"Electric Boogaloo" review

So bad it’s good, or is it?

Ah, the eighties!  The narcissism, the snowdrifts of cocaine and the hurricane of hot pink and neon yellow fashion that assaulted the eyes in much the same way that Cannon Films assaulted multiplex audiences with their cheaply produced and sleazily advertised action flicks and teenybopper sexcapades.  Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus had worked hard to realize their childhood dream of coming to Hollywood to make their own films, but depending on who you talk to, it’s still up for heated debate whether they made any good ones!

The truest answer is a mixture of both.  There are a few actually decent movies in the library of Cannon Films, and they even managed to earn an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with their Dutch production of "The Assault" in 1986.  However, the vast majority of Golan-Globus productions were honestly exuberant yet hideously day-glo disasters.  Nonsensical, nearly plotless monstrosities that wore their clumsy pastiche like a patchwork cloak robbed from the grave of a former king.  These movies didn’t care how bad they were, they practically reveled in their tawdry glory!

Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus began their careers in their native Israel with tiny budgets and almost no preparation, yet both men learned quickly how to make the most of very little.  However, the success they earned did not teach them to make better films as they moved forward.  Instead, this dynamic duo focused on quantity over quality, and this emphasis eventually brought about their downfall.

Even the most undiscerning viewer will eventually tire of the same formula, and the output and style of Cannon Films was never able to exorcise the distinct aura of exploitation and sensationalism so redolent in their early films.  This lurid and prurient pall hovered over all their succeeding works, leaving an lingering unease inside, as if the viewer had just consumed a cheeseburger that while not spoiled, did not sit well in the stomach.

Still, sometimes garbage can be fun, and Cannon Films has the distinction of making some of the best “So Bad It’s Good” movies of all time.  Such hilarious atrocities as “The Apple” are astonishing examples of how bad a movie can be right from the start and get worse through its entire running time.  Though made with the best of intentions, this putrescent rock and roll fable is a musical train wreck that steadfastly refuses to stop exploding with sound and fury while signifying nothing.

Regardless of your taste in films, I recommend that a few Golan-Globus productions be experienced if only to bolster the appreciation of the fact that while commitment and perseverance are key factors in filmmaking; if you are unable or unwilling to learn from your mistakes, you will be doomed to repeat them.  At least in the case of Cannon Films, everyone’s funny bone can unintentionally benefit!