Better Living Through Bad Movies [Paperback]

Scott Clevenger (Author), Sheri Zollinger (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 11, 2006

We’ve all heard that, “you learn more from failure than you do from success.” Which means that all those hours spent watching crappy movies wasn’t a waste of your precious and ever-dwindling life span; it was an education! And Better Living Through Bad Movies can show you how to extract the profound, life-affirming lessons from films like Battlefield Earth, Coyote Ugly, and Indecent Proposal.

In over 50 hilarious reviews, the authors show how you can use the worst movies ever made to improve your sex life (it involves cardboard cutouts and clog dancing), Apocalypse-proof your home (using the following materials: John Travolta, Kevin Costner, Sylvester Stallone and more Kevin Costner), and win omnipotence and a Happy Meal by solving Satan’s Junior Jumble. You will also discover how to forge a love that will last a lifetime (by dating the moribund), use films like Batman and Robin and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace as grief counseling, and conquer the world using common fruit bats and dry cleaning fluid. And most important of all, you’ll learn Hollywood’s Ultimate Secret: Why Beaches and Armageddon are actually the exact same movie.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Scott Clevenger is a former columnist for Razor magazine and a script doctor who is familiar with the sausage-making process of film production in intimate, Upton Sinclair-like detail. He lives in Hollywood and is personally acquainted with the guy who hangs around the Chinese Theater and aggressively panhandles in a Tickle Me Elmo costume.

Sheri Zollinger spent 15 years in the CIA’s Office of Counter-intelligence, and is now officially counter intelligence. She currently writes the political humor weblog World O’ Crap (world-o-crap.com), which has been cited by MSNBC, CNN, The Washington Post and other news organizations that ought to know better.

She lives in an undisclosed location with a classified number of pets.

Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (June 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059540023X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595400232
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,177,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious. A must for bad movie lovers and MST3k Fans, June 25, 2006

By 

misty3k - See all my reviews

This review is from: Better Living Through Bad Movies (Paperback)

If you're like me (and I know I am, and you've wondered why bad movies are made, wonder no more! Bad Movies are made to teach us life lessons! That's right--they teach us the lessons that Oprah and Dr. Phil missed!

Its full of great life lessons and hilarious snark! (Check out the chapter about "RedDawn" for lovely snarkieness on the Bushes!)

Be careful where you read it, though. I laughed out loud on the bus so many times, I got dirty looks from the driver!

This is just a great, funny book. A definite must read for bad movie lovers and MST3k fans (like me)

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put This Down!, June 27, 2006

By 

Actor212 (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Better Living Through Bad Movies (Paperback)

I rarely read books about the movies, especially bad ones, but this book, I couldn't put down! It's is witty, wise, insightful and will cure the common cold and Brewer's Droop.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Embrace Your Inner Snark..., September 8, 2006

By 

Angel Carver (San Pedro, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Better Living Through Bad Movies (Paperback)

My shelves are littered with supposedly funny books about the movies but not one is funnier than Better Living through Bad Movies. From the article that clearly proves that Beaches and Armageddon are exactly the same movie to the chilling description of the winky-centric Bruce Willis vehicle Color of Night, you cannot afford to miss out on reading this hilarious book. I won't even compare the humor here to Joe Queenan or Libby Gelman-Waxner even though I also like their writing. This book is simply above the rest and constantly astonishes with tangents that pay off one after another in funnier and funnier ways. Plus if you are missing MST3K, here is something that will get you away from the closet and out of the fetal position at last.