1. nope. If anything, i'm going to be more critical of a film I *can* relate to.

Let's face it, I've never seen a giant tranforming robot or had to stake a vampire so I have no idea if the director got those details right, so I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

However, when I watch a movie like Better Luck Tomorrow, well, I HAVE been a student in a competitive high school so when I see something that doesn't quite work or hear wonky dialogue or a flat performance, well, those things stick out. I know, because I've been there and if a director or an actor does a suck job at portraying it, I'm going to be less forgiving. Kinda like when my lawyer friend bitches all the way through an episode of law and order because they got some bit of lawyering wrong.

Posted at 10:37PM on May 2nd 2008 by eugene

2. I enjoyed "The Savages" better than "Juno". I am the exact age that "Juno" advertisers were targeting. My parents are just on the cusp of having to deal with the issuses of caring for older parents that "The Savages" brought up. Most of my problem with "Juno" was that I know how real high school students talk and let's face it, we are not all that witty. Even the best improv, theatre students are mainly made up of "that's what she said" jokes that would make Michael Scott proud.

Posted at 2:33AM on May 3rd 2008 by Kelsey

3. This might sound strange, but I could relate to the first half of Iron Man. In it, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) survives a severe wound to the chest, which leads to the power cell that leads him to develop the Iron Man weapon.

All of the stuff with his chest wound got to me because I've had chest surgery and I have a scar there. So, there I had a instinctual, bodily reaction to that aspect of the story and it made those chest-wound scenes work better for me when they otherwise wouldn't have.

Posted at 2:44AM on May 3rd 2008 by John

4. the movie i probably related to the most was superbad, but it didn't grab me nearly at all. sure it was funny, but knocked up actually had me rolling in the aisles at the theater (true story). it's weird to me that i listed those two, but i can't remember any other good (or supposed to be good) movies i've seen in the past year or two.

Posted at 9:30AM on May 3rd 2008 by oarking

5. p.s. i don't have kids, never had to face the issue, and probably won't even have any.

Posted at 9:33AM on May 3rd 2008 by oarking

6. I think a really great film makes you relate to it, and this happens all the time. It happens more often than the way it's supposed to work according to producers and marketers: that you're in the right demographic and are compelled to relate to the film because you were born in 1975 (or whatever).

Posted at 12:36PM on May 3rd 2008 by Richard von Busack

7. If a movie takes a setting I'm intimately familiar with and then screws it up with "a weak story and forced dialogue," I just get pissed off. So it's a double-edged sword.

Posted at 8:58PM on May 3rd 2008 by Eugene Novikov

8. There was that time I was asked to save the universe from the evil empire and wound up growing closer to my father depsite his wearing masks and sounding like James Earl Jones (going scuba diving).

I don't think it is so easy to decide if a film is better if you relate to it. I tend to agree with the statement, but I don't often see my life reflected in movies.

I like the Matrix, but I don't feel like the world is an illusion. I like films like Field of Dreams and The Natural because I was a baseball player (hence a bit of me relates to it).

Simply put, I think both ideas are correct. I can forgive a story with weak dialogue or other problems a bit so long as I feel I can relate to that world. I can also go to a movie which has absolutely nothing to do with my life and get alot out of it; if at the time I am seeking something I don't feel I need to relate to.

What I can't forgive is a story world I feel is unrealistic (if I expect it to be real) with character who sound like they don't talk normally (except perhaps for Shakespeare, but hey it's Shakespeare) and actions/reactions which seem odd, implausible, or unconvincing.

Posted at 9:27PM on May 3rd 2008 by ahkaufman

9. I can't relate to most characters in films because most characters have the intelligence of a bag of nails. I can count to ten without having to use my fingers, I'm not so emotionally crippled that I can't tell when to shut up and walk away, I know that if something scary makes noises outside then I should NOT go looking for it.

Posted at 12:27PM on May 5th 2008 by Ryan A.

10. Of course a bad movie may still be enjoyable if you can relate to its characters--and relating doesn't necessarily imply you've been there and done that, it means you can emotionally connect with characters and vicariously experience what they go through.
That's the reason movie stars get a big check even if the film sucks: when you really like an actor (and therefore relate to him) you may have fun watching pretty much anything he's in... The worst Steve McQueen movie, say Towering Inferno, will still get me going, while anything with Jason Patrick or Mike Myers will leave me cold, no matter how great (is there a great Jason Patrick film out there?). Before Daniel Craig, the James Bond franchise had become really, really lame, but I would still see the films with interest (and painful frustration!), just because Connery had made the guy so compelling I couldn't let it go.

I would venture that the opposite is also true--great films will do nothing for you if you find no character to relate to: any Lord of the Rings movie will make me snooze, no matter how much I wish I could love it. There is not one character in there I care about (and even if there were one, he'd have too many useless goblinesque dorks to share the screen with).

That is, by the way, my whole beef with most Michael Bay films (and with Star Wars as well): I enjoy the action but his characters are usually flat, so I really don't care what happens to them--so frustrating when you know you'd love the stuff with just a little wee bit of intelligently written dialogue...

They won't be original, for they are classics or soon will be, but here are a few examples of brilliant pictures to whose characters you relate without having been there or done that--the very definition of good fiction: Sullivan's Travels, Meet John Doe, Double Indemnity, Paths of Glory, The Searchers, The Big Country, The Sand Pebbles, The Professionals, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Godfather, Barry Lyndon, The Man who would be King, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Scarface, Witness, Mo' Better Blues, Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs, The Fugitive, Se7en, The Truman Show, Jackie Brown, Gladiator, The Last King of Scotland, ...

Guy movies all, because I don't relate to girlie stuff as much, sue me. Okay, how about Far from Heaven?

(And yes, I am too old for this page... sorry to intrude, kids.)

Posted at 10:08PM on May 7th 2008 by Fred