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Don’t like It’s A Wonderful Life

125 replies

Cattery · 07/12/2024 12:37

Watched it for the first time many years ago and a few Christmases since. I’ll concede the sentiment is lovely but OMG, the acting and the script are jarring

OP posts:
NooNakedJacuzziness · 07/12/2024 15:43

I like it, it's quite dark in places - prefer it to shite like Love Actually and The Holiday

Superhansrantowindsor · 07/12/2024 15:43

Oh I love this film. I think the young lad in it is great - when he tells the chemist there was poison in the pills I get teary. When the little girl asks her daddy to paste the flower I get teary. I don’t think the acting is bad. Now if we are talking really shite Christmas films then I present you with love actually. Despite having a truly fine cast, it is absolute tripe.

HauntedBungalow · 07/12/2024 15:46

I think what's seen as "bad acting" now was entirely in keeping with how acting should have been 80 years ago. These guys weren't going for gritty realism - they were using the art form of film to stage and frame a story. Audiences wanted and expected to be enchanted at the same time as they were entertained and provoked to further thought. It's a tall order and the film manages it beautifully.

Agree that it's also really quite dark - there is utter despair in there, and also a depiction of how perilously close the American nightmare is to the American dream - something that an adult audience recovering from war, whose childhoods had been spent in economic precarity, knew all too well.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/12/2024 15:46

I agree that Love Actually is absolute tripe and yet I really enjoy it too. If forced to choose between LA and IAWL, though, I'd go for IAWL every single time. Far more depth.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/12/2024 15:47

NooNakedJacuzziness · 07/12/2024 15:43

I like it, it's quite dark in places - prefer it to shite like Love Actually and The Holiday

Yes, it's a really good mix of darkness and schmaltz. Grown up themes. The mum putting a brave face on it and holding things together for the sake of the kids while George is heading for a breakdown. It could almost be a thread on here.

SybilTheSpy · 07/12/2024 15:47

Superhansrantowindsor · 07/12/2024 15:43

Oh I love this film. I think the young lad in it is great - when he tells the chemist there was poison in the pills I get teary. When the little girl asks her daddy to paste the flower I get teary. I don’t think the acting is bad. Now if we are talking really shite Christmas films then I present you with love actually. Despite having a truly fine cast, it is absolute tripe.

Edited

the scene with the chemist makes me emotional too.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 07/12/2024 15:48

I don't have good associations to it as it was used heavily in RE as a teaching tool when I was in high school and I just associate it with being bored and frustrated

SwordToFlamethrower · 07/12/2024 15:48

I don't like it because the love interest is wasted as a character. She is intelligent, gets a degree, then marries this due so she can be a maid, but it's OK, cos she absolutely LOVES being a SAHM who does absolutely everything.

It hasn't aged well at all. He is a pathetic, entitled male and the woman would have been way more interesting as the star of the film.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/12/2024 15:49

HauntedBungalow · 07/12/2024 15:46

I think what's seen as "bad acting" now was entirely in keeping with how acting should have been 80 years ago. These guys weren't going for gritty realism - they were using the art form of film to stage and frame a story. Audiences wanted and expected to be enchanted at the same time as they were entertained and provoked to further thought. It's a tall order and the film manages it beautifully.

Agree that it's also really quite dark - there is utter despair in there, and also a depiction of how perilously close the American nightmare is to the American dream - something that an adult audience recovering from war, whose childhoods had been spent in economic precarity, knew all too well.

Another great post. Different doesn't mean bad! Black and white films are often extremely beautiful to watch because there was such care and attention given to the lighting and the framing of the shots. The Third Man comes to mind here.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/12/2024 15:50

SwordToFlamethrower · 07/12/2024 15:48

I don't like it because the love interest is wasted as a character. She is intelligent, gets a degree, then marries this due so she can be a maid, but it's OK, cos she absolutely LOVES being a SAHM who does absolutely everything.

It hasn't aged well at all. He is a pathetic, entitled male and the woman would have been way more interesting as the star of the film.

How many times do people have to say "it's of its time"? In those days for a middle-class family the mother wouldn't have worked. It's just silly to try and pick holes in this film because you're looking at it through a 21st century way of doing things.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/12/2024 15:51

SwordToFlamethrower · 07/12/2024 15:48

I don't like it because the love interest is wasted as a character. She is intelligent, gets a degree, then marries this due so she can be a maid, but it's OK, cos she absolutely LOVES being a SAHM who does absolutely everything.

