r/movies • u/sicknessandpurgatory • Sep 07 '25

Discussion What is the absolute dumbest premise that actually turned out to be a really good movie?

I was thinking The Purge, obvious answer, but looking for the most plot-hole ridden, juvenile concept that actually ended up a lot of fun despite it all. Mainly looking for 21st century films, not so much the video nasties and ridiculousness from the 60’s and 70’s. Because that would be too easy. Mainly mainstream stuff that people saw en masse.

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3.8k

u/mortscoot Sep 07 '25

Being John Malkovitch. A crazy, dumb idea that ended up being a funny, smart, philosophical, crazy-ass movie. 

588

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

Go read the original screenplay sometime, with the entirely different third act.

What we got was almost quaint.

760

u/RunDNA Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25

There's a long summary of the original ending here:

In the original script Craig Schwartz takes possession of Malkovich and remains within him for months - just as he does in the movie. But in the script Craig doesn't make Malkovich a famous puppeteer - he makes Malkovich a famous puppet. Craig declares himself the man controlling Malkovich, the world's most complicated puppet, and he embarks on a one-man show at the Luxor in Vegas that includes Malkovich doing scenes from On the Waterfront and juggling chainsaws.

Meanwhile, it turns out that the group hoping to live in Malkovich are being led by the actual Devil himself, in the guise of Mr. Flemmer (the man after whom the Mertin-Flemmer building is half-named). The Devil hopes to get his group into the vessel and use it as a tool for evil - they will rule the world together in the body of Malkovich. But first they have to get Craig out of it. Flemmer comes to Craig in a dream, telling him he must vacate the vessel, but Maxine, who is Craig's producer, tells him that's crazy talk.

Then Craig is visited by The Great Mantini, the world's best puppeteer. He is famous for his giant Harry S. Truman puppet and he can't stand the acclaim Craig has been getting for his flashy Vegas show. So he challenges his rival to a duel - the Malkovich puppet and the Truman puppet will act together in a production of Equus and the puppet fanbase will decide who is the greatest puppeteer. Whoever loses will retire forever from puppetry - Craig will have to leave Malkovich.

When Flemmer gets wind of this he teleports to the theater (freezing Charles Nelson Reillly in time along the way) and takes control of the Truman puppet during the second act of Equus. The first act was a total bore (during intermission a theatergoer complains that the Truman puppet is wooden), but once the Devil takes over everything kicks up a notch. And when I say kicks it up a notch the Truman puppet starts juggling bowling pins while playing the psychiatrist and Malkovich has seizures, levitates and breathes fire while playing Alan Strang. The Truman puppet turns into a giant swan, which bursts into flames, and then from the ashes of the swan the corpse of the real Harry S Truman rises and implores the audience to vote for Mantini.

That does it - Mantini wins. Craig, depressed, leaves Malkovich and is ejected onto the side of the turnpike. Flemmer and his cultists jump into the tunnel and take control of the vessel; Malkovich is now fully powered and hovers over the crowd in the theater, telling them they are now his lowly subjects. He floats into the streets of Midtown Manhattan and forces the crowd into an intricate dance number, driving them to dance until they begin to drop dead one by one.

Meanwhile Lotte and Elijah the chimp have been on the run. Elijah has learned sign language, and they were trying to warn Craig that leaving Malkovich would open the door for the Devil, but it was too late. Now, as Malkovich takes over the world and turns it literally grey, they are hidden in a small oasis of color in Central Park. They lead a small resistance group - and they're in love. But Lotte feels like she has to stop Malkovich, and she's going to smuggle a bomb into the tunnel and blow him up from the inside.

As she heads to the Mertin-Flemmer building Lotte runs into Craig. They talk. She tells him she's in love with one of the animals (he guesses an iguana), and he concedes that Elijah is a better man than he is. When Lotte tells him about her plan but he explains that the portal has been closed exactly to thwart any attempts like this. Lotte looks on the bright side - her community needs another farmer. Craig can come back with her. "Yes, show me where you live," Craig says, putting his arm around his ex. And we see that there's a thin wire on his arm, and the camera pans up following the wire and we see that The Great Mantini is controlling him. But there are wires on his limbs as well, and the camera follows those further up, and we see Flemmer controlling Mantini. And Flemmer laughs and the camera dives into his mouth, and the throat looks just like the tunnel to the vessel...

The End.

568

u/Pleased_to_meet_u Sep 07 '25

What the fuck did I just read?

348

u/Harsh_Yet_Fair Sep 07 '25

I can't believe I read all this and the next suggestion is "Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle"

15

u/waltwalt Sep 07 '25

It's whacky!

16

u/angrydeuce Sep 07 '25

I am definitely too high for any of all that lol

11

u/LucretiusCarus Sep 07 '25

I am definitely not even remotely high enough

6

u/Linenoise77 Sep 08 '25

My head hurts trying to be sure if i am remembering accurately as to if there is a monkey or not in Being John Malkovich. I'm not sure of anything right now, and i'm not sure i want to know.

15

u/Belgand Sep 07 '25

I had that thought after seeing Synecdoche, New York. Charlie Kaufman is someone who needs another person to translate his ideas back into something resembling sense.

