I liked the movie overall, but I was bothered by how bad the accents of the obese American tourists were. If you're going to take the piss out of those American stereotypes, could they not find any American extras to play those roles? Even the dwarf was played by a Canadian.
By the way, if you want remind yourself, the clip is on YouTube called: "In Bruges" - Must See
http://youtu.be/cBlev8r_iCo
So what. I can't count all the instances of bad accents of non-european actors that played european roles in american movies. That's just how movies work.
shareI disagree with the statement:
So what. I can't count all the instances of bad accents of non-european actors that played european roles in american movies. That's just how movies work.
My point was: The only people noticing that the accent is fake are the ones that speak that accent or know people that do. Which is usually the minority. Hollywood does that thing regularily because it's an USA-egocentric movie factory. But in Bruges is mainly a european movie with an european target audience, so the roles are reversed: The intended target audience won't notice the difference in american accents anyway, so why care.
shareYeah, that is a good point. But it did get about 1/5th of its gross from US box offices, so they did partially target Americans, especially when you have an International star like Farrell in it. I tend to watch many films made outside the US and this was the worst American accent I've heard. Even worse than the ones on British television.
shareI can reverse that, too:
Most Hollywood movies make at least 1/5th of their gross from foreign box offices.
Most American movies make nearly 1/2 of their gross from foreign box office. With some films the vast majority is made outside the US (eg Avatar, 71%). Very few foreign films do the reverse.
I find that a duck's opinion of me is very much influenced over whether or not I have bread.
That's because the market for movies outside the US is bigger than the market within it.
shareAt least they weren't the typical SW American accents. They think everyone here is a cowboy.
shareI agree. Only Americans would notice this; they seemed American to me. I see bad Irish and other accents in American films all the time, but I'm used to it. I don't point in horror every time a minor character's accent is faked.
shareYou're trying to tell us that no one other than Americans noticed that the fat-American stereotype cast as "overweight woman #2" wasn't even attempting to use an American accent? She wasn't even near a Canadian accent. She has what? One line and she can't fake-act an American accent better than that? No wonder her IMDB page has only three credits.
Maybe the producers thought "Fat? Bad hair? Touristy? Yep! American!" and therefore didn't worry about the accents.
shareWow, that wasn't very kind of you, either. But I have been known to have a bad hair day or two in my time.
It's entirely possible that I am missing the point of your message.
by - puschit-1 on Sat Feb 25 2012 05:42:25So in other words, if several movies don't strive for linguistic-authenticity, then no film should bother?
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So what. I can't count all the instances of bad accents of non-european actors that played european roles in american movies. That's just how movies work.
My point was that in all those other instances, nobody ever cared. Take the "nihilists" in The Big Lebowski, they are supposed to be german. Their german is cringeworthy. That means I am not even referring to their accent when they speak english, they didn't even bother to get somone who can actually speak german fluently. But when you point that out, nobody cares. No american, at least. "Come on, it's just a movie and nobody knows the difference anyway". But now that the roles are reversed, all of a sudden it IS important for those people ... and THAT's what I was referring to.
shareby - puschit-1 on Fri May 11 2012 07:22:44I personally don't care about the accents in this films. I thought their presence was funny and not off-base. However, since the subject was brought up, I will say that, "Yeah, I could tell something was off with their accents as well." This is a fact. Saying, "Nobody ever cared," is a falsity.
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My point was that in all those other instances, nobody ever cared. Take the "nihilists" in The Big Lebowski, they are supposed to be german.
Their german is cringeworthy.Please don't use the word "cringe-worthy". If you have to cringe about something, it's not worthy of anything. "Cringe-worthy" is a stupid expression.
That means I am not even referring to their accent when they speak english, they didn't even bother to get somone who can actually speak german fluently.No, you're wrong. Torsten Voges (Franz) was born in Germany and speaks fluent German. Fail.
"Come on, it's just a movie and nobody knows the difference anyway". But now that the roles are reversed, all of a sudden it IS important for those people ... and THAT's what I was referring to.First off, The Big Lebowski comparison is out since you are totally wrong about that. Secondly, the only person taking this to heart is you. You are saying that Americans are unaware that their films have this type of inauthenticity, but that's very wrong. Do you really think Americans think the true events from their beloved Schindler's List was in English as it was portrayed in the film? No! You think every American takes to heart what they see on film? No! It looks like you share the same ignorancy and stereotyping-behavior of those you are criticizing. Nobody cares but you, dude. All we're doing is pointing it out. It's there and there's no point you're going to make (even when you finally do come up with a valid example) to change it.
