Althouse: "Trust me."

August 21, 2011

"Trust me."

Is that line in every movie these days? It's driving me crazy. Don't screenwriters have any ideas anymore for how to make characters talk to each other? The other line I'm seeing constantly is: "What are you talking about?"

Movies today... it's like there are 2 kinds of characters, the ones that say "Trust me" and the ones that say "What are you talking about?" See there's some plan or idea that the first character has and instead of any interesting interchange, they just say "What are you talking about?" and "Trust me" to each other.

Discuss. Without saying "What are you talking about?"!

65 comments:

Orion said...: What are you saying? I've seen lots of movies without those lines in them.

Orion; 8/21/11, 12:27 PM
Mark O said...: Hell, it seemed to work for Obama. Seiously, there is such a lack of interesting writing anywhere, but particularly in the movies.; 8/21/11, 12:28 PM
Orion said...: Sorry about that first post...I just couldn't help myself. I won't do it again.

Trust me.

Dangit!

Orion; 8/21/11, 12:36 PM
Carol_Herman said...: There's a problem to making movies. Because they cost more to make than they pull in, once they arrive in theaters.

The old habit that a Saturday Nite date included a movie, has also been the dust.

While those flicks won points if it scared the little lady ... and if she pressed herself into your body to feel safe. Comedies? Not so much.

Hollywood lost it long ago.

How far back? Oh, well. When was the last time you saw an evil muzzy?

Hasn't it also got a bit tiring that the CIA can't be trusted?

Films are fake news, even in the best of times. And, back then people went to see the cartoons.; 8/21/11, 12:37 PM
edutcher said...: Blame it on Indiana Jones. After he conned Marion Ravenwood into going after the Ark of the Covenant, every two-bit metrosexual thinks he'll have the same kind of luck.

Basically, what Mark O said.; 8/21/11, 12:37 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: A movie script based on the lines "Trust me" and "What are you talking about"?

That's so crazy, it just might work!; 8/21/11, 12:38 PM
chickelit said...: I'm glad you didn't say which movie because I don't trust your opinion of movies anymore.

wv = "deriestr" superlative hind end.; 8/21/11, 12:43 PM
Brian O'Connell said...: It's usually at the beginning of the third act- our heroes' big plan to save the day or their skins or the macguffin.

It's the opposite of exposition. In real life, the more doubtful of the characters would need convincing that an audacious plan had a good chance of succeeding- or just to know the details. So as not to spoil it, to show the audience rather than tell us the plan, there's a big empty whole where that convincing and explaining should be.

The "trust me" thing is therefore the cinematic equivalent of the whispering of the plan between the characters so that the audience can't hear it. Which is of course super-cheesy by now. So "trust me" is the replacement. Soon to be super-cheesy as well, if it's not already,; 8/21/11, 12:44 PM
themightypuck said...: Carolla did a bit about that a while back (I'll never find it). In a lot of action movies a character has escaped from prison or killed 20 cops or something and the audience is thinking (why the fuck isn't the whole world looking for this dude) and some chick will forestall the audience incredulity by saying something like "what about the police" and the action star gruffly says "don't worry about it" and it is never referenced again.; 8/21/11, 12:44 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Many Hollywood movies are meant to be seen on the international market where clever wordplay may not translate well.; 8/21/11, 12:48 PM
Bob Ellison said...: You just don't get it, do you?; 8/21/11, 12:49 PM
Anonymous said...: I have no idea what in the name of God is going on in this (mildly NSFW) video, but it looks like fun. Sort of.

Peter; 8/21/11, 12:53 PM
Anonymous said...: I've got a bad feeling about this.; 8/21/11, 12:54 PM
HKatz said...: This kind of dialogue comes up a lot in action movies, just before something blows up or someone drives their car in reverse through a bunch of walls and plate glass windows.

