30 Days of Film - Day Seven
Day 07 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
This is a difficult one. I just can't think of many films where I can say I've been surprised by a plot twist or ending. TV shows, yeah, plenty, but not films.
I guess The Notebook (2004) although I'm not sure "surprising" is quite the right word. More like "heartbreaking".
So, hah, yes, so I am going to go with:
The Music of Chance (1993)
The surprising thing about the ending of this film? It doesn't have one. I swear, it's like someone forgot to film the ending. I dunno, maybe they turned over two pages of the script or something. Also, the whole plot. There are, in fact, many surprising things about this film.The biggest plot twist, it is true, you can see coming a mile off, but most of the plot of this film? Let's just say that the draft that the infinite monkeys produced before writing Hamlet? Probably this.
It stars Mandy "My Name Is Inigo Montoya You Killed My Father Prepare To Die" Patinkin and James Spader (and yes, this is the third James Spader film to make my list)
Mandy Patinkin is driving along the road when he spots James Spader all beaten up at the side of the road, and stops to pick him up.
The first surprise is James Spader's hair and moustache which are just plain weird.
The second surprise is James Spader's accent which is a terrible almost-Brooklyn kinda New Yorkish thing.
He explains to Mandy that he was playing poker when some dudes burst in and stole their money. Everyone blamed him so beat him up and, presumambly, abandoned him in the middle of nowhere. He then goes on to say that it's a shame because he had a big game coming up with two rich dudes called Flower and Stone who were neither of them very good a poker, but that he can't play because he just lost all his stake money.
It then turns out that Mandy Patinkin has some money left having inherited some from someone and spent most of it...err... driving around America. The third surprise is that he also has a daughter who he has casually left with his sister whilst he drives around America. I mean what? Who does that? He is literally driving around for no reason.
So they get to the rich guys house where in a non-surprise it turns out that they are a) crazy and b) card sharks. James Spader loses all of Mandy's money *and* his car *and* money neither of them have which means they can't leave, so they agree to work at the house to work off their debt.
The fourth surprise is that this work consists of building a wall in a field out of the stones of an Irish castle the mad dudes bought and had shipped over.
So work begins. The deal is they stay in this caravan in the field and write out a shopping list of stuff they need each week and send it up to the house and the stuff gets sent back.
The fifth surprise is how many incredibly gay tshirts the costume designer managed to get Mandy Patinkin to wear.
They complete the allotted work and get champagne and cake and... a hooker and have a massive party for three.
The sixth surprise is how a pretty princess tiara seems to suit James Spader.
Then in the most un-twisty plot twist ever... you've seen this coming 3 paragraphs ago, right? It turns out the rich dudes were deducting money for all the food they bought! *gasp* *shock* *horror* Egads how do they think of these things?!
But don't worry my friends, this is when shit starts to get really weird.
James Spader takes this news badly, to say the least. He attempts to escape and is returned, beaten to within an inch of his life. Mandy Patinkin finally convinces the guy overseeing them to take him to hospital (he, on behalf of the rich guys, of course, denies all knowledge of how he came to be in such a terrible state). And then James Spader is never heard from again. The rich guys claim he walked out of hospital. Mandy thinks that actually he died and they're lying to him. He gets mad and goes all Terminator on the wall, paying off the remaining debt in half the time. He convinces Overseer Guy and his son to take him out for a beer. And then to drive the car. Which he then crashes on purpose, possibly killing Overseer Guy and Overseeer Guy's Son. He exits the car and stumbles along the side of the road, battered from the crash. A car stops to pick him up. The End.
...
...Yeah. I don't really know either. So there we go. My nomination for most surprising ending is "there isn't one"
This is a difficult one. I just can't think of many films where I can say I've been surprised by a plot twist or ending. TV shows, yeah, plenty, but not films.
I guess The Notebook (2004) although I'm not sure "surprising" is quite the right word. More like "heartbreaking".
So, hah, yes, so I am going to go with:
The Music of Chance (1993)
The surprising thing about the ending of this film? It doesn't have one. I swear, it's like someone forgot to film the ending. I dunno, maybe they turned over two pages of the script or something. Also, the whole plot. There are, in fact, many surprising things about this film.The biggest plot twist, it is true, you can see coming a mile off, but most of the plot of this film? Let's just say that the draft that the infinite monkeys produced before writing Hamlet? Probably this.
It stars Mandy "My Name Is Inigo Montoya You Killed My Father Prepare To Die" Patinkin and James Spader (and yes, this is the third James Spader film to make my list)
Mandy Patinkin is driving along the road when he spots James Spader all beaten up at the side of the road, and stops to pick him up.
The first surprise is James Spader's hair and moustache which are just plain weird.
The second surprise is James Spader's accent which is a terrible almost-Brooklyn kinda New Yorkish thing.
He explains to Mandy that he was playing poker when some dudes burst in and stole their money. Everyone blamed him so beat him up and, presumambly, abandoned him in the middle of nowhere. He then goes on to say that it's a shame because he had a big game coming up with two rich dudes called Flower and Stone who were neither of them very good a poker, but that he can't play because he just lost all his stake money.
It then turns out that Mandy Patinkin has some money left having inherited some from someone and spent most of it...err... driving around America. The third surprise is that he also has a daughter who he has casually left with his sister whilst he drives around America. I mean what? Who does that? He is literally driving around for no reason.
So they get to the rich guys house where in a non-surprise it turns out that they are a) crazy and b) card sharks. James Spader loses all of Mandy's money *and* his car *and* money neither of them have which means they can't leave, so they agree to work at the house to work off their debt.
The fourth surprise is that this work consists of building a wall in a field out of the stones of an Irish castle the mad dudes bought and had shipped over.
So work begins. The deal is they stay in this caravan in the field and write out a shopping list of stuff they need each week and send it up to the house and the stuff gets sent back.
The fifth surprise is how many incredibly gay tshirts the costume designer managed to get Mandy Patinkin to wear.
They complete the allotted work and get champagne and cake and... a hooker and have a massive party for three.
The sixth surprise is how a pretty princess tiara seems to suit James Spader.
Then in the most un-twisty plot twist ever... you've seen this coming 3 paragraphs ago, right? It turns out the rich dudes were deducting money for all the food they bought! *gasp* *shock* *horror* Egads how do they think of these things?!
But don't worry my friends, this is when shit starts to get really weird.
James Spader takes this news badly, to say the least. He attempts to escape and is returned, beaten to within an inch of his life. Mandy Patinkin finally convinces the guy overseeing them to take him to hospital (he, on behalf of the rich guys, of course, denies all knowledge of how he came to be in such a terrible state). And then James Spader is never heard from again. The rich guys claim he walked out of hospital. Mandy thinks that actually he died and they're lying to him. He gets mad and goes all Terminator on the wall, paying off the remaining debt in half the time. He convinces Overseer Guy and his son to take him out for a beer. And then to drive the car. Which he then crashes on purpose, possibly killing Overseer Guy and Overseeer Guy's Son. He exits the car and stumbles along the side of the road, battered from the crash. A car stops to pick him up. The End.
...
...Yeah. I don't really know either. So there we go. My nomination for most surprising ending is "there isn't one"