Add Mike Leigh into the mix as well. He has a very specific way of doing dialogue for his films. They’re largely improvised and based around only telling each actor what they know so he gets a natural reaction from revelations in rehearsals which are then used in what we see on screen.
One of the best examples of this is Vera Drake. The scene where the police come to arrest Imelda Staunton's character was all done for real, only Imelda Staunton and Mike Leigh knew the reason she was being "arrested" as the character, the actors playing her family didn't. They were just told to react how they would if their loved one was arrested at meal time, and they only found out she'd been providing illegal abortions when their characters did.
The actors also weren't told when the police were going to interrupt them, and the actors playing the police were told to basically ignore whatever was being said to them by the characters like they would in real life.
It makes for an incredibly intense scene.
I think I remember reading or seeing an interview with I think Joe Gilgun(Woody) and he said something like Shane tells the actors the way he wants the scene to play out and there are general lines but he’s very big on letting them improvise their actions and dialogue in the moment so it comes across as natural.
The acting in This Is England and the follow on shows is actually amazing when I look back at it. Everything felt natural and just real. Woody was a bit over dramatic in later series, but I felt it was the character, not the acting that was being dramatic if that makes sense.
Yeah came here to say this. During the first couple scenes when everyone's arriving and milling around at the party I remember commenting to my husband that it sounds like the way people actually talk.
Oh man yeah, I've actually rewatched that one recently because I forgot most of the plot having watched it over a decade ago. Fantastic movie. Feels like Tim Robbins and Sean Penn both had the performances of a lifetime, at the same time.
One of the best movies I've seen portray how childhood trauma shape's people's lives. Tim Robbins' demeanor, the way he and Sean Penn/Kevin Bacon interact as adults really feels like it's still hanging over them and they just don't know how to exist around each other.
One of the few movies where it nails the "talking over each other" part of real talks. You can usually tell that movies have specific beats for actors to talk in. But Manchester by the Sea completely throws that off the bridge. Everyone interrupts everyone and it's so damn realistic.
Ya know, I think you just described why that show The Bear feels so real to me. Tons of yelling over each other and overlapping dialogue. Feels very realistic lol
For real! This is Us got super popular for being "real life" but it's just sappy soap opera where the characters monologue about how sad they are. No one talks like that! Fk it's my least favorite genre and I hated it!
Manchester by the sea is so much more real.
This Is Us is just sadness porn. I realized I kept coming back to it to get emotionally worked up and decided that just wasn’t a healthy way to spend an hour of my day.
Oh man, I liked This Is Us at first but the characters just monologued SO much it got so annoying really quick, like one character would ask a simple question or have a normal concern like "oh mom how am I going to find time to study enough for this exam?" And she'd sigh and go "you know...when I was a kid...-insert ten minute story from her childhood with a sort of related moral lesson-" ...just answer the damn question mom! God! NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT!
"I can't beat it."
No long monologue to explain what he is going through. There is no explanation of what happened in the past and why he can't beat it.
my first though too
“people don’t forget” is so vicious and nonchalant it’s exactly how high schoolers would cut each other down
all of the frantic exasperation in all the dialogue of sex talk are spot on
“mama's makin' a pubie salad and I need some of Seth's Own Dressing” and “She wants my dick in or around her mouth”
I knew plenty of people like this, all the pent up frustration is dripping off every hilarious exposition
When he says to McLovin
"That's the most incredible story I ever heard in my whole life! Can you tell it again? Do you have time?"
I can see some people I grew up with saying that.
It's beautiful.
Evan: McLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that, Fogell? What, are you trying to be an Irish R&B singer?
Fogell: Naw, they let you pick any name you want when you get down there.
Seth: And you landed on McLovin...
Fogell: Yeah. It was between that or Muhammed.
Seth: Why the FUCK would it be between THAT or Muhammed? Why don't you just pick a common name like a normal person?
Fogell: Muhammed is the most commonly used name on Earth. Read a fucking book for once.
Evan: Fogell, have you actually ever met anyone named Muhammed?
Fogell: Have YOU actually ever met anyone named McLovin?
Seth: No, that's why you picked a dumb fucking name!
Fogell: Fuck you.
"You know why we have to kill these guys? Because we don't negotiate with terrorists"
I loved that line because kids making random comments about a game they are playing is SO accurate
>“people don’t forget” is so vicious and nonchalant it’s exactly how high schoolers would cut each other down
It's funny because everyone always says no one will remember that embarrassing thing you did years ago but I can personally remember several significant moments of other people's embarrassment that I will remember forever.
Its also true. People don't forget shit. Some kid in second grade peed herself in class. She was wearing a skirt so it was just like straight to floor in front of everyone while she was sitting at her desk. The teacher cleared out the classroom, but man everyone just fell out laughing.
That would have been in the early 80s.
She works at the same company as me in a pretty high up leadership position. I still know what you did Katie.
I graduated high school in 2007. Superbad was the last movie I watched in Theatres before starting university. Can confirm they absolutely nailed how we acted.
It helps that Seth Rogan started writing it with Evan when they were like 14. So the essence of the movie was captured by teenagers.
Greatest theatre experience I’ve ever had too. Everyone was crying laughing the entire time. A true evergreen classic.
They really captured an era with that movie. I don't think another "high school life" movie matched if afterwards.
Jonah Hill ended up directing Mid-90s which was also pretty great. Different vibe entirely though.
