MovieChat Forums > Goodfellas (1990) Discussion > Henry & Karen- What a couple of Dopes!

Henry & Karen- What a couple of Dopes!


I love Goodfellas (1990), and it's a brilliant piece of filmmaking. And Joe Pesci deserved his Oscar.

But repeat viewings have me really cringing at how stupid Henry and Karen are. The former grew up in this environment, around gangsters- and seems like a bright kid. Driving the mafia's cars, doing restaurant work. Why does he grow up to be so bland, hollow and dumb? You would think with all that experience Henry would have been a little more wise. A little more personality. I can see why Ray Liotta wasn't nominated. The performance is borderline annoying. Every voice-over is predictable "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a gangster", "And it was all about money". Yeah real deep. Then he rats out his friends in the end? He treats his wife like crap, doesn't love her, has girlfriends on the side, always has a deer in the headlights type of look in his scary looking face.

Where do I start with Karen? She's like a dope times two. She looks bugged eye and impressed as Henry walks her through the kitchen into the club. "What do you do?" She says dumbly. "I'm in construction", he says dully. "You don't feel like someone in construction." Ugh. Throughout the film, she continues to make dumb analysis decision on why she stays ("He turned me on"). She has two clueless parents too, and when she starts doing cocaine it just gets out of hand. The ONLY smart thing she does in the film is avoid going into that warehouse De Niro tries to lure her into to kill her.

Anyone have any insight as why Henry and Karen are the dumbest on screen couple ever? No wonder people prefer Casino. The characters are much more interesting.

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LOL, you’re actually the DOPE. I’d explain but you wouldn’t get it because you’re a DOPE

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Oh God, not another Trumptard. Please refrain from responding to anymore of my posts. Your mother's basement shouldn't allow internet anyways.

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Post an intelligent post and I’ll leave you alone.

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What does Donald Trump have to do with critiquing a movie? You bitter much?

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Thank you.

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"not another Trumptard."

Jesus fucking Christ, what is the connection here?? Why is this even relevant to the whole point??

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Dude posted that a year ago. Doubt he even remembers.

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Yeah, sorry, I get triggered easily when people involve politics into circumstances that have absolutely nothing to do with them. I just didn't notice when it was posted.

I'm really sorry, my bad. I know this makes me a total fucktard. :/

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It is based on the real life guy. I'm sure these are the thoughts and attitudes the real guy said had motivated him and what he was thinking.

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That doesn't answer my question at all. So far no one has. Oh well what can you expect on here?

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He answered your question prefectly you DOLT
You’re just too dumb to understand that the director and writer didn’t write the perfect script to satisfy MORONS like yourself, they’re based on real people and real act DUMB like you. It’s based on nonfiction characters you IDIOT.

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These were real people and real people can be dopes.

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Exactly. Hill and later his wife wanted easy money. Working for the mafia brings easy money but you give up control of your life. Hill was never going to apply himself to become a lawyer or doctor to make big money.

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"Every voice-over is predictable "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a gangster", "And it was all about money". Yeah real deep."

Is he supposed to be "deep"? He's a mobster. They're not typically known as "deep" people, quite the opposite they're prone to be shallow and materialistic or they'd be in a different line of work. There might be a few exceptions but I never got any impression that Henry Hill was supposed to be anything more than a typically money or power obsessed mob soldier and coked out tool. Do you think the script should have made him out to be more intelligent than he actually was?

"She's like a dope times two. She looks bugged eye and impressed as Henry walks her through the kitchen into the club. "What do you do?" She says dumbly. "I'm in construction", he says dully. "You don't feel like someone in construction." Ugh. Throughout the film, she continues to make dumb analysis decision on why she stays ("He turned me on"). "

And this is what women who are attracted to bad boys in the mob are like. They're not necessarily the sharpest tools in the drawer. Ever wonder why notorious serial killers and hardened imprisoned inmates alike have groupies and are at no shortage of female suitors? Some percentage of women, a clear plurality, are naturally attracted to bad boys. The larger their notoriety or criminal 'hardness', the bigger the turn on. This is just a fact.

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Great answer. Thank you for the insights.

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You didn't even understand it.

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I never read the book but why didn't Hendry diversify his money into assets that could placed into a trust under his childrens' names or even his parents/in-laws?

My guess is that he was all about flash and the fast life-style, as was Karen, and neither of them saved anything, unlike more organized Italian mafiosos who bought real estate and medium-sized businesses placed under their relatives' names.

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Be thankful you only see the glamorized version of these lowlife scumbags. If you dive deep into what Henry, Karen, and their ilk were really like you'd really see despicable, disgusting, nasty inhuman beings.

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I never read the book, but in the movie we never see Hendry develop any financial astuteness whatsoever. It's shown that he owns a bar (where Billy Batts is taken down), but that appears to be the only "front" Hendry uses to wash his illicitly earned income.

We know that he Feds can freeze his income after getting nailed for narcotics but before that he could have set up trusts and put them in his siblings, parents, and in-laws names. It's just amazing to me that with all that earning and cash he had absolutely zero "go money" when he got caught.

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