# Movie concepts that only work once **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011 "2008-04-19T15:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011/61 "2008-04-24T16:09:14Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But I know there was a recent movie told in backwards chronological order recently, although I can’t recall the name. The movie starts as the bitter couple is getting divorced, then each scene goes back in time to incidents in their life, and ends at their first meeting. It has the same backwards structure as Memento, and the same gimmick that you see events but don’t understand their significance until you later see what happened earlier. Not exactly recent, but Kicking and Screaming (the Noah Baumbach one from the grunge era, not the totally unrelated comedy about that annoying dude coaching a soccer team) is in this format. And considering we have three examples of this and counting, I think we can safely say it doesn’t qualify for movie concepts that only work once. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011/62 "2008-04-24T16:20:49Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I know I’m typing – I can see the misspellings. Doesn’t anybody read my stuff? Look back to post #37 – **Betrayal** predates **Memento** , **Pulp Fiction** , and **5X2** in the reverse-chronological-order storytelling. [/QUOTE] :smack: Actually, while searching then finding 5x2 I recalled I’d **just** read about some film that fit that criteria, but I knew that wasn’t the name… ---
**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:** [April 24, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011/63 "2008-04-24T18:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] I agree that **Memento** was the first of its kind, and can’t possibly see how the concept could be pulled off a second time. 😉 [/QUOTE] If you wait long enough, even _Memento_ itself will seem new and fresh. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011/64 "2008-04-25T00:05:54Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] If you wait long enough, even _Memento_ itself will seem new and fresh. [/QUOTE] I’ve got to write that down. Wait–my pen . . . . ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011/65 "2008-04-25T00:24:50Z")
Lola rennt, they do something, fail miserably, hit the reset button (basically, they don’t have any memory of the previous times though) try again with some slightly different choices, fail, repeat again, fail, try again, succeed FINALLY THE MOVIE IS OVER DAMNIT. Sorry… I’ve been forced to watch that movie so many times. How many movies have tried that, to some effect at least (literally go back to the beginning of the movie just to see how things are different with slightly different choices)? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011/66 "2008-04-27T05:48:21Z")
**Sliding Doors** is kind of similar, but the two branches are interwoven IIRC, instead of just starting over again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-concepts-that-only-work-once/446011.md?page=3)