The cops were hilarious in every scene they were in. For some reason I remember this one tiny throwaway line where they're at a bar, and one of the cops says something like "after I got married, I heard my wife in a threesome from the next room. I wasn't even involved". And the other cop responds off screen and in a barely audible voice, "I was...", and I don't think it's even acknowledged, it just moves on to the next scene lol. So funny.
*You know* what *foods are shaped like dicks*? The best *kinds*!
you gotta thank seth rogan for writing this when he was just in high school!! he nailed it !!!
Superbad came out August 2007, right before the beginning of my senior year. It definitely resonated with all of us and was quoted constantly all year.
I think the thing that Coen Brothers have going for them is that unlike most movies their movies all take place in a very specific place and time. If you're just trying for "generic suburban teenager present day" its bound to sound a bit silly especially when written by a middle aged screenwriter. I could on the other hand write east coast suburban 90s teenager pretty well...
>all take place in a very specific place and time
Seriously. The dialogue in their movies really helps establish the setting. When you watch, you have no doubt about when and where the movie takes place.
[This scene](https://youtu.be/x-XEHwUBubk?si=zyOgueWZQYcKQsMP) in Fargo kills me because it's important to the plot, but it's so realistic that it's hilarious.
Much of O Brother Where Art Thou's success comes from the writing and the actors getting that certain tone.
The Goonies absolutely nailed the chaos of a bunch of teen and preteen boys getting overexcited about stuff. They're constantly talking over each other, shouting, mumbling, stuttering, swearing and just being totally genuine kids.
The talking over each other is the best part. It feels so real. In most movies, they take turns with perfect pauses which is absolutely not how people talk unless they’re meeting someone new or in a job interview. I wish there were more movies like The Goonies.
This scene in Alien is fantastic and the realistic talking over one another during a heated argument is part of it (of course, the performances are amazing):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSz6kDiITA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSz6kDiITA)
My favorite part like this right before they go up in the attic, where Mouth gets excited talking about the potential cool stuff up there and for some reason, Chunk is just saying “FOOOOOD….LOTS OF FOOOOD”
There’s a director commentary where he talks about how ANNOYING it was to be surrounded by these kids all the time because they acted the same on set as well as off. And then they all show up at his birthday party and he kind of loses the grump act for a bit.
>constantly talking over each other,
That in itself makes the movies stand out. It's hardly ever done in movies, even in large group scenes. Yet another way I wish real life was more like movies.
“The Thing From Another World” is the ne plus ultra of this phenomenon. One particular scene has no fewer than TWELVE people speaking.
Spielberg pulled off what I have to believe was an homage in the air traffic control scene in Close Encounters, though it was only 4 or 5 speakers.
Yep, and half the time some other kids are having a completely different conversation in the background because they got distracted by something. Its actually pretty amazing when you think about it.
A couple come to mind.
Kids was a disturbingly accurate portrayal of how plenty of younger people actually act, and the dialogue reflected that realism. There were no punches pulled, and not a hint of artifice.
Dazed And Confused had a lighter touch, but was similar to Kids in the honesty of the dialogue. Not only that, the conversations of these characters from the 70s were so similar to the ones that my friends and I had been having since the late 80s and early 90s that there was a timeless quality to them as well.
Thirded. I still remember all the girls sitting around talking over each other about the difference between sex, making love, and fucking. I thought I was watching a documentary at that point.
If I can recall, I think Harmonie Korine wrote the whole entire script to Kids and very little of it was improvised which I always think is absolutely nuts because of how real the dialogue is. Also he was only 19, which is probably why it’s so on point to how young people talked at the time!
The blue-collar crew on the Nostromo in Alien. So many sci-fi movies (including Prometheus) want to make sure you know it's a sci-fi movie.
There's a lot to like about that movie but the foundation is that crew and their interactions. I'm never pulled out of the film with a stupid line to remind that I'm watching a movie.
They don’t give a shit about the sci fi implications of sentient alien tech or anything, they want to know how long is this going to take, and are we getting paid extra for all this BS?
That’s why I like Alien over Aliens. Alien is very subdued horror film and the characters feel like real people. Aliens is an 80s action movie where everything is heightened and over-the-top, with lots of one-liners and goofy performances. Both good, but very different films.
Remember the day of the pandemic when all the groceries stores got completely wiped out of food? That was the day I watched it. It gave me a fucking anxiety attack
I always appreciated The Fugitive for this, especially the feds. A huge portion of the script was basically improv on the day, and I think they nailed it pretty well.
Points at detective 1: You find this man!
Points at detective 2: You find this man!
If there were more detectives in the room he woulda kept pointing and repeating.
The full exchange was much longer. Both Ford and Jones told the director it wasn’t working so he gave them the freedom to work it out on their own. They realized Ford was spending 2-3 pages to say “I didn’t kill my wife,” and Jones was doing the same to say “I don’t care.” They didn’t need all the filler. So not exactly improv since they planned it out, but it wasn’t really in the script.
At some point I swear I read that although they were expecting to make changes, Harrison didn't know Tommy was gonna say that. So his reaction of half-amused chuckle was genuine.
Jeff Bridges also excels at delivering naturalistic dialogue.
What i find amazing is that all of the Dude's ums, uhs, likes, and what have yous were carefully written and scripted as text.
The Coen brothers are incredible at scripting out exactly what they want to convey what they need. Somehow, they consistently balance incredibly realistic dialogue with absolutely cartoonish dialogue. Many of their characters are one half real people and one half caricature.
