The other day I was watching The Philadelphia Story with a friend of mine. Like any romantic comedy from this era, there is a lot of "fast talk." The dialogue runs at a wicked pace and is filled with wit. In its day, this was the basic format for a romantic comedy. Everyone went to these films for their light, amusing plots with happy endings. As I was watching this film with my friend, who was born and raised in Racine, I was shocked to discover he was unable to follow the film. He asked me questions about what was going on every five minutes!
I finally realized it was the "fast talk" that was confusing him. He couldn't follow the dialogue. He isn't a total idiot, so I didn't know what to think of this. Has modern mainstream cinema become so watered down and dumbed down that a 20 year-old guy from Racine (where he wouldn't have access to indie films unless he sought them out on his own and drove to Milwaukee) can't even follow the plot of an old-fashioned screwball comedy because he is so used to the methodical and conventional plots of modern movies? Is the average American so used to the terrible scripts found in mainstream romantic comedies that they can't even follow something like The Philadelphia Story?
I can't think of any other explanation for this troubling experience I had with my friend.
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