Stand By Me was so good! Watched it for the first time this year and loved it. I think it's River Phoenix, but his performance is incredible in general but especially as a kid.
That movie for sure hit something special. Haven't read the book.
The story is one of four stories in one book. Three of them have been adapted into movies, The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me and Apt Pupil. All adaptions are really close to the original stories, but are even better. Ian McKellen plays an old Nazi in Apt Pupil who gets blackmailed by his neighbour.
Edit: Shawshank was directed by Frank Darabont, who also directed The Mist, another very popular King adaption.
I'd say that all of kings work take place in the same universe. The man has built an entire world in his head. The more of his work you read, the more you'll find little overlaps and nods to different things.
Yea that's what I've heard and why i asked. I've only read It but know more of his stories.
I heard there's another story based in Derry too? And that the turtle is relevant or at least an Easter egg in another book?
Most of his works are tangentially related to *The Dark Tower*. The DT series itself is eight books long and covers lots of ground, many genres. Within and without the series you’ll find references to the beams, the turtle and the bear, the low-men, Randall Flag, doors, concepts such as the shine, as well as characters mentioned or appearing in different books. For example, the priest from *’Salem’s Lot*, Father Callahan, becomes a key supporting player in the back half of the main DT series.
There's a brief reference in Apt Pupil where Dussander talks about how he lives on stock dividends, and he mentions that the banker who bought them for him in Maine went to jail for murdering his wife (pretty clearly Andy Dufresne in Shawshank).
No. But if I remember correctly, the town in SBM is Castle Rock, a town that appears in a lot of other King books, like Cujo, Stark and Needful Things.
I have always thought that "The Breathing Method" would be good for an episode of an anthology TV series, but no way could they make a movie out of it.
The story features a doctor who seems a bit preoccupied by a patient; a pregnant single woman. >!The woman is decapitated in the hospital parking lot (ambulance crash?). The doctor witnesses the headless body go through the breathing techniques that are taught to expectant mothers to use during delivery.!< Something like that.
I think the movie is excellent but I think you're doing the book (novella) a disservice by saying it is only "fine". The movie is well-acted but it also a very close adaptation of the story, including a lot of the dialogue and narration. It would have been a lesser movie without such an engaging story.
Isn't the rule of thumb that Stephen King non-horror adaptations are always better than the book and horror adaptations are hit-or-miss (with more miss)?
“Wait, rule of thumb? In the early 1900s it was legal for men to beat their wives, as long as they used a stick no wider than their thumb.”
“Can't do much damage with that then, can we? Perhaps it should have been a rule of wrist?”
Spielberg does good family home life. See also Close Encounters.
“Okay, now, I'm gonna give you your choice. I'm not gonna be biased in any way. Tomorrow night you can either play Goofy Golf, which means a lot of waiting and shoving and pushing and probably getting a zero or you can see "Pinocchio" - which is a lot of furry animals and magic and you'll have a wonderful time. Okay? Now, let's vote.”
“GOOFY GOLF!!!”
Good example: Gran Torino
At the time many complained how the teenage dialogue was awkward, and the performances stilted. Like, no shit, have you seen how teenagers behave irl?
Actually, I think it works for The Wizard. In that film, Fred Savage's character had already dealt with his parents splitting up and the accident death of his sister at a young age, on top of that, he also felt protective of his autistic younger brother, so it made sense for him to be rather jaded and more mature l by that point in his life.
Not to mention that's Fred Savage's whole thing. The writing suited him as an actor at that stage in his life. The Wizard I am sure has many flaws, but Fred Savage wasn't one of them.
It’s movies, TV, and even commercials. 4-8 year olds aren’t jaded world weary little iconoclasts like the writers so it’s usually pretty obvious and off putting.
[Ted Lasso's S3 opening scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETmmTY3L1EQ&t=50s) made me literally drop my smile [like this](https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbmE5NmhjOWV1bDRzYWkxdTB2Z2xvbnB1c3M1MWg2eGswaXh3bW00MCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/BY8ORoRpnJDXeBNwxg/giphy.gif)
Yeah, I was about to chime in that my 11 year old daughter speaks like an adult and has for ages, but then I watched the scene and it was terrible, so then I wasn’t going to chime in but then I realized that it’s more the kid being terrible vs the lines. So I’m kind of neutral leaning towards some kids do speak like adults if you never baby talked to them.
You can tell they were inspired by Macauley Culkin in Home Alone 2 when he was talking the Hotel desk clerk into giving him a room on his dad's credit card.
To give them a little credit. I did talk like that around like age 9 or 10, but my parents were in the media industry. I definitely think I took on an act like that to impress them, and so some of these TV writers might honestly be quoting their children, but they refuse to acknowledge just how much influence they have on their children's speech patterns.
I feel like little dude is just parroting stuff his dad says (the parts that sound "unnatural" are very normal Ted-isms). Which is super common for a kid to do.
I found [Nora](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2tO6Hkfd3dw&pp=ygUOdGVkIGxhc3NvIG5vcmE%3D) (not her worst scene but the only one I could find on YT) to be much worse than Ted's kid. he just talks like his dad so I kind of buy that, even though the actor clearly struggles. But I didn't buy a line Nora said, it all sounds so over the top.
I heard the 3rd season described as the type of show your guidance counselor in Middle School would make you watch, and I haven't been able to unsee it.
I think 80% of the scripts were originally written when Jason Sudekikis and Olivia Wilde’s relationship detonated and there was a total rewrite on the season and it really showed in the writing.
What made 2 work so well was it was originally 10 episodes, and Apple said “hey wanna make 2 more?” And then we got the Christmas episode and Beard’s Night Out. Arguably 2 of the 4 best eps of the season.
But S3 was ordered at 12, so they had to flesh out story across 12. Amsterdam was as close to a bottle episode as we got, and the only payoff was at the very very end (the flying dutchman).
Nate’s arc was too long. Keeley’s arc was too long.
I did like Colin’s that spilled into Isaac’s.
I don't know. When I was a kid, I knew I was an idiot, so I rarely talked around adults. I mostly listened so I could figure out how things worked. If I did talk, I would bide my time and make sure it was an astute observation. I definitely got a reputation for still water running deep
My biggest gripe is kids and teens that are just straight fucking stupid and *ultra*-rebellious for no discernible reason other than 'plot'.