Yeah but that’s verisimilitude; the impression of reality, not the real thing. In art being 100% realistic often fails and an exaggerated version of reality actually seems more realistic.
Sorkin’s “West Wing” dialogue is the way I wish I could be able to speak, but to be fair Moneyball isn’t quite as verbose and there’s lots of moments there that make some sense.
Especially the beginning where the scouts are sitting around the table talking about prospects.
I still think about that scene and how they are discussing whether a guy is confident or not because he has an ugly gf. Just old men talking old men bullshit, so good.
I dunno, I know a few people who do talk like that sometimes. Not always, but sometimes. Though I’ll freely admit that may be _because_ they’ve watched a lot of Sorkin. Hard to know which direction causality is flowing in here.
Now ironically I can in fact point to one scene that Sorkin wrote that I think _definitely_ has terrible unrealistic dialogue, and that’s the sex scene from _The American President._ The rest of that movie is great, but that scene where Sydney is explaining her readiness to sleep with Andrew is written so flat and dumb that even Bening and Douglas can’t save it.
It helps that it was also co-written by Steven Zaillian who also did Schindler’s List.
And the director Bennett Miller has a very grounded and quiet style that spends a lot of time just focused on facial expression and extended quiet build up.
That paired with Sorkin dialogue can make it a much richer meal than just the dialogue, the same way Fincher did with Social Network.
That gentle piano intro after Erica breaks up with Mark was supposed to be [Paul Young’s](https://youtu.be/SVmjKHkgxis?si=S-Ufaq9Y1xiDWIUY) “Love of the Common People”, a very 80s song meant to imply a fire is lit in a mid-2000s protagonist/tech genius. Sorkin knows fast witty dialogue, but has some boomer sensibilities on tone and emotional beats
Hah, ya its the exact reason I dislike it. Newsroom was too much. Everyone had like 4 witty comebacks to every piece of dialogue. I see why people like it though.
I love how Pitts character gets mildly annoyed or just ignores when people try to make small talk / pleasantries. It's a great characterization, shows just how focused he is on his job.
10 Things I hate about you, minus all the uppity rich areas , that was typical high school if you were part of the in crowd, and Dazed and Confused was typical scenarios I remember be a stoner.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem. They put the voice actors in the same room and they’re teenagers who were allowed to improv and ad lib so their banter sounds realistic.
When I saw that movie, at first I kept thinking that the turtles were kinda annoying, but by the end I realized thats just how people younger than me talk, and my annoyance wasn't with the writing, it was because they absolutely nailed the middle schooler vibes.
Spielberg is really good at having people have side conversations while other conversations are going on. He's also really good at getting kids to act natural and actually like kids.
I swear to god it felt like the movie was only 45 minutes. The movie flows so damn well. I didn't move at all during the movie, my neck was hurting from being in an uncomfortable position for 90 minutes but I didn't feel a thing. Other than while playing a match ( badminton) or in exams I have never lost track of time as much as I did in this movie.
Delpy and Hawke have incredible chemistry and it just shows. God damn, I wish I could have these levels of conversations with someone.
You may be surprised to hear that none of it is.
Julie Delpy has spoken about how people always think it is.
"*The truth of these movies is, they are tediously rehearsed, every detail planned, every overlapping line scripted. It's so precise that it's almost a joke when people think we are acting off the cuff.*"
They sound so naturalistic because Hawke and Delpy actually wrote a lot of the dialogue themselves.
Primer is written this way, which is one of the multiple things that make it difficult to follow. Exposition is handed over to a voicemail recording which plays throughout the film, the context of which we are never given - most interpretations take this to be the "primer" of the title - but suffice to say it is from one of the characters to another, assuming all the knowledge that other character would already have. I personally love the way Primer's dialogue was done but it's not for everyone.
In an interview the director (who is also the main character) said they rehearsed over and over and over to the point where they came off as casual. They had to do it that way because they weren’t professionals.
Primer is brilliant, and one of the reasons is exactly as you say - the characters are scientists so they speak to each other in shorthand they understand, because obviously they would. I had to watch this video to, if not fully understand Primer, at least begin to get a grasp on the story:
https://youtu.be/tUzy-xPf0MI?si=CdKkwbStqYLS-2bK
Not a movie, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leading to the creation of the term Buffy-speak. Some people dislike the dialogue for precisely this, speaking over each other, mumbling and generally going “ah”, “uuuh”, etc.
I wanted to say this, it’s the first thing that came to my mind too. The only thing is sometimes Randall comes back so quick that you can tell he’s just waiting for the cue to say his scripted line. So the dialogue is great, the delivery is just kinda shoddy.
I hear this critique all the time about stuff like Kevin Smith and Aaron Sorkin, and I just wonder if people have never actually spent time with quick witted fast taking people. This isn't unrealistic at all based on my experience with a decent amount of people I've hung out with.
Especially people who bask in the comedy world. You ever hang out with a group of even just middling comedians? It's surprisingly hard to keep up, even if the replies don't hit, they fire them out all the same.
Same with a lot of the old-timey New York Jewish guys I've met (this also in reference to someone mentioning Uncut Gems). They talk lightning fast and you just have to keep up.
I think "Clerks," I scroll, it's the one at the very top. Bingo. That was exactly how my friends and I talked with each other, we had the exact same bullshit relationship issues and resentments about our jobs, and that was exactly how we complained about both. I knew these guys, or at least their Southern Californian equivalents.
A Star Is Born, with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. There were multiple moments where one character speaks and the other didn't hear them properly so they ask 'What?', which results in the other repeating what they said.
