to think titanic movie is cringy

[makkapacca]

Came out when I was 12 and I loved it but at 36 caught it on tv last night and it is so cringy. Whilst I think Winslet and Leo are great actors their acting in it is cringe although I don't know if it's their inexperience or just the script. Every 2nd line is 'Jack Rose'. I don't get how both were nominated for Oscars for it when it genuinely wasn't good acting by any means on either part and again I think both are genuinely brilliant in their other films.

Watching it is reminiscent of watching 90s Home and Away or just bad teenage tv acting. Yea the effects are great but the script in itself is just so mediocre and so 12 year old girl stuff. It didn't occur to me how little the film actually go into the subject matter of the Titanic like the creation of it and the aftermath of the sinking etc.

The rich in it like Cal and Rose's mum are so 1 dimensional greedy villains which is kind of hypocritical considering how wealthy Cameron himself is, and the poor Irish on 3rd class are just laughably bad and cliche with accents Irish people never have. And I say that as an Irish person myself so no racism.

A critic said after that the only reason it got oscar noms was because of the money it gained and I sort of agree. Again the effects and cinematography were great but the film itself was just a predictable cringe fest.

@makkapacca

Neither was Titanic!😂

Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented that "Cameron's magnificent Titanic is the first spectacle in decades that honestly invites comparison to Gone With the Wind."[129] Adrian Turner of Radio Times awarded it four stars out of five, stating "Cameron's script wouldn't have sustained Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh for 80 minutes, but, somehow, he and his magical cast revive that old-style studio gloss for three riveting hours."[131]

I see that as a point about the run time, which was also considered a serious risk for GWTW. That's one reason it was significant. She's saying the script isn't on a par with the greats, but something about - the "gloss" - will keep audiences watching for twice as long as was usual back then. And it did.

Oh my God. That pun was not intended. I didn't mean to be insensitive. I'm sorry. What an idiot.

@MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers

I have never seen the film so can't comment on that but I remember going to the hairdresser's when it was on at the cinema and she told me that she and three of her friends had dumped their boyfriends after seeing it as they 'weren't as romantic as Jack'

Ooooh that reminds me of a quote from the Marshall article I posted.

“ How many of us felt our first flush of romantic desire, of attraction, of arousal, for Jack Dawson? And was it possible for this imprinting — this firstness — to inoculate us with the belief that we, too, could be loved and respected and liberated this profoundly? Was everyone afraid of us because we were being taught, in a way that seemed somehow dangerous, that we were worthy of such love? And did this belief seem so dangerous because it allowed a generation of girls to see not that they needed to be rescued, but that they could rescue themselves?”

As a pp pointed out, the entire film is through 17 yo Rose’s POV so obviously it’s going to be mostly appealing to a teenage audience rather than the middle aged woman you are now.

The critics were probably reflecting that as well as the then groundbreaking CGI effects. A good critic is able to step into the mindset of a film’s target audience, which is part of the job.

I loved it then and I love it now. I never cared much for the main characters however, the bits that made me cry were the old couple lying on the bed together as the water rose, the mother tucking her children in, the despair when the people who came back are fishing frozen bodies out the water and seeing the same doll that is in the opening underwater shots being carried around by little Cora.

However, there is just so much running water that I have never yet managed to get through the whole film without needing a wee. Even 11 year old me needed to get up in the cinema a few times!

As a pp pointed out, the entire film is through 17 yo Rose’s POV so obviously it’s going to be mostly appealing to a teenage audience rather than the middle aged woman you are now

so is 36 middle aged?

@makkapacca

As a pp pointed out, the entire film is through 17 yo Rose’s POV so obviously it’s going to be mostly appealing to a teenage audience rather than the middle aged woman you are now

so is 36 middle aged?

It's not 17!

Gone With The Wind is similarly a romantic melodrama, I don’t understand why it’s supposed to be more “highbrow”.

I don’t think GWTW is highbrow but it was watchable. I think manly due to the characters as Scarlet and Rhett had some depth to them plus the supporting cast had their own interesting side stories. Rose and Jack were dull as dishwater. The plot consisted of them bleating each other’s names. Couldn’t wait for the boat to sink. Never watched it again.

Your feelings about it could depend on the age at which you saw it,

It’s a bit like Wuthering Heights. I absolutely LOVED it aged 13, the passion and drama of it all completely blew me away.

As an adult I see it for what it is: a story of 2 hormonal, self obsessed teenagers making a hash of their lives in the name of “love”.

But do I remember how first love felt all consumingly life or death? Absolutely I do and respect it for the rite of passage it is.

Titanic does capture that purity of first love, in part due to the unmistakable chemistry between Winslet and DiCaprio and I think that’s a big reason why it was generally well received by critics and hugely successful with the audience of the time.

I saw it age 22 at the cinema.
I remember being utterly bored at the love story (the sex in the car scene was embarrassing) and annoyed that it distracted from the 'real' story.
I was genuinely moved by the little touches (lost family using their dictionary to find their way to safety, old couple in bed, musicians etc)

As far as Rose and Jack? Terribly miscast as a couple and when she was holding on to him on that bloody door I kept wishing she would push him off and put him out of his misery.

