15 Terrible Movies That Actually Improve Good Ones
1. EDTV Improves The Truman Show
The Bad
You don't need to look too hard to find a dud in Matthew McConaughey's early career. Though not as blatantly offensive as the many rom-coms on his résumé, EDtv is a film trying to say something but lacks the quality to actually say it. An attempt at satirising the mundanity and addictive nature of reality television, EDtv ends up being just as tedious as it's subject matter.
From the talented Ron Howard and with a promising cast, EDtv ends up as nothing more than a shallow, lacklustre comedy overcast by the shadow of a film from which it shares its themes...
How It Improves The Truman Show
The source of this shadow is one of the most inventive, moving films of modern cinema; The Truman Show. Both films cover the idea of reality television, and both Truman and Ed walk a similar path. Where one walks in the direction of masterpiece, the other walks towards insignificance.
Two such thematically similar films unavoidably invite comparison and these are like chalk and cheese. No, that isn't good enough. In a way chalk is at least edible. These two films are more like cheese and the other is the vacuous thoughts of an X-Factor viewer.
Much like the rest of the films on this list, the sheer lacking of EDtv and its misuse of seemingly fresh ideas further elevates a classic like The Truman Show and improves everything about it simply by existing.
Have any good and bad comparisons been missed? Add your own suggestions in the comments thread below.