# "No, you just didn't understand it." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886 "2006-06-16T00:54:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886/61 "2006-06-17T21:03:32Z")
[QUOTE=mike1dog] I’ve purged the name of this awful movie out of my head but someone may recognize it: A guy doesn’t get killed by an airplane engine because he goes out to see a guy dressed in a rabbit suit [. . .] [/quote] That’s probably **Donnie Darko** you’re trying to forget. Glad I could be of help. > [@Interrobang!?](#): > > My mother-in-law adores What About Bob? in part because she has an elaborate theory about how it’s a metaphor for accepting Christ’s love. _Gads!_ Is Jesus supposed to be some annoying, needy, obtuse pest who won’t leave you alone no matter what? A leech, and not a lamb? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886/62 "2006-06-17T21:09:28Z")
[QUOTE=mike1dog] I think sometimes it’s a matter of someone reading too much into a movie. I’ve purged the name of this awful movie out of my head but someone may recognize it: A guy doesn’t get killed by an airplane engine because he goes out to see a guy dressed in a rabbit suit. There are people who try to tell me all of this philosophical stuff about this movie, even making me watch it again to get all the ‘nuance’ they see in it. It’s still just an incredibly boring movie to me. The characters all seem to either be sleep walking or on Prozac. [/QUOTE] Dude! _Donnie Darko_ is one of the best movies ever. It’s not deep philosophy or anything, but it’s definitely nuanced. So many little tiny details that carry nifty subtext. Nearly every shot has background detail that has delayed significance. I don’t think people who try to sell you on _Donnie Darko_ are reading too much into it, there’s plenty written there, in teeny-tiny little letters, single-spaced, double-sided. Supersaturated with intertext – everything from _Harvey_ to _The Last Temptation of Christ_. Invisible synchronicities that seem perfectly natural until the second or third viewing. If someone were to take the metaphysics of the movie seriously, I might raise an eyebrow, but as far as simple _craft_ is concerned – a nearly perfect movie, and _much_ more finely-wrought than is usual. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886/63 "2006-06-17T22:36:08Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Dude! _Donnie Darko_ is one of the best movies ever. It’s not deep philosophy or anything, but it’s definitely nuanced. So many little tiny details that carry nifty subtext. Nearly every shot has background detail that has delayed significance. I don’t think people who try to sell you on _Donnie Darko_ are reading too much into it, there’s plenty written there, in teeny-tiny little letters, single-spaced, double-sided. Supersaturated with intertext – everything from _Harvey_ to _The Last Temptation of Christ_. Invisible synchronicities that seem perfectly natural until the second or third viewing. If someone were to take the metaphysics of the movie seriously, I might raise an eyebrow, but as far as simple _craft_ is concerned – a nearly perfect movie, and _much_ more finely-wrought than is usual. [/QUOTE] Dude!, 😉 I completely agree with you and I really enjoyed this movie, but I understand why at the same time, my very smart wife found it boring. As I understand why she did not enjoy it, I can understand why **mike1dog** might have found it boring. You and I love it and enjoy the layers, other people go, “I watch movies to escape, not to think too hard.” Jim ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886/64 "2006-06-17T23:29:27Z")
[QUOTE=ACC\_Expat] There’s a particular TV show **I can’t stand.** I’ve given it a chance. I’ve given it _another_ chance. I can see why others like it, and yes, much of the stuff on TV is worse from a technical perspective, but this show is not for me. You’ll note I refuse to identify this show because I have found its most ardent supporters are absolutely incapable of accepting that any person worth the resources they are consuming on this planet could _possibly_ dislike the show, and I just don’t want to get into a discussion with them. [/QUOTE] Oh! Is it “Everybody Loves Raymond”? It’s “Everybody Loves Raymond,” right? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886/65 "2006-06-17T23:31:00Z")
[QUOTE=Bytegeist] _Gads!_ Is Jesus supposed to be some annoying, needy, obtuse pest who won’t leave you alone no matter what? A leech, and not a lamb? [/QUOTE] Apparently, in my mother-in-law’s view of the world, yes. Because your interpretation of the film is a lot closer to my own than hers is. ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886/66 "2006-06-18T00:15:08Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] On the other hand, I know there are times when I Just Didn’t Understand. _Napolean Dynamite_ is phenomenonally popular – and I know that there must be _something_ there that people appreciate. For me, the movie was almost pure tedium, and almost painful – except for one sublime moment – a single scene where everything came together and I Got It. Just that _one_ beautiful scene. But the rest — I didn’t understand it. [/QUOTE] I still don’t really get that movie. I wouldn’t label it tedium, but it wasn’t nearly as funny to me as everyone made it out to be. I still haven’t seen it a second time. [QUOTE=Larry Mudd] You don’t often hear people make a claim of “You didn’t understand it” on something that’s lowest-common-denominator. Nobody defends _The Red Green Show_ with “You just didn’t understand it,” everybody understands that if you don’t enjoy _The Red Green Show_ it’s because you’re just not cognitively impaired enough to manage it. [/QUOTE] Hey, I happen to like Red Green _because_ he caters to the lowest common denominator. 😉 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886/67 "2006-06-18T03:04:29Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Dude! _Donnie Darko_ is one of the best movies ever. It’s not deep philosophy or anything, but it’s definitely nuanced. So many little tiny details that carry nifty subtext. Nearly every shot has background detail that has delayed significance. I don’t think people who try to sell you on _Donnie Darko_ are reading too much into it, there’s plenty written there, in teeny-tiny little letters, single-spaced, double-sided. Supersaturated with intertext – everything from _Harvey_ to _The Last Temptation of Christ_. Invisible synchronicities that seem perfectly natural until the second or third viewing. If someone were to take the metaphysics of the movie seriously, I might raise an eyebrow, but as far as simple _craft_ is concerned – a nearly perfect movie, and _much_ more finely-wrought than is usual. [/QUOTE] Exactly why I hate talking about this movie. Give me a break “a nearly perfect movie?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-just-didnt-understand-it/360886.md?page=3)