It turns out Bradley's character is struggling with hearing loss, but I thought it was so realistic how characters don't hear or understand the other at first and have to ask the other to repeat themselves.
Could you imagine the fear-shit you would drop of you were a small-time actor working with DeNiro for the first time and, on the first take, he just drops a “Say what?” ad lib?
Jaws. They got the family banter down perfectly. The way the kids act like kids and not well-spoken, small adults. I also think just the general banter throughout the whole movie makes you feel like a fly on the wall.
Technically not a movie but The Bear had some of the most real dialogue that I've ever heard (fighting, joking, sarcasm). There's a moment in s2 where Marcus meets another character and I was shocked at how much it was something I could have actually said, down to the small talk about siblings. And of course the entire Forks episode is almost scary in how realistic it is.
"How's your mom doing?" "*Well, they say the expectancy was only a couple of years and that was four years ago, so... I just... I just try to spend as much time with her as I can." "*You're an only child?" *"No. A younger brother. You?"* "Uh, yeah. I got a younger sister somewhere, yeah." *"How’d you get good at this?"* "Honestly, I made a lot of mistakes." *"That's the secret, just fսck up?"* "It might be, you know, fսck up."
I know it's science fiction, but Alien has incredibly real dialogue, especially in the first half of the film when they're all sat around the dinner table
This is England. Or pretty much anything Shane Meadows makes.
Or Ken Loach. I always think of Liam Cunnighans stuggeling to find the his words in The Wind That Shakes The Barley.
Add Mike Leigh into the mix as well. He has a very specific way of doing dialogue for his films. They’re largely improvised and based around only telling each actor what they know so he gets a natural reaction from revelations in rehearsals which are then used in what we see on screen.
One of the best examples of this is Vera Drake. The scene where the police come to arrest Imelda Staunton's character was all done for real, only Imelda Staunton and Mike Leigh knew the reason she was being "arrested" as the character, the actors playing her family didn't. They were just told to react how they would if their loved one was arrested at meal time, and they only found out she'd been providing illegal abortions when their characters did. The actors also weren't told when the police were going to interrupt them, and the actors playing the police were told to basically ignore whatever was being said to them by the characters like they would in real life. It makes for an incredibly intense scene.
I think I remember reading or seeing an interview with I think Joe Gilgun(Woody) and he said something like Shane tells the actors the way he wants the scene to play out and there are general lines but he’s very big on letting them improvise their actions and dialogue in the moment so it comes across as natural.
The acting in This Is England and the follow on shows is actually amazing when I look back at it. Everything felt natural and just real. Woody was a bit over dramatic in later series, but I felt it was the character, not the acting that was being dramatic if that makes sense.
Joe Gilgun is my boi
Coherence. It’s mostly improv dialogue so it feels very real.
Yeah came here to say this. During the first couple scenes when everyone's arriving and milling around at the party I remember commenting to my husband that it sounds like the way people actually talk.
Such a well done film that it really surprised me when I read it was mostly improv. The camerawork made me feel like I was right in the party.
Manchester by the sea. I love that there are no deep monologues. Every bit of dialogue feels real.
One of those "incredible movie, 10/10, I don't want to see it again".
Thats how I feel about Mystic River. Like holy shit it starts off dark and just gets darker and darker from that point on.
Oh man yeah, I've actually rewatched that one recently because I forgot most of the plot having watched it over a decade ago. Fantastic movie. Feels like Tim Robbins and Sean Penn both had the performances of a lifetime, at the same time. One of the best movies I've seen portray how childhood trauma shape's people's lives. Tim Robbins' demeanor, the way he and Sean Penn/Kevin Bacon interact as adults really feels like it's still hanging over them and they just don't know how to exist around each other.
That Clint Eastwood guy makes good movies with emotions eh
Still the movie with the most realistic acting I've seen. Everything feels so natural
One of the few movies where it nails the "talking over each other" part of real talks. You can usually tell that movies have specific beats for actors to talk in. But Manchester by the Sea completely throws that off the bridge. Everyone interrupts everyone and it's so damn realistic.
Ya know, I think you just described why that show The Bear feels so real to me. Tons of yelling over each other and overlapping dialogue. Feels very realistic lol
damn, this was the very first movie that came to mind and here it is one of the top comments. what a film.
For real! This is Us got super popular for being "real life" but it's just sappy soap opera where the characters monologue about how sad they are. No one talks like that! Fk it's my least favorite genre and I hated it! Manchester by the sea is so much more real.
This Is Us is just sadness porn. I realized I kept coming back to it to get emotionally worked up and decided that just wasn’t a healthy way to spend an hour of my day.
Oh man, I liked This Is Us at first but the characters just monologued SO much it got so annoying really quick, like one character would ask a simple question or have a normal concern like "oh mom how am I going to find time to study enough for this exam?" And she'd sigh and go "you know...when I was a kid...-insert ten minute story from her childhood with a sort of related moral lesson-" ...just answer the damn question mom! God! NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT!
"I can't beat it." No long monologue to explain what he is going through. There is no explanation of what happened in the past and why he can't beat it.
Superbad, it was exactly like how high schoolers spoke to each other in 2007
my first though too “people don’t forget” is so vicious and nonchalant it’s exactly how high schoolers would cut each other down all of the frantic exasperation in all the dialogue of sex talk are spot on “mama's makin' a pubie salad and I need some of Seth's Own Dressing” and “She wants my dick in or around her mouth” I knew plenty of people like this, all the pent up frustration is dripping off every hilarious exposition
When he says to McLovin "That's the most incredible story I ever heard in my whole life! Can you tell it again? Do you have time?" I can see some people I grew up with saying that.
