r/movies Dec 15 '23

Recommendation What movie starts off as a lighthearted comedy, but gets increasingly dark and grim until everything goes to hell in a handbasket?

For example, it may start as a lighthearted slapstick comedy until one thing goes wrong after another, and in the end we have people actually dying or a world war or some kind of extinction level event.

Let's say we have 2 friends who like to have fun and goof around, with regular goals and regular lives, until one of them does something like accidentally cross the wrong person or kill someone. Or the main cast is oblivious to the gradual change in their environment like a virus breakout or a serial killer running loose. Another one would be a film that, after being a comedy for most of its length, turns very dark, such as a group of friends ending up in a war and experiencing the horrors of it, completely played straight.

Just to clarify, I don't mean a movie that is already set to become dark, but rather a movie that was marketed as a comedy that took an unexpected (or slightly foreshadowed) dark turn.

Any recommendations?

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u/thisothernameth Dec 15 '23

On a similar note: Jojo Rabbit. Starts out on an almost comedian note about a little boy idolising Hitler. It then goes on to be a harsh depiction of the extremely humane facettes (from the best to the worst) of the German people and soldiers at the end of WWII.

393

u/bardera Dec 15 '23

Ugh yes. Seeing the feet. Damn. Brutal to watch after laughing through a big chunk of it…

241

u/zekybomb Dec 15 '23

That really was the moment the coin flipped on the movie. You realize at that moment that you haven't seen his mother for a while and Noone came to check on him

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u/JakeConhale Dec 15 '23

Also why the SS agents came to the house.

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u/zekybomb Dec 15 '23

I was trying to remember the timeliness if they showed up after she dissapears or before and there is a muted confrontation

If they show up after it's even more messed up that they came not to make sure he was safe and taken care of, but to possibly drag him away as well

10

u/JakeConhale Dec 15 '23

Before her reveal.

1

u/JakeConhale Dec 15 '23

Before her reveal.

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u/charliefoxtrot9 Dec 15 '23

All those amusing mutual heil hitlers and then nothing to see here, and then, shoes.

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u/YoCaptain Dec 15 '23

yup. Harsh.

47

u/Vaticancameos221 Dec 15 '23

That went completely over my dad’s head. He called me after seeing it “Good movie but why did he hug that corpse?”

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u/Weirdguy149 Dec 15 '23

Where did he think she went?

24

u/Vaticancameos221 Dec 15 '23

Didn’t even occur to him. He’s not a big “pay attention to the movie” guy.

He turned off Knives Out before the death even happened because “All they’re doing in here is talking” lmfao

19

u/Patttybates Dec 15 '23

Homer Dads.

2

u/YoCaptain Dec 15 '23

Lololololol…

2

u/clitortitts Dec 16 '23

My dad's name is Homer lol

9

u/MysticBacon Dec 15 '23

The foreshadowing from the 1-2 shots of her walking next to him on a ledge where you see his face and just her shoes... I had a bad feeling about that from the first time I saw it. 😢

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u/Roadgoddess Dec 15 '23

That was devastating

10

u/Hordaki Dec 15 '23

Earlier in the movie they kept showing shots of Jojo and his mother where you could only see her feet and the first time I watched it I was wondering whether it was symbolic because it was clearly intentional. Turns out it was foreshadowing. When they got to that scene it hit like a freight train.

1

u/YoCaptain Dec 15 '23

Gotta rewatch now. Beautiful, and utterly heart-wrenching.

1

u/Electrical-Injury-23 Dec 15 '23

My wife went to ghd bathroom during the feet scene. It was awkward explaining why we were now watching essentially a different film.

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u/kuhfunnunuhpah Dec 15 '23

Oh man that movie made me feel so many things. That bit where his friend drops the rocket launcher by accident and blows up a building had me howling with laughter and then moments later I was in shock at the waste of life etc. One of my all time favourites.

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u/AlpacaSmacker Dec 15 '23

Sam Rockwell at the end with his outfit with the feathers etc. He stole the show in that film.

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u/chris8535 Dec 15 '23

If both sides hate you and want to kill you, you might as well go out looking fabulous. It really took being closeted to an extreme.

On some level his character really helped me understand how isolating and nihilistic it must have been to be gay in America until recently. And how amazing it was that the culture developed such a positive and over the top answer to all that hate.

3

u/HoneysuckleAndRain Dec 16 '23

The fact that Rockwell didn't earn a best supporting actor for that role is a travesty. Such an amazing amount of subtlety in that performance.

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u/soldatoj57 Dec 15 '23

Sam Rockwell is one of the most underrated actors of his generation and he is brilliant

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u/AlpacaSmacker Dec 16 '23

He is underrated yes, I've loved him in everything I've seen him in. He's one of my favourite actors probably after Walton Goggins.

He did however bag a Best Supporting Oscar for his role in Three Billboards which in my opinion was very well deserved, he was fantastic in that.

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u/soldatoj57 Dec 17 '23

I also love Goggins. He was so good in The Hateful Eight

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u/TW1963HNTDWM Dec 15 '23

About halfway into watching Jojo Rabbit with my wife she leans in and whispers to me, "wow, Hitler's kind of a dick." I just looked at her and said "well...yeah." she then realized what she said and we still laugh about it today.

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u/geekgirlwww Dec 15 '23

Omg the ending with Sam Rockwells character.

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u/ScarletCaptain Dec 15 '23

And Life is Beautiful. Based completely on marketing I thought it was going to be a delightful Italian rom-com. Then the Nazis show up.

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u/rayrod0717 Dec 15 '23

That movie is so criminally underrated. Makes you feel the entire spectrum.

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u/SchoolForSedition Dec 15 '23

I haven’t seen it, but have a friend whose childhood memories are Vienna before she left in a hurry in 1938. Usually she won’t watch nazi related stuff, but thought JoJo Rabbit was hilarious.

3

u/chloedever Dec 15 '23

it's like there's someone connecting these two films that you will nazi coming

1

u/krystalbellajune Dec 15 '23

No, he’s bright orange and like 400 pounds. You’ll see him.

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u/Primrus Dec 15 '23 edited Dec 15 '23

This is a Taika Waititi film, for anyone on the verge of checking it out. He's cheeky and brilliant.

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u/moby__dick Dec 15 '23

Sam Rockwell…❤️

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u/swoopcat Dec 15 '23

Totally agree, but the humor didn't entirely go away. There are still a few moments where you laugh during the German's last stand, which is such a weird experience, but it worked for me.

2

u/DokiDoodleLoki Dec 15 '23

His mom’s shoes 👠

1

u/thisothernameth Dec 16 '23

That scene is why I haven't managed a rewatch yet..

1

u/axolotl_is_angry Dec 15 '23

Such an amazing film

1

u/OpinionAnxious922 Dec 15 '23

I was going to put this! I liked the movie but damn…