# Movies with extremely unlikable protagonists **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334 "2005-07-13T14:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**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 14, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/41 "2005-07-14T07:28:01Z")
The protagonists of _In the Company of Men_ were mighty loathsome. ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/42 "2005-07-14T09:24:32Z")
Katie Holmes in _Batman Begins_ . Sanctimonious little \*\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/43 "2005-07-14T10:40:54Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > Ok. Martin in [Martin](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103488/) Touché! 😃 Daniel ---
**Author:** ![tristessa\_home](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tristessa\_home](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tristessa_home)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/44 "2005-07-14T11:16:52Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > I watched Rendez-Vous the other day, the mid-eighties foreign one. > > There wasn’t a single likeable character in the movie! Well, maybe the director guy. Maybe. > > Also : Blair Witch Project - again, no likeable characters to be found. someone FINALLY said it!!! I can’t stand that whole blair witch cult thing. omg. and what’s with the close-ups, UP the runny noses? gross! :smack: thanks. I had to get that out. Been holding that one in for a long time. lol. 🙂 - what, no happy jewish girls smilie??! waaaa… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tristessa\_home](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tristessa\_home](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tristessa_home)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/45 "2005-07-14T11:32:29Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **The Talented Mr. Ripley** is completely morally repugnant, yet fascinating. wow, so true. Matt Damon was really quite interesting in it… and Phillip Seymour Hoffman- really was asking for it, wasn’t he??! btw, I find Matt much more interesting that Ben… I think he’s smarter. 🙂 (that could start a whole new debate.) That is the mark of a truly good murder mystery. Though the part where Jude Law gets it----- ack. gives me shivers… There’s another one like that---- it’s the sequel too, I think… has John-now I am overacting to my overacting— Malkovich in it… Ripley’s Game??? Parts of it are ludicrous, completely disjointed from the story, just come out of nowhere… Though it’s great in some ways. Especially the photography. [http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00018D40O/qid%3D1121340531/702-8635527-1735205](http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00018D40O/qid%3D1121340531/702-8635527-1735205) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/46 "2005-07-14T12:38:34Z")
**The Sweet Smell of Success**. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/47 "2005-07-14T12:53:05Z")
_Taxi Driver_–I just didn’t get it…DeNiro’s character was nuts at the beginning and nuts at the end and he was being haled as a hero! _Five Easy Pieces_ a movie about a self-centered jerk. ---
**Author:** ![tristessa\_home](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tristessa\_home](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tristessa_home)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/48 "2005-07-14T15:32:03Z")
You should go rent it on dvd and watch it again. It’s about the loss of innocence, and redemption… even though De Niro IS crazy… so it’s kind of like “against all odds…” And he really loves this girl- played by Jodie Foster- amazing role----- and people relate to that---- because we all yearn for that kind of feeling again. Travis wanted to take the bitterness and ugliness out of people, and the cynicism. Harvey Keitel’s pimp character exemplifies that… and the girl represents the innocence, and De Niro is the savior. No matter what others thought of him, and even when he was being really bitter himself, he saw himself as the good guy, and the saviour. It’s not ‘typical’ of that style, or subject matter, which would be say a “pretty woman” kind of movie- though they are similiar. One is “underground” the other is “high class…” Views of life. that’s what they are. Scorsese is the master at it. There is one by Nicholas Roeg- who has made some great movies-- called “Whore” that is just terrible. I am pretty sure he did it. It’s very cliche ridden, and plays to the “dumb-downed” crowd who rail against exploitation, but are the first ones in line to see it. Taxi Driver still holds up too. Scorsese goes for the intellect. Obviously. Just my humble view of it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/49 "2005-07-15T10:23:28Z")
Max Fischer in **Rushmore**. It’s not a good sign when the protagonist is being punched out by the bully and you find yourself rooting for the bully. ---