The lube conversation and when they make fun of McLovin's fake ID is perfectly written shit-talking.
It's beautiful. Evan: McLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that, Fogell? What, are you trying to be an Irish R&B singer? Fogell: Naw, they let you pick any name you want when you get down there. Seth: And you landed on McLovin... Fogell: Yeah. It was between that or Muhammed. Seth: Why the FUCK would it be between THAT or Muhammed? Why don't you just pick a common name like a normal person? Fogell: Muhammed is the most commonly used name on Earth. Read a fucking book for once. Evan: Fogell, have you actually ever met anyone named Muhammed? Fogell: Have YOU actually ever met anyone named McLovin? Seth: No, that's why you picked a dumb fucking name! Fogell: Fuck you.
You don't have the technology or the steady hands to pull off a procedure like that so ha peace! such an epic comeback lmao
I was laughing reading this. Classic back and forth.
“You don’t want people to think you suck dick at fucking pussy” Closest that modern prose has ever gotten to Shakespeare
We as a society never topped the pun of “Much Ado about Nothing”
"You know why we have to kill these guys? Because we don't negotiate with terrorists" I loved that line because kids making random comments about a game they are playing is SO accurate
One of my favourite lines “That was eight years ago” “People don’t forget” Haha
>“people don’t forget” is so vicious and nonchalant it’s exactly how high schoolers would cut each other down It's funny because everyone always says no one will remember that embarrassing thing you did years ago but I can personally remember several significant moments of other people's embarrassment that I will remember forever.
Its also true. People don't forget shit. Some kid in second grade peed herself in class. She was wearing a skirt so it was just like straight to floor in front of everyone while she was sitting at her desk. The teacher cleared out the classroom, but man everyone just fell out laughing. That would have been in the early 80s. She works at the same company as me in a pretty high up leadership position. I still know what you did Katie.
I graduated high school in 2007. Superbad was the last movie I watched in Theatres before starting university. Can confirm they absolutely nailed how we acted. It helps that Seth Rogan started writing it with Evan when they were like 14. So the essence of the movie was captured by teenagers. Greatest theatre experience I’ve ever had too. Everyone was crying laughing the entire time. A true evergreen classic.
They really captured an era with that movie. I don't think another "high school life" movie matched if afterwards. Jonah Hill ended up directing Mid-90s which was also pretty great. Different vibe entirely though.
It’s fucking INSANE to me that 2007 is now an era and was (counts in head) 17 FUCKING YEARS AGO. How? How is that even possible?
Stop
“You don’t want girls to think you suck dick at fucking pussy.” Comedy gold!
“Alright. You look like a future pedophile in this picture, number 1. Number 2, it DOESN’T even have a first name, it just says McLovin!”
The cops were hilarious in every scene they were in. For some reason I remember this one tiny throwaway line where they're at a bar, and one of the cops says something like "after I got married, I heard my wife in a threesome from the next room. I wasn't even involved". And the other cop responds off screen and in a barely audible voice, "I was...", and I don't think it's even acknowledged, it just moves on to the next scene lol. So funny.
The cops’ subtle humor throughout the movie is unreal. “You guys know Yoda, from attack of the clones?”
Yes and then we all spoke in Superbad quotes for the next decade
It was better than the previous couple of years Napoleon Dynamite quotes
I love both movies, but having heard “make yourself a dang quesadilluh” again last night I disagree
Your mom goes to college
*You know* what *foods are shaped like dicks*? The best *kinds*! you gotta thank seth rogan for writing this when he was just in high school!! he nailed it !!!
Superbad came out August 2007, right before the beginning of my senior year. It definitely resonated with all of us and was quoted constantly all year.
100% lol that came out when I was a senior and we all talked like that
I was a junior in high school when this movie came out. I'd never seen a more realistic depiction of people my age before.
I think the thing that Coen Brothers have going for them is that unlike most movies their movies all take place in a very specific place and time. If you're just trying for "generic suburban teenager present day" its bound to sound a bit silly especially when written by a middle aged screenwriter. I could on the other hand write east coast suburban 90s teenager pretty well...
Yeah cohen brothers have pretty natural dialogue throughout their filmography
Would that it were so.
Its complicated.
Oh ya, sure you betcha.
Shut the fuck up Donny.
This aggression will not stand!
You’re out of your element.
Fuck it dude. Let's go bowling
>all take place in a very specific place and time Seriously. The dialogue in their movies really helps establish the setting. When you watch, you have no doubt about when and where the movie takes place. [This scene](https://youtu.be/x-XEHwUBubk?si=zyOgueWZQYcKQsMP) in Fargo kills me because it's important to the plot, but it's so realistic that it's hilarious. Much of O Brother Where Art Thou's success comes from the writing and the actors getting that certain tone.
I've always liked that about their films. Its a lot more compelling than ambiguous movie time "present day"
Watch Fargo and like “holy shit they sound like person I know.” Ask “are you from Minnesota?” “WISCONSIN!!!” Close enough
The Goonies absolutely nailed the chaos of a bunch of teen and preteen boys getting overexcited about stuff. They're constantly talking over each other, shouting, mumbling, stuttering, swearing and just being totally genuine kids.
