Friday OT #2 - You Fall, And You Crawl, And You Break

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Angie

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I watched I Care A Lot last week on Netflix with Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, and Dianne Wiest - and it was one of those complex movies where there is really no character for whom you root. No likeable protagonist OR antagonist (which is the point).

I was trying to think of a list of movies who have pretty well zero likeable characters, and was wondering what others people had. Another really clear example of this that I had was A Clockwork Orange - fantastic performances, but the droogs are purposely awful people.

What other examples can you think of? What movies can you think of where you don't truly like ANYONE?

EDIT - Feel free to also include shows!
 
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Angie

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Glengarry Glen Ross

I might be reaching. Most of them have likeable qualities that are equally matched by unlikeable qualities.

I 100% agree - and I think that counts. You can have some likeable qualities and still not be a character for whom people root!
 
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SCyclone

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I watched it too, @Angie.....I thought it was an excellent film. I think it was set up for viewers to root for Pike's character after she went into the quarry in the car, but she was such an amoral, cold-fish person, I couldn't be on her side. After the first hour, I really wanted someone to put her in her place!
 
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Angie

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Breaking Bad.

Requiem for a Dream

By the end of How I Met Your Mother, the only character I could stand was the dead mother

I was thinking very much of this exact show. It is a testament to the complexity of the characters.
 

madguy30

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I remember discontinuing watching Lost because I stopped liking almost everyone...I feel like a sociopath but I remember actually being glad when Ana Lucia got killed off. The character was overacted and spiteful at almost everything.

The same thing happened with The Walking Dead and I can't make it through an episode of FTWD.

The original Jurassic Park is on pretty often and while not everyone, I find myself more annoyed than anything with more and more characters.
 

MJ29

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The Wire comes to mind. It was very well-written, directed, shot, acted. Just all around good show, But very few of the characters were likeable. They'd have moments you rooted for them, but ultimately I don't think I would have been friends with any of them.
 
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pulse

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There were some characters who displayed unusual morality, like Ser Jorah, Maester Luwin (my avatar), and Ser Berristan Selmy.

Yeah I still didn’t give a ****. He wanted to write a different kind of story, well congratulations you did, so I don’t care if you have an asteroid hit your world and everyone dies.