# The Most Pointless, Unnecessary Movie Postscript Ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2006, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977 "2006-03-19T06:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/21 "2006-03-19T22:50:18Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > You never know: I once got dressed down here for not having a spoiler box when talking about _The Usual Supsects_. Not to get into this debate again, but for a movie that hasn’t become part of the cultural language (like Citizen Kane or the Empire Strikes Back have), I think it’s always best to use spoilers. Especially when the surprise twist is obviously part of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Baine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Baine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baine)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/22 "2006-03-19T23:31:24Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why? It’s a common enough dramatic trope. It was used in **American Grafitti** and **Animal House** , for instance. > > The concept also dates back to 19th century literature, where it was expected that the author do a “wrap up” explaining what happened to the lives of the characters after the plot of the book was resolved. To me, a postscript is a way of saying, “there’s more to this story, but it’s not interesting enough or too unwieldy to be filmed, so we’re just going to tack a bit of text onto the end of the movie.” I can understand using it in a true story, since there are few proper endings in life, and a postscript can help tie the movie back into the real world. In a fictional movie, it just strikes me as lazy filmmaking. Film is a visual medium, so if there’s more a filmmaker wants to say, they should find a way of showing it. It’s not something that bothers me that much, it just takes me out of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/23 "2006-03-19T23:52:05Z")
Well, the passage of time has certainly made some postcripts unnecessary. Take \*\*_Goodfellas_ \*\*, for example. (I can’t imagine this ‘spoiling’ a 16-year-old movie…so read no further if you don’t know how it ends!) The postcript informs us that the Robert DeNiro character, Jimmy Conway, will be eligible for parole in 2004. This character is based on the real-life James ‘Jimmy the Gent’ Burke, who died in prison in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/24 "2006-03-19T23:59:56Z")
I had heard good things about and was looking forward to it. But I came away feeling dissapointed. Normally I like movies about conspiracies, and in some ways I did like it. I felt Fiennes did a great job. I think the two things that kept me from really liking the movie were: 1.) It felt preachy. I felt like I was watching a combination of Runaway Jury, John Q. and Erin Brochavich. And all those movies felt like they were hitting me over the head repeatdly with their message. I spent the entire movie thinking of the bit in Team America: Tim Robbins: Let me explain to you how this works: you see, the corporations finance Team America, and then Team America goes out… and the corporations sit there in their… in their corporation buildings, and… and, and see, they’re all corporation-y… and they make money. Yes, Pharmacertical companies are evil! I get it! Frankly, I think the Daily Show made the point much better with their Faux Pharmacutical commerical. 2.) Racheal Wiess got on my nerves. She reminded me too much of her character in Runaway Jury, which also annoyed me for being preachy. I felt if they had toned it down a bit it would have been a better movie. Am I alone in thinking this? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/25 "2006-03-20T00:01:20Z")
Shit! That was supposed to be it’s own thread. Mods, please delete it. Everyone else, Please ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/26 "2006-03-20T00:44:31Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > ALEX TREBEK: I’m sorry, that’s incorrect. > CATHERINE ZETA-JONES: No, I’m asking, who are the Beatles? I’ve never heard of them! 😕 Is there a cultural reference that i’m missing here? ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/27 "2006-03-20T00:49:39Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > 😕 > > Is there a cultural reference that i’m missing here? Yeah, to a recurring skit on _Saturday Night Live_. The writers noticed how stupid the players on the “Celebrity” weeks of \*Jeopardy \* always were, and ran with it. The hilarious thing was that the characters in the skits were only milder dumber than the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/28 "2006-03-20T01:04:04Z")
Many thanks. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/29 "2006-03-20T04:07:41Z")
> [@Baine](#): > > To me, a postscript is a way of saying, “there’s more to this story, but it’s not interesting enough or too unwieldy to be filmed, so we’re just going to tack a bit of text onto the end of the movie.” I can understand using it in a true story, since there are few proper endings in life, and a postscript can help tie the movie back into the real world. In a fictional movie, it just strikes me as lazy filmmaking. Film is a visual medium, so if there’s more a filmmaker wants to say, they should find a way of showing it. It’s not something that bothers me that much, it just takes me out of the movie. Once again, it’s a standard fictional device, used for a century and more. Nothing sloppy or lazy about it. It also makes the movie appear _more_ real, in that the characters had lives beyond what was shown on the screen. It says exactly what you just said: there are very few proper endings in life, even in a work of fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/30 "2006-03-20T04:16:32Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > Huh. Can’t believe I’m the first: > > In Unbreakable \ I agree. In fact, I’ve been saying since I saw the film in theaters that it should have ended 30 seconds sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/31 "2006-03-20T14:00:42Z")
