# What is up with movie endings? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 3, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827 "2000-09-03T02:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/1 "2000-09-03T02:06:01Z")
Do most of the endings to hollywood movies seem to suck to you? They do to me. Especially on rental movies and PPV movies. Seems to me as if most of them get to an hour and 50 minutes then just stop. I have enjoyed a lot of movies only to find that the endings really do suck canal water. Of course there are exceptions but they are just that exceptions. Can’t anyone write a good ending anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/2 "2000-09-03T02:16:40Z")
I know exactly what you mean. _The End_ done to death. _Finis_ how common. _The End…Or Is It??_ if it ain’t, just finish the damn story, o.k.? _And They All Lived Happily Ever After_ well, I guess this one’s still nice. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/3 "2000-09-03T02:31:50Z")
That’ll teach me to dash off a quickie in IMHO just before labor day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/4 "2000-09-03T02:41:05Z")
Movie endings do suck. A lot of them are quite predictible. If half the amount of effort spent on producing neato special effects was put into thinking out a solid plot… wait a minute. Half the effort _is_ put into the plot. My bad. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tisme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Tisme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tisme)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/5 "2000-09-03T02:48:13Z")
Most movies today have an ambiguous ending or just totally confusing. Maybe it’s so that if the movie does well at the box office, it leaves it open for a sequel. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/6 "2000-09-03T18:57:39Z")
## **The Piano**. _Spoiler below (in case somebody hasn’t seen it yet)_ - - - - - - - - - - - - - Am I the only one who thought she should have stayed on the bottom of the sea with her ivories? When I saw her swim up to the surface, I damn near leapt out of my seat and yelled “Cheat!” Well, I’m off to enjoy Labor Day too. Have fun all! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/7 "2000-09-03T20:56:12Z")
Well, there are several different varieties of terrible endings. Such as: 1. The hero was obviously SUPPOSED to die, but they resurrected him… probably because test audiences at preliminary screenings didn’t like the unhappy ending. I swear, if there had been test audiences in ELizabethan times, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet would have survived! 1. The producers want to make sequel after sequel, so the monster/bad guy is kept alive at the end. This is so common, it’s a cliche by now! There’s no point watching horror or supernatural movies any more, because we already KNOW the monster isn’t really dead- it’ll be back for a bunch of bad direct-to-video sequels. 1. The “Rocky” style uplifting ending, where the poor little guy(s) beats the snobby rich guy(s). Problem is, the “underdog” in Hollywood movies is never REALLY an underdog. It’s usually obvious from Scene 1 that the “underdog” can’t lose. ---
**Author:** ![JoeyHemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ba0ec/32.png) [@JoeyHemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyHemlock)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/8 "2000-09-03T21:28:30Z")
I see a ton of movies, and my favorites are always the ones that end well. And a twist ending (i.e. **The Sixth Sense** , **Fight Club** ) does not make it a good ending. But if a movie hold my attention well, then ends on the right note, then it’s going to be a favorite… A lot of people don’t like endings that don’t spell out exactly what happens for the rest of the character’s life. I think those people lack imagination. I have a friend who says **Good Will Hunting** ended bad because you don’t know if he did get the girl or not, you just see him driving off to his destiny. I say that’s the best ending I can imagine. Recent movies with endings that I liked: **American Beauty** , **Being john Malkovich** , **Run Lola Run** , **Dogma**. And of course **The Usual Suspects**. Love 'em or hate 'em endings that I love: **Limbo** , **The Red Violin** , **Magnolia**. Endings that didn’t live up to the build-up: **Three Kings** (too predictable). Comedies as a rule don’t seem to end well. They just seem to end. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/9 "2000-09-03T22:35:22Z")
I heard that they are going to the change the ending of _Hannibal_, the prequel to _Silence of the Lambs_, in the movie version. The vision of the Jody Foster heroine character eating people I guess is not that palatable. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/10 "2000-09-03T23:39:09Z")
I’m so tired of happy _deus ex machina_ endings that I can hardly stand most movies these days. There’s some unspoken law that the main characters can not die unless (A) the death has been in the works all along and is the focus of the movie or (B) it’s yet another _Alien_ clone monster flick where everyone dies except the real star. Once you figure this out, there’s barely any reason to watch the movie. Who’s the first name in the opening credits? Ok, that person will not die. He might get blown up, shot, dissolved by acid and run over by a truck (or all four), but in the end he will be alive. Sort of cuts down on the empathy you need to have for the characters when you know they’ll be peachy in the end. I’m not saying that every movie needs to end like _Reservoir Dogs_ to have a “good ending”. But the fact that the movie might have an ending that makes you think or that fits into the reality of what you’re watching instead of forcing it into a mold where you’ll leave the theatre with a smile and spring in your step is a benefit that seems long forgotten in modern US film. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/11 "2000-09-03T23:39:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by capacitor \* > \*\*I heard that they are going to the change the ending of _Hannibal_, the prequel to _Silence of the Lambs_, in the movie version. The vision of the Jody Foster heroine character eating people I guess is not that palatable. \*\* Argh. This is **exactly** what I hate about some movie endings. Rather than having an ending that is in the best interest of the plot, they water it down so as not to offend anyone. If this is true, I’m not going to see _Hannibal_. And uh,_Hannibal_ is the sequel, not the prequel. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/12 "2000-09-03T23:48:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JoeyHemlock \* > **Recent movies with endings that I liked: American Beauty, Being john Malkovich, Run Lola Run, Dogma. And of course The Usual Suspects.