Characters You Weren't Supposed To Like (But Did)

[Spartan Girl]

We all have our little blind spots when it comes to movies. Sometimes we find ourselves drawn to certain characters-- not just the villains, but ones that are deeply flawed and don't come off particularly likable to others. Have you ever found yourself liking a certain character that you would probably hate in real life?

The first one I can think of is the fictional portrayal of Mozart in Amadeus. While he did have his good side, he spends most of the film coming off as an immature jackass. And that's probably done on purpose so we can initially sympathize with Salieri -- really, who hasn't gotten pissed because you aren't as talented as someone else? It's even worse when it's someone you can't stand.

And yet for all his many faults, I couldn't help liking him. I don't know why. Maybe it's because it's easy to understand why got the way he was -- him being dominated and exploited by his dad as a child, his frustration over music being too ahead of his time, etc. Maybe because of all the little sweet and vulnerable moments when he isn't acting like an idiot, when you see that talent isn't as fulfilling as Salieri thinks it should be. Or maybe it's simply because of how cute Tom Hulce was.

Either way, I liked him. And it's impossible not to feel sorry for him when his life starts spiraling down the drain, all ending with getting dumped in that mass grave.

[proserpina65]

Were we supposed to root for Hans Gruber?  I don't think so, but I was anyway.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Tom Hiddleston's Loki for sure!

Queenie in the Jurassic Park movies! I'm pretty sure I was supposed to root for the hoomans.

Vito, Sunny and Michael Corleone. I KNOW I wasn't supposed to root for the mobsters. But their portrayals and the actors who portrayed them...what else could I do?

[spaceytraci1208]

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Were we supposed to root for Hans Gruber?  I don't think so, but I was anyway.

I definitely rooted for him to shoot that smug yuppie Ellis in the face lol...I think that was the first time I cheered when someone died in a movie 

4 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

Vito, Sunny and Michael Corleone. I KNOW I wasn't supposed to root for the mobsters. But their portrayals and the actors who portrayed them...what else could I do?

Sonny's death still hits me hard

[millennium]

Batman, in most movie incarnations.   The movies from the 90s forward seem to have been written as vehicles for various celebrities to chew up scenery as Bat-villains, beginning with the asshole Jack Nicholson.   I honestly don't think the writers want us to like Batman.  He has invariably been portrayed as Gotham's biggest buzz-kill, curtailing the villain's fun, stomping on people's rights, etc.   A brooding psycho who can't see the big picture beyond his own obsessive crusade.    I grew up in the 70s, when Batman's frame of mind, his heroism, his powers of deduction and his commitment to justice were beyond question.   That's the Batman I still try to see inside all the dubious impersonations of the character in the past thirty years, and why I still like him, the moviemakers be damned.

[Irlandesa]

On 5/3/2018 at 9:55 AM, proserpina65 said:

Were we supposed to root for Hans Gruber?  I don't think so, but I was anyway.

Right? I definitely don't know that we were supposed to but they were happy to let him be the most interesting character in the movie. 

I think this is kind of a tough question because there are unlikeable characters out there who are described as such or "difficult" and yet movies get told from their points of view or they're given enough likable qualities that it's easy to question whether or not we're really supposed to not like them.

But putting that gray area aside, I'll throw out James Spader (he could be the answer to this question in so many roles) as Steff in Pretty In Pink.  There was something so charismatic about the character.

Edited May 4, 2018 by Irlandesa

[methodwriter85]

Heather Chandler in Heathers the 1989 movie. She's a bitch but as Oscar Wilde once said, a true friend stabs you in the front.

[Popples]

On 5/3/2018 at 10:55 AM, proserpina65 said:

Were we supposed to root for Hans Gruber?  I don't think so, but I was anyway.

Piggy-backing on Alan Rickman roles, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He is the sole reason I've watched that film as many times as I have.

[proserpina65]

3 minutes ago, Popples said:

Piggy-backing on Alan Rickman roles, the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He is the sole reason I've watched that film as many times as I have.

