band. Devon (played by Nick Cannon) is a young drummer from New York who enters a marching band at Atlanta A&T University. He bumps heads with the leader of his new school’s drum section, also struggling with tough obstacles like finding time for romance with an upperclassman dancer named Laila.

Footloose (Dancing in Warehouses)

Perhaps one of the most ridiculous movie premises is that of Footloose. Kevin Bacon plays Ren ‘Footloose’ McCormack, a teenager from Chicago who moves to a small town where the local government has banned dancing and rock music. In order to save the senior prom, Ren and his classmates have to figure out a way to get around the law. You know, so they can dance. Not exactly what you would call ground-breaking cinema.

Hackers (Living in Your Parents Basement)

I am just going on a wild hunch here, but to me a hacker is a social recluse whose only relationship is with a computer and somehow I highly doubt that real hackers look anything like Angelina Jolie. Of course, there had to be some element of cool in order to successfully base a movie on the apex of computer geeks, so virtually all of the hacking ideas in the film are utterly absurd and unrealistic.

All About Steve (Crosswords)

Yes, most romantic comedies are lame by nature, but All About Steve really hit the nail on the head with this one. Sandra Bullock is a crossword creator and becomes obsessed with a guy named Steve.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.