One of the most infamous celluloid turkeys of its time, the 1993 film adaptation of the Super Mario video game franchise suffered from a disinterested IP holder, thousands of rewrites, an annoyed and confused cast, and a disastrous shoot supervised by an inexperienced directorial team. The film bombed hard with both critics and the few people who willingly paid for a ticket, but the movie did clog up video rental shelves and basic cable timeslots, so it's not without its apologists. When compared to the sleek, polished, and heavily-focus grouped blockbusters of the modern day, Super Mario Bros feels like an oddly-unique failure; box office flops are not typically produced at this level of scale all that often.
Ryan is joined by Cheryl and Toby for a detailed analysis of this bizarre train wreck of a film. Discussion points include a brief overview of Mario's evolution as a character, the film's rampant imitation of cinematic trends of the day, and how the early internet preserved interest in this movie's existence.