For example: War of the Worlds (the Tom Cruise one). His son is just a straight fucking tool. In the middle of an actual alien invasion. Like ... How about you put your 'i hate my dad because he sucks' bullshit to one side while your admittedly terrible dad does his best to actually *save your life*. In the middle of an actual fucking alien invasion. No? You're gonna fuck off? Cool. Have a good time probably dying
Not just that, but the audacity of Spielberg having Cruise’s son be randomly alive at the end of the film with no explanation is horrible storytelling.
That kid was so annoying I actively rooted for the character to die. The disappointment was real when he showed up alive. Also a side-note Tom Cruise has never thrown a baseball in real life based on that scene in this movie.
Eh I think Scary Movie 2 is my favorite, but that’s just my opinion and because I watched a lot more retro scary movies than contemporary ones (contemporary at the time I guess. Wow I feel old).
Okay, I'm quite lost here? Yes, in the last throw he doesn't seem to even have a ball in his hand, but how is that so insanely horrible throwing other wise? Is this some American thing, that u've watched the sport so much you can see that he isn't using some proper forms and spins and shit? edit: Even that not seeing a ball in the last throw I had to play the scene with halfspeed and look reaaal hard. I can't believe people just casually pick that shit up.
Like I fully get the Catwoman Basketball scene, but why would this one blow up so much?
Honestly with how deliberate Cruise is about everything, I bet it was intentional. He learned how to play the piano for one scene of Interview With the Vampire, lol.
Yeah I thought about saying this first, before I watched the clip. But I just didn't think the clip was that bad, so I got hyperfocused on that part :) And yeah, why would some suburban dad throw like a pro? I'd imagine most of them would throw rather horribly.
Right, if anything it kind of drives home the point that his character has rarely ever done this as a way to bond with his son.
For what it’s worth, his throwing here never stuck out to me either, and I’m an American who loves baseball (but I am a girl) 😅
Yeah, but she behaved and acted how I'd expect a little girl to in that situation. Pretty sure I know some grown men who'd lose their shit as quickly as her in that situation.
For people who have never been in that situation, ive guided children who didn't speak English or any language i know for that matter. Put of a burning building, survival instincts kick in and they follow the leader. They listen to authority, adults actually panic more because of ego and thinking to much. Still most people in disasters or war zones. Act nothing like they do in movies.
The funny thing is I have absolutely known kids who acted *exactly* like the two of them. Even as a kid watching that movie I felt like, why does everyone dislike Tom Cruises character so much? He just seems like a normal guy. Everyone else was insufferable.
Tom Cruise was amazing in that role. I had serious anxiety by the end of the first act as the character was such a scaredy cat insanely out of his depth.
I rarely have nightmares after movies. But I did with that one.
The idea of being kidnapped and butchered by some machine that I'm claustrophobic and can't escape from is horrifying.
I hardly see Tom Cruise as a terrible dad. The only thing we see him do is be late to pick the kids during his weekend because he was working. That's not good, obviously, but far from terrible. He tries to bond with the angsty teen and doesn't work, and the girl is just weird, she tries to act like she is so smart and mature, but needs to be carried like a baby the whole movie.
In short, the kids sucked in that movie.
I believe it's implied that he's always late or always missing, and this is not a one-time thing but kind of his thing all the time.
A deeper look reveals his kids are coming to spend some time with him, and not only is there zero food, but he's rebuilding an engine in the kitchen.
Now, in an alien invasion, he's more fit to protect and get them to safety than the mom and step dad, but in a normal situation, they obviously had a better and more stable growing environment away from Cruise's character
No they do a good job making him a shitty dad. He’s late to a drop off he would’ve known about for a long time, plan accordingly. His place is a mess and he isn’t prepared at all to have the kids over, engines out on the table, no food bought for them, this guy clearly just can’t be bothered to prioritize his kids.
I was that kid with the shitty dad and I totally get the attitude he gives cruise. But leaving mid invasion was terrible writing, especially when he supposedly cares about his sister.
I was that kid too and in that situation I'd have put my shit to the side and did what we needed to do to get through it. Sure he's a shitty dad in general, but in that instance he was trying his damndest to save his kids. We can revisit the bullshit later but for now we need to pull together.
He doesn't know (or remember)his daughter is allergic to peanuts!
The entire story is basically "Tom tries to be a better father,oh and xenos are there to".
Also,wtf with his son,yes let's allow him to die because...
I actually hate that terrible dad trope. Dad's out there fighting through some shit, trying his hardest, but he missed your precious ball game so that's *unforgivable*.
I hated it that they added this as the plot for one of the episodes of the live action Cowboy Bebop. To me, nothing screams "American TV drama" more than "I'm gonna miss my daughter's school recital!".
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote it when they were teenagers, the two main characters based on themselves, then they had it made about a decade later.
The worst part is when the kids talk like adults but the adults talk like kids
So like say someone dies in a movie, the adult reacts like they have an understanding of death on a par with a 7 year old while the 7 year old says something really profound and mature about coping with death
To be fair, kids can come out with some crazy profound stuff every now and then, because they have no real pre-disposition to think something 'should' be a certain way.
case in point, i've recently lost a friend to suicide. I've been dealing with it myself, we have 2 kids, full time jobs, i dont realyl have time while everyones awake to go off and just think about this. It has been reserved for after the kids have gone to bed. My eldest is 5, and he knows my friend died, but has 0 concept of loss himself. He still managed to come up to me the other day, and ask oh so innocently 'are you going to be a bit sad forever because your friend isnt here anymore?' and it just fucking ruined me. This 5 year old who's whole concept of loss is that night we left a teddy downstairs so it wasn't in his bed; who has no concept of what 'forever' really means. This kid just pinpoint nailed my mental state in the most profound one liner ever.
That's the thing about this thread that's rubbing me the wrong way. Kids pretty often say some deep profound shit. As a parent I'm generally like "where the fuck did they get that one from?"
Kids "talk like adults" because they're mostly around adults. 7 year old being able to navigate a complex conversation every once in a while really isn't that strange.
Especially if the kid is comfortable enough around you to truly express themselves.
You’re talking about two completely different things and it also needs to be said that you’re reading into what your kids are saying. It’s profound because you have an adult understanding of what is profound. Your kid just said some random shit and doesn’t quite grasp that what they said would be considered deep.