> [@Rube E. Tewesday](#): > > Yeah, to a recurring skit on _Saturday Night Live_. The writers noticed how stupid the players on the “Celebrity” weeks of \*Jeopardy \* always were, and ran with it. The hilarious thing was that the characters in the skits were only milder dumber than the real thing. They also poke fun at the dumbed down questions on the celebrity edition with made up catagories like “What ears do” and “colours ending in -urple.” ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/32 "2006-03-20T15:20:18Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Can’t think of a movie with an unnecessary postscript. Can think of one that badly needed one: Dances with Wolves. 😕 At least some versions DID have a postscript, describing the surrender of the last free remnants of the Lakota. There’s nothing about Dunbar, but it’s not too difficult to fill in the blanks. His chances of swaying the public while enjoying Public Enemy #1 status were not great. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/33 "2006-03-21T00:44:09Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Animal House. Maybe if they hadn’t had one, we’d have been spared all those others through the years. > > The band Paul McCartney was in before Wyngs. 😃 Wings? Who’re they? 😕 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/34 "2006-03-21T05:14:50Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > The band Paul McCartney was in before Wyngs. > [@lizardling](#): > > Wings? Who’re they? 😕 > 😃 Paul McCartney was in a band?!? 😕 😛 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/35 "2006-03-21T05:36:44Z")
> [@Reepicheep](#): > > Paul McCartney was in a band?!? 😕 > > 😛 Yeah, my mom played me some of his “classic” stuff that she grew up with - _Silly Love Songs_, _My Love_, and some totally fey duet with Michael Jackson where Paul Mc is actually _arguing_ with MJ over a _girl_! DisGUSTing!! I have absolutely no idea why people like this guy. My parents have no taste in music! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/36 "2006-03-21T05:37:58Z")
Er… forgot the “I’m kidding” smilie, lest the over-righteous get indignant: 😃 😉 😛 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/37 "2006-03-21T05:43:55Z")
Btw, I totally agree about the _Unbreakable_ postscript ruining the entire setup. What sort of super-villian gets arrested because of an anonymous tip? None. And super heros don’t phone it in, either. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/38 "2006-03-21T05:44:25Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > **Friday Night Lights** > > I thought the postscripty made a far more interesting movie than the one I was watching. Yeah, this team in the movie made it close, but still lost. HOWEVER, the next year’s Odessa Permian went on to win the title. > > What made it more remarkable is they did it with a **new** quarterback (QB was a senior) and **without** two of their best defensive players (seniors Chavez and the sullen black guy). > > A far, far more remarkable story. Eh… I wouldn’t have liked a story about that team. The best part about Friday Night Nights was the end. It wasn’t the cliched sports movie ending, but something far better (ok, a bit Rocky-esque, but even after Rocky it wasn’t used very often). You do a story about next year’s team and I’d snooze through it. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/39 "2006-03-21T11:02:53Z")
The stupidest one I know of was the end of Joan of Arc (by Luc Besson.) We had an entire movie that seemed to be entirely devoted to showing her as a revenge-bent looney who did not see God or Jesus but rather just saw such scenes out of her blood lust–though the big G may have forgiven her at the end for this. But all of to end with the indignant postscript, “And they wouldn’t make her a saint for hundreds of years!” WTF? You just spent two hours telling us why she isn’t worthy of being famous, nor even considered a good person, just to end up saying we should be pissed that she wasn’t sainted earlier? All of which, to go home and find out that the real Jean d’Arc did not have a raped sister, nor was her village ever attacked, so the whole reason the movie had this big WTF is because the only thing in the whole movie that had to do with the real person **was** the postscript. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977/40 "2006-03-21T11:27:45Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Btw, I totally agree about the _Unbreakable_ postscript ruining the entire setup. > > What sort of super-villain gets arrested because of an anonymous tip? None. And super heros don’t phone it in, either. :rolleyes: Ahh, but might that not be the point? Jackson’s character was not a “super-villain”, just a crazy guy with a terrible disease, and Bruce Willis’ character went on to lead a life as “just another guy” and didn’t become a “superhero”. The postscript becomes the final plot twist. CMC fnord! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-pointless-unnecessary-movie-postscript-ever/348977.md?page=3)