Maybe it's also part of the general trend in films where very few directors just let the camera rest on the actors so that they can talk; they used to do that a lot more in older movies. Everything cuts quickly, back and forth, and from one scene to another, and there are special effects and things have to be kept moving quickly and visually eye-catching or else the audience will lose interest (so the thinking goes). The dialogue then gets reduced to soundbytes. So instead of talking about the idea/plan, it's just "trust me" (and then there are random grunts of pain and tires screeching and people strutting around looking cool in sunglasses and suits). Or if it's a romance movie, there's a cheesy song on the soundtrack and the man and woman are on a ferris wheel giggling or standing in front of a well-lit fountain (the dialogue in a lot of romance movies today sounds like it comes from Hallmark cards).

But there are films, not only older ones, that still have more interesting dialogue. They're just harder to find and less likely to be playing in mainstream theaters.; 8/21/11, 12:54 PM
jimbino said...: Don't you get bothered by "Absolutely!" It makes me barf every time.; 8/21/11, 1:01 PM
ndspinelli said...: There are few screenwriters who have the ear for real dialogue. Even though he's a coke head, Tarantino does, as do the Cohen Brothers. Other than those three, it's varying degrees of horseshit.; 8/21/11, 1:09 PM
ndspinelli said...: If we include HBO, let me add David Chase to my list of good dialogue screenwriters; 8/21/11, 1:11 PM
Henry said...: And yet the greatest use of the word "trust" in a movie, the one that parodies every other "trust me" in movie history, was uttered on screen over 30 years ago:

Otter: Flounder, you can't spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You fucked up... you trusted us! Hey, make the best of it! Maybe we can help.; 8/21/11, 1:12 PM
themightypuck said...: The Wire had good dialogue. Mad Men has good dialogue. Writers are moving to the small screen.

wv: ioning -- ancient Chinese secret.; 8/21/11, 1:15 PM
madAsHell said...: I'm not part of the target audience for movies.; 8/21/11, 1:15 PM
Alex said...: I prefer "The Terminator" when Kyle Reese said to Sarah Connor - "Come with me if you want to live". Ever since then, just pussy lines.; 8/21/11, 1:16 PM
Alex said...: The problem with TV is you have to commit to a long series. Movie are 2-hours. However if the professor is suffering from cliche-ridden horrible dialogue, I suggest she get some foreign films and learn to read subtitles.; 8/21/11, 1:18 PM
Alex said...: You want great dialogue? Try this scene on for size:

Reservoir Dogs - Tipping; 8/21/11, 1:20 PM
Peter Hoh said...: "Get out of there."; 8/21/11, 1:29 PM
Gabriel Hanna said...: It's because writers don't know how to write. They can't come up with a plausible plot point or a plausible exposition for it.; 8/21/11, 1:44 PM
ErnieG said...: I read somewhere that the line most often used was, "Let's get out of here."; 8/21/11, 1:53 PM
Paul Sand said...: My pet-peeve line is usually heard in sitcoms:

"What are you doing here?"

You almost never hear it in real life, but it crops up all the time on TV.; 8/21/11, 1:57 PM
ALP said...: themightypuck said:

"The Wire had good dialogue. Mad Men has good dialogue. Writers are moving to the small screen."

Exactly! I have morphed, over the years, into a total TV freak. Movies are a constant disappointment. TNT's show "Men of a Certain Age" had story lines and dialogue better than most movies, and TNT isn't even considered "premium" cable!

I recently cancelled my Netflix account as I wasn't watching many movies. I wanted so badly to tell them: "Its not YOU, Netflix, its Hollywood."

Now excuse me as I count the hours until tonight's episode of "Breaking Bad".; 8/21/11, 2:11 PM
erictrimmer said...: "Nooooooooooooooooooooo!"; 8/21/11, 2:15 PM
Kensington said...: There's no time to explain!; 8/21/11, 2:39 PM
Kensington said...: My favorite irritating movie cliche is when a conflict is artificially elongated because one of the characters just doesn't make himself clear. I don't know how actors play those moments convincingly.; 8/21/11, 2:40 PM
Chubfuddler said...: As Richard Dreyfus says to Robert Shaw, "I got that beat." Idling through an online article about the dearth of new ideas for Hollywood films led me to a preview for the film “Killer Elite,” starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert de Niro, a movie that has apparently nothing to do with “The Killer Elite,” a Sam Peckinpah film from the 70s, and which the article cited to show that the Tinsel Town Graverobbers were now reduced to digging up and reanimating old titles.

