this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2026
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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Mom And Dad Save The World (1992)

Stars Terri Garr and Jeffrey Jones as the Nelsons, an ordinary set of suburban boomer parents who routinely go on vacations/car trips. On such a trip, they are abducted station wagon and all by Emporer Todd (played by Jon Lovitz) of planet Spengo, a desert planet inhabited by a species of dog headed if male, fish headed if female creatures, and humanoid idiots. Ridiculousness ensues.

It bombed at the box office and is poorly reviewed but I had fun with it.

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Jeffrey Jones' making the news afterwards probably kept this one from becoming a cult classic.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

By that logic we're going to have to burn down Beetlejuice and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

But he wasn't the focal LEAD in those movies

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 1 points 2 weeks ago

I had this film etched into my mind as a kid, but could not put the name to the scene. It was decades later when I found this film again

[–] Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is one I make people watch. It's so goofy and fun in all the right ways. The costumes, aliens, and sets are fantastic. I don't know why it's not considered cult classic.

I think I can answer that: movies that form a cult tend to land with a demographic, often one it wasn't originally sold to. Clue, for example. Didn't really land with its intended audience of baby boomers in the mid-80's in large part due to the "one of three endings" theater gimmick. The movie found its audience with young millennials on Comedy Central, especially in its repaired "all three endings" format which increased the runtime and kept the frenetic farcical energy in the last act up longer.

What demographic was going to form a cult around Mom And Dad Save The World? It's a movie by and about boomers, targeting the Gen X stupidity fad. Clue was ahead of its time, MADSTW is precisely OF its time. It's not what the secret cabal of gay theater kids always wanted like Rocky Horror Picture Show. And MADSTW is unfortunately competent, so the "so bad it's good" MST3K/Red Letter Media crowd won't touch it. That and Jeffrey Jones has been canceled so there's a bunch of people who won't watch it out of principle now. So there's no group this movie will land with.