It hasn't aged well at all. He is a pathetic, entitled male and the woman would have been way more interesting as the star of the film.

Pathetic, entitled male? Not what I take from the film at all.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/12/2024 15:52

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/12/2024 15:50

How many times do people have to say "it's of its time"? In those days for a middle-class family the mother wouldn't have worked. It's just silly to try and pick holes in this film because you're looking at it through a 21st century way of doing things.

Show quote history

Exactly.

Uricon2 · 07/12/2024 15:56

Totally off topic (well, it's about Christmas films)

I've sent a card to a friend who adores him with Alan Rickman on the front and

'Christmas tip: if you watch Die Hard straight after Love Actually, he will be punished for what he did to Emma Thompson'.

WearyAuldWumman · 07/12/2024 15:57

catmothertes1 · 07/12/2024 15:11

I used to love it until I thought of something that I cannot unsee.
When they show what people's life would have been without him,Mary is shown to be a lonely spinster,a librarian. However,without Mary having had a crush on him from childhood,her live would be better. In the film,we see her being popular at the school dance,going away to university and the rich guy asked her on dates. If she was not so obsessed with George,she might have married him or someone similar and lived a great life. So,why is she shown as a grey looking spinster? That really bugs me.

That's the one aspect of the film that I've always found annoying. Plus - I'm paraphrasing here:

"What's happened to Mary?"

"You're not going to like it George... she's a...a...a...SPINSTER!"

Doyouthinktheyknow · 07/12/2024 15:58

Oh I love it. It’s a highlight of Christmas for me, watching IAWL and Muppet Christmas Carol🎄🤣

I actually really don’t enjoy much about Christmas but I do love chilling on the sofa and watching schmalzy films. It’s a wonderful life is very much of the time but it’s still got real charm imo.

Overwhelmedowl · 07/12/2024 16:00

Cattery · 07/12/2024 12:37

Watched it for the first time many years ago and a few Christmases since. I’ll concede the sentiment is lovely but OMG, the acting and the script are jarring

that film now always reminds me of Friends when Phoebe finally watches the whole film and has this reaction:

cakeorwine · 07/12/2024 16:07

There are many black and white films I can watch over and over again.

I think I have watched bits of it again - but I don't think it is one of those that are on my repeat list.

sweetydahling · 07/12/2024 16:10

Not just one of the best Christmas films but one of the best films full stop.

XWKD · 07/12/2024 16:14

I think the acting is superb.

secretfreckle · 07/12/2024 16:17

One of my absolute favourite films of all time.
The bit with Mr Gower and the wrong tablets always makes me cry.
Mary is brilliant - the scene where she's on the phone to HeeHaw Sam Wainwright while George is there and she's trying to make him jealous, the way she rallies the whole town at the end.
Useless Uncle Billy!
Sassy Violet Bick!
Yes, it's very quaint and the acting is of its time but still superb. It came out in 1946!
'George Bailey, the richest man in town'
Love love love it ❤️❤️❤️

Mirabai · 07/12/2024 16:25

Me neither. Depressing and sentimental. But not as bad as Love Actually.

Love Elf & Muppet Christmas Carol though. And I enjoyed the Kristin Stewart one last year.

Fetafiend · 07/12/2024 16:28

I don’t like it either! Too obvious and deliberate tear jerking. Too sappy.

Leelaseye · 07/12/2024 16:31

I like IAWL and agree that it's pointless trying to critique it through a modern day lens.

Elf is the one I can never understand stand all the love for. Pure unadulterated shite IMO. Will Ferrell. Urgh. Love Actually can get in the bin too.

ghostyslovesheets · 07/12/2024 16:37

My kids liked Elf but it’s not a great film. Agree LA is utter dirge

one of my favourite Christmas films isn’t available anywhere - it was with the dad from Modern Family - he had to collect his girlfriends spoiled private school son after his dad let him down and drive him cross country to his mum. It was funny and touching - it might have been called ‘driving me home’?

but I always watch Krampus and National Lampoon every year along with IAWL

Piffle11 · 07/12/2024 16:38

I’m in my mid 50s: I’ve seen it once and didn’t like it.

I love a Christmas film … I’m actually thinking I should try it again, in case I was unduly harsh first time around.

But right now, YANBU.