YMMV / The Legend of Billie Jean

• Awesome Music:
  • Whatever Pat Benatar thought of the film, her song "Invincible" perfectly captures the rage and spirit of vengeance born of being pushed too far by an inept legal system.
  • For whatever reason, the chase scene in the mall is accompanied by a noticeably sped-up version of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell."
• Base-Breaking Character: Lloyd. Some find him a shallow love interest who holds the plot up. Others love him and enjoy his story arc.
• Broken Base: The long hair or the short hair. Helen Slater is beautiful either way so there's really no wrong answer here.
• Critical Backlash: Well when someone has a habit of referring to it as "the worst movie ever made", it's understandable.
• Cult Classic: Picked up a fanbase purely through re-runs on TV who eventually clamoured for a DVD release.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Putter gets the best lines and therefore a lot of love from fans. Likewise Binx for being played by an adorable teenage Christian Slater.
• Estrogen Brigade: Lt. Ringwald has quite the female following.
• Funny Moments: Putter sums up the reason Hubie won't bring the bike back on his own:
  "'Cause he's a fucker!"
• I Am Not Spock: This movie caused a few people to mistakenly think Helen and Christian Slater were brother and sister in real life.
• Les Yay: The girls who cut their hair to look like Billie Jean often seem to really, really admire her.
• Memetic Badass: Billie Jean is this in-universe and out. The fact that many people's first impression of her is giving Hubie a Groin Attack and escaping several adults chasing her in the mall probably helps.
• Memetic Mutation: Before a DVD was eventually released, plenty of fans clamoured for it by saying "fair is fair!"
• Moral Event Horizon: When Mr. Pyatt tries to have his way with Billie Jean in the attic. Later, Hubie attacking her in the mall. Man, what is wrong with that family?
• Narm Charm: The movie is cheesy, contrived and incredibly 80s, and fans wouldn't have it any other way.
• Nightmare Fuel: Mr. Pyatt's Attempted Rape is, obviously, pretty disturbing to watch. Then he gets shot in the shoulder.
• One-Scene Wonder: The little redheaded kid who delivers the gang's videotape to the police is just precious.
• Retroactive Recognition: Early roles for Christian Slater and Yeardley Smith. Also for Caroline Williams, the Final Girl of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 that would be released year after this film, who plays the wife of a bounty hunter after Billie Jean.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Binx is generally a hothead, and does a lot to exacerbate the situation. In fact, he's the one to carelessly shoot Mr. Pyatt and kick off the whole mess. And then he pulls a (toy) gun on real police. Easy, tiger!
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: The statue of Billie Jean and all her merchandise being burnt up when the truth about her comes out.