# Which film raises the most questions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320 "2004-05-15T21:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/1 "2004-05-15T21:16:01Z")
This is a poll of sorts but it would probably be moved here to Cafe Society anyway so I’ve saved the mods the trouble and put it here. I am watching Fight Club. Knowning the twist of the story I find myself asking a lot of mental questions throughout the film. For example… When Ed Norton’s character (doesn’t seem to have a name. Listed as ‘narrator’ is on the phone to the investigator of his appartment fire, and Tyler is behind him saying things about materialism. Is it actually Ed saying those things into the phone? Is this therefore why the investigator is saying things like “this is a serious matter” What films naturally raise lots of questions relevant to the plot? What film do you think tops the list (is likely to raise the most questions) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/2 "2004-05-15T21:35:36Z")
_Donnie Darko_, but that’s only because most of the movie wasn’t in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/3 "2004-05-15T21:42:29Z")
When I had only seen the title of this thread, the movie that sprang immediately to my mind was _Fight Club_. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/4 "2004-05-15T22:09:23Z")
**Mission: Impossible**. [ul]Why does he get only one result when he searches the Internet for “job”? Why does he type out an email over and over, rather than cutting and pasting, or, Odin forfend, putting multiple addresses into the BCC: line? Why does the IM Force use some kind of crappy AOL knockoff for their mail service? [/ul]And most of all… [ul]Why on Earth am I watching this :smack: craptacular piece of :smack: crappy :smack: crapness instead of doing something worthwhile? :smack: [/ul]…over and over and over again ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/5 "2004-05-15T22:10:34Z")
I think there were probably more puzzled threads about _Memento_ than any other film. But the sheer number of questions from obsessive fans award probably goes to the Matrix crapology or to LotR. Really, there are very few movies I can’t ask a thousand unanswerable questions about. Sometimes it’s no fun being a writer. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/6 "2004-05-15T22:13:50Z")
_Quiz Show._ ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/7 "2004-05-15T22:17:06Z")
Note that this is my _personal_ “what the hey?” movie. Most movies that have been/will be mentioned in this thread I either don’t care about or I think have it figured out. _Basic Instinct_. What was Beth’s story? What did she do and why? I really don’t care about Sharon Stone’s character, but to me Beth is a big mystery. And a note: Please don’t try to explain it to me. This is one of those “someday I want to figure it out for myself” things. If you ever met a real life “Beth”, you’d understand why. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/8 "2004-05-15T22:41:42Z")
I would cast my vote for _Memento._ Those were indeed some lively discussion threads! ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/9 "2004-05-15T23:33:50Z")
I just remembered, the end of the last matrix film left me with one huge question. What the fuck happened? ---
**Author:** ![Wasabee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f05b48/32.png) [@Wasabee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wasabee)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/10 "2004-05-16T01:36:02Z")
J.F.K Accroding to Stone the film raises somewhere around 150 questions. ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/11 "2004-05-16T03:48:27Z")
I feel obligated to mention _Pi_ here. I know a lot of people think it’s a load of pretentious tripe, but it is compelling. And I liked it… Also, maybe _Dead-Alive_. I mean, why are the zombies eating dinner together? How can Grandma (or is it Ma? I need to watch it again) eat an entire dog? ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/12 "2004-05-16T05:55:27Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > _Quiz Show._ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/13 "2004-05-16T16:39:22Z")
I’ll second the vote for **JFK**. If ever there were a movie made up entirely of questions, that’s it. As Joe Pesci’s character said (quoting Churchill I believe), “It’s a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma!!” A good runner-up would be **Mullholland Drive** , but it gets a few points deducted because I’m convinced even David Lynch had no idea what the hell was going on. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/14 "2004-05-16T17:15:37Z")
> [@Brainiac4](#): > > **Mission: Impossible**. > > [ul]Why does he get only one result when he searches the Internet for “job”? > Why does he type out an email over and over, rather than cutting and pasting, or, Odin forfend, putting multiple addresses into the BCC: line? > Why does the IM Force use some kind of crappy AOL knockoff for their mail service? > [/ul]And most of all… > [ul]Why on Earth am I watching this :smack: craptacular piece of :smack: crappy :smack: crapness instead of doing something worthwhile? :smack: > [/ul]…over and over and over again Not to mention the fact that… Jim Phelps would NEVER go to the other side. NEVER NEVER NEVER! _Dogma_ raised a lot of questions… ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/15 "2004-05-16T20:01:28Z")
I would have voted for **Mulholland Drive** as well, but I do see Winston Bongo’s point. Stephen King’s **IT** leaves an awful lot unexplained, though the explanation in the book isn’t exactly what you’d call radio-friendly. **Truman’s World** raised some neat questions of an entirely different sort. The concept was hardly philosophically innovative, but the ‘TV show’ idea was fairly novel. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/16 "2004-05-16T20:09:35Z")
> [@Thirty-Nine](#): > > **Truman’s World** Sorry to nitpick but it was called “The Truman Show”. Unless there’s a new one nobody told me about. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/17 "2004-05-16T21:04:35Z")
The Usual Suspects presents to the audience few answers about [spoiler] what is real, what is a lie, and what is in between. Also, VERBAL IS KEYSER SOZE! How about that? And they kill everyone and there is no cocaine on the boat. And also, Verbal/KEYSER gets away from Cujan in the end, and KOBAYASHI PICKS HIM UP, and he’s NOT CRIPPLED, really in real life. (takes a deep breath) Er, yes. Um, first time using these tags and I may well have gotten carried away.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/18 "2004-05-16T21:28:55Z")
_2001 A space Oddessy_ had me shaking my head and wondering. That was before I read the book. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/19 "2004-05-16T21:30:15Z")
Unanswerd question from \*\* The 39 Steps \*\* What causes pip in poultry? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320/20 "2004-05-16T21:42:10Z")
> [@if6was9](#): > > Not to mention the fact that… > > Jim Phelps would NEVER go to the other side. NEVER NEVER NEVER! Re Mission Impossible, I agree, I thought that was pretty awful of them to do, and made absolutely, no \*\*\*\*ing sense given the MI canon of the television series. It was almost like they were looking for an excuse to be sensational by shitting on the MI history. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-film-raises-the-most-questions/245320.md?page=2)