# Incredibly stupid but really serious movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441 "2010-10-17T14:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/81 "2010-10-21T20:55:06Z")
> [@Rafe\_Hollister](#): > > **Soylent Green** > > What a P.O.S. movie. My friends and I in college drank all the way through it and it was bearable, but we laughed at everything. The only good things to come of that was that on Tuesdays we would walk to the cafeteria and inevitably make jokes about what was being served. According to the movie, Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!!! I don’t understand this at all. _Soylent Green_ is a legitimate classic. Do you laugh at any sci-fi from the 60’s? That’s all that could explain it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/82 "2010-10-21T21:08:38Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I don’t understand this at all. _Soylent Green_ is a legitimate classic. Do you laugh at any sci-fi from the 60’s? That’s all that could explain it. Uhh… I think I’ve unraveled the mystery: > [@Rafe Hollister](#): > > …in college drank all the way through it… The same trick works with _Gandhi_, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/83 "2010-10-21T21:13:35Z")
> [@Rafe\_Hollister](#): > > **Soylent Green** > > What a P.O.S. movie. My friends and I in college drank all the way through it and it was bearable, but we laughed at everything. The only good things to come of that was that on Tuesdays we would walk to the cafeteria and inevitably make jokes about **what** was being served. According to the movie, Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!!! bolding by me Bzzt ! WRONG ! You ask **who** is being served 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/84 "2010-10-21T21:50:32Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > … > Well, I certainly walked out of the theater with the overall impression that: > -Ethan Hawke was the hero > and > -his making his way onto the shuttle was a triumph that we were supposed to be cheering for. Yay! Happy ending!.. I viewed it differently. Someone made reference to an obsessed Captain Ahab, and I felt that was closer to the mark. Hawke was an obsessed character whose personal victory over the system was purely personal and wouldn’t ripple anywhere externally. Also somewhat reminiscent of classic samurai-revenge flicks. It’s only “yay!” for those who find self-destructive obsession to be heroic, otherwise it’s very bittersweet. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/85 "2010-10-21T22:05:59Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > _The Happening._ THREAD OVER. Oooh so close! But really it’s _Signs_. The alien invaders, who would have been destroyed by rain within a few days anyway. I can’t even remember how they got the brilliant strategy to go after them with baseball bats, and whatever other chunks of wood were handy. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/86 "2010-10-21T22:13:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Oooh so close! But really it’s _Signs_. > > The alien invaders, who would have been destroyed by rain within a few days anyway. I can’t even remember how they got the brilliant strategy to go after them with baseball bats, and whatever other chunks of wood were handy. I see your _Signs_ and I raise you _The Forgotten_. King of the thread! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/87 "2010-10-21T22:35:36Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > …But what’s the point? Why do you need to harshly punish attempted murder? Why not put them in a sanitarium? Maybe they need to be segregated from society because they’re unstable enough to commit voluntary manslaughter, but we don’t punish voluntary manslaughter with death or life imprisonment today, so why do we do it in the future? My assumption was that they froze people to save money, and some day when psychology or medicine was advanced enough to “cure” them, they would be thawed. Was there any actual discussion on the movie about this? Frankly, I would rather be frozen and unconscious than locked away in a cage being force-fed psychoactive drugs. > [@Lemur866](#): > > If you don’t have certain punishment, then harsh punishment makes sense as a deterrent. But if you have certain punishment, then you don’t need to be harsh. And after all, everyone who commits a crime of passion by definition disregards the likely consequences of being caught and frozen, much less the probable consequences of being stopped before they can carry out the impulsive murder. I have no idea at all what you’re trying to get at here. It’s sounds like saying the punishment is no good as a deterrent because these people don’t think clearly enough to consider that, and you may be right. But so what? Should there be no punishment for less thoughtful criminals, or less punishment? Is it totally unreasonable to have a policy that the harsher the crime, the harsher the punishment, irrespective of the deterrent value to others? > [@Lemur866](#): > > The only reason for the freezing without trial is so that Tom Cruise has no recourse when framed for murder. There won’t be a trial, there won’t be a psych evaluation, he won’t be able to explain himself, he’ll just be grabbed and frozen. And so therefore he has to go rogue, so we can have the second act of the movie. It’s just dumb… Well, yeah, though you could say the point of the movie is the folly of messing with fundamental humans rights because of some bogus scientific research. To me the dumbest part of the movie is just that – that they COULD apparently suspend the civil rights of everyone in DC as part of a big science experiment. Course, they don’t have representation in Congress either, so it’s not _quite_ as crazy as say **Escape From New York**. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/88 "2010-10-22T02:35:19Z")
