a review of 飞越美人谷

2020 Cult Movie Challenge Week 2: Russ Meyer Week This is one of those movies that has a reputation as one of the "Worst Movies Ever Made" or conversely as an example of something that's "So Bad It's Good", but somehow it transcends both of those ideas by the skin of its teeth. It's not particularly outrageous in its depiction of showbiz-adjacent sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, nor does it ever really achieve a throughline more coherent than a mishmash of assorted soap opera plots. It comes very close to falling apart on a storytelling and thematic level entirely, only to suddenly come together at the end with an unexpected callback to a seemingly discarded plot thread from the opening minutes. It's a wild act of narrative self-immolation, and Meyer/Ebert winkingly carry it off in the film's hilariously saccharine coda/epilogue.