** All great movies with great endings. These movies bring up a good point, though. A good ending doesn’t mean it has to be happy or tie all the ends up. It also doesn’t have to come to a huge climax (most horror movies) or be a nice slow ending from a huge climax (the calm after the storm). It just has to fit the movie. And I completely agree with Audrey. If the ending fits the movie/book, why water it down? It’s the studios trying to make more money by trying to appeal to more people. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/13 "2000-09-04T00:28:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by silent\_rob \* > \*\*If the ending fits the movie/book, why water it down? It’s the studios trying to make more money by trying to appeal to more people. \*\* Rant ahead! Especially in the case of _Hannibal._ It’s obviously not a kids’ movie (although you KNOW that some dumbass parents will take their kids to it and then bitch that it was too violent or whatever). Why can’t the ending be disturbing? The movie’s about a _cannibal_, for god’s sake! I like gory, morbid movies, and the only movie in that genre whose ending I found satisfactory was _Seven_. It was a very disturbing ending, but with such buildup, how else could it have ended? What I care most about in a movie is the strength of its storyline and its execution. I couldn’t care less about everything else. When an ending falls flat, I feel like I wasted my money to see the movie. I don’t advocate gore for the sake of gore, but I don’t think it’s something that should be shied away from. Okay, end rant. ---
**Author:** ![Ankh\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Ankh\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ankh_Too)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/14 "2000-09-04T01:46:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AudreyK \* > \*\* > Rant ahead! > > Especially in the case of _Hannibal._ It’s obviously not a kids’ movie (although you KNOW that some dumbass parents will take their kids to it and then bitch that it was too violent or whatever). Why can’t the ending be disturbing? The movie’s about a _cannibal_, for god’s sake! \*\* I personally liked the reason that Jodie Foster gave for not reprising her role as Starling. Apparently she felt that the character just wouldn’t do something like that and it wasn’t true to Clarice. Funny, I thought it was the Author’s job to determine that question. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/15 "2000-09-04T04:07:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ankh\_Too \* > **Funny, I thought it was the Author’s job to determine that question.** My thoughts exactly. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/16 "2000-09-04T04:20:30Z")
Long ago I came to the conclusion that a bad ending can ruin an otherwise good movie, and a good ending can really help a mediocre moving. I didn’t really like “The Usual Suspects” until the ending, then it “all snapped into place” and I liked it. Fight Club and Sixth Sense has that “It all snaps into place” feeling. What sucks is when the writer or director tries to get a “It all snaps into place” ending, and fails, it can ruin even the best movie! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/17 "2000-09-04T04:59:21Z")
Just because I’m in the mood to bitch about it, one of the worse movie endings I ever saw was _Wild Things_. Bleah. The entire concept of it seemed to be “well, you probably thought you had this movie all figured out, didn’t you? Well, HA! You have no idea because now, over the credits, we’re going to show all the scenes that would have caused this movie to make sense! That’s right, we’re so amazingly clever that we made a mystery film that you had no chance in hell of solving because we left out all the clues. Sort of like buying a Grisham novel and finding chapters 3, 7, 9, 11 and 15 in the appendix.” It wasn’t clever, it didn’t make me think the film makers were any more clever and it didn’t enhance my already minimal enjoyment of the film. All it did was make me think the film makers were afraid someone would puzzle out what happened before the film ended and took measures to ensure it couldn’t happen. Like cutting out plot points. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/18 "2000-09-04T16:39:13Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not saying that every movie needs to end like Reservoir Dogs to have a “good ending”. But the fact that the movie might have an ending that makes you think or that fits into the reality of what you’re watching instead of forcing it into a mold where you’ll leave the theatre with a smile and spring in your step is a benefit that seems long forgotten in modern US film. I agree. That’s why I thought _Return to Paradise_ was such a good movie. The whole time, I figured a typical Hollywood ending; like what was spoofed in _The Player_ when Bruce Willis came busting through the door for a last minute death row rescue. Even as the guy was being dragged to the gallows, I figured no way would they go through with it. Well, they did and it surprised the heck out of me. That was the make-or-break point. Way too many movies cop out. > [@](#): > > 1. The producers want to make sequel after sequel, so the monster/bad guy is kept alive at the end. > > This is so common, it’s a cliche by now! There’s no point watching horror or supernatural movies any more, because we already KNOW the monster isn’t really dead- it’ll be back for a bunch of bad direct-to-video sequels. An addendum. If the boogy is dead, it left an egg or larva lying around for the sequel. The only reason I watched _Wild Things_ was for the “Good Parts.” Even they sucked. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/19 "2000-09-05T08:34:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Who’s the first name in the opening credits? Ok, that person will not die. Not all the time. In _Executive Decision_ I remember ads always stressing the fact that Steven Segal (I know, he can’t act, but he USED to be a big name) was in it. So I went into the movie expecting Segal to be the hero. Surprise! He died in the first third of the movie. Although _Executive Decision_ had probably the biggest stereotypical “land the plane” disaster movie cop-out of all time… ameteur pilot winds up behind the controls, decides to land a big friggin’ 747 at the small-time landing strip that he always frequents… you know how they figure “Yeah, here’s our chance to blow up a lot of stuff.” I think the biggest surprise ending of all time was _Titanic_. I mean, when that boat went down, I was all like, “Holy shit!!!” ---
**Author:** ![JuanDeCuba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JuanDeCuba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuanDeCuba)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827/20 "2000-09-05T13:58:27Z")
I still haven’t seen Titanic. I refuse to see a movie if I know the ending before even seeing the trailer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-movie-endings/31827.md?page=2)