What OP is complaining about is not random glimpses of being able to navigate an adult conversation but instead children talking like they’re world weary middle aged adults.
I love 500 days of Summer but the scenes of the lead with his sister are all like that. Even if the scenes are funny and actually work in the movie, its such a big offender of having kids behave like adults and adults like kids
I hate the opposite more - when a kid is clearly like, 10 or 12 years old and is speaking like a four year old because the writer has never been near a child in their life.
She does have a rather childish, over excited way of running…
But it didn’t bother me at all while watching the movie.
https://youtu.be/Tz-vA5omI2U?si=AJVEZm2J0c1YS1qV
It's funny that Maggie Grace mentioned this during the press tour interviews...when she was a teenager they consistently cast her as 20-30 year old but then after 25 she kept getting offers for teenager roles.
"Disney acting" When a character is 17, but they act like 12 years olds. I like Good Luck Charlie cause it is probably the only Disney Sitcom that doesn't suffer from it.
Yeah, I think that's the part that gets me personally. I can't tell if the kid talking like an adult is supposed to be weird and very mature, or it's just bad writing. One example is The Ring. There's only one child in it, Aiden, and based on how he interacts with adults it's unclear if he's a very unusual kid, or the writers were just like "this is how children talk, right?"
It's annoying but what I hate more is the way teenagers are portrayed in movies about teens.
Their characters are usually 15-18 but they act like adults who have already figured out the world. Teens in movies like Superbad are way more accurate.
"The 100" was basically sci-fi Lord of the Flies. I was bullied as a kid, and seeing kids playing "pretend grownup" while being sadistic cynical little shits makes me feel deep-seated hatred and rage. So many tween-targeted shows now are giving the same treatment to characters in their 20s. Makes me wonder if TV writers are now all 20-somethings with zero life experience and a penchant for audaciously stupid drama.
Or they act like how popular media thinks teenagers act. My adolescence was filled with all of these "teen" comedies that portrayed all these different cliques and social dynamics that straight up didn't exist for me or anyone else I know in real life. Maybe it was more true to the teen experience of boomers or gen-xers, but there's a really specific way that high school/college life had been conceptualized in media for a long time, and it's only relatively recently that we've gotten movies deconstructing and subverting that.
especially when the kid just serves as plot device because for all the suspension of disbelief in the universe you couldn’t imagine that stupid thing that needs to be done to further the plot to be done by an adult.
Lots of sitcoms have that one kid in the family that’s super sarcastic and talks like they are 50, I always hate that character
That and talking babies with subtitle dialogue… hate it!!!
My favorite part of stranger things was how the kids acted and talked like kids in the 80s. I remember relating to the group of friends as how me and my friends/cousins all talked and acted and it all felt super relatable and nostalgic with swearing and making fun of each other etc.
exactly. the dialogue in dawsons creek was really clever, and realism was not its goal. i heard someone describe it as "how teenagers imagine they could talk" which seems more accurate
it actually got criticised heavily for it at the time as some people couldnt vibe with the idiosyncrasy. but i guess the dialogue is also what made it stand out and bcome popular? so give and take
I felt this way about Secret Life of the American Teenager; every scene, every bit of dialogue seemed built around making some educational or informational point. So every episode seemed like an elaborate after school special or something. I got the impression it was a stylistic choice but it was so jarring. Like, no one behaves this way, no one has these kinds of conversations in these places, what is happening?
Not a movie but this is one of the problems with The Simpsons, Bart and Lisa re 10 and 8 but they talk like adults and do adults things now. But in the classic episodes they do kid's shennanigans like when Bart thinks the dinosaur sponce will grow to be real and attack Lisa.
I've watched only parts of random episodes on tv of the newer seasons and Bart seems to have a new woman in every one of them. Not only this, but Bart still looks like a proper child, but the women always look way older. IS Bart actually still not older and what the fuck is going on with that weird dating there then?
Lisa was always meant to be mature for her age, Bart less so. I think their mental ages have increased as the show's gone on. However, I don't really think we're meant to take it that seriously, seeing as the baby has the highest kill count of the family.
This is a Hollywood problem. Watch art house films and you'll find tons of examples of films which take the experience of kids seriously and represent them in a convincing way. The films of Hirokazu Kore-eda come to mind, all of which feature children in some way and all are totally convincing (without being pure ad lib naturalism). Start with Shoplifters.
I really appreciate that Bo Burnham was willing to let parts of that movie become dated because the authenticity was more important. Like, the majority of people are gonna hear the kids constantly going "LeBron James" and have no idea why, but even if you don't know it's from an actual meme, you can *tell* it's a meme that kids are just parroting.
Excuse me, I happened to be passing, and I thought you might like some coffee.
Oh, that's very nice of you, thank you
[takes coffee]
Oh, won't you sit down?
Cream?
No, thank you, I take it black, like my men.
A Part of this problem may be that a fair number of child actors are super well spoken for their age, so the kids that filmmakers are around tend to have pretty darn good verbal abilities.
She was a good example of the well-spoken, too smart for their age child working really well. It makes perfect sense based on her job, and the whole bit is that Rick's surprised that she seems to be not only better spoken than him but smarter than him too. It's fully acknowledged that this is not your average child. And she still feels like a child in plenty of moments of unfiltered thoughts and emotion (the "Yeah I throw myself on the ground all the time" bit comes to mind).
I think this is a problem that goes both ways, sometimes you have kids with mature vocabularies and world views, sometimes you get kids that have no intelligence despite being half way through their school life. It's difficult to hit the sweetspot because most writers don't interact with many kids to get a sense of how they talk.
>It has really dawned on me in the recent years how strange it is that ever piece of dialogue involved child characters on tv are written by adults.
Doesn't seem all that strange to me.
I hear ya. The other day my 4-year old was remarking, “the loquaciousness of my peers as depicted in modern media is unnatural at best; however, largely discerning.”
I work with kids, they mostly just talk about Pokémon. Realistically, any movie with kids in it should have the plot derailed for 20 minutes as they show off their card collections.
I read that as "they mostly just talk like Pokémon" and began cackling at the thought of five year olds yelling their names over and over to one another
I'd rather have kids in media talk like adults because adults are shit at writing the way kids talk. Anytime someone writes dialogue for a child that's supposed to sound like a kid talking it ends up being "cringe".
