MovieChat Forums > Valentine's Day (2010) Discussion > What was with the retarded girl in the a...

What was with the retarded girl in the airport?

posted 14 years ago by Cbass1985
54 replies | jump to latest

If you saw the movie, do you know what I'm talking about? When Ashton Kutcher runs off in the airport security line without his shoes, everyone is shouting "hey, come back!" then the camera switches to a retarded girl in a wheelchair, reaching out and muttering "missstterrr, shoooooes!" or something to that effect. Was this supposed to be a punchline??? I know I live in KY, but people chuckled at it as if it were an intentional joke. If so, Hollywood, you are disgusting. If not...well then please explain what was the point of that? Dedicating a video shot and speaking clip to a retarded girl? Um, why? Diversity? That backfired.

[–] Februarydreams 14 years ago

Hmm that's odd. Poor girl :(

The best things are last

[–] nicole_88 14 years ago

I wondered that too. Nobody laughed in my cinema (and mine was packed!) but I wasn't sure what reaction the movie was going for with that. It was a bit strange.

[–] Kate_Maxfield 14 years ago

i was offended
it was very uncalled for.
this whole movie was wrong...

[–] Caz_MDB 14 years ago

It was a very random moment that could have been left out.

http://filmreviews7.wordpress.com

[–] ColdMountain73 14 years ago

Wow, I am more offended that you used the R word and you had to use it 3 times in your comment. You couldn't have said handicapped, special needs or disabled?

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Yorick_Brown 14 years ago

Screw that. It's not (or at least it isn't supposed to be) an offensive word. She WAS retarded. It's the scientific definition.

Now with that being said, maybe she wasn't retarded and she just had cerebral palsy or something else.

You had better decide whether you're hangin' on the cross... or bangin' in the nails.

[–] manifan1 14 years ago

"Retarded" is the proper word. People are so sensitive these days it has become politically uncorrect to use real grammar. Sad.

[–] livid_86 14 years ago

Shut up pc loser.

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.

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[–] maniaco70 14 years ago

LOL that part of the movie was the best. I laughed harder than any other part... and yes I think it was an intentional joke for people who doesn't give a f about PCness.

[–] droche-3 14 years ago

I see your point, and thanks for being sensitive to the dignity of others, BUT...

It is not wrong to say retarded as an adjective. You should not say retard as a noun.

It is okay to say, "The new student is retarded."
Not nice: "The new student is a retard."

"When you throw dirt, you lose ground" --old proverb

[–] jeremyrh2387 14 years ago

I don't think they meant it to be funny, but they wanted to show that special needs people are a part of this world. Also saying retard is rude so that would make you just as disgusting as Hollywood.

Jeremy Herring

[–] mark-daniels 14 years ago

She is just another person expressing surprise that someone left their shoes at the security check point. i am a teacher, and i have many students who are "different abled" or as i say, "different" from we all who think we are so normal. Most people have some kind of disability - i have nasty arthritis, getting worse. Some of my students have hearing problems (I had a signer in my class and surprisingly to me, several students joined the "deaf" girl in the front of the room, because they also had hearing problems, didnt want to acknowledge it, but enjoyed having a signer in the class - i learned alot that semesters). Yes the girl was different, but in that sense the movie was normal. There are different people all around us, we sometimes just ignore them i guess. maybe the director was trying to say, this film is normal, there are different people in it. i dont know.....it didnt strike me as odd.

[–] Rls1102 14 years ago

did someone really just use the phrase "the R word" wow

[–] Kate_Maxfield 14 years ago

how retarded right?

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] PMvin 13 years ago

sigh.
Saying "retarded" is not rude. The branch of medicine that deals with it is called MHMR, which stands for mental health, mental retardation. I have many patients who verbally acknowledge that they go to MHMR and they aren't embarrassed to use that term. It's just what it's called. Get over it. People are way too uptight.
BTW: I agree with the OP; I think it was put in the movie as diversity that happened to go wrong.

[–] jeremyrh2387 13 years ago

Sigh... excuse me bitch, but my best friend has a mentally challenged brother, who for part of the year lives with other mentally challenged people in a home. Now mental retardation is a nice way to say things, but just flat out calling someone retarded is rude. Especially since the word retarded, is used to make fun of people.

So the only uptight bitch is you. ;-)

I was just trying to state that there are better ways to say it.

Jeremy Herring

[–] tpupkin 13 years ago

If you listen to the director's commentary on the DVD, Marshall explains that by the time they filmed this scene, most of the rest of the film was already in the can. The studio was deeply concerned that the Ashton Kutcher character and those played by Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner would be mistaken as "differently abled," which was not the intended effect but a result of the poor writing and awkward performances. Marshall decided the only way to make clear that none of the aforementioned were actually "handicapable" was to include an actual "funferior" person in the film to create a contrast. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and both Kutcher and Swift won Brave Choice Awards for Best Performances of the Year by Retarded Actors.

[–] Jay-Tapaoan 13 years ago

unbelievably hilarious

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[–] insomniac_rod 14 years ago

Yeah, that scene made me feel weird because I truly didn't get what was the point...

"Hate is baggage, life's too short to be pissed off all the time".

[–] robinson62 14 years ago

Wow, that's a fu%$*d up question you asked.

Just.....wow.

[–] kayres 14 years ago

She is Garry Marshall's granddaughter and she is many of his movies...she was the little girl in the wheelchair that asks for Mia's autograph in Princess Diaries....and the only reasoon I even bothered to respond to such an insensitive comment is because people like you need to be schooled in decency.

[–] InsecureNeuroticControlFreak 13 years ago

I wondered this as well, and I was worried it was meant for comedic effect. But now that I realize it's his granddaughter and that he includes her in all of his films... I think I love this film even more now. That is SO sweet!

So he didn't really work for Bayou Beavers? - Hatchet

[–] Jay-Tapaoan 13 years ago

I feel bad for this girl. She must get made fun of so much, for being in this movie.

[–] csteve67 12 years ago

Well Said!