# Movies with the most realistic acting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332 "2009-10-19T14:37:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/21 "2009-10-20T19:11:27Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It was directed by Howard Hawks. Unofficially, of course. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/22 "2009-10-20T19:25:24Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It was directed by Howard Hawks. Yeah, I have watched it like a million times. Played it for my kids just the other day for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/23 "2009-10-20T19:52:14Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Who did the same thing in much earlier films, most notably _His Girl Friday_. –which is why I noted it, as he was mentioned upthread. ETA: Oh, no he wasn’t. Altman was and _I_ was gonna invoke Hawks in response, but I guess I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/24 "2009-10-20T19:56:10Z")
Anyway, for my money, one of the most astonishingly realistic performances I’ve ever seen was Jane Fonda’s Oscar-winning performance in Klute. Say what you will about her–and personally, I think it was some kind of inexplicable fluke: I really don’t think of her as that great an actor–but somehow she managed to pull of one of the most convincing screen performances of all time. My theory is that there was a lot of improv involved; her delivery just too naturalist, too perfectly real for Jane Friggin Fonda to have pulled off. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/25 "2009-10-21T08:42:35Z")
Another vote for District 9, and of course, other indy films with a documentary feel or new actors. I’m also going to say Woody Allen movies for the way he directs people to put a lot of pauses and 'uh…"s in the dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/26 "2009-10-21T09:30:41Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > Not specific movies, but I always think movies in languages I don’t know (fluently) feel more realistic. I have this often with french, spanish and italian movie, while I cringe at most dutch movies. Agreed. At the local independent movie theater, you will regularily catch non-American movies who tell stories of the common people, with solid, realistic acting. Two American movies in a similar fashion are **Kramer vs Kramer** and **the Savages.** ---
**Author:** ![McGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@McGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/27 "2009-10-23T04:14:09Z")
The original “Bad News Bears” movie. I remember seeing it in the theater when I was in 9th grade, and it was the scene where they have their first practice that impressed me. Walter Mathau is trying to kind of call the roll and determine what position each kid will play. The kids are not only talking over each other, but they had that whiney, pesky way of talking that I just felt sounded very real, being not much older than them myself, and having attended my share of things like scout troop meetings and youth sports events. There are other things in the movie which did not feel so genuine to me. In particular, I didn’t buy Tatum ONeal’s character. But they got a lot of things right, especially not having the team win that last game. More importantly, their reaction to losing was triumphant, not devastated: take-your-trophy-and-shove-it… I totally believed that’s how those kids would act in that situation. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/28 "2009-10-23T04:29:50Z")
Maybe we were tired when we watched it, but the acting and dialogue for [“Humpday”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpday) was quite excellent. Plot Two heterosexual male friends Ben (Duplass) and Andrew (Leonard) meet after having not seen each other for 10 years. During a wild party, they find themselves locked in a “mutual dare” situation engaging to make a gay porno as an “art project” between two straight guys and submit it to the HUMP! film festival. Who will tell Anna (Delmore), Ben’s wife and will they be able to finish what they promised themselves to do? ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/29 "2009-10-23T09:57:07Z")
Most recent one that springs to mind [Eden Lake](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020530/) Young teenage louts torture and kill a holidaying couple. The acting of the youngsters playing the murderous little bastards is horribly, horribly, believable. Maybe you only appreciate it properly if you have lived in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332/30 "2009-10-23T10:04:32Z")
[If, Dog, Rabbit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138511/) is an inexplicably obscure diamond of a movie; despite having an excellent cast (Matthew Modine, Bruce Dern, John Hurt, and Kevin J. O’Connor [the guy who played Daniel Plainview’s brother in _There Will Be Blood_], this movie seems to be buried under the dust of movie history. I’m not sure why, because it has _really_ good acting, and very realistic-sounding dialog. Somehow, Modine (who also directed, wrote and produced the film) managed to bring all the elements together in a way that really makes you feel like you’re _there_ - or maybe it’s that the people in the movie are _here_, I’m not sure which. The plot of the film is not really that interesting, but it really stands out as an example of realistic acting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-most-realistic-acting/514332.md?page=1)