MovieChat Forums > A Little Trip to Heaven (2005) Discussion > Forest's accent - what the hell is with ...

Forest's accent - what the hell is with that?


First, I really enjoyed this film (7/10). Great atmosphere, interesting story and solid acting by Forest Whitaker again (Ghost Dog is still my favorite of his).

But...what's with the accent? It sounded Irish!

Why was he the only one with that accent? I found it really irritating.

Anyone else not like (or did like) the use of an accent for him?

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supposed to be Minnesotan but was almost Irish sometimes

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Hah. Minnesotan...that's exactly what I thought.
So....what's not to like? I thought it brought a nice dynamic to the role. I've been to Minneapolis....and they sound just like that. It's definitely a peculiar accent. I guess he's supposed to sound like Ghost Dog....in every single movie he stars in, huh ?

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GEEZ, whatever the hell it was supposed to be... I mean WTF!!!???? Was it REALLY necessary??? Did it add ANYTHING to this dopey, dismal film??? I mean, can ANYONE come up with one positive thing to say how that accent helped the film ESPECIALLY with the fact that bloody NO ONE ELSE sounded like that?!!!

Annoying is an understatement...

____________L@the

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The fact that no one else sounded like that is exactly why the accent was necessary. They were trying to get across the point that Forest was an outsider in that area.

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The accent wasn't even close but yes, he was trying to sound like a Minnesotan. I think Forrest Whittaker is a great actor, but a Minnesota accent is nearly impossible to do well.

Fargo's actors were spot on -- I'm from Minnesota -- and I've never heard how they managed it. The Coen brothers are noted for getting details perfect. I wished they had some of the accent coaching and outtakes in the DVD.

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It is interesting how powerful something like this can be on whatchability or general appreciation of a flick. Stopped me in my tracks and what I did watch was under duress and for a bogus reason, as it turned out...Awful Minnesota, off the mark. It made me turn the movie off. the fargo style interpretation was so good (to a person who has never been to that part of the country) I was totally convinced so forrest's work here was no good. Someone mentioned Irish , not quite but the type brogue around British isles, north ireland scotland and i thought he did a good job of acting that accent. The only reason i kept at the movie was to find out why he had the accent in a back story which of course never came. i figured with phillip jackson in there ....boy was i fooled. It might have been an otherwise good attempt at new wave noir..

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Im tryna watch the film right now & its ruined coz i cant understand half the stuff he's saying on the bus that crashed....my God

"They snappin pictures of my brain
trynna get my mind frame!"

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His accent was just like this movie. Terrible and made me want to kill myself.

Whitaker's films have really gone downhill since his performance in the 80's (Good Morning Vietnam, Fast Times at Ridgemont High).

"You Can't Stop Me. I'm the Messenger"
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have you seen ghost dog or last king of scottland? some of the best performances of cinematic history

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Why did you bring that up? Yes they were great movies... excellent in fact, but NO ONE here said anything about Whitaker's acting. He is excellent, the movie was not. Plain and simple. Why don't you ask me if I've seen Fast Times At Ridgemont High?

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I think it sounds like he is from the Bahamas.

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I know what you mean. And I was bothered by the fact that he was from the same region as all the others and THEY didn't have Bahamian accents.
But this film is worth watching.



Very early in my life it was too late.
-Marguerite Duras








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I'm a Bahamian and that accent was nowhere close to our Bahamian accent. I thought it was Irish but hey....

No matter how bad your situation is, there's always someone else in a worse situation than you.

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Have you ever been to the Bahamas???

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It absolutely ruined the movie. Forest Whitaker is one of my favorite actors, but the accent was so fake it took away from the movie. He was more irritating than listening to the people that are from there. This movie could have been really good, but ended up dark and anoying.

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I thought that the accent was very irritating. Forest Whitaker is always soft spoken, and that combined with the accent made him hard to understand.

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Yeah it was pretty bad..I actually thought it was Irish also..the worst part for me though was that I couldn't really understand what he was saying, and had to watch the entire movie with subtitles on, which was kind of annoying..Julia Stiles was great though, which surprised me because normally she really gets on my nerves...yeah.

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I assumed he was doing an Irish accent to mock this ridiculous movie. B - A - D.

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i'm watching the movie right now and came here to see what accent he's doing; i thought irish also, but i thought that couldn't be:) i haven't turned on the subtitles when watching TV in a while but i had to this time.

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i thought he was supposed to be from new hampshire, lol

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I think it was his attempt at a Swedish accent, there are a lot of Swedes in Minn., plus he def had a stutter.

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I absolutely hated his accent, it cracked me up and the film is not a comedy (well except for the barmaids dance to "Baby it's Cold Outside"). I find I have a hard time understanding Forrest in many of his films so I use CC alot and was so distracted by his "accent" that I had to mute it and read the CC,

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Ditch the accent.........ditch the movie....the biggest piece of garbage which was also impossible to follow,,,,man I hated this flick........

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I thought it was a great movie but I agree the accent was a bit much

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I thought they were meant to be Newfies, but then I realised the movie had been shot in Iceland (I thought Iceland was nicer than that), so plumped for Minnesota, then I saw a road sign that said Needles 120 m - what the blazes. Most peculiar - interesting movie though.

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Haha, From Wisconsin and go to a school in/near minnesota and the accent is a bit much. Actually, I don't really see it at all haha.

Don't say it! Don't you *beep* say you're too good for me. I am, but don't say it

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