The longer I think about Cheap Thrills, the last movie we saw yesterday, the less I understand the entertainment value of it. I realize that people seem to think shows like Fear Factor and Jackass are entertaining, but I don’t understand that, either. And maybe I’m just as gullible as the guy, but I’d like to think that, if a stranger invited me over to his table in a bar and started throwing fifty dollar bills around, challenging me to do this or that dumb trick, I’d excuse myself and get as far away from him as I possibly could.

But maybe not. Maybe I’d encourage him to put down money for one stupid bar bet after another, jacking up the payout as each bet became more self-destructive to my dignity until I had none left and I was fighting like a dog for the privilege of doing things so outrageously humiliating that I would never be able to face myself or my family ever again. I suppose that could happen.

And the acting was not unbelievable. And the videography looked good. I toyed with as many rationalizations like these as I could stand, trying to find technical reasons to like this movie, or at least not to hate it, but in the end I couldn’t do it. This is a revolting movie. My initial one-word review of it was ‘repulsive,’ but now that I’ve had time to think about it, ‘revolting’ is a much more suitable adjective. And I guess if that’s what the writers and the director were going for, then thumbs up, good job, nicely done. You made a movie that was thoroughly revolting. May you make many more. There seems to be an audience for it.