Adaptation does this. Kaufman wrote it as a film about him (and his “brother”) writing a film script. Latish in the film, the “brother” takes over and it becomes a different type of film.
So not only does it switch, it shows you that the reason for the switch is the change of authors.
Lucky Number Slevin looks like a mistaken-identity/caper movie for a while, then becomes something a lot bloodier.
It does seem like movies that darken are a lot more common than movies that lighten up.
Good News-She’s a hottie
Bad News-She’s a PSYCHO!
[quote=“awldune, post:37, topic:592200”]
I am not a fan of “sneak attack” movies like many of these. I went to see both Life is Beautiful and Marley and Me without knowing they would take a tragic turn.QUOTE]
How did you NOT know that *Life is Beautiful *was a downer movie? It’s about the FRICKIN" HOLOCAUST!
I don’t think there was a change in tone in Brazil. It was a dark comedy from beginning to end. The government was portrayed throughout the film as stupid yet dangerous.
It’s a Wonderful Life fits here to some degree. It went from totally light-hearted to rather dark later on when Jimmy Stewart takes in the full meaning of his “nonexistence.”
Even William Goldman sort of admits he made a mistake there. He said he should have put more foreshadowing in the early parts of the movie so the audience would have been prepared for the event you referred to. As I recall, he said he wanted to surprise the audience, which he did, but he did it so well he lost them and never got them back for the rest of the movie.
I always thought of Fargo this way. It’s not that it’s particularly bright and happy in the beginning but until the Highway Patrol officer takes a shot point blank in the head, I had no idea it would get that bloody. And it stayed that way through the end.
My underrated favorite, Swimming With Sharks. Starts out as a silly office comedy, accelerates to “Watch this guy get wacky revenge on his boss!” and then gradually shifts to “Hey, this is why it would be a really bad idea in real life…”**.
I remember the exact scene where the transition happens, even. It’s in the bar as the stripper chick starts dancing and nobody realizes she’s a vampire yet. 5 minutes later vamps are playing heavy metal on guitars made of human spines and rib cages.
From Dusk Til Dawn is example of a movie that starts out quite passably in one genre and then suddenly goes batshit in another genre.
Cried my eyes out, and that was completely unexpected.
Kindergarten Cop. I know couple of people who were pissed off that the family comedy they took their kids to, about Arnold going undercover in a class full of adorable tykes, ended up as a tension-filled, violent action movie.
I wish I’d thought of that… 
**Auto Focus **starts out looking and sounding like Herbie the Love Bug and ends up like something directed (but not written) by David Lynch.
Glad I’m not the only one!
The Station Agent starts out with some quirkily comic stuff then takes some dark turns in the second half.
I don’t know if it necessarily changed in “tone”. But **The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou **seemed to get pretty violent and melancholy towards the end.
Not so gradual, but Robin Hood, the Kevin Costner version, went from a dark serious period piece to an action comedy about a 1/3rd of the way through. It was almost like they threw a switch rather than a gradual change though.
Shaun of the Dead started out as a zombie comedy movie and ended up as a zombie chick flick, all serious n’ shit.