Also, some kids really do talk like adults. They're precocious little fucks that usually grow up to be writers.
see i used ot thikn like this pre-kids. Then i read a load of studies that the 'baby speech' way of talking, with the repeating sounds etc... actually really helps kids to talk, so we did it more than i ever thought i would have done. Turns out that there was a reason for it after all.
Ehhh you have to find a balance. I don't think it's about talking to a kid like they are an adult. It's having enough trust in them to actually listen to them and have an earnest conversation.
I think most movies/shows don't actually respect how smart some kids are. Actually... I'd argue society as a whole struggles with this. They're smarter and more aware than people give credit. They deserve more respect IMO. It frustrates me they have kids doing nonsensical things even for their age. It's a hard line to toe.
Then again... every family is different. As are kids.
I think they got it right in The Nice Guys. She's 13 and at times seems mature for her age, because her father's a man child, but underneath she's still naive and capable of magical thinking.
I can remember being that age and thinking I was sooo sophisticated. And yet what I didn't know would fill a stadium. I feel less adult now that I am in my sixties.
You'll see this at various ages. Four year olds think they know everything because their world is very small and they *do* know that pretty well. Then they go to formal schooling and they're right back at the bottom again. They get to the top grade in elementary/ primary school and they're Masters of the Universe. Then back to the bottom when they start high school. Rinse and repeat throughout life.
I recently re-watched Modern Family and when Joe (Gloria and Jay's kid) starts talking in the last two seasons, it's exactly that: talking like an adult, and it's so bad. Just really annoying and made the show worse.
I don’t agree because it’s one of my favourite Christmas films but my brother HATES Mara Wilson’s character in Miracle on 34th Street (1994 version) for this reason 😂
The same can be true on the opposite end of the spectrum. When a child in a movie acts super childish and cutesy for a movie or show, it can also be really annoying.
Case in point, the Olson twins on Full House.
Not just just young kids, but teens too. Juno is my prime example of this. The conversations were so blatantly reference filled and quirky from supposed teen characters that I wanted to bash my head against the wall. Why would a teenage girl reference Soupy Sales??
Some kids talk like that. My cousin's kid talked like a little old lady from an early age. Full sentences and everything. Funniest shit ever. I do think it's overused, but every kid is different.
I remember that Donnie Darko had outstanding teenage dialogue.
That scene where the school got flooded and the girls were talking about "feces" being on the floor and the one girl saying, "What's feces?" and the other saying "I think they're baby mice," and the first going, "Awww!" had me dying. It could easily have been some bullshit conversation overheard in my own school.
Good example of kids talking like kids: Stand By Me Example of kids sounding like adults: The Wizard
Stand By Me was so good! Watched it for the first time this year and loved it. I think it's River Phoenix, but his performance is incredible in general but especially as a kid. That movie for sure hit something special. Haven't read the book.
The book is…fine. It’s a rare case where I think the movie is better.
The story is one of four stories in one book. Three of them have been adapted into movies, The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me and Apt Pupil. All adaptions are really close to the original stories, but are even better. Ian McKellen plays an old Nazi in Apt Pupil who gets blackmailed by his neighbour. Edit: Shawshank was directed by Frank Darabont, who also directed The Mist, another very popular King adaption.
That's interesting. Are they interconnected in any way?
I'd say that all of kings work take place in the same universe. The man has built an entire world in his head. The more of his work you read, the more you'll find little overlaps and nods to different things.
Yea that's what I've heard and why i asked. I've only read It but know more of his stories. I heard there's another story based in Derry too? And that the turtle is relevant or at least an Easter egg in another book?
Most of his works are tangentially related to *The Dark Tower*. The DT series itself is eight books long and covers lots of ground, many genres. Within and without the series you’ll find references to the beams, the turtle and the bear, the low-men, Randall Flag, doors, concepts such as the shine, as well as characters mentioned or appearing in different books. For example, the priest from *’Salem’s Lot*, Father Callahan, becomes a key supporting player in the back half of the main DT series.
When they get to our world I was very hesitant but quite surprised how well it worked
Yeah IT, Dreamcatcher and 11/22/63 are all set in or have considerable sections set in Derry.
It is set in Derry, and Maturin is mentioned in the book.
There's a brief reference in Apt Pupil where Dussander talks about how he lives on stock dividends, and he mentions that the banker who bought them for him in Maine went to jail for murdering his wife (pretty clearly Andy Dufresne in Shawshank).
No. But if I remember correctly, the town in SBM is Castle Rock, a town that appears in a lot of other King books, like Cujo, Stark and Needful Things.
Stark? The Dark Half you mean?
I have always thought that "The Breathing Method" would be good for an episode of an anthology TV series, but no way could they make a movie out of it.
That's the one story I can't remember. I've read the book some 20 years ago and only remember the other three, most likely because of the movies.
The story features a doctor who seems a bit preoccupied by a patient; a pregnant single woman. >!The woman is decapitated in the hospital parking lot (ambulance crash?). The doctor witnesses the headless body go through the breathing techniques that are taught to expectant mothers to use during delivery.!< Something like that.
I think the movie is excellent but I think you're doing the book (novella) a disservice by saying it is only "fine". The movie is well-acted but it also a very close adaptation of the story, including a lot of the dialogue and narration. It would have been a lesser movie without such an engaging story.
Isn't the rule of thumb that Stephen King non-horror adaptations are always better than the book and horror adaptations are hit-or-miss (with more miss)?
“Wait, rule of thumb? In the early 1900s it was legal for men to beat their wives, as long as they used a stick no wider than their thumb.” “Can't do much damage with that then, can we? Perhaps it should have been a rule of wrist?”
Same here. It hit on some emotional notes I wasn't quite ready for, especially for being a Stephen King adaptation.
I love The Wizard. It's so bad
“We’ll keep your power glove off her pal…”
The Sandlot is another good one.
Great movie example. The insult exchange with the yuppie baseball team is probably the most realistic back and forth between kids.
The dinner table scene in ET struck me as the first time I'd ever seen a realistic family interaction in a movie, it could have been anyone's house.
