You’ve probably heard of the box office flop to cult classic pipeline before. It’s happened with plenty of movies that are now well known today like The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Idiocracy (2006), Office Space (1999), The Big Lebowski (1998), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Clue (1985), and many more. Have you ever considered that there are some good cult classics you’ve never heard of?
These are just a few comedy movies that followed that same path but they’re lesser known and might not appear in an internet search for cult classics (prior to this article being published, anyway).
Out Cold (2001)
Out Cold is the funniest movie I have ever seen. It follows a group of employees that work at a ski resort in Alaska while the business is going through a change in ownership that they are trying to prevent. It’s a heist with side quests that involve the most ridiculous circumstances and pranks you’ve never even considered before.
Over the twenty-five years since its initial release, the movie found its home in the winter sports community and with people living in mountain towns according to an article from Ski Magazine. It’s become widely considered a cult classic by loyal fans unlike what movie critics predicted back in 2001, with reviews titled as such. I’m serious. “‘Out Cold’ not even worthy to be the next cult classic” is a real article published in the Michigan Daily.
Its cult status is also attributed to its standout cast of actors whose careers were just taking off in the 2000s. Zach Galifianakis, A.J. Cook, David Koechner, and David Denman are pretty recognizable by name and/or face now. Unless you’ve lived under a rock the past few decades, you’ve probably seen at least one of them in something. Ever seen The Office (2005-2013)? Criminal Minds (2005-)? How about The Hangover (2009)?
This movie is a hidden gem. It has slacker snowboarders, slapstick comedy, and is loosely based on Casablanca (1942). What more could you ask for?
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Drop Dead Gorgeous is truly a movie before its time. It uses a mockumentary style like The Office and Parks and Recreation (2009-2015) to follow a small-town beauty pageant in Minnesota and harbors the theme of how ugly America’s capitalist driven society can truly get.
The movie gained a cult following primarily through word-of-mouth throughout the 2000s and 2010s until it made its way onto Hulu in 2019, according to an article in The Hyper Real Film Club Journal. Women and the LGBTQ+ community have especially found a safe space in this film. Probably because “what ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’ understands so well is that being a teenage girl is in fact, deranged and dehumanizing and frequently unstable,” as Jia Tolentino writes in her review. I couldn’t have described it better myself.
Similar to Out Cold, this movie’s lineup of actors, such as Kirstie Alley, Kirsten Dunst, Allison Janney, Ellen Barkin, Denise Richards, Brittany Murphy, and Amy Adams, contributes to this cult status. Though many of these ladies were big at the time of the movie’s release, rather than up and coming actors. Allison Janney and Amy Adams were the only two who had yet to have their big breaks.
This movie draws viewers with a certain mixture of dark and campy humor woven into their taste of movie genres. If you like the mockumentary style with a dash of cynicism mixed in its humor, this one might be for you.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is absurd and sweet. It’s another movie that uses the mockumentary style, but in this instance, it follows a former boy band frontman during the heyday and the end of his solo career. And it’s camp.
So, so campy.
This is a newer cult classic, just reaching a decade old this year. It rose to that status due to its cast of big-name actors and dozens of cameos with stars in the music industry. Pink, Snoop Dog, Rihanna, Paul McCartney, A$AP Rocky, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Adam Levine, Bruno Mars, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Miley Cyrus, and that’s not even close to all of them. How quickly it gained cult status is mainly attributed to its relatable satire and the quick transition from theaters to home media and streaming platforms.
Once people found it on streaming or DVD, that’s where this movie began to find its audience. The lovers of so-bad-it’s-good humor in the mockumentary style swarmed online. Months after its initial release, raving reviews started popping up. Like this one from Uproxx, “You should see Popstar right now. And then you should buy Popstar so you can watch it many more times, because Popstar is awesome and it deserves to live on as a cult classic.” And it has.
Death to Smoochy (2002)
Death to Smoochy is unintentionally funny. It’s about a corrupt kids’ show star desiring to stay in the spotlight so badly that he vows to enact revenge on his predecessor, Smoochy, the fuchsia rhinoceros.
Imagine hitting rock bottom so hard you want to destroy an off-brand Barney.
I cried from laughing so hard at the absurdity.
Over the years, the movie found its way onto people’s screens through word of mouth, online, and physical media. According to Alan Dorich in an article on Comic Book Resources, the reasons the movie became a cult classic, despite flopping at the box office, are because of the skilled direction by the one and only Danny DeVito and the right cast. Many fans think Edward Norton and Robin Williams did a fantastic job portraying their characters in this dark comedy, creating what one fan on Reddit called “pure chaos in the best way.” (I very much agree).
It truly found its place with those who enjoy a dark comedy with ridiculous endeavors by the characters and the unexpected connections between them.
Quick Change (1990)
Quick Change seems like a simple movie about a bank robbery, but really, it’s a ridiculous unraveling of events while the bank-robbing trio is trying to escape New York City. For them, it’s a day where everything that could go wrong definitely does, and every character is experiencing an existential crisis because of it.
I bet we’ve all been there. Not the robbery part, no, I mean the existential crisis.
Fans praise this movie for its strong cast and witty script, which is what contributed to its cult status. Bill Murray, Geena Davis, and Randy Quaid star in it, giving exceptional performances. Additionally, all were big names in Hollywood in 1990 and are still remembered thirty-some years later. Many Bill Murray fans actually seek this movie out since it’s his only directorial credit.
Additionally, it’s a standout from other comedies that were popular at the time, relying on weird existential humor and chaos. One movie reviewer on JoBlo writes, “If you haven’t seen Quick Change, you’re in for a real treat. …It’s a long-neglected classic, and worth a blind-buy if you’ve never seen it.”
Final thoughts
These movies seemed to have great scripts and star quality casts, but still slipped through the cracks both during their initial releases and their rises as cult classics. Some due to poor marketing campaigns, others because of the themes or humor the world wasn’t quite ready for yet. Now, they’re only known by the small parts of the population who hold them in a special place in their hearts, which also keeps them relatively alive. And now that you know too, maybe you’ve just found your new favorite movie.
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