Ah yes, indeed.  And I would add Elliott Marston in Quigley Down Under.  He's a horrible, murderous racist, and yet . . . hmmm, I'm sensing a theme.

Edited May 4, 2018 by proserpina65

[Spartan Girl]

On May 3, 2018 at 3:03 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Tom Hiddleston's Loki for sure!

Queenie in the Jurassic Park movies! I'm pretty sure I was supposed to root for the hoomans.

Vito, Sunny and Michael Corleone. I KNOW I wasn't supposed to root for the mobsters. But their portrayals and the actors who portrayed them...what else could I do?

Omg yes! Sonny was a mean, womanizing bully and yet he was my favorite character in the whole movie! Him beating up that piece of shit Carlo made up for everything.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Just now, Spartan Girl said:

Omg yes! Sonny was a mean, womanizing bully and yet he was my favorite character in the whole movie! Him beating up that piece of shit Carlo made up for everything.

Or the cold, dispassionate way that Michael sent Carlo to his death for his part in setting up Sonny’s murder. 

[Spartan Girl]

I'm watching AI Artficial Intelligence on TV, and I know we weren't supposed to like Martin, the human son, but I could sympathize with him. I mean, how would YOU feel if you'd been in a coma for god knows how long and your parents replaced you with a robot? You'd be jealous and want him gone too.

 I always feel like both Martin and David were victims of Monica's selfishness. None of it would have happened if Monica hadn't activated David's programmed devotion. She didn't love David, she just wanted something to love her to fill her warped need to be a mother.

[SherriAnt]

Going with a new one, Erik Killmonger from Black Panther. He stole the show every time he was onscreen.

[Joe]

2 hours ago, SherriAnt said:

Going with a new one, Erik Killmonger from Black Panther. He stole the show every time he was onscreen.

Yes, he was really good. And one of the better villains, because he actually had a point. Way too extreme in his methods, but not entirely evil.

[SherriAnt]

On 02/06/2018 at 7:34 PM, Joe said:

And one of the better villains, because he actually had a point. Way too extreme in his methods, but not entirely evil.

My thoughts exactly. Too bad Black Panther and Killmonger couldn't have teamed up against a common enemy.

[Apprentice79]

2 hours ago, SherriAnt said:

My thoughts exactly. Too bad Black Panther and Killmonger couldn't have teamed up against a common enemy.

I wish somebody could write a fan fiction, where they grew up as cousins and best friends in Wakanda. Perhaps, his mother died in childbirth and a distraught N'Jobu returns to Wakanda with his infant son, N'Jadaka.

[VCRTracking]

On 5/2/2018 at 7:02 PM, Spartan Girl said:

We all have our little blind spots when it comes to movies. Sometimes we find ourselves drawn to certain characters-- not just the villains, but ones that are deeply flawed and don't come off particularly likable to others. Have you ever found yourself liking a certain character that you would probably hate in real life?

The first one I can think of is the fictional portrayal of Mozart in Amadeus. While he did have his good side, he spends most of the film coming off as an immature jackass. And that's probably done on purpose so we can initially sympathize with Salieri -- really, who hasn't gotten pissed because you aren't as talented as someone else? It's even worse when it's someone you can't stand.

And yet for all his many faults, I couldn't help liking him. I don't know why. Maybe it's because it's easy to understand why got the way he was -- him being dominated and exploited by his dad as a child, his frustration over music being too ahead of his time, etc. Maybe because of all the little sweet and vulnerable moments when he isn't acting like an idiot, when you see that talent isn't as fulfilling as Salieri thinks it should be. Or maybe it's simply because of how cute Tom Hulce was.

Either way, I liked him. And it's impossible not to feel sorry for him when his life starts spiraling down the drain, all ending with getting dumped in that mass grave.

I think part of why I like Mozart is the first time you see him with his wife Contanze. Salieri secretly sees them alone together and they are so adorable. "Wolfie" speaking backwards and making jokes with "Stanzie" They are "relationship goals".

On 5/3/2018 at 12:03 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Tom Hiddleston's Loki for sure!

