The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) has to be up there. The inciting incident is Will Smith going to Wall Street and seeing all the happy, smiling rich people walking out of the New York Stock Exchange, and deciding he wants to be like them. There is no irony in this or in any other scene; pursuing a finance-bro internship at all costs is portrayed literally and uncritically as the "happyness" in the title. The entire rest of the movie is a masturbatory hustle-culture fantasy in which Will Smith having to do things like being homeless, sleeping in subway bathrooms, kissing the asses of as many banking executives as possible, and foregoing feeding or clothe his kindergarten-age son are portrayed not as indictments of the system but as evidence of Smith's smart, bootstraps-oriented thinking. The rich people throughout the movie are jovial and well-adjusted, always willing to give a smart guy like Smith a shot (but only when they see his plucky bootstrappiness firsthand, which they only do once he insistently fellates them first); meanwhile, all poor people are miserable, underhanded slimeballs who are nothing but trouble for Smith. This movie is the Mein Kampf of liberalism.
What else?
A dark, bleak story about the ultimate triumph of evil over reason and decency! (CW: Former Channel Awesome contributor)
Oh hey, I remember this guy and this review. Also I forgive Weird Science for being a John Hughes movie because I dig the Oingo Boingo song.
Long ago, when I was a kid, I bought an Oingo Boingo tape. There was a song with a line about how they love little girls because they make them feel so good. Maybe I was missing something, but I never listened to them again.
Yeah, that song is supposed to be satire of pedophile rock stars and Hollywood executives, but Oingo Boingo would sometimes really got close to the edge of what could be considered parody or not. That whole album is a mixed bag lyrically. The title track seems to be about how society shouldn't be at any blame for kids turning into thieves and murderers, even if the kids were abused or unfortunate, which is a really weird stance to have. There's another song that complains about "middle class socialist brats" so yeah, they were a supremely talented band and made a mark on culture and everything, but I can't blame you for feeling weird about them.
I love OB but it's their worst song.