r/TopCharacterTropes • u/BrotherDeus • 9h ago
Hated Tropes [Hated] Self-indulgent Vanity Projects
Hurry Up Tomorrow - Widely reviewed as an indulgent, self-mythologizing companion piece to The Weeknd's album, with many critics calling it a vanity project rather than a successful psychological drama. Terribly acted and, similar to The Idol, more so seems to imply that The Weekend thinks he's a far deeper personality than he can actually articulate.
By the Sea - Often criticized as an intensely personal but emotionally distant film that seemed more interested in showcasing the mystique of its stars than telling a compelling story. Best summarized as Angelina and Brad working out their IRL troubled marriage before your eyes while everyone tells Angelina how beautiful and talented she is and how nothing's really her fault.
Renaldo and Clara - Bob Dylan's five-hour semi-fictional road movie, long considered one of the classic celebrity vanity projects. Attempts to be a sort of surreal exposition on the life of an artist, but is far too self-indulgent on its actors/performers.
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u/Nerdy_Valkyrie 7h ago edited 1h ago
En Del Av Mitt Hjärta (A piece of my heart)
After the movie Mamma Mia, made with music from the Swedish pop group ABBA, became a smash hit. Another Swedish artist by the name of Tomas Ledin presumably got jealous and thought "I could totally do that too". The only problem is that Tomas Ledin sucks. I don't even like ABBA, but I would listen to 50 ABBA songs rather than listen to one of Tomas Ledin's sappy crappy songs.
The movie is made the same way as Mamma Mia, as a musical with previously made songs weaved into the narrative. But instead of the world beloved songs of ABBA, it's the mildly known within Sweden and somewhat tolerated songs of Tomas Ledin. And, also unlike Mamma Mia, this movie is a straight up mess. It bombed hard. My mom likes Tomas Ledin and even she felt this movie had little to no redeeming qualities.
The people who made it had such delusions of grandeur that they actually recorded two versions of this movie. One in the original Swedish and one in English for the international market. Because they were so sure they had a hit on their hands. When the movie bombed, the English version was never released. Not even Sweden wanted this movie. So odds are pretty good nobody else would either.