> So even if I see something "brainless" like a Harlequin romance, I have trouble finding fault in the people who read them because I know they must be seeing something in there that I just can't see, or don't appreciate.

Nah. It sounds good to have that opinion, and I state it as my own from time to time myself. But I've also never had any qualms with second guessing the rest of the world. It stinks, and everyone else is wrong. Words to live by. :-)

Seriously, we're talking about two different things, I think. There's the objective standard of "good," and there's a subjective standard of "good." A lot of people *like* things that are not, by objective standards, "good." The problem is that it is presumptuous for any one person to assert that he or she knows where the lines on that objective standard are drawn except in extreme cases. It's pretty obvious by now that Shakespeare's work is objective "good," but not everyone enjoys it. Likewise, a lot of people can *like* "The Evil Dead" to the point of being fanatical about it, and that doesn't make it good by objective standards. Lots of people can't tell the difference between what is good and what they like, mistakenly thinking the two must intersect exactly or be accused of having bad taste, and so they try to defend "The Evil Dead" (or whatever) as an *objectively* good work. So they latch onto something like an impressive tracking shot -- which may actually *be* objectively good -- and use it to defend the work as a whole.

My attitude is the same as yours. Who cares about a great tracking shot if the acting stinks and the plot is senseless?

I have nothing against people *liking* objectively poor works. I like a few myself and to an even greater extent dislike some objectively good works. But it bugs me when the two are confused, because it starts people making and defending foolish, unfounded, and flawed critical arguments.

Which is why one of my absolute favorite parts of "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Movie" is the part of your review of "Hell Comes To Frogtown" where you unmask what the word "campy" actually means.