# What movie has changed the most as you've aged and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891 "2019-04-22T14:38:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/1 "2019-04-22T14:38:38Z")
I think this is a really interesting subject and shows something incredibly unique about the nature of movies that I don’t think music or even TV shows can really grasp. They can stand so out of time or so in time that, as you age, you’re watching a completely different movie. Ebert has had this happen a couple times I’ve seen. The second review of The Graduate is much more sober and anti-Benjamin than the first. I see it now, too. Benjamin is a fucking bore and Elaine has no substance at all. Mrs. Robinson is the only cool character out of the lot. Ebert’s love for La Dolce Vita as his secret favorite movie mainly stems from the fact that the movie has evolved as he’s evolved as a person. Note: This isn’t a question of “this movie was overlooked at release” or “I now find funny in a kitsch way.” It’s more about maturity. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/2 "2019-04-22T14:43:59Z")
Star Wars. What? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/3 "2019-04-22T14:48:48Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Star Wars. What? Actually, when I saw Star Wars 22 years after its original release, I was fully prepared to see Luke (who had been just a little older than me in 1977) as a young fellow (while he had been a peer in 1977) - but what really startled me was that Han Solo, who I thought of a hardened mature type was in 1999 a baby-faced fellow just slightly more mature than Luke. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/4 "2019-04-22T14:55:15Z")
I thought Kentucky Fried Movie was the most innovative and funniest movie ever made in all eternity when my aunt snuck me in when I was 10 (why is my computer telling me “snuck” isn’t a word?) but found it pretty sophomoric when I encountered it on cable many years later. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/5 "2019-04-22T15:02:23Z")
Both _Caddyshack_ and _Animal House_ don’t seem that funny to me anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/6 "2019-04-22T15:04:04Z")
To answer my own question, I really wonder how history will treat American Beauty. In a way, I feel sad that the film will now be so inextricably linked with Kevin Spacey’s now-tainted legacy. But, in a way, it feels so poignant that it worked out that way. I think The Social Network will be an interesting touchstone of an era/time/place. Even now, we’re reading into the movie to try to understand what makes Zuckerberg tick. While I don’t think it’ll even be Facebook itself, the creation of modern social media springs from that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/7 "2019-04-22T15:09:31Z")
Mine is trivial…Reality Bites. First it was she made the right choice, then the wrong choice…then…weird how Ben Stiller (sarcasm) got the best parting shots. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/8 "2019-04-22T15:10:43Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > To answer my own question, I really wonder how history will treat American Beauty. In a way, I feel sad that the film will now be so inextricably linked with Kevin Spacey’s now-tainted legacy. But, in a way, it feels so poignant that it worked out that way. > > I think The Social Network will be an interesting touchstone of an era/time/place. Even now, we’re reading into the movie to try to understand what makes Zuckerberg tick. While I don’t think it’ll even be Facebook itself, the creation of modern social media springs from that movie. As far as i can tell history was very quickly unkind. It went from ‘this is kinda deep’ to ‘this is incredibly pretentious’ very quickly. But I will always defend the score. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/9 "2019-04-22T15:12:14Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Both _Caddyshack_ and _Animal House_ don’t seem that funny to me anymore. I watched a lot of Caddyshack the other day. Its just as much a great showcase for Murray, Knight, and Chase. But I never realized its so much Michael O’Keefe’s movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/10 "2019-04-22T15:23:43Z")
When I first saw it, I thought Woody Allen’s _What’s up, Tiger Lily?_ was incredibly funny. But the years haven’t been kind to it. I still think there’s a lot that’s hilarious in it, but an awful lot falls flat. And when I learned that the film isn’t so much a Japanese James Bond imitation as a parody itself, that took a lot of the edge off. It’s not hard to make fun of a movie being ludicrous if it’s _supposed_ to be ludicrous to begin with. (The two female leads – Akiko Wakabayashi (Suki Yaki) and Mie Hama (Teri Yaki) both went on to big roles in the next actual James Bond movie, _You Only Live Twice_) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/11 "2019-04-22T15:26:03Z")