That all said, Rose could’ve tried a bit harder to share the door with Jack!

@HoppingPavlova

Gone With The Wind is similarly a romantic melodrama, I don’t understand why it’s supposed to be more “highbrow”.

I don’t think GWTW is highbrow but it was watchable. I think manly due to the characters as Scarlet and Rhett had some depth to them plus the supporting cast had their own interesting side stories. Rose and Jack were dull as dishwater. The plot consisted of them bleating each other’s names. Couldn’t wait for the boat to sink. Never watched it again.

Ok I will admit that GWTW has more depth and complexity. Fine.

James Cameron-created characters are pretty one-note in general (if Terminators 1&2 are anything to go by) but boy do they evoke the emotional experience of that note, and pull you along for the ride. If you ask me anyway!

Also Titanic does spend a LOT of time evoking the experience of the sinking ship, and portraying how differently people react to it. I also think it’s unfair to say the villains are entirely one-dimensional; they have humanising moments (Cal putting the coat back on Rose / Rose’s mum revealing her fears of having to work as a seamstress) and seem pretty realistic to me (i.e. there are plenty of people in the world like that).

@Pootlepoodle

It’s a bit like Wuthering Heights. I absolutely LOVED it aged 13, the passion and drama of it all completely blew me away.

As an adult I see it for what it is: a story of 2 hormonal, self obsessed teenagers making a hash of their lives in the name of “love”.

But do I remember how first love felt all consumingly life or death? Absolutely I do and respect it for the rite of passage it is.

Titanic does capture that purity of first love, in part due to the unmistakable chemistry between Winslet and DiCaprio and I think that’s a big reason why it was generally well received by critics and hugely successful with the audience of the time.

Yeah.

I saw Last Tango In Paris at 19 and was incredibly aroused by it “ooh, they have such a complicated and fucked up relationship but part of it is a raw human connection”.

Then watched it with a friend in our 30s (who had never seen it before) and she just found it disturbing/exploitative. So these things can depend on the age at which you watch them and how much you identify with the emotional journey (from the characters’ point of view).

Great example @Fenella2000 !

Ditto Sleepless in Seattle. Loved it when it came out, oh how romantic. Now I see that Annie is basically a stalker and if she wasn’t so pretty, he would have had an injunction taken out in her.

Sentimental Garbage did a great podcast about Titanic.

Highly praised on release, great action sequences but as soon as it took hold in teenage girls minds it began to be seen as silly.

@loveisanopensore

Sentimental Garbage did a great podcast about Titanic.

Highly praised on release, great action sequences but as soon as it took hold in teenage girls minds it began to be seen as silly.

Excellent point.

[quote tackling]**@HelloFrostyMorning 

@Winniemarysarah oh dear, could you really not even remotely guess what I meant about a movie I watched a good 25 years ago where one of the main characters dies in the water??

I actually love the Godfather young Al Pacino what's not to like[/quote]
@HelloFrostyMorning

Pedant alert from* @Winniemarysarah *You know she meant JACK. Yeah we all know he froze to death, and Rose snapped his fingers off the big door and pushed his frozen dead carcus deep into the sea.

@PurpleThursdays

I don't know why this is making me laugh... 😂

@tackling

@HelloFrostyMorning

LOL I did actually read that back this morning!

@Nietzschethehiker

I genuinely do not understand why people like the OP can't just not like something without trying to insist that it's objectively bad. You don't like it now as an adult , so?

It's not really my thing either but why on earth do you need to spend so much effort denigrating it in order to try to get an objective agreement to validate your personal dislike.

You don't like it now and disagree with the reviews. Other people like it. You in fact do not need other people to validate your dislike.

This. ^ It's pathetic.

As @Nietzschethehiker said, you can dislike a film without mocking and bashing those who likes it. It just makes you look incredibly small minded and immature.

I think The Godfather films are an overrated pile of crap, but I don't bash the people who enjoy them, and think they're amazing.

Of course 36 is middle aged! It's halfway to 72, which is two years past your three score and ten.

I was 19 when it came out, saw it 3 times at the cinema and preordered the vhs when it came out (on two tapes as it was so long) 😂

Watched it a couple of weeks ago and hated it.... I wont watch it again. I think at 19 I really thought relationships were all about a love story etc etc and life soon knocked that outta me!

@HufflepuffPride

What is it with posters on Mumsnet saying how much they hate popular films and pointing out all that’s wrong with them? Is it an attempt to look cool and edgy? Well I still like Titanic and I still like Home Alone as well.

As for you who watched it and laughed, well you do realise that really happened and nearly 2,000 people died? But never mind you are so cool and edgy aren’t you 🙄

Well, it was bad film and if you want to get all hot under the collar about this, then why don't you get upset with the people who made it this bad and exploitative and who released it to make tons of money from a disaster that cost 2,000 their lives.

You are barking up the wrong tree here.