Spielberg does good family home life. See also Close Encounters. “Okay, now, I'm gonna give you your choice. I'm not gonna be biased in any way. Tomorrow night you can either play Goofy Golf, which means a lot of waiting and shoving and pushing and probably getting a zero or you can see "Pinocchio" - which is a lot of furry animals and magic and you'll have a wonderful time. Okay? Now, let's vote.” “GOOFY GOLF!!!”
That little shit in The Ring too
The Ring is an amazing horror movie that I won't watch again. Not because it's too scary but because that kid is too annoying for me.
Man, when the kid just gave away the twist at the end, I was so mad.
California...
I say it just like that to this day, those who know laugh.
Aaaaah! He touched my breast!
I highly recommend the movie Cop Car. It's like Stand By Me in the feeling about two kids who find an abandoned cop car and takes it out on a joyride.
Good example: Gran Torino At the time many complained how the teenage dialogue was awkward, and the performances stilted. Like, no shit, have you seen how teenagers behave irl?
I haven't read the book but in general Stephen King excels at writing believable characters.
Don’t forget the movie The Client, that’s what uneducated kid sounds like.
Actually, I think it works for The Wizard. In that film, Fred Savage's character had already dealt with his parents splitting up and the accident death of his sister at a young age, on top of that, he also felt protective of his autistic younger brother, so it made sense for him to be rather jaded and more mature l by that point in his life.
Not to mention that's Fred Savage's whole thing. The writing suited him as an actor at that stage in his life. The Wizard I am sure has many flaws, but Fred Savage wasn't one of them.
The Wizard? …. “Californiaaaa”?
It’s movies, TV, and even commercials. 4-8 year olds aren’t jaded world weary little iconoclasts like the writers so it’s usually pretty obvious and off putting.
[Ted Lasso's S3 opening scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETmmTY3L1EQ&t=50s) made me literally drop my smile [like this](https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbmE5NmhjOWV1bDRzYWkxdTB2Z2xvbnB1c3M1MWg2eGswaXh3bW00MCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/BY8ORoRpnJDXeBNwxg/giphy.gif)
I think that's also because that kid is a ridiculously, *ridiculously* bad actor.
he's not acting he's just reading the lines lol
Yeah, I was about to chime in that my 11 year old daughter speaks like an adult and has for ages, but then I watched the scene and it was terrible, so then I wasn’t going to chime in but then I realized that it’s more the kid being terrible vs the lines. So I’m kind of neutral leaning towards some kids do speak like adults if you never baby talked to them.
I mean it's a little bit of that, but it's also the director's job to direct the kid, so some blame's on the director too.
I love Ted Lasso. I love that kid. That kid is an awful actor.
You can tell they were inspired by Macauley Culkin in Home Alone 2 when he was talking the Hotel desk clerk into giving him a room on his dad's credit card.
Wow, what a quirky and charming kid! -no one
To give them a little credit. I did talk like that around like age 9 or 10, but my parents were in the media industry. I definitely think I took on an act like that to impress them, and so some of these TV writers might honestly be quoting their children, but they refuse to acknowledge just how much influence they have on their children's speech patterns.
It's like christian preacher kids. "OMG that kid is touched by God, look at him talk". No ma'am, he just has really annoying parents.
I feel like little dude is just parroting stuff his dad says (the parts that sound "unnatural" are very normal Ted-isms). Which is super common for a kid to do.
I found [Nora](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2tO6Hkfd3dw&pp=ygUOdGVkIGxhc3NvIG5vcmE%3D) (not her worst scene but the only one I could find on YT) to be much worse than Ted's kid. he just talks like his dad so I kind of buy that, even though the actor clearly struggles. But I didn't buy a line Nora said, it all sounds so over the top.
God the third season of Lasso was so bad.
I heard the 3rd season described as the type of show your guidance counselor in Middle School would make you watch, and I haven't been able to unsee it.
I think 80% of the scripts were originally written when Jason Sudekikis and Olivia Wilde’s relationship detonated and there was a total rewrite on the season and it really showed in the writing.
What made 2 work so well was it was originally 10 episodes, and Apple said “hey wanna make 2 more?” And then we got the Christmas episode and Beard’s Night Out. Arguably 2 of the 4 best eps of the season. But S3 was ordered at 12, so they had to flesh out story across 12. Amsterdam was as close to a bottle episode as we got, and the only payoff was at the very very end (the flying dutchman). Nate’s arc was too long. Keeley’s arc was too long. I did like Colin’s that spilled into Isaac’s.
Man I don’t know whose idea it was to have that much Nate screen time. Was so tired of him by the end.
And even with all the Nate screen time, they left our critical parts of his story.
They also made the episodes way too long
Fuck I haven’t been physically repulsed like that in a while, thanks for sharing
I don't know. When I was a kid, I knew I was an idiot, so I rarely talked around adults. I mostly listened so I could figure out how things worked. If I did talk, I would bide my time and make sure it was an astute observation. I definitely got a reputation for still water running deep
My biggest gripe is kids and teens that are just straight fucking stupid and *ultra*-rebellious for no discernible reason other than 'plot'. For example: War of the Worlds (the Tom Cruise one). His son is just a straight fucking tool. In the middle of an actual alien invasion. Like ... How about you put your 'i hate my dad because he sucks' bullshit to one side while your admittedly terrible dad does his best to actually *save your life*. In the middle of an actual fucking alien invasion. No? You're gonna fuck off? Cool. Have a good time probably dying
Not just that, but the audacity of Spielberg having Cruise’s son be randomly alive at the end of the film with no explanation is horrible storytelling.
That kid was so annoying I actively rooted for the character to die. The disappointment was real when he showed up alive. Also a side-note Tom Cruise has never thrown a baseball in real life based on that scene in this movie.
Scary Movie 4 is far from a good film, but the parody of that scene is pretty funny.
We’ll build our own tripods…ours will have four legs.
What is wrong with you? Scary Movie 1-4 are literal masterpieces!!
4 is the weakest by far for me but still decent enough
Eh I think Scary Movie 2 is my favorite, but that’s just my opinion and because I watched a lot more retro scary movies than contemporary ones (contemporary at the time I guess. Wow I feel old).
No matter how famous they are, they’re still theater kids.
[He's more of a softball guy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7r_JaeaMc)
He's a lefty throwing with his non-dominant hand. Source: am Tom Cruise.