It seems comedies fair poorly after a while. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/12 "2019-04-22T15:29:11Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > It seems comedies fair poorly after a while. Specially teen comedies if you grew up in the 80s. Revenge of the Nerds? haha, holy shit no. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/13 "2019-04-22T15:45:32Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Specially teen comedies if you grew up in the 80s. Revenge of the Nerds? haha, holy shit no. Agreed, for the most part. The other day, BBC America showed two 1980s “nerd” movies back-to-back: Real Genius and Weird Science. Real Genius is still one of my favorite movies from that era, and I think that, for the most part, it holds up pretty well. Weird Science, on the other hand, now comes across to me as hugely exploitative and mean-spirited. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/14 "2019-04-22T15:49:43Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Agreed, for the most part. > > The other day, BBC America showed two 1980s “nerd” movies back-to-back: Real Genius and Weird Science. Real Genius is still one of my favorite movies from that era, and I think that, for the most part, it holds up pretty well. Weird Science, on the other hand, now comes across to me as hugely exploitative and mean-spirited. Yeah, Real Genius is still genuinely enjoyable for me. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/15 "2019-04-22T15:58:58Z")
I don’t feel as strongly about these but I think they fit. Ferris Bueller. I loved it when it was new, but now I go back and forth in my head whether Ferris is a hero or an asshole. Say Anything. I’m not sure exactly what I thought when it was new, but now Lloyd Dobler just grates on me. He’s got that whole young person full of themselves “grown ups ruined the world so I’m not going to be like that” attitude. Plus his famous speech > [@Lloyd Dobler](#): > > I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that. Doesn’t that really eliminate just about everything? Except maybe art. And kickboxing. Maybe. I’d love to see a “where are they now” movie about him these years later. Think he’s selling insurance? Or did he get what he wanted? I wish I could remember which ones, but I know there are movies where I root for the “adults”, the teachers, whatever, that I didn’t when they were new. Maybe they’ll come to me, or someone else will post them. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/16 "2019-04-22T16:23:30Z")
I remember an interview with Spielberg, maybe on the 30th anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, saying now that he was a father, he can’t imagine sending dad Richard Dreyfuss off with the aliens and leaving his children. StG ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/17 "2019-04-22T17:09:00Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > It seems comedies fair poorly after a while. _Blazing Saddles_ gets better every time I see it, as long as it is unedited. The ‘PC’ version is unwatchable. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/18 "2019-04-22T17:22:40Z")
_The Big Chill._ I still love the movie as a whole, but my perspective on certain characters has def changed over the years from my late teens into middle age. The confrontation between William Hurt and Kevin Kline: “Since when did you get so friendly with cops?” to “Is jail ‘something else you wanna try’? ‘See what that’s like?’” In my younger days my reaction was “Kevin Kline is such a sell-out!” Nowadays it’s more like “William Hurt is such a loser!” ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/19 "2019-04-22T17:30:13Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > Benjamin is a fucking bore and Elaine has no substance at all. It’s hard to blame Elaine as she’s just young, but Benjamin is a lot like Holden Caulfield in that he has a lot of negatives that you just don’t grow out of. I have a hard time seeing the maturity arc that would eventually make this person likeable. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891/20 "2019-04-22T17:34:09Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Ferris Bueller. I loved it when it was new, but now I go back and forth in my head whether Ferris is a hero or an asshole. I think I like it better now that I watch it as a movie about Cameron, not Ferris. Cameron goes thorough a journey in the movie, Ferris is essentially the same person at the end as in the beginning. And speaking of John Hughes movies, I see Christmas Vacation in a different light not that I’m older and have a family of my own. I used to laugh at Clark, now I just feel bad for him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-has-changed-the-most-as-youve-aged-and-why/832891.md?page=2)