# Movies that completely change course (spoilers?)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 24, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330 "2007-05-24T06:30:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/41 "2007-05-25T11:56:32Z")
I was thinking about a play that (I presume) all of you know the plot of that undergoes a change from romantic comedy to something else - _Romeo and Juliet_. (Well, O.K., it’s not a film in itself, but it’s been filmed many times.) Some people think that Shakespeare invented the romantic comedy. _Romeo and Juliet_ begins as a romantic comedy. (Indeed, a lot of people talk as if it was just a romantic comedy. People sometimes describe a couple as being like “Romeo and Juliet,” not meaning a pair who will die tragically but just two people in love.)
A young couple meet and instantly fall in love. Their families don’t like each other, but that’s O.K. because they can run away together. And then everything goes wrong. Romeo’s attempt to ignore the insults of Tybalt from Juliet’s family just makes Mercutio from his family mad. Mercutio and Tybalt duel and Romeo’s inept attempt to stop the duel gets Mercutio killed. Romeo blows up and kills Tybald, which gets Romeo exiled. Juliet’s plan to fake her death goes wrong, and Paris, who wants to marry Juliet, is killed. Romeo and Juliet both die by suicide. Furthermore, they don’t commit suicide together in a tragic/romantic pact. They die because they misunderstand what the other has done and commit suicide separately.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/42 "2007-05-25T12:08:57Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
Vanilla Sky. Started out as a drama with Tom Cruise playing an obnoxious rich prick who gets disfigured in an accident, but it morphed into… something unexpected. I loved it for having the balls to do that, even though it pissed off most of the people in my theater audience (and I suspect didn’t do well at the box office as a result). I realize it was a remake of a Spanish film, Abre Tus Ojos (Open Your Eyes), but I haven’t seen that one.
[/QUOTE]
Well, part of the reason Vanilla didn’t do so well is that the inks were still wet on Abre Tus Ojos, which _had_ been a huge blockbuster. Basically, the people outside the US who wanted to watch it had seen it with Eduardo Noriega (excuse me, I have to wipe the drool off).
Noriega is one of those actors whose good looks are sort of a curse: he’s finally getting old enough to get cast for being a good actor and not just for the poster worthiness but it’s taken a while.
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### Author:  [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/43 "2007-05-25T12:41:43Z")
_The Shape of Things_, with Rachel Weisz. I don’t want to give too much away (though I don’t necessarily recommend it, I didn’t think it was great), but this movie is not what it seems.
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### Author:  [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/44 "2007-05-25T13:09:32Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL]
Smilla’s Sense of Snow
Murder mystery into :eek:
[/QUOTE]
Oh, yeah…man. Most of the others mentioned here (that I’ve seen) are little more than a shift in tone, but this one…it was like I was watching an entirely different movie that bore almost no relation to the first 2/3rds. I’m still not sure I understand what the hell I saw.
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/45 "2007-05-25T13:54:10Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
From what’s been discussed here, it seems like in nearly every case, a movie will transform from light to dark.
I’d love to see a movie that did the opposite. One that started out as a dark, disturbing horror movie or thriller, and then turns into a hilarious absurd comedy. Are there any like that?
[/QUOTE]
How about _Down By Law_? Tom Waits & John Lurie play oh-so-cool lowlifes in New Orleans. Oh-so-cool but not very bright–they are both framed & go to jail.
Then Roberto Benigni becomes a cellmate. Leading to a rather silly escape & surreal adventures in the bayous.
_Something Wild_ has already been mentioned. It starts out as a not-for-the-kiddies screwball comedy. Then turns very dark indeed–the minute that Ray Liotta shows up.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/46 "2007-05-25T15:07:32Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke]
How about _Down By Law_? Tom Waits & John Lurie play oh-so-cool lowlifes in New Orleans. Oh-so-cool but not very bright–they are both framed & go to jail.
Then Roberto Benigni becomes a cellmate. Leading to a rather silly escape & surreal adventures in the bayous.
[/QUOTE]
I love that movie! So hard to find on DVD, and hardly anyone has ever heard of it.
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/47 "2007-05-25T15:51:16Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
I was thinking about a play that (I presume) all of you know the plot of that undergoes a change from romantic comedy to something else - _Romeo and Juliet_. (Well, O.K., it’s not a film in itself, but it’s been filmed many times.) Some people think that Shakespeare invented the romantic comedy. _Romeo and Juliet_ begins as a romantic comedy. (Indeed, a lot of people talk as if it was just a romantic comedy. People sometimes describe a couple as being like “Romeo and Juliet,” not meaning a pair who will die tragically but just two people in love.)
A young couple meet and instantly fall in love. Their families don’t like each other, but that’s O.K. because they can run away together. And then everything goes wrong. Romeo’s attempt to ignore the insults of Tybalt from Juliet’s family just makes Mercutio from his family mad. Mercutio and Tybalt duel and Romeo’s inept attempt to stop the duel gets Mercutio killed. Romeo blows up and kills Tybald, which gets Romeo exiled. Juliet’s plan to fake her death goes wrong, and Paris, who wants to marry Juliet, is killed. Romeo and Juliet both die by suicide. Furthermore, they don’t commit suicide together in a tragic/romantic pact. They die because they misunderstand what the other has done and commit suicide separately.
[/QUOTE]
Who knew that Lost was written by Shakespeare? 😃
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/48 "2007-05-25T15:54:37Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach]
Most of the others mentioned here (that I’ve seen) are little more than a shift in tone, but this one…it was like I was watching an entirely different movie that bore almost no relation to the first 2/3rds. I’m still not sure I understand what the hell I saw.
[/QUOTE]
The above quote actually sounds like you’re talking about _Mulholland Drive._
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/49 "2007-05-25T15:57:45Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet]
**The Prestige** gets my vote.
[/QUOTE]
That’s so coincidental, we watched that two nights ago, and when the movie ended, I wasn’t even sure what I had just watched. I was not expecting that at all.
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/50 "2007-05-25T16:09:51Z")
“The Birthday Girl” started out as an interesting, quirky romantic comedy. Nicole Kidman is a Russian male order bride who goes to England to marry a lonely English bank manager who doesn’t find any of the local girls attractive – possibly because he’s into bondage. He keeps his bondage interests secret from Kidman’s character at first, but she finds his stash of bondage porn and confronts him by dumping a stack of them on the kitchen table while he’s eating. He’s not crazy about her because she smokes and she doesn’t speak English, which contradicts what the website he ordered her from said about her.
We have an interesting story going here … will these two manage to work out their problems? If so, how? Then Kidman’s thug boyfriends from Russia come along and it turns into a stupid by-the-numbers bank robbery flick. Totally ruined the movie.
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### Author:  [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/51 "2007-05-25T18:34:17Z")
_Million Dollar Baby_ starts off as a boxing movie about a crusty manager and female empowerment and then becomes something much more serious.
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### Author:  [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/52 "2007-05-25T19:50:54Z")
I nominate the Korean film [**Sex Is Zero**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0341555/). The first 2/3 is sex-romp comedy. Raunchy and funny. Think Porky’s or American Pie. The last half hour or so turns melodramatic serious and is pretty much a downer.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-completely-change-course-spoilers/405330/53 "2007-05-25T20:02:31Z")
Agreed as to _Psycho_; that was the first movie I thought of.
If you didn’t know what was coming, _The Fellowship of the Ring_ might throw you for a loop. Awwww, how cute, the Hobbits are throwing a big birthday party! What fun. The Shire sure looks nice, too. Wait… there’s a Ring? And they have to take it _where_? And two of the group are gonna _die_? Whoa!
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