Queenie in the Jurassic Park movies! I'm pretty sure I was supposed to root for the hoomans.

Vito, Sunny and Michael Corleone. I KNOW I wasn't supposed to root for the mobsters. But their portrayals and the actors who portrayed them...what else could I do?

Roland Tembo in The Lost World: Jurassic Park played by Pete Postlethwaite. HI liked him way more than the self-righteous Vince Vaughn character or Julianne Moore, the supposed "good guys".

I think we're supposed to like the Corleones in both the book and the movie. As Sam Jackson said in AFI"s Top 100 Movies, "We don't look at them as bad people. In their world, they're the good people!"

[BooBear]

Magneto in X-men First Class.  I know the movie(s) wanted me to think Magneto was a bad guy or something but everything he did in that movie seemed sane and reasonable and it was Charles that came off like a moron who only thought the way he did because he had never faced adversity. Charles being rich and coddled gave him a child like view of the world only he was the only one who didn't know it.  

[Wiendish Fitch]

An alarming number of people (even feminists) paint her as this bitchy femme fatale, but I frankly had no issue with Velma (Joan Leslie) in 1941's High Sierra. She never led Roy (Humphrey Bogart) on, he offered to pay for her foot operation (she never asked him, not even a hint), was genuinely thunderstruck when he proposed and seemed to feel terrible when she rejected him.

And even if Velma's not the nicest person in the world, is it right that we turn a blind eye to the fact that Roy is not only thrice Velma's age and has never even asked her out on a date, but is a violent criminal?! Maybe Velma should have been classier when Roy came to call post-operation, but he insulted her fiancee (Velma is free to date whomever she pleases, even if he is a douche), and was generally an asshat. Just because someone does something for you, it doesn't give them carte blanche to make unreasonable demands and question how you live your life. Velma lived with the stigma of a clubfoot all her life, why shouldn't she enjoy a little fun and freedom? Critics treat her like the Whore of Babylon for... dancing in her own damn house with her friends to music played at medium volume. Um, what a bitch?

Velma owes Roy exactly three things: jack, diddily, and squat.

 

P.S. High Sierra was remade just a few years later as Colorado Territory (same director and all), and they do a superior (IMO) job at making the "Velma" character someone to root against. 

Edited June 5, 2018 by Wiendish Fitch

[Spartan Girl]

Charlie in Peggy Sue Got Married was another character I feel like we were supposed to dislike but couldn't help liking.  I mean, yeah, he does grow up to be a cheating jerk but his younger teenage self was completely innocent of those transactions.  Plus, for all his many many many faults, he did love Peggy, and that wound up coming through in the end.  So he kind of grew on me, and that's no easy feat for a Nic Cage character.

[VCRTracking]

13 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Charlie in Peggy Sue Got Married was another character I feel like we were supposed to dislike but couldn't help liking.  I mean, yeah, he does grow up to be a cheating jerk but his younger teenage self was completely innocent of those transactions.  Plus, for all his many many many faults, he did love Peggy, and that wound up coming through in the end.  So he kind of grew on me, and that's no easy feat for a Nic Cage character.

Kathleen Turner just did a fantastic interview a few days ago at the Vulture where she talks about her life and career. She was not a fan of Nicolas Cage's choice of speaking in that funny voice!

Quote

 

I have another question about actors and their choices. When you show up on a set like you did for Peggy Sue Got Married and realize that Nicolas Cage has decided to play his part with such an unusual voice — that he was doing a thing — how did that affect how you calibrated your performance?
It was tough to not say, “Cut it out.” But it wasn’t my job to say to another actor what he should or shouldn’t do. So I went to [director] Francis [Ford Coppola]. I asked him, “You approved this choice?” It was very touchy. He [Nicolas Cage] was very difficult on set. But the director allowed what Nicolas wanted to do with his role, so I wasn’t in a position to do much except play with what I’d been given. If anything, it [Cage’s portrayal] only further illustrated my character’s disillusionment with the past. The way I saw it was, yeah, he was that asshole.
Sorry, Nicolas Cage or his character?
Listen, I made it work, honey.

