Boston Accents


Who had the worst and who had the best?
I'm from Louisiana and I hate when I hear a horrible southern accent in the movies.

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Not surprisingly, Cucumbersnatch had the worst. I can't recall anyone standing out positively in this regard.

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Julianne Nicholson had the worst Boston accent.

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Her accent is authentic and she is a Massachusetts native from Medford ( a suburb of Boston) (I grew up in Cambridge).

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That is my point. Fake Boston accents > real Bawston accents.

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I very rarely care about accents.

Short Cut, Draw Blood

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As a native Bostonian, I actually thought the three mains (Depp, Edgerton & Cumberbatch) all did pretty well. I'd have to give the prize to Edgerton though, considering he's actually an Aussie, so he probably had to make the biggest stretch. The two worst for me were Kevin Bacon (who should have it down better by now after Mystic River), and Adam Scott, who's just obviously faking it.
Full disclosure: I don't have a Boston accent despite being born and raised there (many natives don't), and am probably the worst ever at faking it. But at least I know the real thing when I hear it!

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I'm not a native, but I used to live in Boston and respectfully disagree re Cumberbatch. Do agree re Depp -- I thought his accent was fine. Edgerton was just okay imo.

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I second that.

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Ha, ha ha ... when you read all the replies you get all kinds of answers. What it comes down to is this, it is silly for anyone who tries to watch this movie for the story to get hung up on the accuracy of the accents. It simply isn't important.

(To the OP, I am not knocking you, you only asked the question. I too grew up in Louisiana, there are three primary accents, the redneck accent up north, the Cajun accent down south, and the New Orleans accent which often sounds much like a Brooklyn accent. I have seen very few examples in movies where non-Louisianians had anywhere near an authentic Louisiana accent, so the only thing you can do is quickly ignore that point and get into the story itself.)

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes not.

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Ha, ha ha ... when you read all the replies you get all kinds of answers. What it comes down to is this, it is silly for anyone who tries to watch this movie for the story to get hung up on the accuracy of the accents. It simply isn't important.


Totally agree with you there, Mike. Which is why I wonder why film-makers themselves get hung up on them, and even require the actors to attempt them.

It'd be so much better if the actors just try to keep a neutral accent - that way they won't sound so ridiculous attempting something that only a small part of the audience is going to recognise or criticise.

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Here is the real truth, Boston has changed so much over the past 30 years, there is no real Boston Accent. Gentrification and Immigration has completely changed the city. The North End and South Boston are now extremely expensive condos. The Gigantic Old Colony project is still there.

Think Ted Kennedy, I'm from Boston and I still don't know where JFK and Ted got their accents.

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The time period for this movie and the characters in it mean there would be substantial accents especially so since the characters were from Southie.

Many years ago I could tell what part of the Boston area someone was from by their accent and colloquialisms but those days are long gone.

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JFK and Ted Kennedy were born in Boston, but great part of their childhood and youth were spent in Cape Cod, New York, Hyannis Port, Palm Beach and Connecticut.

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Mayor Marty Walsh still has a mighty accent but my main point is - the Boston of today is a 10000 percent different than the 1970s and 80s. Similar to what has happened to Brooklyn, gentrification and new immigration.

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Here is the real truth, Boston has changed so much over the past 30 years, there is no real Boston Accent. Gentrification and Immigration has completely changed the city. The North End and South Boston are now extremely expensive condos. The Gigantic Old Colony project is still there.


While you're probably right, there is still some kind of regional accent that's going to be unique to the area. Pretty much, unless you attempt to get rid of it, you've got something that can be traced to your roots.

At the lumber store listening to the old guys squawk, I don't think that I have the Maine accent at all. But when I'm down your neck of the woods, people know that I ain't local.

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Jesse Plemmons as Weeks I feel got it nailed best. Just the right amount, not too much, to the point you would think he was from the area and NOT Texas (which we all know from his FNL's days.

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I thought all the accents were pretty bad. Hollywood never manages to get this right. Now it may be true that the city has changed a lot because of gentrification, etc. I haven't lived there in over twenty years. But most of the movie was set in earlier times, and in Southie, which is a famously insular community (or was then).

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