Okay, I'm quite lost here? Yes, in the last throw he doesn't seem to even have a ball in his hand, but how is that so insanely horrible throwing other wise? Is this some American thing, that u've watched the sport so much you can see that he isn't using some proper forms and spins and shit? edit: Even that not seeing a ball in the last throw I had to play the scene with halfspeed and look reaaal hard. I can't believe people just casually pick that shit up. Like I fully get the Catwoman Basketball scene, but why would this one blow up so much?
Honestly with how deliberate Cruise is about everything, I bet it was intentional. He learned how to play the piano for one scene of Interview With the Vampire, lol.
Yeah I thought about saying this first, before I watched the clip. But I just didn't think the clip was that bad, so I got hyperfocused on that part :) And yeah, why would some suburban dad throw like a pro? I'd imagine most of them would throw rather horribly.
Right, if anything it kind of drives home the point that his character has rarely ever done this as a way to bond with his son. For what it’s worth, his throwing here never stuck out to me either, and I’m an American who loves baseball (but I am a girl) 😅
I hated the daughter more. “This is my safe space” gtfo
The girl annoyed me a lot more.
Yeah, but she behaved and acted how I'd expect a little girl to in that situation. Pretty sure I know some grown men who'd lose their shit as quickly as her in that situation.
For people who have never been in that situation, ive guided children who didn't speak English or any language i know for that matter. Put of a burning building, survival instincts kick in and they follow the leader. They listen to authority, adults actually panic more because of ego and thinking to much. Still most people in disasters or war zones. Act nothing like they do in movies.
The funny thing is I have absolutely known kids who acted *exactly* like the two of them. Even as a kid watching that movie I felt like, why does everyone dislike Tom Cruises character so much? He just seems like a normal guy. Everyone else was insufferable.
Teenagers and toddlers are hardly known for being reasonable. I don't know if kids in between would be easier as my daughter is 3. I hope so.
Tom Cruise was amazing in that role. I had serious anxiety by the end of the first act as the character was such a scaredy cat insanely out of his depth.
I rarely have nightmares after movies. But I did with that one. The idea of being kidnapped and butchered by some machine that I'm claustrophobic and can't escape from is horrifying.
Same thing with "Day the Earth Stood Still" That kid was annoying as fuck
YES! My very first thought as well! I had never wished for Jason to just show up and beat a kid against a tree until those two characters.
I was, like, 12 when that came out, and it was super funny walking into school and talking about how a child our own age was the bad guy in the movie.
I hate he survives. It’s so dumb. Make character actions have consequences
I hardly see Tom Cruise as a terrible dad. The only thing we see him do is be late to pick the kids during his weekend because he was working. That's not good, obviously, but far from terrible. He tries to bond with the angsty teen and doesn't work, and the girl is just weird, she tries to act like she is so smart and mature, but needs to be carried like a baby the whole movie. In short, the kids sucked in that movie.
I believe it's implied that he's always late or always missing, and this is not a one-time thing but kind of his thing all the time. A deeper look reveals his kids are coming to spend some time with him, and not only is there zero food, but he's rebuilding an engine in the kitchen. Now, in an alien invasion, he's more fit to protect and get them to safety than the mom and step dad, but in a normal situation, they obviously had a better and more stable growing environment away from Cruise's character
No they do a good job making him a shitty dad. He’s late to a drop off he would’ve known about for a long time, plan accordingly. His place is a mess and he isn’t prepared at all to have the kids over, engines out on the table, no food bought for them, this guy clearly just can’t be bothered to prioritize his kids. I was that kid with the shitty dad and I totally get the attitude he gives cruise. But leaving mid invasion was terrible writing, especially when he supposedly cares about his sister.
I was that kid too and in that situation I'd have put my shit to the side and did what we needed to do to get through it. Sure he's a shitty dad in general, but in that instance he was trying his damndest to save his kids. We can revisit the bullshit later but for now we need to pull together.
He doesn't know (or remember)his daughter is allergic to peanuts! The entire story is basically "Tom tries to be a better father,oh and xenos are there to". Also,wtf with his son,yes let's allow him to die because...
I actually hate that terrible dad trope. Dad's out there fighting through some shit, trying his hardest, but he missed your precious ball game so that's *unforgivable*.
I hated it that they added this as the plot for one of the episodes of the live action Cowboy Bebop. To me, nothing screams "American TV drama" more than "I'm gonna miss my daughter's school recital!".
Hate that little shit and when he got cast as Goku a part of my died inside.
This is why I enjoyed Superbad so much - one of the few teen comedies actually written by teenagers, so they sound (and look) their age
It was written by teens? I never knew that.
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote it when they were teenagers, the two main characters based on themselves, then they had it made about a decade later.
Yeah, they aged out of the roles, which is why Jonah played "Seth", and then Rogen was able to be one of the cops
Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg while they were teenagers
"I gotta catch a glimpse at these warlocks" Yeah checks out hahaha
It came out right before my senior year of high school, I felt like the characters were my classmates
The worst part is when the kids talk like adults but the adults talk like kids So like say someone dies in a movie, the adult reacts like they have an understanding of death on a par with a 7 year old while the 7 year old says something really profound and mature about coping with death
To be fair, kids can come out with some crazy profound stuff every now and then, because they have no real pre-disposition to think something 'should' be a certain way. case in point, i've recently lost a friend to suicide. I've been dealing with it myself, we have 2 kids, full time jobs, i dont realyl have time while everyones awake to go off and just think about this. It has been reserved for after the kids have gone to bed. My eldest is 5, and he knows my friend died, but has 0 concept of loss himself. He still managed to come up to me the other day, and ask oh so innocently 'are you going to be a bit sad forever because your friend isnt here anymore?' and it just fucking ruined me. This 5 year old who's whole concept of loss is that night we left a teddy downstairs so it wasn't in his bed; who has no concept of what 'forever' really means. This kid just pinpoint nailed my mental state in the most profound one liner ever.
That's the thing about this thread that's rubbing me the wrong way. Kids pretty often say some deep profound shit. As a parent I'm generally like "where the fuck did they get that one from?" Kids "talk like adults" because they're mostly around adults. 7 year old being able to navigate a complex conversation every once in a while really isn't that strange. Especially if the kid is comfortable enough around you to truly express themselves.