 

[Spartan Girl]

"I made it work, honey." LMAO! True.

[GreekGeek]

Disney can make me root for the villains, like Scar in The Lion King. He was doomed to be an outcast because he was smaller and uglier than Mufasa. I don't much care for Disney's "attractive = good, ugly = bad." The trope gets some overturning with characters like Gaston, the Beast, and Quasimodo, but his heroines are still flawlessly beautiful.

I've loved Javert in Les Miserables, in all the versions I've seen, even the 2012 movie where Russell Crowe's performance was generally agreed to be disastrous.

[Spartan Girl]

Watching Godfather Part II and even though I'm not sure we were supposed to feel anything for Fredo, I can't help liking him more than Michael. 

[GreekGeek]

9 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Watching Godfather Part II and even though I'm not sure we were supposed to feel anything for Fredo, I can't help liking him more than Michael. 

I considered adding Fredo when thinking about my answer, but I didn't because I think we are supposed to hate Michael and feel for Fredo. Of course he was stupid to endanger his brother, but I also felt sorry for him for being passed over for Godfather (although intellectually I understood he was unfit for the job). The actor playing him, John Cazale, was also a tragic figure, since he didn't live long enough to have the kind of career that Pacino, Caan, and DeNiro enjoyed post-Godfather.

[Constant Viewer]

On 9/4/2018 at 5:15 AM, GreekGeek said:

The actor playing him, John Cazale, was also a tragic figure, since he didn't live long enough to have the kind of career that Pacino, Caan, and DeNiro enjoyed post-Godfather.

He was in a lot of really big movies in his short time as a movie actor. Two Godfathers, the Dog Day Afternoon, and the Deer Hunter. It does make you wonder what else he would have done if he had gotten the chance. I read Meryl Streep was devoted to him until he died.

[GreekGeek]

8 hours ago, Constant Viewer said:

He was in a lot of really big movies in his short time as a movie actor. Two Godfathers, the Dog Day Afternoon, and the Deer Hunter. It does make you wonder what else he would have done if he had gotten the chance. I read Meryl Streep was devoted to him until he died.

Yes. There's even a documentary about him, John Cazale: I Knew It Was You. It makes the point that every movie he was in was an Oscar nominee or winner. There are no clips of interviews with Cazale himself, unfortunately, but everyone interviewed speaks of the skill he brought to all his roles. 

[Spartan Girl]

15 hours ago, Constant Viewer said:

He was in a lot of really big movies in his short time as a movie actor. Two Godfathers, the Dog Day Afternoon, and the Deer Hunter. It does make you wonder what else he would have done if he had gotten the chance. I read Meryl Streep was devoted to him until he died.

He was with Meryl Streep?! I didn't know that! Go Fredo!

Edited September 23, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[DeeDee79]

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 12:24 AM, Irlandesa said:

But putting that gray area aside, I'll throw out James Spader (he could be the answer to this question in so many roles) as Steff in Pretty In Pink.  There was something so charismatic about the character.

Totally agree! I actually preferred his character over Andrew McCarthy's.

[Wiendish Fitch]

24 minutes ago, DeeDee79 said:

Totally agree! I actually preferred his character over Andrew McCarthy's.

In fairness, most actors are a million times more charismatic and interesting than Andrew McCarthy (who has all the emotional range of a sandwich bag).

[DeeDee79]

2 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

In fairness, most actors are a million times more charismatic and interesting than Andrew McCarthy (who has all the emotional range of a sandwich bag).

Excellent ( and true ) point! He was somewhat better in St. Elmo's but was still pretty bland in that as well.

Edited September 23, 2018 by DeeDee79

[Wiendish Fitch]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love and sympathize with  Jeanie Bueller, and I found Ferris to be a smarmy, manipulative, nowhere-near-as-charming-as-he-thinks-he-is future sociopath. 

Not that Jeanie was without faults, but at least I understood where she was coming from. If my parents favored my worthless brother over me, you could bet I'd be an embittered, antisocial head-case (albeit a hilarious one) too!