The nihilists was a group of people, one of them being Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is australian. Casting famous rockstars was obviously more important than spot-on accents.
Cringe-worthy. You have to go as low as pointing out my poor selection of words? English is not my mother tongue and you knew pretty well what I wanted to say.
Then I don't know what you are trying to say with Schindler's list. If an entire movie takes place in another country, of course thell shoot that movie in another language. That has nothing to do with this issue. We are arguing over foreigners being protrayed in movies. In american movies, taking place in america with mainly american characters, characters from other countries are constantly played actors of the wrong nationality and/or language capabilities, from small roles like Flea as a german in Lebowski to big roles like Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard. I don't blame the studios much because authenticity comes at the cost. Having a multinational cast can cause a lot of trouble, research costs money and if you want to stay true, your casting options are very limited. However, in all of these cases where foreing minorities in otherwise mainly american productions have been miscast (lingustically) and where the corresponding minority points that out, they have been shot down with senteces like "dude, its just a movie" or "shut up, it's an american movie". You think that's all in my head? You can read that up on all those boards here at IMDb.
In Bruges, however, is an indi, eurocentric movie with mainly british and irish actors, taking place in Belgium that happens to feature a small group of tourists from overseas where the accents my be off. For the same reasons as explained before. Therefor I am entitled to call bollocks on anybody being outraged by this.
by - puschit-1 on Fri May 11 2012 09:23:39Why didn't you just say this in the first place, instead of: "Take the 'nihilists' in The Big Lebowski, they are supposed to be german. Their german is cringeworthy. That means I am not even referring to their accent when they speak english, they didn't even bother to get somone who can actually speak german fluently." My point was that they did indeed cast someone who spoker German fluently, and when you said "someone", that means you are directing it at a person not "a group of people". Make up your mind. Now you are just saying anything to steer this conversation in your favor. Come on, dude, you're the one going "low".
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The nihilists was a group of people, one of them being Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is australian. Casting famous rockstars was obviously more important than spot-on accents.
Therefor I am entitled to call bollocks on anybody being outraged by this.You have a misplaced sense of entitlement. Anyway, another point your failing to see is that you're the only one outraged here. This was pointing out in my last post and you're just digging further in your own hole instead of climbing out. We are all just talking here. You are the one that came along with a vengence about the subject and started justifying it just because other films do it. What a weak logic.
Once again, english is not my mother tongue. "Nihilists" is plural, isn't it? So I said "someone" instead of "somebody". Are you really that nitpicky?
And I am not outraged. Iirc you are the one being stirred up a little because of my original comment.
by - puschit-1 on Mon May 14 2012 01:43:25No need to repeat yourself. I noted this the first time you wrote it. There's nothing wrong with your English. It's actually quite good. There's something wrong with your logic. No matter home many times you stress that English is not your "mother tongue", the hole in your logic will remain just as big.
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Once again, english is not my mother tongue.
"Nihilists" is plural, isn't it?Yes, but when you said, "… they didn't even bother to get somone who can actually speak german fluently," implies that your expectation was that at least one of them could speak German fluently and they did.
So I said "someone" instead of "somebody".Which neither are plural.
Are you really that nitpicky?Because I am responding directly to your words should not be a flaw. Taking your words out-of-context should be, which I believe I have not done. You will notice I quote you so you know exactly what I am responding to. If you feel this is "nitpicky", it might be because you are projecting frustration from the subconscious realization that I am making you eat your own words and that your words might be contradictory. You have great English, but someone with terrible English could avoid the direction you have steered this conversation.
And I am not outraged.But you are the one with the fight-fire-with-fire/two-wrongs-make-a-right/if-one-movie-does-it-then-it's-okay-for-another-movie-to-do-it approach to this conversation. Yeah, you're right, other movies have done it. Does it make it any less of a flaw for In Bruges to do it? No. Is The Big Lebowski the best example you could have given? No, it wasn't the best example… it wasn't even a good example.
Iirc you are the one being stirred up a little because of my original comment.I'm sorry, I don't know what "Iirc" means. I'm as stirred up as you are outraged. Your original comment was inattentive and you have brought very little to the table since. Good day, sir.
