Friday OT #2 - You Fall, And You Crawl, And You Break

[Angie]

I watched I Care A Lot last week on Netflix with Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, and Dianne Wiest - and it was one of those complex movies where there is really no character for whom you root. No likeable protagonist OR antagonist (which is the point).

I was trying to think of a list of movies who have pretty well zero likeable characters, and was wondering what others people had. Another really clear example of this that I had was A Clockwork Orange - fantastic performances, but the droogs are purposely awful people.

What other examples can you think of? What movies can you think of where you don't truly like ANYONE?

EDIT - Feel free to also include shows!

 

[madguy30]

Can this be shows too? I'm thinking more of those than movies.

 

[Gonzo]

Glengarry Glen Ross

I might be reaching. Most of them have likeable qualities that are equally matched by unlikeable qualities.

 

[Angie]

Can this be shows too? I'm thinking more of those than movies.

Go for it! I had thought about that after I posted! I'll edit the OP.

 

[Angie]

Glengarry Glen Ross

I might be reaching. Most of them have likeable qualities that are equally matched by unlikeable qualities.

I 100% agree - and I think that counts. You can have some likeable qualities and still not be a character for whom people root!

 

[carvers4math]

Breaking Bad.

Requiem for a Dream

By the end of How I Met Your Mother, the only character I could stand was the dead mother

 

[SCyclone]

I watched it too, @Angie.....I thought it was an excellent film. I think it was set up for viewers to root for Pike's character after she went into the quarry in the car, but she was such an amoral, cold-fish person, I couldn't be on her side. After the first hour, I really wanted someone to put her in her place!

 

[SCyclone]

Reservoir Dogs
Clay Pigeons
The Last Seduction
There Will Be Blood
Burn After Reading

 

[BuffettClone]

Breaking Bad.

Requiem for a Dream

By the end of How I Met Your Mother, the only character I could stand was the dead mother

I think this can be said of a lot of long running tv shows

 

[pulse]

Game Of Thrones. I didn’t care who lived or died.

 

[Angie]

Breaking Bad.

Requiem for a Dream

By the end of How I Met Your Mother, the only character I could stand was the dead mother

I was thinking very much of this exact show. It is a testament to the complexity of the characters.

 

[carvers4math]

Game Of Thrones. I didn’t care who lived or died.

I cared the most about the dire wolves in the end

 

[madguy30]

I remember discontinuing watching Lost because I stopped liking almost everyone...I feel like a sociopath but I remember actually being glad when Ana Lucia got killed off. The character was overacted and spiteful at almost everything.

The same thing happened with The Walking Dead and I can't make it through an episode of FTWD.

The original Jurassic Park is on pretty often and while not everyone, I find myself more annoyed than anything with more and more characters.

 

[MJ29]

The Wire comes to mind. It was very well-written, directed, shot, acted. Just all around good show, But very few of the characters were likeable. They'd have moments you rooted for them, but ultimately I don't think I would have been friends with any of them.

 

[SCyclone]

Game Of Thrones. I didn’t care who lived or died.

There were some characters who displayed unusual morality, like Ser Jorah, Maester Luwin (my avatar), and Ser Berristan Selmy.

 

[20eyes]

 

[pulse]

There were some characters who displayed unusual morality, like Ser Jorah, Maester Luwin (my avatar), and Ser Berristan Selmy.

Yeah I still didn’t give a ****. He wanted to write a different kind of story, well congratulations you did, so I don’t care if you have an asteroid hit your world and everyone dies.

 

[SCyclone]

Any Larry Clark film

 

[Gonzo]

I poked at it with a stick.

 

[BurgundyClone]

The Walking Dead for me, one by one I gave up on the characters until eventually I gave up entirely.