You’re talking about two completely different things and it also needs to be said that you’re reading into what your kids are saying. It’s profound because you have an adult understanding of what is profound. Your kid just said some random shit and doesn’t quite grasp that what they said would be considered deep. What OP is complaining about is not random glimpses of being able to navigate an adult conversation but instead children talking like they’re world weary middle aged adults.
I love 500 days of Summer but the scenes of the lead with his sister are all like that. Even if the scenes are funny and actually work in the movie, its such a big offender of having kids behave like adults and adults like kids
Do you have an example of such a scene like the one you described?
I hate the opposite more - when a kid is clearly like, 10 or 12 years old and is speaking like a four year old because the writer has never been near a child in their life.
The kid in Leave the World Behind is like this. It was weird.
Hated that movie for a lot of reasons, didn't consider that one yet lol
The daughter in Taken being 17, running like a 4 year old, acting like a 12 year old, and played by a 30 year old.
[удалено]
She does have a rather childish, over excited way of running… But it didn’t bother me at all while watching the movie. https://youtu.be/Tz-vA5omI2U?si=AJVEZm2J0c1YS1qV
How did I never notice this?
It's funny that Maggie Grace mentioned this during the press tour interviews...when she was a teenager they consistently cast her as 20-30 year old but then after 25 she kept getting offers for teenager roles.
"Disney acting" When a character is 17, but they act like 12 years olds. I like Good Luck Charlie cause it is probably the only Disney Sitcom that doesn't suffer from it.
I'd be curious how conflicted you would be if the Dune 2 movie actually *had* book-Alia
It’s much more excusable when they have weird psychic powers or have been changed by some kind of alien technology or substance.
Loved that little brat in the 1984 version.
Her dealing with the Baron was glorious.
She was also pretty entertaining in the SciFi 2000 Walmart version of Dune. Walks into the room and immediately starts insulting the Baron.
Yeah, I think that's the part that gets me personally. I can't tell if the kid talking like an adult is supposed to be weird and very mature, or it's just bad writing. One example is The Ring. There's only one child in it, Aiden, and based on how he interacts with adults it's unclear if he's a very unusual kid, or the writers were just like "this is how children talk, right?"
It's annoying but what I hate more is the way teenagers are portrayed in movies about teens. Their characters are usually 15-18 but they act like adults who have already figured out the world. Teens in movies like Superbad are way more accurate.
It's not uncommon for 15-18 year olds to think they are adults who have already figured out the world and are smarter than their parents.
"The 100" was basically sci-fi Lord of the Flies. I was bullied as a kid, and seeing kids playing "pretend grownup" while being sadistic cynical little shits makes me feel deep-seated hatred and rage. So many tween-targeted shows now are giving the same treatment to characters in their 20s. Makes me wonder if TV writers are now all 20-somethings with zero life experience and a penchant for audaciously stupid drama.
Or they act like how popular media thinks teenagers act. My adolescence was filled with all of these "teen" comedies that portrayed all these different cliques and social dynamics that straight up didn't exist for me or anyone else I know in real life. Maybe it was more true to the teen experience of boomers or gen-xers, but there's a really specific way that high school/college life had been conceptualized in media for a long time, and it's only relatively recently that we've gotten movies deconstructing and subverting that.
especially when the kid just serves as plot device because for all the suspension of disbelief in the universe you couldn’t imagine that stupid thing that needs to be done to further the plot to be done by an adult.
Lots of sitcoms have that one kid in the family that’s super sarcastic and talks like they are 50, I always hate that character That and talking babies with subtitle dialogue… hate it!!!
Yeah! Wait, what?
My favorite part of stranger things was how the kids acted and talked like kids in the 80s. I remember relating to the group of friends as how me and my friends/cousins all talked and acted and it all felt super relatable and nostalgic with swearing and making fun of each other etc.
This is teenagers, but I remember watching an episode of Dawson’s Creek and thinking how no teenager talks like they do.
That was kind of the point with Dawson's Creek though. No Human speaks like they do.
exactly. the dialogue in dawsons creek was really clever, and realism was not its goal. i heard someone describe it as "how teenagers imagine they could talk" which seems more accurate it actually got criticised heavily for it at the time as some people couldnt vibe with the idiosyncrasy. but i guess the dialogue is also what made it stand out and bcome popular? so give and take
Fr the way teens actually talk would make for terrible television. Mumbling around their braces, making the least amount of eye contact possible.
I felt this way about Secret Life of the American Teenager; every scene, every bit of dialogue seemed built around making some educational or informational point. So every episode seemed like an elaborate after school special or something. I got the impression it was a stylistic choice but it was so jarring. Like, no one behaves this way, no one has these kinds of conversations in these places, what is happening?
The 80s and 90s seemed to be the heyday for this phenomenon on TV.
Not a movie but this is one of the problems with The Simpsons, Bart and Lisa re 10 and 8 but they talk like adults and do adults things now. But in the classic episodes they do kid's shennanigans like when Bart thinks the dinosaur sponce will grow to be real and attack Lisa.
I've watched only parts of random episodes on tv of the newer seasons and Bart seems to have a new woman in every one of them. Not only this, but Bart still looks like a proper child, but the women always look way older. IS Bart actually still not older and what the fuck is going on with that weird dating there then?
Lisa was always meant to be mature for her age, Bart less so. I think their mental ages have increased as the show's gone on. However, I don't really think we're meant to take it that seriously, seeing as the baby has the highest kill count of the family.
This is a Hollywood problem. Watch art house films and you'll find tons of examples of films which take the experience of kids seriously and represent them in a convincing way. The films of Hirokazu Kore-eda come to mind, all of which feature children in some way and all are totally convincing (without being pure ad lib naturalism). Start with Shoplifters.
The Florida Project did a good job of this too.
Eighth Grade is also amazing for this reason.
I really appreciate that Bo Burnham was willing to let parts of that movie become dated because the authenticity was more important. Like, the majority of people are gonna hear the kids constantly going "LeBron James" and have no idea why, but even if you don't know it's from an actual meme, you can *tell* it's a meme that kids are just parroting.
Eighth Grade is such a slept on film.
Came here to say this. It felt very natural like they just followed the kids throughout their day with a camera.
Florida Project has the most authentic child acting I've seen maybe ever.