Sigh.
shareIrish accents in any American film take you pick, they are all shockinly bad, its like they have never heard an Irish person talk before. They try to talk with the accent you would imagine a leprechaun has.
share"Please don't use the word "cringe-worthy". If you have to cringe about something, it's not worthy of anything. "Cringe-worthy" is a stupid expression."
The irony is delicious - some numbskull gets upset because a non-English speaker uses a perfectly good English expression that's not included in his or her vocabulary!
don't care about most of what you said there, but to say that cringeworthy is a stupid word is idiotic, to hyphenate it when repeating it for your rejection is stupid and you seem to some kind of semantics fascist if you think you can decide which words are and are not permitted for use. if something is so poor that it is worth showing your perception of it being so poor that cringing is what is done, not even gracing it with words, then it is cringeworthy, much like you comment.
were all the germans in the big lebowski german?
[deleted]
And the Canadian was played by an American!
I didn't notice any bad American accents. ??? There weren't that many Americans with lines.
I'm much more bothered by American movies where American actors try to mimic regional American accents with horrendous results. Thank God for creating dialect coaches!
Morag
I agree bad accents made by Americans are not an excuse to do this, but maybe it can serve as a reminder of how the rest of us feel when we see (well, hear) our accents (or even languages - Hollywood movies often don't get the language right) butchered by mainstream Hollywood movies... And nobody seems alarmed about this and nobody calls them out on this (except for locals, but nobody cares about them, right?)
I mean, a typical Hollywood movie with a non-American setting can be described like a movie about September 11 set in Los Angeles, Canada, where all the people speak German, it happens on October 10 and the attackers come from Indonesia. I am exaggerating, but not much. Many mainstream movies treat non-American settings or people this way (or even the American ones), and when locals complain, they say something about the artistic license. Yet, Hollywood movies are shaping the way people around the world see these cultures and people and historical events. So it's not really "just a movie".
Non-Hollywood movies don't have this strength to shape people's opinions this way, but I do agree finding native actors (or someone who can do a convincing accent) is important. The fact those were supposed to be Americans doesn't change a thing. Just because Hollywood movies are getting your people or your history or you culture or your accents wrong, it doesn't mean you have right to do the same to Americans.
That being said, I must admit I won't be losing sleep about two lines made in a bad American accent where there are so many (many many many many many many) more examples where mainstream Hollywood was doing the same to others. I guess Americans should just grow a pair here. Hey, it's just a movie, remember?
Then again ... who said they are americans anyways? They are called "fat americans" by the characters of the movie. So maybe they were supposed to be cannadian or whatever but the characters of the movie were oblivious and just called them "americans".
Just a thought^^
Yeah Try being Australian then every F*KN Movie that and Australian part is being played by a Yank it sounds so bad i want to stab myself in the arm with a rusty tent peg... That is what they do in movies. I thought the film was one of the best i have seen in months. I also thought the American's sounded like Americans you all sound the same to me (Loud)...
A plague on your house
There are some Americans with some weird accents out there too... I didn't particularly notice it but then again I'm not an American.
Also, I wonder why you guys are complaining about the accent and not the stereotype way they looked; short pants, socks and ugly white sneakers, baseball cap (if I recall correctly).
Oh, and about accents/languages: I know at least half a dozen times people in a movie were supposedly speaking Dutch, while in fact they were speaking German or even some East European language. That's an entirely different language!
Bad accents can disrupt a movie experience for some people or at least distract from the movie/story/atmosphere. Just know that it's mainly an American problem, not a European problem.
I also thought the American's sounded like Americans you all sound the same to me
[deleted]
There are many American dialects. I don't believe I've ever seen an onslaught of American actors playing Aussies. Mel Gibson? It seems to me that Australia is overrun with actors. Good ones too.
"Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"
I agree, i spent some time in Rome and in general most loudly speaking drunks were refereed to as Americans, even when at times they were Canadians Australians or other Europeans.
The intent was likely that they actually are Americans, though rather non important if they were not. As for the accents the idea that Americans have one accent is rather dense of anyone to say. As its over 250 million people and such a large country, you can move form neighborhood to neighborhood in one city and have drastically different accents let alone regions or coasts.
another possibility i they are first generation Americans whose family members and friends still live in their countries of origin, and the ones in America still speak in their perspective accents.