[andromeda331]

Just now, Wiendish Fitch said:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love and sympathize with  Jeanie Bueller, and I found Ferris to be a smarmy, manipulative, nowhere-near-as-charming-as-he-thinks-he-is future sociopath. 

Not that Jeanie was without faults, but at least I understood where she was coming from. If my parents favored my worthless brother over me, you could bet I'd be an embittered, antisocial head-case (albeit a hilarious one) too!

So did I. I couldn't stand Ferris he was such an asshole and the way his parents favored him was horrible. 

[Morrigan2575]

On 9/4/2018 at 6:15 AM, GreekGeek said:

The actor playing him, John Cazale, was also a tragic figure, since he didn't live long enough to have the kind of career that Pacino, Caan, and DeNiro enjoyed post-Godfather.

I always wondered why he never made it big. Figured it was one of those weird Hollywood things, where he just didn't have "the look" or something like that. Had no idea he died so young. I always loved Fredo

[AimingforYoko]

Every movie John Cazale was in was nominated for Best Picture and he died with Meryl Streep at his bedside. It was a short life, but well-lived.

[Spartan Girl]

The Monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I know I'm probably not the only one that's felt more sympathetic to him -- Victor Frankenstein was the original deadbeat dad, creating a being and abandoning it just because he was ugly.

And while I'm not glossing over all the horrible murders committed, it's important to remember that he didn't start out evil. In the beginning he tried to do a bunch of good deeds for that family in the woods, only to be rejected everywhere he went just because of the way he looked. People made him out to be a monster long before he actually became one.

[supposebly]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Victor Frankenstein was the original deadbeat dad, creating a being and abandoning it just because he was ugly.

I think the main drive of the story is that Frankenstein realized that he created what shouldn't have been created in the first place, in other words, representative of humanity crossing a line. While being ugly was certainly an impetus in the realization, I don't think it was the main reason. I mean, he put the monster together from dead people parts, aesthetics clearly wasn't foremost on his mind for his creation. But his horror, I think stems from something else.

I don't quite remember if the movie reduced it to that alone, but I never saw the book as a story about deadbeat dads but of humanity going farther than they should. And the casualties in its wake.

What I do remember is the monster's story as the ultimate outcast and his violent reaction to it. Hence his need to have Frankenstein create him a mate. 

JMO.

[Ambrosefolly]

On 6/4/2018 at 7:55 PM, BooBear said:

Magneto in X-men First Class.  I know the movie(s) wanted me to think Magneto was a bad guy or something but everything he did in that movie seemed sane and reasonable and it was Charles that came off like a moron who only thought the way he did because he had never faced adversity. Charles being rich and coddled gave him a child like view of the world only he was the only one who didn't know it.  

 

I always hated how they white washed Charle's backstory. I really wish they would have kept the abuse and Cain Marko/Juggernaught. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

I couldn't bring myself to hate Miss McKay in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I know we're meant to see her an unimaginative, mean ol' biddy out to ruin Miss Brodie's fun, but I saw her as an ordinary woman who's just trying to run an orderly school, and is legitimately concerned with the objectively awful things Miss Brodie is teaching her students (like, isn't fascism just wonderful?!). Maybe Miss McKay could be petty, but I'm strictly in the "Miss Brodie is horrible and creepy and a genuinely damaging influence" camp. 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Wiendish Fitch

[Mabinogia]

15 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Maybe Miss McKay could be petty, but I'm strictly in the "Miss Brodie is horrible and creepy and a genuinely damaging influence" camp. 

If I'd had to deal with Miss Jean Brodie I think I'd be pretty damned petty too. That woman was insufferable. Fun to a bunch of impressionable girls, but my god was she damaging. I always felt a bit sorry for Miss McKay having to deal with her.

[Wiendish Fitch]

2 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Fun to a bunch of impressionable girls, but my god was she damaging. I always felt a bit sorry for Miss McKay having to deal with her.

