MovieChat Forums > The Details (2016) Discussion > Regarding the tone

Regarding the tone

posted 11 years ago by st_lizzie
4 replies | jump to latest

Anyone else feels weirded out by the sudden change of tone near the end of the movie? I understand this film is trying to be a roller-coaster ride but this has been bothering me.

The movie starts out as a casual little tale about infidelity (and morality in general). But towards the end, it's no longer "casual" at all, it's *heavy* drama. And by the point you realize that what happens in this movie is all "serious business", you kind of feel that the light-hearted tone this movie gave us in the beginning is... out of place. Kinda inappropriate too. I mean, this is a story about how nice people can do VERY BAD things, this is tragedy for God's sake.

My question is, would you rather this movie had gone all serious, brooding tone from the start? That kind of film that really affects you and doesn't leave you for days after watching it? This could be a very moving and thought-provoking movie, the story has this potential. (Well, in a way, it IS moving and thought-provoking now, but I just cannot take this film seriously as a whole because of how it was packaged).

And I read some reviews. So I notice tonal issue has always been one of this film's major problem.

P.S. I wish someone can add "drama" for the genre of this movie.

___________
You'll get your rent when you fix this DAMN DOOR!

[–] harrychalcraft 11 years ago

It's a black comedy.

[–] spazylacie 11 years ago

Drama is listed as a genre of this movie. It says: drama, comedy Aka dramedy

[–] JerryInPittsburgh 11 years ago

Oh, I completely agree ... which is why I happened to find your post.

I'm a big fan of dark comedy, but IMHO it's tough to do well. Most films land a little too heavily on the comic side, going a bit too far with the absurdity and making the film a bit too silly. The Details did the opposite, going a bit too dark and thus muddling the humor. I think the mistake was having Dennis Haysbert's character, Linc, do what he did; it just didn't fit our expectations from such a "nice" character -- and it was a disturbing, rather than comedic, misfit.

After some thought, I think the film might have been better had they shown Linc to be just a bit off-center -- a scene or two showing something a tad quirky about him, not undermining his wholesomeness, but augmenting it. (Maybe a humorous flashback to some well-intentioned but ill-conceived display of gratitude to someone in the past. Maybe he could have set out the poison for the raccoons! ) Then Jeff's remark triggering Linc's action would have seemed less extreme for the character, and thus less disturbing, more funny. (It also would have also boosted one essential element of dark comedy: the protagonist's unintended contributions to his own troubles.) Or -- at the risk of being a bit formulaic -- make Lila's death the unintended consequence of, say, an attempt to have her miscarry.

I'd still call this a better-than-average dark comedy ... but just a little!

I have to mention one of my all-time favorite dark comedies: Martin Scorcese's After Hours (1985). (Yes, that's Martin Scorcese and comedy in the same sentence!)

[–] Seth_Rogue_One 8 years ago

Not really, it was expected that something drastic was gonna happen... It was pretty straight forward from the gate that it was a dark comedy

A good father and a good outlaw can't settle inside the same man.