Should be noted that this tiny tidbit is what is raising complaints really speaks to the greatness of the rest of the movie.
I agree bad accents made by Americans are not an excuse to do this, but maybe it can serve as a reminder of how the rest of us feel when we see (well, hear) our accents (or even languages - Hollywood movies often don't get the language right) butchered by mainstream Hollywood movies...While this is a valid point, this does not make it any less of a flaw. I certainly won't defend Hollywood's mistakes, so I agree with you, but it is beside the point of how it relates to In Bruges.
And nobody seems alarmed about this and nobody calls them out on this (except for locals, but nobody cares about them, right?)This should be projected at the industry that produces these films that bug you, not Americans in general and is still certainly not a defense for this film. If anything, In Bruges falls into the category of bad-accent-films you're criticizing.
Yet, Hollywood movies are shaping the way people around the world see these cultures and people and historical events. So it's not really "just a movie".Believe it or not, Hollywood does not appeal to all movie-goers, nor does it appeal to all Americans. I am an American movie buff who tends to enjoy classics, foreign and indies over films that come out of Hollywood. In a way, you are stereotyping too; it's as if Hollywood only comes out with inauthentic films (not true) and all Americans take these films to heart (also not true). I'm not saying you're incorrect; I'm just saying two wrongs don't make a right—you're stereotyping the stereotypers. In Bruges could have been that film to be above Hollywood's stereotypes and bad accents, but it wasn't; it simply sunk to Hollywood's level.
Actually, the Canadian was played by a Slovenian. Otherwise, I totally agree with puschit-1. We (all other nationalities) aren't important when accents from American actors don't match true accents. When we occasionally point that out, the most common reply is: Shake it off, it's only a movie. But now, when tree stereotypically fat (am I allowed to say fat?) American tourists have maybe 10 seconds in the movie, it is such an offense that there had to be a whole new thread opened because of it.
Just enjoy the movie and do what we most of the time do. Try not to notice.
Yeah, I could tell something was off with the accents as well. Didn't bother me too much though.
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Do we even know they are American? Bear in mind that Ray gets into a fight with "an American" in the restaurant, and only finds out later that he was Canadian.
Clearly he can't tell the difference, and he's the one that told Ken they were American, and that's the only reference we have to go on.
by - Wulfah on Mon May 14 2012 23:41:44Interesting point. Certainly a Canadian can be a New York Yankees fans, however, I do think the ballcap, plus the (attempted) east-central/southeast tone of the three's voice, and finally Ray telling Ken they were American were all results of the filmmaker wanting them to be American.
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Do we even know they are American? Bear in mind that Ray gets into a fight with "an American" in the restaurant, and only finds out later that he was Canadian.
Clearly he can't tell the difference, and he's the one that told Ken they were American, and that's the only reference we have to go on.
When Harry and Ken try to go up into the tower the guard says it's closed because an American had a heart attack, which was the film referencing back to Ken and Ray trying to keep the overweight Americans from climbing the tower in the first place.
shareThey people weren't American, nor meant to be playing Americans. Colin's character ASSUMED they were.
They were Canadian, and their accents where just fine.
And what is your basis for saying they were Canadian? We're not talking about the couple in the restaurant here.
"No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?"
They people weren't American, nor meant to be playing Americans. Colin's character ASSUMED they were.Those weren't Canadian accents, either. They sounded like Welch or Scottish people trying to sound like Americans. share
They were Canadian, and their accents where just fine.
You would be really surprised to know that the Russians hate when someone in the US movie speaks Russian. Is it really so impossible to find a russian for a crowd scene? It's all the same if a russian will play an american, talking like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujxM4ZPsvSI . So you need to chill about such a trifle like bad-American accent.
shareI'm an American and I didn't see anything wrong with the accent of the Americans. It sounds fine to me. They sound like Americans. Their acting wasn't all that great, but I don't think their accents were fake.
"I've seen things that would make you want to write a book on how to puke."
Same here goes for Canadian accent.
Very bad
What American pronounces "been" as "bean"? That really stuck out to me along with the general tone. I think they were supposed to be American though. The police officer or guard (don't really remember who it was) said an American had died of a heart attack in the tower.
shareWhat American pronounces "been" as "bean"? That really stuck out to me along with the general tone.
Yeah, but that was part of the joke.
share