Awful Movies and Target Marketing

I was on Rottentomatoes (a site that aggregates reviews of movies) and decided to look up the info on “Epic Movie.” I can’t explain why, but I have a fascination with spoof movies, even though there hasn’t been a good one in *years*. I think I just remember Airplane!, the Naked Gun, and Top Secret so fondly that I hold on to some hope that I will find something that captures that glory. Futile, I know, like Leo DiCaprio at the end of Titanic hoping that by holding on to Rose’s hand he can generate enough body heat to survive, as opposed to finding his own piece of flotsam to float on…

If you haven’t seen it, “Epic Movie” is atrociously bad. I was watching it on cable and could only get through the first 15 minutes before I had to turn the TV off and take a shower to get the reek off of me.

Amazingly, on Rottentomatoes (RT), there was actually one positive review of the movie. Only one out of 55, but still, there it was. One “fresh” rating, as RT likes to call it. And that from “top critic” Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly’s web site!

This got me thinking (dangerous, I know) – if a movie as stupendously bad as “Epic Movie” can find even one critic to speak positively about it, than doesn’t that mean that there’s hope for all of us? This is really a commentary on personal taste and niche marketing…

If one critic can speak positively about “Epic Movie,” then you really can find a market for anything. Hollywood also keeps churning these movies out, which must mean that they keep making money, which means there really must be a market for it.

Maybe you have a product or service that people don’t like, don’t understand, or make fun of. (I teach people how to use improv comedy to be more effective in business, so I understand this…) This doesn’t mean you should necessarily give up. You may just need to find the right market that will appreciate it.

Lesson: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. Persistence is holding on to the same goal while trying different approaches to achieve that goal. This is not to say that every cockamamie idea will work; it just means that before you get frustrated or depressed and give up, think about our friends who made “Epic Movie.” If they can do it, why can’t you?

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