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What movie "broke the 4th wall" the best?

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What movie "broke the 4th wall" the best?

Old 01-11-08, 07:09 AM
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What movie "broke the 4th wall" the best?

If you don't know what that means, look it up.
Old 01-11-08, 07:13 AM
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Old 01-11-08, 07:14 AM
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High Fidelity worked for me.

Old 01-11-08, 07:22 AM
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American Splendor for me
Old 01-11-08, 07:27 AM
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Blazing Saddles and Space balls. Good ol' watching the future during the present via VHS.
Old 01-11-08, 07:31 AM
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Funny Games
Old 01-11-08, 07:38 AM
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Originally Posted by Randy Miller III
High Fidelity worked for me.
That was my first thought as well.

Another:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off




Edit: Sorry the picture is ridiculously big. It's not like MB is a hot chick, so it's totally unwarranted.

Last edited by Toad; 01-11-08 at 07:54 AM.
Old 01-11-08, 07:53 AM
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I'll be the only one to say it...

Austin Powers 2-

There's a great moment where Michael Anderson is explaining something to Austin about Time Travel and he just glances up to tell us not to think too hard about it.
Old 01-11-08, 08:08 AM
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Eddie Murphy in Trading Places

Ray Liotta at the end of GoodFellas

George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Old 01-11-08, 08:20 AM
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Waynes World with the direct addresses to the camera and the product shilling.
Old 01-11-08, 08:31 AM
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24 Hour Party People
Old 01-11-08, 08:42 AM
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Fight Club.

I just love the bit where Norton's character takes a moment to dab something off his chin while he explains to the audience what Tyler's hotel job was.
Old 01-11-08, 08:45 AM
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My favorite moment in any movie when somebody breaks the fourth wall comes in A Shot in the Dark:
Spoiler:
Towards the end, everybody is fighting and bickering and poor Clouseau can do nothing about it. For a brief moment, he looks plaintively at the audience before returning his attention to the goings-on. For some reason, I find the whole thing absolutely hilarious every time I see it.
Old 01-11-08, 08:56 AM
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Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Ok, not the best, but I enjoyed the gag.
Old 01-11-08, 09:26 AM
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Old 01-11-08, 09:27 AM
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Although I ultimately didn't care for the film very much, I liked Kurt Russell's grin at the camera in DEATH PROOF.
Old 01-11-08, 09:44 AM
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Originally Posted by inri222
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Old 01-11-08, 10:08 AM
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Ferris Bueller was my first thought as well.

There was some of that in Good Fellas. It might have seemed like an odd idea on paper, but somehow Sorcese managed to pull it off. [EDIT: Oh crap! Someone already mentioned that one also!]

I'm also reminded of the TV series Moonlighting. They seemed to do it all the time on that show and, unless it was during an intro before the episode began, I usually hated it. It just seemed like whenever the writers ran out of clever things to do, they used that tired gimmick.
Old 01-11-08, 10:23 AM
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I hope I'm not remembering this wrong, but isn't there a scene in Harold and Maude where Harold looks at the camera and grins?
Old 01-11-08, 10:34 AM
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Annie Hall (the scene with Marshall McLuhan especially)
Return of the Killer Tomatoes (great product shilling scene, years before Wayne's World did it)
Old 01-11-08, 10:46 AM
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Superman: The Movie

Superman saved the day, Lois is alive and well, and Superman flies off into the upper atmosphere. Just as John William's brilliant score is crescendoing and Superman flies up to the left and out of frame, he throws a smile to the audience.


-Doc

Last edited by Doc MacGyver; 01-11-08 at 11:08 AM.
Old 01-11-08, 11:01 AM
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Are we just naming movies that break the 4th wall, or are we naming the movies that did it the best?

Addressing the audience verbally seems to trump a mere smile, in my opinion.

And, of course, my opinion is always correct. So, there you go.
Old 01-11-08, 11:03 AM
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History of the World: Part I..."It's good to be the king."
Old 01-11-08, 11:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Toad
Are we just naming movies that break the 4th wall, or are we naming the movies that did it the best?

Addressing the audience verbally seems to trump a mere smile, in my opinion.

And, of course, my opinion is always correct. So, there you go.

The smile, though, was more than just a wink to the audience. In almost any other movie (especially a comic book one) I would have hated it. But from the moment the first teaser/poster came out with the tagline, "You Will Believe a Man Can Fly", people were hyped (and nervous) about the movie.

What followed was a long wait, followed by a two hour movie-going experience that people who saw it in the theater liken to Star Wars and ET. It was 2 hours of Joy, crescendoing in a symphonic flying montage that left one elated, and by the time the smile/glance came, it wasn't Christopher Reeve winking at you from a harness rig, it was SUPERMAN, flying off into the sunset, throwing you a nod.

It gave me chills, anyway.



-Doc

Last edited by Doc MacGyver; 01-11-08 at 11:07 AM.
Old 01-11-08, 11:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Doc MacGyver
Superman: The Movie

Superman saved the day, Lois is alive and well, and Superman flies off into the upper atmosphere. Just as John William's brilliant score is crescendoing and Superman flies out of up to the left and out of frame, he throws a smile to the audience.


-Doc
Great! I'd have to put my vote in for this for sure.

But another is Anthony Perkins at the end of "Psycho".. creepy!

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