Defend the Indefensible: films in which gorgeous, independent, "edgy" women have nothing better to do than break uptight whiny squares out of their bubbles

Sideways plays with this.

also, someone is really proud of the phase 'manic pixie dream girl', but most of the women aren't that unusual. it's the boy who is usually the problem. i think i have more of a problem with the 'hot tub time machine'/'yes man'/'wedding crashers' thing of the adolescent-man-in-his-forties hooking up with a sorted-out girl in her twenties. 'greenberg' was superficially like this but the girl was a mess too and also it was good and those films kind of aren't. (there are some laughs in 'yes man' and 'wedding crashers' but they aren't 'good films'.)

Robin Wood, in his bk on Hawks, talks abt "the lure of irresponsibility" in relation to Bringing Up Baby, etc

i've always liked that phrase and have tried to live my life by it

the myth told is that women, however busy they may initially seem to be with their rock band, small business, novel, whatever, they will totally drop all that and devote themselves 24/7 to getting a guy to try bowling for the first time or whatever.

OTMOTMOTMOTMOTMOTOMOTMOTMOTMOTMOMTOMTOTOTMOTMOTMOMOMTOMTOMTOTMOTMOT

contenderizer right below that is also OTM but the OTM-ness of the bowling post rang in my head like a big brass gong.

Also I have been cranking about this character type for almost the last 10 years only I didn't call her MPDG, we called it "her kookiness will save you."

can i just also for a sec rep for the boring guys that don't want their heads wrecked by kooky girls spoiling their weekend plans to stay home and do crosswords kthx

la strada

the cat from outer space is a classic feline example too

Julie Delpy in the Before Sunrise series.

no.

next!

http://www.crankycritic.com/archive99/posters/forcesofnature.jpg

yeah, julie delpy character's not kooky, just awesome.

ethan hawke's character also not an uptight whiney square

http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/problemchild.jpg

Films in which gorgeous, independent, "edgy" children have nothing better to do than break uptight whiny squares out of their bubbles.

look who's talking obv

has anyone mentioned BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE yet? because that one.

bonus: dude is blind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrKwSacntb8

Oh PLEASE WE'RE JUST HAVING KICKS!

ethan hawke's character also not an uptight whiney square

Cross out "uptight".

movies in which blind al pacinos break uptight whiny squares out of there bubbles

there

he's not really a square...i guess you could call him whiney but he doesn't seem unjustifiedly so. i dislike ethan hawke in general but he is p likable in those movies.

xxp to Alfred

think soto means he is uptight but not the other two

I mean that he wasn't whiney winegarten

This is a great idea for a genre, and I know I've seen numerous films over the years that belong. I'd need a while to work up a list. One that jumps out is The Sterile Cuckoo, although with qualifications; Liza Minelli's edginess is (if I have this right--it's been a while) tied in with deeper emotional issues, and you wouldn't call her conventionally gorgeous.

Ok, but you seem a little het up about this. I mean, how long does bowling take? Surely at some point women who seek relationships do make time for some bowling, right?

― kenan, Wednesday, September 8, 2010 2:22 AM Bookmark

OK, but I'm not objecting to the idea that at some point in the relationship they go bowling - - - it's this sequence where she's like "You're cute. You wanna go bowling Tuesday?" the guy, you know, he's in his tie and is really flustered and unsure and is like "i've never, uh i've never been uh, b-b-bowling" and she finds this really attractive and charming rather than being like "Who the fuck has never been bowling?" And this is fine as one moment in the story, but it's repeated in larger scale across their entire relationship, the woman is initiating and forcing through everything.

ex Will Ferrell is an asshole tax auditor who has never had a chocolate chip cookie. Maggie Gyllenhaal, a hip bohemian baker businesswoman, finds this irresistible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rCmX-TAl1w

I mean, I want Maggie Gyllenhaal to force-feed me chocolate chip cookies as much as the next guy but it just reaches a point of ridiculousness.

Films in which gorgeous, independent, "edgy" cats in hats have nothing better to do than break uptight whiny squares out of their bubbles.

films in which gorgeous kansas barns have nothing better to do than break uptight whiny witches out of their ruby slippers

http://www.fusedfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/midnight_run_1988_685x385.jpg

Films in which gorgeous, independent, "podgy" accountants have nothing better to do than break uptight whiny squares out of their bubbles

http://socialfresh.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/planes-trains-automobiles.jpg

fight club

Films in which gorgeous, independent, 'edgy' cops have nothing to do than to break uptight whiny squares out of their bubbles

http://www.awardsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Bad_Lieutenant_Nicolas_Cage.jpg

1 scene i remember liking in "the last kiss" the zach braff movie that is mostly terrible is kinda the opposite of this phenomenon where the younger, "edgy" chick shows up at his office to give him a mix cd and he sees how ridiculous she is cuz of the real life shit he has goin on

dont recall at all if he was a whiny square, can only assume probably

he was a whiny square.

zach braff, a whiney square? never

dude's been typecast, it's a real shame

yeah he could've been the next John Heard

The mid 80s sub-genre that included After Hours(1984) Something Wild(1986) and the lesser known Into The Night(1985) by John Landis was known as 'Urban Nightmare'. It seems to be a forgotten sub-genre as there's very little about it on the net but all 3 of those movies feature the gorgeous independent women and whiny squares of the thread title. I think Into The Night may even have been the *best* of these. Anyone remember it?

ya vaguely

no way it was better than after hours tho

Hm i remember loving it as a kid. It had David Bowie in it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lVkYr6alfE

i had not heard of that. have added to lovefilm list. david cronenberg is in it. and jonathan demme. and david bowie. and a whole bunch of people.

'after hours' and 'something wild' are dope and way over the dreadful nathan rabin's head.

If you liked those 2 you'll like this a lot i'd imagine. Being made by Landis the comedy is broader than in the other 2 movies, in fact even the 'nightmareish' stuff is all played a lot more for laughs but i'm always surprised no-one seems to have seen it. 'Something Wild' was on tons in the 90s on the BBC.

Another meme in these movies is surprise-nudity but then that might be beacuse it was the mid 1980s. There's a thread on IMDB about this film called 'Did anyone else just watch this to see Michelle Pfeiffer Nude?' typically enough.

"Has this genre ever overlapped with films in which independent, "edgy" rookie cop has nothing better to do than break uptight whiny square cop near retirement of his bubble?"

I just watched Point Break, and thought Lori Petty might be the manic pixie, but it turned out to really be Patrick Swayze.

^ good analysis

that crappy Along Came Polly movie was this to a T.

Can't remember if I've seen Into the Night right thru but was aware of its existence. It can't be as brilliant as After Hours which is so gleefully malicious to its protagonist as to not belong in this genre at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuFNMj6eU0A&feature=related

oh man Into the Night!! such a ridiculous movie, so many pointless cameos, convoluted plot, tons of running around LA at night. It is definitely of a piece with After Hours (altho probably not as good - I haven't seen it in at least 10 years)

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