MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Is the musical the worst genre?

Is the musical the worst genre?


I can't think of anything that comes close to how bad it is. Random singing and dancing in the middle of scenes. 9 times out of 10, the song sucks too.

reply

eh, this may sound like a facile answer, but i don't think there is such a thing as 'worst genre.' i certainly have my own preferences - i find crime/gangster films and westerns almost universally dull - but generally i think as long as there are creators involved with drive & talent & commitment there will be something of value produced.

& some of the greatest films have been musicals, surely. singin' in the the god-damned rain is the single most entertaining movie i've ever watched, cinematic prozac to me. umbrellas of cherbourg is a certain kind of genius to me. i think as a genre it's now a bit dead in the water creatively, but i'll certainly put my hands up for whiplash & guy & madeline on a park bench.

reply

I can't stand the lip-synching. And that applies to nearly all of them.

reply

Nah, the worst genre is found footage movies. It only works exactly once.

reply

I never cared for musicals when I was younger but as of late I find myself watching them on TCM and they are often quite impressive.

reply

I think they're impressive in terms of production, but as a movie they just seem pointless. Why sing the story?

reply

I liked Cats, West Side Story, Carousel, and several others were great and famous.

reply

Watch South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut or Team America: World Police, it might change your opinion of musicals.

reply

I’m sorry you didn’t like high school musical 3

reply

It's not even the 10th best musical trilogy and the only other musical trilogy I can think of is Pitch Perfect.

reply

I love that you love trilogies like me

reply

There are a lot of outstanding musicals, but not much of note over the past 20 years. I tried watching Mama Mia, not knowing it was a musical and ended up FFing it through the annoying musical numbers, ending up with probably 15 minutes of what I considered viewable 😬

But so much is dependent on personal preferences when it comes to worst genre. For you it's musicals, for me it's horror and action flicks.

reply

so much is dependent on personal preferences


This is actually another problem with musicals. If you like musicals and are only into rap music, you'll probably end up hating all the music scenes because there really isn't a rap musical. Musicals are such a specific genre.

reply

Since there aren't any rap musicals, someone whose musical tastes are so restricted as to only like rap music isn't going to like musicals.

That's like saying horror is such a specific genre because someone who's only into slasher movies (although there are plenty of them and a paucity of rap musicals) wouldn't like other types of horror movies, or scenes that don't have slashing.

reply

No, I don't mean specifically rap music. I just used that as an example. I'm saying that the overwhelming majority of musicals have the same type of music. They don't broaden their musical horizons enough. I'm into rock but other than Rock of Ages, is there really any other rock musical?

reply

Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar.

It's because musicals were popular during a specific period of time, and popular music was used in them. Including the few rock musicals.

reply