Anyway, I guess when they dug up the name, they found in the same crypt a treasure trove of movie lines that perhaps they thought had never been used before. In the space of a one minute, 40 second preview, the first 10 seconds of which were taken up with displaying the MPIAA green rating information, I heard the following:

1. Good guy Jason to bad guy Clive: “You and I got a lot in common.”

2. Good guy Jason tied to a chair while Clive points a gun at his head: “It isn’t over 'til both sides say it is.” [clearly lifting from John Belushi’s speech in “Animal House”: “Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”]

3. Clive, telephoning Jason who is at a supposedly undisclosed hideaway:

C: “I knew I’d find you.”
J: “Where did you get this number?”
C: “You have idea who you’re messin’ with.”

4. Mysterious agent to Jason, talking about de Niro: “He’s like a father to you, right?”

5. Ditto: “You don’t do this, he’s a dead man.”

6. De Niro to Clive, talking about Jason: “He’s your worst nightmare.”

7. Clive to one of his henchmen, talking about Jason: “All we’ve got to do is wait for him to come to us.”

8. Clive, talking about Jason to the chick in the film:

Clive: “This guy is good.”
Chick: “You have no idea.”

These next three come in quick cuts, but appear to be part of the same scene.

9. Clive or Jason, hard to tell: “You should have stayed away.”

10. Ditto: “The gloves are off.”

11. Clive: “This ends today.”

You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F1wrDsUqYc; 8/21/11, 3:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Trust me.

(I know, I know-but, how can you not?)

Thought cloud ..{{{what are you talking about}}}...

Nothin'...

Saw it in a movie....ugh.; 8/21/11, 3:22 PM
Alex said...: We used to make great American films.

The Hustler - Last Game; 8/21/11, 3:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Considering the liberal arts education and lack of real life experience of today's writers, what could one expect?; 8/21/11, 3:46 PM
Anonymous said...: When a person says "trust me," don't.

Peter; 8/21/11, 3:46 PM
Anonymous said...: DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?!?

A twofer, seems to me.; 8/21/11, 4:01 PM
ricpic said...: Just saw a movie called The Trip which is nothing but two characters talking to each other. Two Brits take a tasting trip, I think that's what it's called, from restaurant to restaurant in the north of England. Hilarious in spots, exhausting in others. Quite good on the whole.; 8/21/11, 4:02 PM
richard mcenroe said...: Say what?; 8/21/11, 4:08 PM
DADvocate said...: It's said there are only so many basic plots. Maybe there are only so many basic phrases, too.

Have trust in me.; 8/21/11, 4:10 PM
richard mcenroe said...: "Come with me if you want to live"

You'd be amazed how completely that can be misconstrued in many bars.; 8/21/11, 4:12 PM
richard mcenroe said...: 'Maybe there are only so many basic phrases, too.'

You bet your bippy.; 8/21/11, 4:13 PM
richard mcenroe said...: Oh, hell, people, with Battleship: the Movie coming up to revitalize Hollywood, what are we worrying about...?; 8/21/11, 4:15 PM
traditionalguy said...: Saying trust me is the biggest red flag possible not to trust that person.

He means that it is a lousy idea that he knows you would reject if he outlined his plan.

Saying What did you say shows he wasn't listening to you.

Why should he listen to a fool who trusts him?; 8/21/11, 5:02 PM
shake-and-bake said...: Re; "You just don't get it, do you?"

http://vimeo.com/24669583; 8/21/11, 6:26 PM
DADvocate said...: It all goes back to Rudyard Kipling and Walt Disney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s46SgIBpQ-Q; 8/21/11, 6:38 PM
Anonymous said...: X: "Listen."

Y: "What?"

X: "That's just it. Nothing."

