MovieChat Forums > Encino Man (1992) Discussion > Matt is the bad guy???

Matt is the bad guy???

posted 19 years ago by pimperoni
39 replies | jump to latest

Ok well i recently watched this movie, and i noticed something really weird about this movie. Why is dave the good guy?? Throughout the whole movie hes complaining about how he wants to be popular, and so he discovers a caveman and decides to try to use him to make himself popular. meanwhile he is also hitting on robyn who has a boyfriend (matt), and he's supposed to be the bad guy because he gets mad that someone is hitting on his girlfriend? and was anyone else a little creeped out when he goes up to robyn and says "robyn... we were naked together" and he has that picture? Oh my god.

anyway, does anyone else think its weird that the protagonist is the one who will hit on a girl with a boyfriend constantly, and use anyone for popularity? and the antagonist is the one who doesnt like it when creepy guys hit on his girlfriend?

- Pimperoni

P.S. BTW i thought that matt was the best guy in this movie. it was hilarious everytime he said "SHOOOOSH!" and my favorite part in the whole movie was: "What do you think of your bosnian dork-friend now? hhhmmmmMMMMM??" as he tilts his head and raises his arms. OMG i replayed that like five times and couldnt stop laughing!

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Greaserdemon 19 years ago

You are right at first and then you make a pretty absurd example of Die Hard that is very incorrect..
Like you said, we emotionally invest in the Protagonist. In Die Hard the audience emotrionally invests in John McClane silly, not the lead terrorist. John McClane is the protagonist and his goal is to stop the terrorists from succeeding. The lead terrorist is the antagonist, Argyle is the sidekick, his wife is the emotional charcater, the police cheif outside and the newscaster are the contagonists, etc. But John McClane is not he antagonist in Die Hard 1.

You are right that the Protagonist does not have to be the good guy, but your example of Die Hard is not an accurate example of that scenario. (Natural Born Killers is a better one as they are the protagonists but not good guys)

[–] kylebarkerlgi 19 years ago

Matt was just the high-school bully type. He always picked on Dave, Dave was misguided and temporarily got caught up in the "popularity" business. Matt was never that nice to Robyn, he was very posessive.

MATT: "This is a dog license! what could the two biggest losers in school be hiding??"

MATT'S FRIEND:"...A dog?"

[–] internal-rhyme 18 years ago

MATT: "This is a dog license! what could the two biggest losers in school be hiding??"

MATT'S FRIEND:"...A dog?"

-----

haha :)

[–] wdashton43 19 years ago

Matt is the good guy!?!? Are you kidding? Sure Dave is a little misguided with the whole picture thing and trying to use Link, but there is nothing wrong with simply talking to a girl who has a boyfriend. Plus, he wasnt just some creepy guy. They grew up together. Also, though he tried to use Link, he was a great friend to him the whole movie until right before Prom when he tried to leave him. But Dave, with the help of Stony, realizes his mistake and rights his wrongs. Matt is the bad guy because he, opposed to Dave, never realizes he is a complete jerk. He pins Dave to a wall and throws him across the rink for simply talking to his girl. A little extreme dont u think? Then he punches Link for no reason what so ever except to prove he is "the man". Did I forget to mention that Matt also broke into Dave's house? Oh yeah, he broke into the school files too. The biggest thing that seperates them is the attitude. Dave has a good attitude and doesnt look for trouble. He simply wants to fit in. Matt is a complete idiot/jerk with the biggest ego alive. Remember when he wants to leave the rink because of the "stench of losers". Who says that, honestly? Anyway, its just a movie so who really cares....but I hope you reconsider your opinion. Peace and God bless.

[–] somethings911 19 years ago

i concur,--------- what they said

[–] jillhagler 19 years ago

he was a moron anyway. why did he think revealing that Link is a caveman would RUIN him?

Who the hell doesn't like Cave Men?

[–] fallingdownthemountain 19 years ago

LMAO
i agree with the OP
Matt was the funniest character in the movie

"SHOOOOSH!"
"some of us pump... and some of us slump"

lol one of my fav bits is when Dave is smiling at Robyn in class and then Matt puts his head in the way.. then shakes it

[–] zardozspeakstoyou 12 years ago

I like the part where Matt gets gills and goes on a quest under the sea

[–] mdlfan 19 years ago

I loved Matt in the movie!! So funny! I loved the part when punch was poured on his head by Stony....that is the funniest look!

[–] Drboboosh2 19 years ago

Matt is pretty hilarious, but I do agree that he is the bad guy. I know some of these posts were from like 10 years ago, but John McClane is technically the antagonist. They say so in the commentary.

[–] HotShot2387 18 years ago

are you saying every comic book hero is an antagonist because they try to stop the "bad guy's" plan?

[–] eternalxcontradiction 18 years ago

I don't think Matt is the good guy but I definitely agree that Dave wasn't the best. He creeped me out and annoyed me--like at the beginning of the movie when his friend was commenting that Dave could have dated Robyn in freshman year, and Dave said she hadn't hit her "babe", or w/e, yet. Yeah, like Dave had. I know Matt was the school bully and whatnot, and was a major jerk, but Dave was superficial and used Link to get what he wanted.

[–] OregonPrideUSA 18 years ago

SHOOSH! HUSH PLEASE!

I LOVE HIM IN THIS FILM!!!

"Fashionably late, eh Johnas? Fashionably late. Gimme a kiss baby!"

[–] BCShynumber1 18 years ago

Yeah I liked Matt,he was a bully and all but he was just so good at it and he was funny as hell.The only bully/jerk I hated the most was Troy from The Goonies,he could have killed Brand for his own amusement,that was so messed up.

[–] john-mitchell77 18 years ago

All the characters have flaws, (except Link and Stoney) it's just Matt has more of them.

All the flawed characters are obsessed with popularity, and that's to be expected, they're high school kids.

Yes, Dave is weird and hypacritical, so I do agree with you to a point

[–] nam-turk 18 years ago

I agree. Dave is a total douchebag trying to use Link. Stoney is the good guy.

[–] weirdozmedia 18 years ago

Dave was a flawed character to make him more interesting. He's supposed to learn a lesson throughout the movie so that by the end of the film he is a better person than he was to begin with.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] weirdozmedia 18 years ago

hmm most of the popular dudes at my school were pretty cool. there might be cliques of guys like these that kinda travel together but for the most part they wouldn't be runnin the school like in this movie

[–] loreleib 17 years ago

They were like that at my school. Obviously not all of them, but a lot of the really popular people were. I never got beat up, because I'm a girl, but I sure got made fun of a lot and most of my guy friends got beaten up pretty regularly. We were freaks, lol.

[–] maria_maneva 17 years ago

I don't think we could label either Matt or Dave "good guy"/"bad guy". I see them as regular highschool kids. Matt is the "popular" one so probably he thinks he owns the school and he can torture the others as much as he likes. Dave on the other hand is really obsessed with becoming "cool" and getting a hot girlfriend, but tell me - who at that age isn't/wasn't?! It's just a normal thing for teenagers - trying to fit in, to be liked by the others, to find their true identity etc.
In my school it was the same. We had a bunch of kids who were "popular" and thought they had the right to do anything they want. They didn't beat anyone up really but still they were humiliating, making fun of and offending the others in different ways.

[–] zombiesushi 16 years ago

God i wish the bullies at my school had left me alone simply because i was a girl, lol. not being rude to you but just commenting.

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[–] 16 years ago

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