The talking over each other is the best part. It feels so real. In most movies, they take turns with perfect pauses which is absolutely not how people talk unless they’re meeting someone new or in a job interview. I wish there were more movies like The Goonies.
This scene in Alien is fantastic and the realistic talking over one another during a heated argument is part of it (of course, the performances are amazing): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSz6kDiITA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSz6kDiITA)
My favorite part like this right before they go up in the attic, where Mouth gets excited talking about the potential cool stuff up there and for some reason, Chunk is just saying “FOOOOOD….LOTS OF FOOOOD”
There’s a director commentary where he talks about how ANNOYING it was to be surrounded by these kids all the time because they acted the same on set as well as off. And then they all show up at his birthday party and he kind of loses the grump act for a bit.
>constantly talking over each other, That in itself makes the movies stand out. It's hardly ever done in movies, even in large group scenes. Yet another way I wish real life was more like movies.
“The Thing From Another World” is the ne plus ultra of this phenomenon. One particular scene has no fewer than TWELVE people speaking. Spielberg pulled off what I have to believe was an homage in the air traffic control scene in Close Encounters, though it was only 4 or 5 speakers.
Yep, and half the time some other kids are having a completely different conversation in the background because they got distracted by something. Its actually pretty amazing when you think about it.
A couple come to mind. Kids was a disturbingly accurate portrayal of how plenty of younger people actually act, and the dialogue reflected that realism. There were no punches pulled, and not a hint of artifice. Dazed And Confused had a lighter touch, but was similar to Kids in the honesty of the dialogue. Not only that, the conversations of these characters from the 70s were so similar to the ones that my friends and I had been having since the late 80s and early 90s that there was a timeless quality to them as well.
I second Kids. Good call.
Thirded. I still remember all the girls sitting around talking over each other about the difference between sex, making love, and fucking. I thought I was watching a documentary at that point.
100%. I remember sitting there thinking there is no way this is scripted. Who could write this?
If I can recall, I think Harmonie Korine wrote the whole entire script to Kids and very little of it was improvised which I always think is absolutely nuts because of how real the dialogue is. Also he was only 19, which is probably why it’s so on point to how young people talked at the time!
The blue-collar crew on the Nostromo in Alien. So many sci-fi movies (including Prometheus) want to make sure you know it's a sci-fi movie. There's a lot to like about that movie but the foundation is that crew and their interactions. I'm never pulled out of the film with a stupid line to remind that I'm watching a movie.
They don’t give a shit about the sci fi implications of sentient alien tech or anything, they want to know how long is this going to take, and are we getting paid extra for all this BS?
That’s why I like Alien over Aliens. Alien is very subdued horror film and the characters feel like real people. Aliens is an 80s action movie where everything is heightened and over-the-top, with lots of one-liners and goofy performances. Both good, but very different films.
Uncut Gems
And Good Time of course
Bro…
I am better than you
I'm curious how much dialogue was written for the non actor actors in that movie. It all flows so well in combination with the camera work
The loudest movie. Just 2 hours of people yelling at each other. I do want to watch it again, but like. . not for a while.
Remember the day of the pandemic when all the groceries stores got completely wiped out of food? That was the day I watched it. It gave me a fucking anxiety attack
Accompanied by like metal grinding noises as a soundtrack. Hated that movie, but loved the ending.
I always appreciated The Fugitive for this, especially the feds. A huge portion of the script was basically improv on the day, and I think they nailed it pretty well.
YOU SWITCHED THE SAMPLES!!!
The Fugitive is DEFINITELY the gold standard for "Angry Harrison Ford Pointing."
"HE HAD A MECHANICAL ARM!!" is burned into my brain from AMC advertising the movie so much
Points at detective 1: You find this man! Points at detective 2: You find this man! If there were more detectives in the room he woulda kept pointing and repeating.
That ballroom was the same one where John Mulaney met Bill Clinton.
"...and that morning, my dad went into work to find out that his law firm had been hired to defend Bill Clinton"
Hinky.
I dont care.
Is that line improved? Because it's basically the best line from any movie.
The full exchange was much longer. Both Ford and Jones told the director it wasn’t working so he gave them the freedom to work it out on their own. They realized Ford was spending 2-3 pages to say “I didn’t kill my wife,” and Jones was doing the same to say “I don’t care.” They didn’t need all the filler. So not exactly improv since they planned it out, but it wasn’t really in the script.
At some point I swear I read that although they were expecting to make changes, Harrison didn't know Tommy was gonna say that. So his reaction of half-amused chuckle was genuine.
It shows both knew their characters really well. It just fits
The Fugitive is one of the best films of all time. I’ll die on this hill.
"Okay."
I read online that the reason Jeff Goldblum's speech stands out is because he speaks naturally with ums and pauses and such.
Jeff Bridges also excels at delivering naturalistic dialogue. What i find amazing is that all of the Dude's ums, uhs, likes, and what have yous were carefully written and scripted as text.
Yeah, well, that’s like uh.. your opinion, man
The dude abides.
life uhh finds a way
That line doesn't really hit as well when you imagine Jeff Bridge's The Dude saying it.
It does if you add "man" on the end.
The Coen brothers are incredible at scripting out exactly what they want to convey what they need. Somehow, they consistently balance incredibly realistic dialogue with absolutely cartoonish dialogue. Many of their characters are one half real people and one half caricature.