**Author:** ![tristessa\_home](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tristessa\_home](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tristessa_home)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/50 "2005-07-15T12:08:01Z")
yes, but he got him in the end. It may be “morally” wrong, but in the movie, it saved his life, and Jodie’s character…Iris. No small coincidence that she has the name of a flower. \* Martin Scorsese …Homicidal passenger in Travis’ cab\* Scorsese plays one of the “demons” that Travis is trying to wipe out from his thoughts, and what he see’s as the dregs of society… and he accomplishes that. Quite effectively. (good or bad.) goodmorning. 🙂 "What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil. " - Friedrich Nietzsche, /Beyond Good and Evil. It’s no longer a question of staying healthy. It’s a question of finding a sickness you like. -Jackie Mason (1934 - ) ---
**Author:** ![tristessa\_home](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tristessa\_home](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tristessa_home)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/51 "2005-07-15T12:11:59Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > I didn’t like any of the characters in _Saw_ or _Magnolia_ Put them all in one movie, you could get ‘Magnolia’s eating raoul, and cruise…’ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tristessa\_home](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tristessa\_home](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tristessa_home)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/52 "2005-07-15T12:44:38Z")
Kieran Culkin, in Igyby goes Down… No one makes any sense, but the boy is cute. And the rest of the cast too. * * * Sean Penn in Assassination of Richard Nixon. Very good, intellectual (read=slow) movie, very disturbing, but the guy is such an oblivious moron- goes beyond the “hopeful jerk” that you can usually skip past. Kudos to Don Cheadle, for being the voice of reason, and playing one of the best parts in a good/bad movie that I have ever seen. Also- the boss, played by Jack Jones, who is an Australian who always plays Americans! Saw this one at the TFF with all parties present- except N. Watts, who plays SP’s wife. Jack Jones is a great actor, though he’s also the biggest blow-hard, sanctimonious \*\*\*\*, I have ever seen. He acted as though HE directed the movie himself. (He more often than not, plays these types too.) Directed by Niels Mueller. In his defence, he’s relly nice, and wonderfully enthusiastic about the movie, and it is a very intense movie, though painful to watch. Don Cheadle wasn’t there. Missed his plane or something. thanks to SP’s PR man for the free tix!! 🙂 > **[The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364961/)** > > The Assassination of Richard Nixon: Directed by Niels Mueller. With Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson. Based on real life events, Assassination is set in 1974 and centers on a businessman who decides to take extreme measures to... [![](http://www.smittenbooks.com/images/mueller-director.jpg) ](http://www.smittenbooks.com/images/mueller-director.jpg) [![](http://www.smittenbooks.com/images/seanpenn25.jpg) ](http://www.smittenbooks.com/images/seanpenn25.jpg) Photos are mine. (c) dm goodmorning. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/53 "2005-07-15T14:17:41Z")
Campbell Scott in _Roger Dodger_, a jilted lover who decides to get straight with the world by humiliating the living shit out of his teenage nephew, who has come to him to learn about women. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/54 "2005-07-15T20:27:14Z")
“They Shoot Horses, Don’t They” “The Last Tango in Paris” “Rushmore” ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/55 "2005-07-15T20:36:00Z")
_Gone With the Wind_ - Scarlett O’Hara. Love the movie, but just want to smack that needy, selfish little twit upside the head every time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/56 "2005-07-15T21:59:48Z")
This just in from Joel and the 'bots: Joe Don Baker in [Mitchell.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073396/) ---
**Author:** ![Tio\_Gringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Tio\_Gringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tio_Gringo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/57 "2005-07-15T23:55:43Z")
**Deconstructing Harry** , terrible movie with the real life asshole Woody Allen playing just as big of an asshole on screen. ---
**Author:** ![tristessa\_home](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@tristessa\_home](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tristessa_home)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334/58 "2005-07-16T01:34:54Z")
Deconstructing Harry- was that the one where he goes to hell, and he’s a mysoginist pig??? ack. You’re right. Kyle MacLachlan, in everything since Blue Velvet— what’s with the whiny little girl faces he makes?? tho I must admit he was very good in the episode of Law & Order- Special Victims Unit, that was on 2 nights ago. He played a guy who kills the kid who killed his son. the kid was an evil brat. He was found ‘not guilty’ because he was a psychiatrist, and he played them like a fiddle. that was good. Blue Velvet: Love the movie- Dennis Hopper should have gotten an Oscar for that part, easily. (did he get any awards?) The first time I saw it, he made me cringe, tho only in awe, and a bit of fear— on subsequent viewings, I see the brilliance of this man. He was in Rebel without a cause (1955) _and_ Giant (1956) with James Dean, after all. The part where Isabella Rossellini runs naked and crying across the lawn- though I know it’s in contex; _for shame._ * * * * * * [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-extremely-unlikable-protagonists/312334.md?page=2)