Same here, not to mention how bad I felt for Miss Brodie's acolytes- er, I mean, cult members- er, I mean, "girls", especially Sandy and poor Mary.

Mentally sound teachers don't arrange a select group of their own students to use as their personal clique to follow them around like a bunch of ducklings, and they

Spoiler

certainly don't groom them to use as a proxy for an ex-lover, and they most certainly don't encourage them to go off to war!

I mention that because I think back to how many Miss Brodie defenders there were on the IMDb message boards, and all I could think was.... why?!?!?

Miss McKay was absolutely right to want to dismiss Miss Brodie, it's just a shame it took her so long!

Edited October 1, 2018 by Wiendish Fitch

[memememe76]

I hate anti heroes SO much, if I am supposed to hate them, I will do my best to hate them. Some exceptions:

1. The Principal in The Breakfast Club

2. Sam Niell's character in The Piano

3. Ben Affleck and Parker Posey in Dazed and Confused

[Wiendish Fitch]

Raoul from Phantom of the Opera, if only because he doesn't live in a sewer and isn't a stalker/extortionist/kidnapper/murderer. 

Plus, Patrick Wilson can actually sing, and Gerard Butler... I don't even know what the hell he's doing, but it ain't singing.

[VCRTracking]

On 9/30/2018 at 1:21 PM, Ambrosefolly said:

I always hated how they white washed Charle's backstory. I really wish they would have kept the abuse and Cain Marko/Juggernaught. 

Ironically in the flashback to when Charles and Raven were children in First Class they imply Charles' mother was cold and distant who let nannies raise him while in the comics she was a loving woman.

Edited October 26, 2018 by VCRTracking

[pancake bacon]

On 10/10/2018 at 5:21 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

Raoul from Phantom of the Opera, if only because he doesn't live in a sewer and isn't a stalker/extortionist/kidnapper/murderer. 

Plus, Patrick Wilson can actually sing, and Gerard Butler... I don't even know what the hell he's doing, but it ain't singing.

Patrick Wilson was the best in that movie. Do audiences really like The Phantom? (Don't answer. Just being rhetorical.) And in a slight inverse to the forum topic, I was supposed to like Emmy Rossum's Christine, but Emmy's acting was absolute crap in that movie (ALL her scenes she has her mouth open. ALL). 

[Wiendish Fitch]

3 hours ago, pancake bacon said:

Patrick Wilson was the best in that movie. Do audiences really like The Phantom? (Don't answer. Just being rhetorical.) And in a slight inverse to the forum topic, I was supposed to like Emmy Rossum's Christine, but Emmy's acting was absolute crap in that movie (ALL her scenes she has her mouth open. ALL). 

Not to mention she was underaged, but that didn't stop them from putting her in cleavage and/or leg baring outfits and having these guys in their 30s lust after her. Just... ew.

[JustaPerson]

5 hours ago, pancake bacon said:

Patrick Wilson was the best in that movie. Do audiences really like The Phantom? (Don't answer. Just being rhetorical.)

Oh my sweet summer child...don't go on tumblr. or read the comments on any videos. Gerald Butler with his "deformity" that was basically a first degree burn in the 2004 movie made it worse, I think. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, JustaPerson said:

Oh my sweet summer child...don't go on tumblr. or read the comments on any videos. Gerald Butler with his "deformity" that was basically a first degree burn in the 2004 movie made it worse, I think. 

 My girl Lindsay Ellis had some choice words about the idiocy of it all:

"[The] deformity amounts to... I don't know, maybe he had some shellfish that didn't agree with him?" 

and 

"This is your reason for abandoning society? This is what got you caged and put in a freak show?! You got stung by a bee, you're fine!"

Then there's Diva from Musical Hell:

"You have a sunburn. Put some aloe vera on it and quit your bitching already!"

Sorry, but I could mock Gerard Butler's so-called deformity for hours.

[Spartan Girl]

Louis in Trading Places was a stuck-up asshole, but he didn't actually do anything to deserve the Dukes screwing him over for such a petty bet.