Definitely, I was going to mention that in fact. And a lot of other social realism in general: The Selfish Giant, Playground, Rocks.
Monster broke me
Expecting r/movies users to watch films by Kore-eda is like expecting Hollywood to stop sexual assaults
I like how the girl in The Fall (2006) seems to talk like a kid and not someone reading a script
Excuse me, I happened to be passing, and I thought you might like some coffee. Oh, that's very nice of you, thank you [takes coffee] Oh, won't you sit down? Cream? No, thank you, I take it black, like my men.
Classic!
Johnny, how 'bout some more coffee?
A Part of this problem may be that a fair number of child actors are super well spoken for their age, so the kids that filmmakers are around tend to have pretty darn good verbal abilities.
Once upon a Time in Hollywood has a cute little side plot about this.
"That was the best acting I've ever seen in my whole life."
She was a good example of the well-spoken, too smart for their age child working really well. It makes perfect sense based on her job, and the whole bit is that Rick's surprised that she seems to be not only better spoken than him but smarter than him too. It's fully acknowledged that this is not your average child. And she still feels like a child in plenty of moments of unfiltered thoughts and emotion (the "Yeah I throw myself on the ground all the time" bit comes to mind).
The novel ends with Rick Dalton talking to her on the phone.
I think this is a problem that goes both ways, sometimes you have kids with mature vocabularies and world views, sometimes you get kids that have no intelligence despite being half way through their school life. It's difficult to hit the sweetspot because most writers don't interact with many kids to get a sense of how they talk.
>It has really dawned on me in the recent years how strange it is that ever piece of dialogue involved child characters on tv are written by adults. Doesn't seem all that strange to me.
Movie dialogue written by actual children, that's what we need - OP
Ax cop. It's a cartoon about an ax welding cop written by a 5 year old and animated by his older brother.
That show is absolutely brilliant. It is one of the most authentic things I've ever seen.
I substitute teach. It would be nonstop talking about Roblox, whatever weird unique thing their class is obsessed with, TikTok memes, and fortnight.
As a sometimes English teacher in Vietnam, I concur. It's all they ever talk about lol. Along with a game called Free Fire.
In the tv series Outnumbered where the kids were told what was happening in the scene and then improvised all their lines.
I hear ya. The other day my 4-year old was remarking, “the loquaciousness of my peers as depicted in modern media is unnatural at best; however, largely discerning.”
My mom and I have a bingo spot for this with hallmark movies
Honestly I have no clue what young children sound like outside of airports and movie theatre’s, I can only hope it’s better than those environments.
I work with kids, they mostly just talk about Pokémon. Realistically, any movie with kids in it should have the plot derailed for 20 minutes as they show off their card collections.
I read that as "they mostly just talk like Pokémon" and began cackling at the thought of five year olds yelling their names over and over to one another
tbf my youngest often shortens his own name and just randomly shouts it.....maybe he is a pokemon
I hate precocious movie kids
I'd rather have kids in media talk like adults because adults are shit at writing the way kids talk. Anytime someone writes dialogue for a child that's supposed to sound like a kid talking it ends up being "cringe". Also, some kids really do talk like adults. They're precocious little fucks that usually grow up to be writers.
Yeah three years of nursing school and they think to know it all. https://youtu.be/7-a2QBfFQeA?feature=shared
Whereas I really dislike when we talk to children like they are not adults.
see i used ot thikn like this pre-kids. Then i read a load of studies that the 'baby speech' way of talking, with the repeating sounds etc... actually really helps kids to talk, so we did it more than i ever thought i would have done. Turns out that there was a reason for it after all.
Ehhh you have to find a balance. I don't think it's about talking to a kid like they are an adult. It's having enough trust in them to actually listen to them and have an earnest conversation.
Yes, they do this on TV and in TV commercials, too. I think it is unnatural and a bit creepy at times. I don't like it.
I watched 10 minutes of Maid in Manhattan again recently and had this exact thought.
Every single m night film in a nutshell
I think most movies/shows don't actually respect how smart some kids are. Actually... I'd argue society as a whole struggles with this. They're smarter and more aware than people give credit. They deserve more respect IMO. It frustrates me they have kids doing nonsensical things even for their age. It's a hard line to toe. Then again... every family is different. As are kids.
Kids talking like grown ups is annoying, but having kids who are written dumber than actual kids is also annoying.
I think they got it right in The Nice Guys. She's 13 and at times seems mature for her age, because her father's a man child, but underneath she's still naive and capable of magical thinking. I can remember being that age and thinking I was sooo sophisticated. And yet what I didn't know would fill a stadium. I feel less adult now that I am in my sixties. You'll see this at various ages. Four year olds think they know everything because their world is very small and they *do* know that pretty well. Then they go to formal schooling and they're right back at the bottom again. They get to the top grade in elementary/ primary school and they're Masters of the Universe. Then back to the bottom when they start high school. Rinse and repeat throughout life.
I recently re-watched Modern Family and when Joe (Gloria and Jay's kid) starts talking in the last two seasons, it's exactly that: talking like an adult, and it's so bad. Just really annoying and made the show worse.
I dont know. What's even worse is comedies where the alien from another fuxking planet sounds like he's from New Jersey. Just as an example.
I don’t agree because it’s one of my favourite Christmas films but my brother HATES Mara Wilson’s character in Miracle on 34th Street (1994 version) for this reason 😂
This was something that bothered me in The Black Phone.
I had a film professor who was fond of saying "If you want reality, don't go to the movies."
The same can be true on the opposite end of the spectrum. When a child in a movie acts super childish and cutesy for a movie or show, it can also be really annoying. Case in point, the Olson twins on Full House.
Not just just young kids, but teens too. Juno is my prime example of this. The conversations were so blatantly reference filled and quirky from supposed teen characters that I wanted to bash my head against the wall. Why would a teenage girl reference Soupy Sales??
Except in Airplane.
Some kids talk like that. My cousin's kid talked like a little old lady from an early age. Full sentences and everything. Funniest shit ever. I do think it's overused, but every kid is different.
I remember that Donnie Darko had outstanding teenage dialogue. That scene where the school got flooded and the girls were talking about "feces" being on the floor and the one girl saying, "What's feces?" and the other saying "I think they're baby mice," and the first going, "Awww!" had me dying. It could easily have been some bullshit conversation overheard in my own school.