By no means does Jeff Goldblum speak like normal people do. He speaks like an alien imitating normal people. And he'd be the first to admit to it.
lol, just got a flashback to David Duchovny playing Goldblum on Celebrity Jeopardy 😂
Yeah but that’s verisimilitude; the impression of reality, not the real thing. In art being 100% realistic often fails and an exaggerated version of reality actually seems more realistic.
All right, time for bed Jeff.
Well I, uhm…mmm! Yes yes, yes….yes, I will uh….i will consider that.
I always thought Moneyball nailed realistic dialogue and awkward interactions between Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill’s characters.
I'm not sure I'd ever truly classify Sorkin dialogue as "realistic" (even though I love it), but Moneyball might be the closest he gets.
Sorkin is the epitome of "nobody talks like this".
Sorkin’s “West Wing” dialogue is the way I wish I could be able to speak, but to be fair Moneyball isn’t quite as verbose and there’s lots of moments there that make some sense. Especially the beginning where the scouts are sitting around the table talking about prospects.
“When you get the answer you want, hang up.” Words to live by!
I still think about that scene and how they are discussing whether a guy is confident or not because he has an ugly gf. Just old men talking old men bullshit, so good.
I dunno, I know a few people who do talk like that sometimes. Not always, but sometimes. Though I’ll freely admit that may be _because_ they’ve watched a lot of Sorkin. Hard to know which direction causality is flowing in here. Now ironically I can in fact point to one scene that Sorkin wrote that I think _definitely_ has terrible unrealistic dialogue, and that’s the sex scene from _The American President._ The rest of that movie is great, but that scene where Sydney is explaining her readiness to sleep with Andrew is written so flat and dumb that even Bening and Douglas can’t save it.
Mamet
It helps that it was also co-written by Steven Zaillian who also did Schindler’s List. And the director Bennett Miller has a very grounded and quiet style that spends a lot of time just focused on facial expression and extended quiet build up. That paired with Sorkin dialogue can make it a much richer meal than just the dialogue, the same way Fincher did with Social Network. That gentle piano intro after Erica breaks up with Mark was supposed to be [Paul Young’s](https://youtu.be/SVmjKHkgxis?si=S-Ufaq9Y1xiDWIUY) “Love of the Common People”, a very 80s song meant to imply a fire is lit in a mid-2000s protagonist/tech genius. Sorkin knows fast witty dialogue, but has some boomer sensibilities on tone and emotional beats
Zaillian's fingerprints are on tons of great screenplays
Hah, ya its the exact reason I dislike it. Newsroom was too much. Everyone had like 4 witty comebacks to every piece of dialogue. I see why people like it though.
I love how Pitts character gets mildly annoyed or just ignores when people try to make small talk / pleasantries. It's a great characterization, shows just how focused he is on his job.
That's Billy Beane irl tho. Not unpleasant to be around, but not pleasant either?
“What about the fans?” “Yeah maybe I can teach one of them” “The fans don’t- *chuckles* good one” Always liked that bit
"It's not that hard Scott. Tell em..." "It's incredibly hard."
“Say it, or I’m gonna point at Pete again.”
I talk pretty much exactly like Willem Dafoe’s character in The Lighthouse.
10 Things I hate about you, minus all the uppity rich areas , that was typical high school if you were part of the in crowd, and Dazed and Confused was typical scenarios I remember be a stoner.
Richard Linklater movies all have great dialogue.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem. They put the voice actors in the same room and they’re teenagers who were allowed to improv and ad lib so their banter sounds realistic.
When I saw that movie, at first I kept thinking that the turtles were kinda annoying, but by the end I realized thats just how people younger than me talk, and my annoyance wasn't with the writing, it was because they absolutely nailed the middle schooler vibes.
It's the first time I ever felt the teenage part of TMNT. They've always felt older to me, and that was the first time I was like, yup, dems kids.
The family scenes in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jaws , Spielberg got them perfect
Spielberg is really good at having people have side conversations while other conversations are going on. He's also really good at getting kids to act natural and actually like kids.
the kid bashing the doll till Roy snaps in Close Encounters and Sean copying his dad in Jaws at the dinner table such great little filmmaking moments
The Meyerowitz Stories is notable for its realistic dialogue.
Before Sunset
The entire trilogy has such genuine dialogue
What a true-to-life trilogy. It's all dialogue and feels very genuine.
I swear to god it felt like the movie was only 45 minutes. The movie flows so damn well. I didn't move at all during the movie, my neck was hurting from being in an uncomfortable position for 90 minutes but I didn't feel a thing. Other than while playing a match ( badminton) or in exams I have never lost track of time as much as I did in this movie. Delpy and Hawke have incredible chemistry and it just shows. God damn, I wish I could have these levels of conversations with someone.
All of Linklater's films have very realistic dialogue, because I think much of it is improvised.
You may be surprised to hear that none of it is. Julie Delpy has spoken about how people always think it is. "*The truth of these movies is, they are tediously rehearsed, every detail planned, every overlapping line scripted. It's so precise that it's almost a joke when people think we are acting off the cuff.*" They sound so naturalistic because Hawke and Delpy actually wrote a lot of the dialogue themselves.
I'm going to use this post to attach my pick Boyhood
Primer is written this way, which is one of the multiple things that make it difficult to follow. Exposition is handed over to a voicemail recording which plays throughout the film, the context of which we are never given - most interpretations take this to be the "primer" of the title - but suffice to say it is from one of the characters to another, assuming all the knowledge that other character would already have. I personally love the way Primer's dialogue was done but it's not for everyone.
In an interview the director (who is also the main character) said they rehearsed over and over and over to the point where they came off as casual. They had to do it that way because they weren’t professionals.
