I’m not sure if this fits the OP since I’m not sure how inspirational the movie was supposed to be, but Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can is portrayed as a kindhearted charming prankster who due to some personal issues involving his parents goes on a “harmless” white-collar crime spree before turning his life around and helping the good guys foil crooks. I couldn’t stand him in the movie or in the book on which it’s based; I didn’t find him the least bit charming or misunderstood but perceived him as a megalomaniacal sociopath with no conscience whatever who was more deserving of ending up begging for change than in a white collar capacity. In his book he prides himself on never having screwed any “ordinary people”, which is absolutely ridiculous. I wanted to ask:
*-Do you have any idea what happens when a bank employee, hotel clerk, airline representative, etc., cashes a worthless check for a large amount? The best case scenario is that they’ll get an ass-chewing and worse ones include being fired or subjected to criminal investigations to deduce whether they were involved. You made life miserable (if only briefly) for hundreds of people.
-Who exactly do you think ultimately pays for these crimes? It is the “ordinary people” through higher insurance premiums, taxes for the larger worthless check/fraud units and jails necessitated by people like you, higher retail prices to offset the cost of embezzlement and theft, etc…
-While posing as a doctor, do you realize that you could have led to the death of one of your patients? (He was supervising residents, but there’s a reason residents have supervisors- they are inexperienced in real situations and need somebody with greater expertise to assist them.*
The moviesI Am Sam, The Yarn Princess, Profoundly Normal and to a lesser degree Forrest Gump are all tear-jerkers involving retarded parents raising their normal child/ren. I hope I don’t sound completely heartless when I say that I think this is far too complicated an issue to resolve in a movie; while I don’t have the slightest doubt that the retarded are capable of providing great love and some care to a child, it doesn’t make somebody a villain if they express concern as to whether the parent is truly capable of taking care of them, yet that’s usually how they’re portrayed.
Add my name to the list for A Prayer for Owen Meany. Irving’s message seemed to center around the idea that our hopes are not necessarily God’s will, and I think Irving meant for it to disturb us. While the message may sometimes be true, It’s not a cause for celebration.
Huh, once again, I read the thread title and thought “wow, do I have an answer at the ready that no one else is going to come up with!” and of course, that was not the case – add me to the list of people who find Owen Meany creepy. I do in fact like the book, I think it’s some of Irving’s best writing, but rather than an inspirational story I see it as more of a cautionary tale against getting caught up with delusional freaks. While I do not find the narrator creepy, I find him to be a self-righteous jerk.
I think the worst part about Patch Adams is when Monica Potter’s character gets killed.
Here’s this guy who’s twitching, talking about death and his gun collection, calling up a woman at 3 in the morning asking her to come to his house. And then she opened the door and he practically looks like Hannibal Lecter’s little brother.
And then she closes the door and get murdered. I’m fucking shocked.
I’ve read this part was complete fiction, but if it’s not, I feel very sorry for the woman and her family.
I hate how they tried to portray Darth Vader as someone to look up to and respect. Because of him, our kids are trying Sith more and more, becoming little Dark Side monsters themselves!
That’s another thing that bothered me about Owen Meany and Cider House Rules (which I admit I didn’t finish). In both books, Irving seemed to have issues with women. I don’t know if that’s just me reading too much into it, and maybe his other works are different, but it was definitely something I picked up on.
I’m in the “Patch Adams is disturbing” crowd. The character as shown in the movie was an obsessive loon. I wouldn’t have wanted him as a doctor. His behavior was at the very least unprofessional, at most freaking bizarre. Seeing the creep portrayed as a caring, warm individual doing a service to humanity made me very uncomfortable. The whole movie was a festival of emotional manipulation.
When I moved to Mississippi, I encounted a large number of girls who considered Scarlett O’Hara to be the ultimate role model. My reaction was WTF? The woman is the definition of a spoiled, petulant brat. She manipulates everyone around her. Yeah, she survives, but she doesn’t seem to learn much along the way. Frankly, my dear, you are a bitch.
I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but I have to admit that I agree with you. He always seemed a little creepy to me. And don’t get me started on Mr. McFeely.
