Am I the only one who finds Taxi Driver boring?

[robfosters]

Watched it the other day and just felt bored. I know it's a cinema classic and I should be shot for dissing it, but it just did'nt grab me the way everyone says it does.

[andrew markwort]

I know what you mean, but I wouldn't call it boring as much as something that in hindsight you wonder what all the fuss was about. I saw it in an arthouse cinema when I was a student a couple of years after its release (I hadn't seen it on its initial release because we didn't get that sort of film in Barrow in Furness). At the time I enjoyed it (if 'enjoy' is the right word). I saw it again the other night on Sky - it was a decent print and the picture and sound were way better than when I first saw it, but it now seemed very drab and a bit stuck in its time. I think our attitudes on a lot of things have moved on since the film was made in the seventies and what seemed at the time an interesting study of mental decay in an urban cesspit now just seems tawdry rather than insightful. There are some great individual performances in it, but overall it didn't grip me.

[xit2050]

No, you are not alone.
Besides, don't let others tell you what movies you should or shouldn't like.

It's called personal choice.

[Pecker]

You may not be alone, but that doesn't mean you're right.

Steve W

[robfosters]

No one's wrong and no ones right. It's all down to personal preference.

[featherhall]

although I think it is a masterpiece, I can fully understand why some may not like it. Each to their own.
For instance, I cant stand Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I get flamed for saying so.

Opinions - love em'

[SimonH]

In my 10 ten favourites ever, boring ?

I guess it's just as well we don't all share similar taste but I just don't get how anybody could say that was a boring film.

[andrew markwort]

I just don't get how anybody could say that was a boring film

.

For the record, I didn't say it was boring, just rather drab. I think the film is a bit too focused on all that was bad about urban living in the USA at that time, but utterly failed to consider that there were good things as well. The only point at which we move out of the urban environment is when we hear the reading of the letter from the girl's parents at the end, and to me, this sounds like a very patronising message that the only alternative to urban blight is living a dull life in the sticks. Maybe I'm approaching this movie from the wrong direction, but that's how it strikes me.

I should repeat that there is a lot to admire in the film - e.g. the acting by and large is superb.

[SimonH]

Originally Posted by andrew markwort

.

For the record, I didn't say it was boring, just rather drab. I think the film is a bit too focused on all that was bad about urban living in the USA at that time, but utterly failed to consider that there were good things as well. The only point at which we move out of the urban environment is when we hear the reading of the letter from the girl's parents at the end, and to me, this sounds like a very patronising message that the only alternative to urban blight is living a dull life in the sticks. Maybe I'm approaching this movie from the wrong direction, but that's how it strikes me.

I should repeat that there is a lot to admire in the film - e.g. the acting by and large is superb.

Sorry Andrew, I quoted the wrong person, was the other chap who said he was bored.

[Dark Drums]

With the greatest respect to the OP, the film does exactly what it's supposed to do.

It all depends what you expect of the movie; if your going in with the mindset of believing it's some sort of super gory, mindless shoot-em up then I can understand why you would be disappointed.

[Pecker]

I'll just offer this - for a film to be truly boring, nothing would need to be happening.

If something is happening and you're bored, there are four possibilities:

1 - It's a bad film;
2 - The viewer doesn't understand what is happening (if you see a dialogue-driven film in a foreign language, without subtitles, you'd find it boring, but that wouldn't make it a bad film);
3 - The viewer does understand what's going on, but the film is incredibly simplistic and obvious (Transformers springs to mind);
4 - It's just not the viewer's cup of tea.

Lots of real film fans do not find Taxi Driver boring, which implies that there is something of interest happening. Most of the people who like it are not children, teenagers looking for something 'kewl', or populists with no understanding of cinema. That suggests it's no Transformers.

This leaves us with two possibilities for those who find it boring. Either it's not their cup of tea (fair enough) or they don't understand what's going on because they can only read fairly simplistic cinema.

Steve W

[SimonH]

Originally Posted by featherhall

I cant stand Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I get flamed for saying so.

Really, thought it was a decent movie, but I'm surprised anybody was in love with it enough to flame you for not liking it. It's not exactly a classic.

Some of JC's best work mind you but lets face it, he's only got about a 30% success rate IMO.

[Pincho Paxton]

Well, it's a film that I have watched only once, didn't particularly dislike, and couldn't be bothered to watch again. This puts it in a very small minority of which only a few of my previous films are placed....

Taxi Driver
Dog Day Afternoon
Ladykillers
Eight Legged Freaks
Black Sheep

Are examples of this list, and this description....

This leaves us with two possibilities for those who find it boring. Either it's not their cup of tea (fair enough) or they don't understand what's going on because they can only read fairly simplistic cinema.

.... I suppose would be a closest fit to boring, but they aren't quite boring.

[Pincho Paxton]

Originally Posted by SimonH

Really, thought it was a decent movie, but I'm surprised anybody was in love with it enough to flame you for not liking it. It's not exactly a classic.

Some of JC's best work mind you but lets face it, he's only got about a 30% success rate IMO.

No... it's a classic. I don't really flame people though.

[pRot3us]

Originally Posted by andrew markwort

For the record, I didn't say it was boring, just rather drab. I think the film is a bit too focused on all that was bad about urban living in the USA at that time, but utterly failed to consider that there were good things as well. The only point at which we move out of the urban environment is when we hear the reading of the letter from the girl's parents at the end, and to me, this sounds like a very patronising message that the only alternative to urban blight is living a dull life in the sticks. Maybe I'm approaching this movie from the wrong direction, but that's how it strikes me.

Its a an honest movie about New York at the time, why you would want it to be a disney-esque feel good movie about urban living is beyond me

The film is largely a reaction to the state of New York of the time which was an utter, utter hole of a place to live in the 70s, literally hell on earth ; gangs, high crime,highest murder rate in the world, streets were filthy with rubbish, massive rat and sanitation problems. To many it looked like the start of the fall of western civilization, particularly looking back to what a great,iconic city it had once been.