Can you enjoy a movie even if it is “bad” or “flawed”?

Good morning, Mick: With your knowledge of movies, can you like or even enjoy a movie that you think is “wrong,” “bad,” or “flawed”? Does seeing all the flaws in a movie spoil the overall experience for you?

Good morning, Steve: Not at all. I'm not obsessed with what's wrong with movies. I'm not an art cop worrying about whether someone broke a law that only exists in my head. I'm just an avid fan trying to have fun, and when that's not the case, I just sit around and try to figure out what went wrong.

In other words, I don't dislike movies because they're bad; I decide they're bad if I don't like them. On the other hand, when it comes to movies with star-studded casts, I can easily enjoy a mediocre to lousy movie if I like the actors. A bad movie starring Clark Gable or Greta Garbo – even Liam Neeson or Jennifer Aniston – may still be bad, but I can still find things I enjoy about it.

Dear Mick LaSalle: You were asked how you feel about Woody Allen's cancellation. [in April]. I have come to the conclusion that the innocence or guilt of an artist should not play a role in the public appreciation of his art. What do you think about this?

Barbara Bella, San Francisco

Dear Barbara Bella: In general, I agree. I have a high tolerance for artists' misdeeds because most of the time I just don't care. But there are nuances here. Woody Allen was publicly accused, not tried, and certainly not convicted. Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, on the other hand, were plausibly accused by multiple people, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. Does that make it hard to watch a film Harvey Weinstein produced? No, because he's not in it. But do I really want to watch Bill Cosby pretending to be America's father?

Some things are hard to forget, and it's different for everyone. I can't watch Gig Young (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) without remembering that he murdered his wife. I can't watch Munchausen (1943) without being reminded, almost scene by scene, that this was the baby of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. So everyone has their limits. Mine usually have to do with a guilty verdict or murder.

Dear Mick LaSalle: My father always said the reason I read the Chronicle was because of Herb Caen. If he had read today's edition and your reviews, he would have said Mick LaSalle.

Terry McHale, El Dorado Hills

Dear Terry McHale: Thanks, Terry. But that worries me. Herb and I overlapped at the Chronicle for about twelve years, and so the question has to be asked: What was your father's problem and what did he have against me? Was he one of those guys who would glance at the front page, read Herb Caen, and then throw the paper away? Did he ever even think to read the diary?

That's the thing with fathers and sons: at some point you just have to put the old man on the right path. If you don't, you end up in a sorry situation.

Greetings Mick: I go to the movies for fun. You go to the movies for work. What do you do for fun?

Greetings Charis: My work life offers so many opportunities to have fun that I have to balance it out in my free time by finding joy in activities like chipping rocks, carrying a gun, and rowing as a galley slave. Lately I've even thought about getting together with friends and forming a compulsively popular road crew, like the one in I'm a Fugitive from a Convict Column, where we can all sing songs and swing pickaxes in unison. But most of them have regular jobs and don't see the appeal.

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