[Nick Zwar]

I’m reminded of something sorta related. When I’ve discussed with colleagues, and they’ve been disparaging about a film, they’ve sometimes ended their argument with “but it’s got great entertainment value, I suppose”. A sort of reductive, faint praise when all else is lost. That’s often irritated me a little bit, especially if I love that same film for many other reasons than just its sheer entertainment value.

Hmm… isn’t “great entertainment” value the entrance card? If a movie is “entertaining”, can it be bad? If a movie is not “entertaining”, can it be good? Of course, it depends on what definition of “entertaining” one might use, and also of course, a movie may be “entertaining” for reasons totally different from the original intent. I consider Irwin Allen’s THE SWARM a highly entertaining movie, but probably not for the reasons Allen intended it to be. Perhaps some people use the term to simply say “I liked the movie”. Now just about all people watch or have watched movies, but not all people — probably not most people — are inclined to analyze what they like and why.