Not a good movie, but an OK/disposable 80's movie

Rating: 5/10 (10 February 2020)

Ah, Over the Top. I wish I could say the title says it all, but we can never forget that the "Winner takes it all, loser takes the fall.". Even though parts of this movie are pretty campy and could be put into the category of schlock, unfortunately most of the film tries to go for a more serious message about the relationship between father and son and how Stallone's character is trying to win over his son, both in a personal sense and in a legal sense, trying to gain custody over him. Most of the movie is just not that entertaining, the dialogue is pretty mediocre, but not bad enough to fall into the category of "so bad it's good", at least most of it. Everything involving arm-wrestling in the movie is pretty funny because of how "over the top" it is, however like I said, most of the film is trying to go for this father-son drama that turns out to be extremely predictable and therefore, just not that interesting.
However, the film does contain some pretty sweet 80's tracks throughout, which I guess don't work in the movie's favour in a strict "movie critique" kind of sense, but looking at this as a semi-campy 80's movie, I guess I could say it gets bonus points because of it, even if the film does feel like a long music video. And you know, watching men covered in baby oil screaming while they arm wrestle is sort of fun, especially when one of these testosterone driven maniacs chugs down some motor oil. You can watch Over the Top and be mildly entertained by it. It's the kind of movie that I often reference with friends because of how stupid the plot is, so there's that. And a few scenes are definitely worth watching, just for the entertainment value alone, I guess. However, this isn't a good 80's movie, but it's a good representation of the kind of disposable trash that Stallone and others occasionally put out during this fascinating decade.