**Babel, House of Sand and Fog, Crash** —all so, so serious, trying so very hard to make a point and pound us over the head with a message, and accomplishing little beyond being irritating and pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/89 "2010-10-22T04:51:19Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Another part of the movie that should be made more clear. > > Is the situation: > (a) he was born with higher odds than normal of having heart issues, but when he grows up medical tests show that he has no heart issues > or > (b) he was born with higher odds than normal of having heart issues, and when he grows up medical tests confirm that his heart is in fact very fragile > or > (c) he was born with higher odds than normal of having heart issues, and no one has ever bothered to check whether he actually HAS heart issues > ? > > Each of those three cases puts a fairly different spin on lots of things… is it ever made explicit in the movie which it is? The answer is C. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/90 "2010-10-22T10:49:22Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The answer is C. If so, then the future/mirror world/whatever you want to call it, is stupid. Look, I understand that the movie was made at a time when advances in genetic science meant that a lot of people were talking about genetic screening and the implications that might have for society. The movie is a product of its times, sure, but then most people at that time didn’t have the faintest fucking idea of what they were talking about when it came to genetic science - this film’s makers included. For an allegory to work, it has to make sense. But this film strayed waaaaay out of it’s own knowledge base to try to make a point, and it didn’t work for aforesaid reasons. If it resonated with you and others I would never belittle you for that - there’s plenty of lowbrow crap I like simply for my own reasons that I’d never expect any one else to like. But for others gattica was just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/91 "2010-10-22T10:53:44Z")
Just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean it didn’t work. Nor does the fact that you can’t get past your own objections mean that your objections are necessarily true or that the movie is stupid. For example, the movie did not explicitly say the answer was C. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/92 "2010-10-22T12:10:43Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > **Babel, House of Sand and Fog, Crash** —all so, so serious, trying so very hard to make a point and pound us over the head with a message, and accomplishing little beyond being irritating and pretentious. **Crash** , the Oscar winner, definitely qualifies for this thread. It was just sooooo heavy handed with it’s message that would’ve played better 10 years earlier. I liked the other two films, however. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/93 "2010-10-22T12:39:59Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > I hated Law Abiding Citizen. You, too, huh? Aside from disliking the whole “superintelligent sociopath who plans ten steps ahead” trope, the _reason_ prosecutors accept plea bargains and such is because they don’t have the unlimited resources necessary to take every case to trial. When the “Citizen” starts killing judges and dozens of government lawyers in his snit, he significantly _decreases_ these resources. With his staff decimated by carbombs, the Jamie Foxx character will have no choice but to cut even _more_ deals in future, at least until he can rebuild and re-recruit, which will take several years at least. Well, that and the killer robot in the graveyard. And I liked _Gattaca_. I don’t mind the plot holes - it’s ultimately a high-tech story about “passing”. The only part that had me chuckling was the astronauts at the end boarding their spaceship - still wearing their jackets and ties. Was there a cocktail party waiting for them on Saturn? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/94 "2010-10-22T12:55:02Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)” But when the finale came, the movie came across as seriously stating that a woman kidnapped and tortured will come to love her captor. BS movie. I’ve not seen the movie, so I don’t know if it’s stupid or not, but sometimes kidnap victims do come to sympathize with their captors. It’s called [Stockholm Syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome). See also [Patty Hearst](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst). ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/95 "2010-10-22T13:19:30Z")
[_Dead Man_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/96 "2010-10-22T13:40:21Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > [_Dead Man_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/) Oh, god. I hated hated hated HATED HATED that movie. I’m getting all tense and angry thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/97 "2010-10-22T13:43:28Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > [_Dead Man_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/) Heh, I loved “Dead Man”. ‘Hey marm, read us a passage from the Good Book!’ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/98 "2010-10-22T13:46:47Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > **Babel** … Say no more… God, what a stupid movie! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/99 "2010-10-22T13:53:16Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh, I loved “Dead Man”. ‘Hey marm, read us a passage from the Good Book!’ 😃 If I had to pick my top 10 films of the 90s, the Jarmusch film would unquestionably be on there–beautifully shot, impeccably acted, provocative, haunting, hilarious, and generally wonderful. Plus: Neil Young! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441/100 "2010-10-22T13:57:38Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > If I had to pick my top 10 films of the 90s, the Jarmusch film would unquestionably be on there–beautifully shot, impeccably acted, provocative, haunting, hilarious, and generally wonderful. Plus: Neil Young! Yeah, I’m not getting the “Dead Man” hate at all. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-stupid-but-really-serious-movies/557441.md?page=6)