# Movies in which nothing happens **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 8, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513 "2026-07-08T16:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![davey77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@davey77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davey77)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/61 "2026-07-10T03:32:40Z")
Aren’t _all_ Robert Altman films basically this? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/62 "2026-07-10T06:02:04Z")
I can’t discourage this movie enough. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/63 "2026-07-10T06:21:03Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Speaking of hangout movies, how about **Car Wash**? I’m not so sure. Yes, they hang out, and goof around, but they also get a lot done in that one day of work. Mainly washing and detailing cars. Floyd and Lloyd (“the Soundtastics”) practice their dance moves while steam cleaning, TC drops everything a few times to try to win a radio contest (in addition to trying to get a date with the waitress in the diner next door), Lonnie is the wise crew boss who keeps everybody else in line if they go too far, Marsha is the cashier who scans customers for possible dates. Then there are customers and others. The car wash’s owner is a devotee of Mao Tse-tung, and wants to join the workers. So they let him, and he screws up everything he tries (well, in a few cases, he was sabotaged by the crew). A woman pulls in with a kid throwing up all over her Mercedes. Daddy Cool (Richard Pryor), a prosperity gospel preacher, stops by to say hello. Is the car wash visited by the mad bomber the crew hears about on the radio news (Irwin Corey) who has a bottle of a mysterious liquid? What’s with the woman who spends all day in the ladies’ room? And who stiffed the cabbie (George Carlin) who just wants his money? There’s a lot happening, but not a lot comes of it. Nobody changes really (except possibly Duane … er, Abdullah), and the viewer is left with the feeling that tomorrow is going to be much the same as today. Same crew and same routine, but different customers, and things will again be happening. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/64 "2026-07-10T09:31:01Z")
Taste of Cherry by the famed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. Basically the film is a lot of driving around the outskirts of Tehran and three long conversations. Possibly something big happens at the very end. Normally I prefer films that are more conventionally plotted but this one was absorbing just the peculiar situation of the protagonist and the very different reactions of the three men he meets and talks to. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/65 "2026-07-10T13:34:02Z")
Henry James’ story _The Beast in the Jungle_ SOUNDS like it might be exciting, but it literally is a story in which nothing happens (the titular “Beast” is something spectacular that the protagonist thinks is going to leap out at him at some point, so there’s not even a literal Beast, just a metaphorical one). The point of the story is that it never does. It’s a whole story in which the entire point is that nothing happens. and it takes a surprisingly long time to not happen, as rendered in patented Henry James long sentences. To my surprise, the story has been filmed not just once, but FOUR times between 2017 and 2023. I have no intention of seeing any of these. > **[The Beast in the Jungle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_in_the_Jungle)** > > The Beast in the Jungle is a 1903 novella by Henry James, first published as part of the collection The Better Sort. Almost universally considered one of James' finest short narratives, this story treats appropriately universal themes: loneliness, fate, love and death. The parable of John Marcher and his peculiar destiny has spoken to many readers who have speculated on the worth and meaning of human life. John Marcher is reacquainted with May Bartram, a woman he knew ten years earlier while liv... ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/66 "2026-07-10T14:24:45Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It’s been ages since I’ve seen either of these, but how about… > > _The Big Chill_ I saw it when it first came out, and you would have to pay me a lot of money to get me to watch this movie again. It was like spending two hours with a group of unpleasant, unlikable people. And not much happens either, that I can recall. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/67 "2026-07-10T14:42:20Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I mean, I think there’s a difference between “quiet-toned movies focused on events of daily life” and movies in which there aren’t really any notable events at all. Hmmm…I was thinking of some of the oeuvre of Mike Leigh like [Nuts in May](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuts_in_May_(Play_for_Today)) or [Life is Sweet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Sweet_(film)), which are fairly static “day in the life”-type films where not a lot transpires. Certainly in the first, but I guess in the second there is eventually a bit more emotional resonance. But maybe I’m looking at the topic too broadly. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/68 "2026-07-10T14:52:25Z")
Reading the Wikipedia entry, a lot more happens in **The Royal Tenenbaums** than I remember. Brian ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/69 "2026-07-10T17:14:20Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It’s been ages since I’ve seen either of these, but how about… > > _The Big Chill_ Coincidentally, just the night before last I was watching a RiffTrax episode where Mike Nelson and his wife Bridget riffed / reminisced about 80s movies they had seen and liked back in the day vs. their impressions of those movies today, and one prominently featured was The Big Chill. Mike said “I forgot that all these annoying 30-somethings did was sit around talking, drinking, smoking pot and dancing in a cringey way all day”. > [@davey77](#): > > Aren’t _all_ Robert Altman films basically this? I almost mentioned ‘Shortcuts’. It’s been a long time, but all I seem to remember is a series of vignettes of various people doing not much of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/70 "2026-07-10T18:00:45Z")
Corner Gas: The Movie. It’s based on the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas. The theme song is “Not a Lot Goin’ On”. The movie starts at the end and it looks like lot is going on, fights, fires, etc. Then it goes back to the beginning and gives all the events that led to that. And it turns out, there really isn’t anything going on. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/71 "2026-07-10T19:05:55Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > The movie starts at the end and it looks like lot is going on, fights, fires, etc. Then it goes back to the beginning and gives all the events that led to that. And it turns out, there really isn’t anything going on. It’s also really depressing to see how the surviving members of the original cast have aged over the years. For this reason alone, I tend to pass on most such reunions. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/72 "2026-07-10T19:28:23Z")
Almost nothing happens in _Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles._ The film is mostly shots of a woman doing mundane tasks. Something does happen at the very end, but I won’t say what it is for fear of spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/73 "2026-07-10T20:00:52Z")
Not a movie, but there are two episodes of the British comedy _One Foot in the Grave_ where nothing happens. In one, the characters are stuck in traffic and talking for the entirety of the episode. In the other, they’re waiting at an airport for their flight to start boarding. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/74 "2026-07-10T20:25:30Z")
_Bojack Horseman_ had an entire episode consisting of the title character giving a eulogy at a memorial service, with the punchline that he was at the wrong service the whole time. (There’s also the _Seinfeld_ episode “The Chinese Restaurant,” though it’s debatable how much “happens” in that one.) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/75 "2026-07-10T20:39:13Z")
I’ve never seen _Emmanuelle_ but at least this part didn’t bore me: today I found out that its director was called Just Jaeckin. It looks like the majority of his other work was also erotic, so that’s one of the funnier aptronyms I’ve seen. For a second I thought it was a pseudonym but apparently it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/76 "2026-07-10T22:17:26Z")
The name’s sort of an eye-pun for English speakers, as it’s pronounced more or less “zhoost zhay-canh”. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/77 "2026-07-10T23:02:15Z")
Still sounds kinky to me. 😏 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/78 "2026-07-10T23:14:43Z")
I personally enjoyed it, although I didn’t see it in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/79 "2026-07-11T00:19:37Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > How about “Locke” which visually is a man driving down the highway on a rainy night, talking on the phone with his wife, while his life completely disintegrates around him? Sounds a lot like _ **Vanishing Point** _, where the most exciting moment was the very last one. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513/80 "2026-07-11T18:53:43Z")
**Smoke** and its sequel **Blue in the Face** don’t have a lot of stuff happening. Mostly people hanging out in a tobacco shop talking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-nothing-happens/1031513.md?page=5)