How many times have you heard those lines?; 8/21/11, 6:41 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: OK,I won't say it; 8/21/11, 6:42 PM
Chip S. said...: Y: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"; 8/21/11, 6:49 PM
DADvocate said...: In Joe Pesci/Robert DeNiro movies, it's "Are you talking to me?!"; 8/21/11, 6:59 PM
HT said...: Internet, web pages, email, texting, blogging, tweeting - and you expect writing to get BETTER?; 8/21/11, 7:46 PM
Bob Ellison said...: The discussion here of the untrustworthiness intrinsic in the command "trust me" makes me want to point out other, similar phrases much in use among pundits and politicians, though not in scripts:

"The fact of the matter is..."

"At the end of the day..."

These are red flags that the person speaking is about to lie.; 8/21/11, 7:57 PM
KCFleming said...: I usually quit liking a movie or TV epsiodes once the lead or supporting actress is revealed to be a prostitute or there is a scene in a strip club.

I didn't say I stopped watching, but I subsequently hate the movie/show.

It's like every third woman in the world is a hooker or stripper.; 8/21/11, 8:08 PM
Ron said...: Don Draper says "What?":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsJSRP7cZVo; 8/21/11, 9:51 PM
Jim Lindgren said...: This reminds me of the Ebert-coined phrase: "seeing-eye man."

"Seeing-Eye Man: Function performed by most men in Hollywood feature films. Involves a series of shots in which (1) the man sees something, (2) he points it out to the woman, and (3) she then sees it, too, often nodding in agreement, gratitude, amusement or relief."; 8/21/11, 10:28 PM
Lord Whorfin said...: One of the games on "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" Drew Carey etc. Performer could only speak one of two lines given to him by the host.

Often funny.; 8/21/11, 11:30 PM
Robert said...: Even lazier is this common exchange:

"Listen to me..."
"No, you listen to me!"

In endless bad movies and tv shows.; 8/22/11, 8:00 AM
Tobias said...: The other lazy line of dialogue that I keep hearing in movies is, "What do you want from me?"

It's hard not to turn off the movie whenever I hear that.; 8/22/11, 8:32 AM
raf said...: Actually, these "cliches" are a half-accurate reflection of contemporary culture. "Trust me" = leftwing; "What are you talking about" = Tea Party. The unrealistic part is that in the movies, the guy saying "trust me" succeeds.; 8/22/11, 9:24 AM
raf said...: It's like every third woman in the world is a hooker or stripper.

Isn't this more or less the Feminist view of marriage, et. al.?; 8/22/11, 9:25 AM
Tarzan said...: The one that really gets my goat is children's movies where the main character pumps his (or her) fist and says, "Yes!"

There is a deathly fear of creative prose in modern film-making. All the writers are like high-school kids afraid that the other kids will make fun of them for being able to speak properly.

I've had it up to f*cking HERE with modern colloquial 'street cred'.; 8/22/11, 9:41 AM
Dan in Philly said...: It's impossible to communicate in amovie the complex reasoning which goes into an argument, so "trust me" is a short hand way of saying "I have a good and well thought out reason for suggesting this, but if we discuss it now everyone will go right to sleep, and subsequent events will illustrate my points anyway."; 8/22/11, 10:25 AM
TML said...: Everyone should spend the $900 and attend Robert McKee's 3-day "Story" seminar. You will not believe how incredible it is. The final day is a fascinating, almost-7-hour scene-by-scene breakdown and analysis of "Casablanca". One of the most enlightening experiences of my life. Genius. If every hack screenwriter paid attention to the basics, this type of lame dialogue would never happen.; 8/22/11, 12:08 PM
Peter said...: Writers have less status than anyone else in Hollywood.

Sometimes it shows.; 8/22/11, 1:16 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Every time a character in a movie says, "Trust me," I think, "Tell me why I should."

If you were already questioning what someone was doing, why would you respond positively to "trust me?" Wouldn't that make you even more suspicious? The person can't even explain what he's doing, and you're supposed to trust him?

Stupid.; 8/22/11, 8:22 PM