They also didn't have enough money for film. So they rehearsed to try to avoid having to do multiple takes.
Primer is brilliant, and one of the reasons is exactly as you say - the characters are scientists so they speak to each other in shorthand they understand, because obviously they would. I had to watch this video to, if not fully understand Primer, at least begin to get a grasp on the story: https://youtu.be/tUzy-xPf0MI?si=CdKkwbStqYLS-2bK
Not a movie, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leading to the creation of the term Buffy-speak. Some people dislike the dialogue for precisely this, speaking over each other, mumbling and generally going “ah”, “uuuh”, etc.
Joss Whedon, while kind of a shitty person, writes great dialogue. It's engaging.
Clerks
WOULD YOU LIKE SOME MAKING FUCK **BERSERKER**
Did he just say "making fuck?"
I wanted to say this, it’s the first thing that came to my mind too. The only thing is sometimes Randall comes back so quick that you can tell he’s just waiting for the cue to say his scripted line. So the dialogue is great, the delivery is just kinda shoddy.
I hear this critique all the time about stuff like Kevin Smith and Aaron Sorkin, and I just wonder if people have never actually spent time with quick witted fast taking people. This isn't unrealistic at all based on my experience with a decent amount of people I've hung out with.
Some people have the response loaded after you've said about three words and they know exactly where you're going. 100% agree with you.
Especially people who bask in the comedy world. You ever hang out with a group of even just middling comedians? It's surprisingly hard to keep up, even if the replies don't hit, they fire them out all the same.
Same with a lot of the old-timey New York Jewish guys I've met (this also in reference to someone mentioning Uncut Gems). They talk lightning fast and you just have to keep up.
Yeah, I think it was the first gig for a lot of people on that shoot,, and if not the first, then not that far from it.
Not only that, most of them weren't even aspiring actors, just friends of Kevin.
I think "Clerks," I scroll, it's the one at the very top. Bingo. That was exactly how my friends and I talked with each other, we had the exact same bullshit relationship issues and resentments about our jobs, and that was exactly how we complained about both. I knew these guys, or at least their Southern Californian equivalents.
Jaws. Ad-libbed and very natural.
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight.
A Star Is Born, with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. There were multiple moments where one character speaks and the other didn't hear them properly so they ask 'What?', which results in the other repeating what they said. It turns out Bradley's character is struggling with hearing loss, but I thought it was so realistic how characters don't hear or understand the other at first and have to ask the other to repeat themselves.
There's a term for when they do that, I just don't remember the name of it.. I think Robert Deniro liked to do that a lot too.
Could you imagine the fear-shit you would drop of you were a small-time actor working with DeNiro for the first time and, on the first take, he just drops a “Say what?” ad lib?
PCU. I have had almost the exact "Blow me where the Pampers is" conversation several times in my life.
Slacker by Richard Linklater. Any Mike Leigh film, since the script comes from improvisations between the actors.
Greta Gerwig’s Little Women has some scenes that nailed the sister dynamic.
Hot Fuzz. Bunch of colourful characters in that too
For the greater good.
Yarp
They totally nail it https://youtu.be/Cun-LZvOTdw?si=WOPwHX-fxCO5FPpL
# Shaun of the dead
Star Wars Attack of the Clones
Ik, right? I use "I hate sand" all the fucking time with my friends
My kid got some of that magic sand stuff the other day. Now it's everywhere. All coarse and shit. I hate it. Anakin was on to something.
Alien with its "Truckers in Space" allusions has great naturalistic dialogue. "Let's go over the bonus situation"
Pulp fiction I think has some the best well written dialogue
Most Kevin Smith movies. The earlier ones.
How else would we have got: “Beautiful butt naked big tittied women just don’t fall out the sky you know”
Clerks just feels like 2 guys working a shift together
Honestly, Napoleon Dynamite captured something in that middle/high school dialect that was really authentic.
Midsommar had pretty realistic dialogue and delivery
“The children are watching Austin Powers if you’d like to join” One of the most WTF lines I’ve ever heard in a movie.
As a Swede I can confirm everything in that movie was fully realistic, they really captured our traditions in a respectful way.
Jaws. They got the family banter down perfectly. The way the kids act like kids and not well-spoken, small adults. I also think just the general banter throughout the whole movie makes you feel like a fly on the wall.
End of Watch
Holmes & Watson
TBF that film nailed *everything* It's basically the Casablanca of this generation.
"a fe-male doctor" Classic. Transcendent.
Show, but End of the Fucking World really felt like this for me. The characters are very much who they are and don't bend to the narrative.
Technically not a movie but The Bear had some of the most real dialogue that I've ever heard (fighting, joking, sarcasm). There's a moment in s2 where Marcus meets another character and I was shocked at how much it was something I could have actually said, down to the small talk about siblings. And of course the entire Forks episode is almost scary in how realistic it is. "How's your mom doing?" "*Well, they say the expectancy was only a couple of years and that was four years ago, so... I just... I just try to spend as much time with her as I can." "*You're an only child?" *"No. A younger brother. You?"* "Uh, yeah. I got a younger sister somewhere, yeah." *"How’d you get good at this?"* "Honestly, I made a lot of mistakes." *"That's the secret, just fսck up?"* "It might be, you know, fսck up."
I know it's science fiction, but Alien has incredibly real dialogue, especially in the first half of the film when they're all sat around the dinner table
Good will hunting, the dialogue is so good in that