MovieChat Forums > Spread (2009) Discussion > Nicky's character would have been more s...

Nicky's character would have been more sympathetic if...


Nicky to me was not a sympathetic character not only because he used women and didnt seem to have any remorse, but because he seemed essentially lazy, using his looks to get by in LA. If they created a backstory and showed him first modeling (totally believable, since he used to model in real life before he became an actor) or even trying to be an actor, like so many newcomers to LA, then I would have had more sympathy for for his situation. There are many good looking young models and actors in la that are struggling to get by, and they do whatever to pay the bills, wait tables, etc, but even if nicky was too lazy to do any type of real world work, at least, if he was an aspiring actor, he would of had some sort of tangible dream. When he moved into his gf's place at the end, what did he do all day while she was out huslting men? Did he have any type of plan? If they made him out to be a struggling actor/model or better yet a former model being phased out due to his age and struggling to be an actor, it would have played into the whole LA dreams theme.

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That's the whole point...

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I don't get why people go see every movie as if it was a Disney movie.

Who said the protagonist had to be "sympathetic"? Also: not every movie has to have a "message" or a "moral to the story".

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

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I don't get why people go see every movie as if it was a Disney movie.

Who said the protagonist had to be "sympathetic"?


True, but it's essential that you care about the main character. Making the protagonist sympathetic is an easy way to accomplish that, otherwise they need to be very interesting i.e. Walter White on Breaking Bad who at least started with an interesting reason for wanted to start cooking meth.

As was pointed out, Nikki in this movie has no real goal and there's no real attempt made to get us to understand why he is how he is or what he wants. If the point of his character is that he's handsome and coasts through life on his looks and that's it then that's a boring character. Have him get his face bashed in and force him to try and get by without his looks and that might make him interesting.

I've come to despise movies that not only celebrate insufferable douchebags but try to convince us that being an insufferable douchebag is a positive attribute. Unless the cure for cervical cancer is in his penis why should we care about this kind of character?

Revenge is the most important meal of the day.

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celebrate insufferable douchebags but try to convince us that being an insufferable douchebag is a positive attribute

This movie does none of these though. It's more of a apathetic message about inevitable causes and effects in life:

-Start: Nikki has no talent aside from his look, he used his look to maintain a glamorous lifestyle with a trade off: his life lacked a meaningful relationship.
-Crux : Nikki fell in love, he also seemed to despise the pizza delivery guy (at the coffee place). Due to his ego, he also didn't want to try and change himself until it is too late (Heather gave him two chances),
-End: Nikki became a more realistic person, he stopped hooking up with rich women and settled for a lower living standard.

It's that simple. There's character development, there's foreshadowing, there's dramatic climax. Though some people might call it dark and realistic, at its core it is just like your average cheesy romance flick.

You want to know what happens next ? Nikki enters a new relationship (with an equally attractive woman) and lives the life of an average (lower class) person. Heather actually has a lasting marriage with the rich guy. (After having a child, divorce became too expensive) Unlike Nikki whose biggest problem is that he is a romantic and believes in the traditional concept of true love, Heather actually forms an emotional attachment to her target and his wealth. She can learn to love someone even though her relationship started out purely materialistic.

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This movie does none of these though.


I have to disagree. He's the main character, he's the one we follow, he's the one we're supposed to care about, and all the women he meets fall prey to his charm even though he's an insufferable douchebag and he treats most of them like crap.

Nikki falls in love? Yeah? So what? I don't care about him. He doesn't deserve to end up with the woman he falls for because he's such a talentless jerk and doesn't deserve happiness, but the movie ends up giving him some semblance of a happy ending and therefore wants us to sympathize with him thereby making his douchbebaginess actions permissible.

This movie should have ended with someone breaking Nikki's face on the concrete and his girlfriend leaving him for the rich guy.

Revenge is the most important meal of the day.

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