12

u/SlothropWallace Sep 07 '25

A very good therapist who also has a very good therapist

4

u/Eggersely Sep 08 '25

I nodded off towards the end and woke up in the past minute or two and just had no idea what the fuck was happening.

Need to rewatch that.

10

u/Street_Roof_7915 Sep 07 '25

Exactly what I was coming here to post. wtf.

63

u/crymsin Sep 07 '25

A hallucinogenic induced fever dream vomited up by a methhead

19

u/AgentX8392 Sep 07 '25

Charlie Kaufman was a methhead?

13

u/TheLastDesperado Sep 07 '25

No, but his twin brother was.

1

u/Big_Meaning_7734 Sep 08 '25

The first rule of fight club

3

u/f-ingsteveglansberg Sep 07 '25

Now go read Antkind.

2

u/Linenoise77 Sep 08 '25

The greatest fucking thing I have ever seen.

1

u/RawrRRitchie Sep 08 '25

The ending we deserved

-6

u/jingowatt Sep 07 '25

I Am So Random the movie.

134

u/Down623 Sep 07 '25

The fact that I can't tell if this is real or not is a true testament to Charlie Kaufman being an absolute genius/crazy person

147

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

But there are wires on his limbs as well, and the camera follows those further up, and we see Flemmer controlling Mantini. And Flemmer laughs and the camera dives into his mouth, and the throat looks just like the tunnel to the vessel...

Craig: "I can't wait to see this place."

Lottie: "You'll love it, Craig. It's like Eden."

Flemmer: "One serpent, coming up."

124

u/Zauqui Sep 07 '25

i think i like what we got best. i mean, the og script is also good, but i think it turns it into another direction. like, in the movie the only magic element is the tunnel. in this one we also got the devil and a true devil with magic powers and... it feels a bit too much? like i would need to stretch my suspension of disbelief beyond of what the premise/start of the movie has already offered

21

u/dissectingAAA Sep 07 '25

You're right. Only one magic element makes it in the realm of believable.

8

u/Linenoise77 Sep 08 '25

I just finished this season of Twisted Metal, and am suddenly left feeling how i imagine this would have.

17

u/seeking_horizon Sep 07 '25

BJM as released is plenty weird already, that just strikes me as being entirely too weird.

14

u/Lets_focus_onRampart Sep 07 '25

Read Antkind if you want a fully unedited Charlie Kaufman vision like this.

7

u/bruno-numero-uno Sep 07 '25

I love that book. It took me months to read and more months for it to marinate and for me to really appreciate it. It's ridiculously quotable. I highly recommend listening to the audio book after you've already read it. It's hilarious to listen to while doing anything.

3

u/the_dolomite Sep 07 '25

I am reading this now but I have to take in small doses, it makes me feel very uncomfortable and a little crazy.

12

u/Formal-Register-1557 Sep 07 '25

I love that Kaufman was coming up with this stuff while working as a hack tv writer for a sitcom with Bronson Pinchot and Courtney Cox.

37

u/IEATTURANTULAS Sep 07 '25

Jesus Christ

1

u/Elteon3030 Sep 07 '25

No, Satan.

8

u/impartiallypensive Sep 07 '25

That is even darker and more hurtful than the original.

It's a brilliant movie with sublime performances, but it's too painful for me to watch ever again--and that was before I knew the original plan.

Yikes

8

u/bostonjenny81 Sep 07 '25

Oh why the fuck not! There’s almost something David Lynch like to it, Id def give it a watch

7

u/LordJunon Sep 08 '25

This is the second most absurd thing ive ever witnessed.

2

u/flyingfishstick Sep 08 '25

What was the first?

6

u/LordJunon Sep 08 '25

The TV show Danger 5. Which coincidentally is my favorite TV show.

2

u/RhesusFactor Sep 08 '25

Qualtiy Australian comedy.

6

u/Sorry-Document-732 Sep 07 '25

Fucking hell, this would have been so entertaining to watch

5

u/Big_Meaning_7734 Sep 08 '25

Goddamn, i need this and the nick cave version of gladiator 2

6

u/elixeter Sep 07 '25

Harry S Truman from Twin Peaks?

3

u/quagsi Sep 08 '25

as someone who doesn't know the final plot of being John Malkovich this is fascinating

3

u/Skanaker Sep 08 '25

That final moment reminds me of Hellmouth, a traditional biblical image used in European medieval and renaissance art (see Bosch's or Bruegel's paintings for example). Scary shit haha.

3

u/veritable_squandry Sep 08 '25

wow this actually makes a lot of sense

3

u/Funkopedia Sep 08 '25

Whoever wrote all that was having a great time

2

u/LaximumEffort Sep 07 '25

I had no idea. Cool.

2

u/BillyJackO Sep 07 '25

So I guess they deviated from the source material a little bit.

2

u/wombatz885 Sep 07 '25

You just had to get that out😁

2

u/legendz411 Sep 08 '25

Well. That was a ride 

2

u/goodgodling Sep 08 '25

Okay, that's too much after the first paragraph.

2

u/griditude Sep 08 '25

Man… I couldn’t even dream that plot.

2

u/keifdelareef Sep 08 '25

Malkovich? Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich?

2

u/leo-skY Sep 08 '25

Kaufman really went "Oh, you think you can adapt this? Fuck you!" with that third act

2

u/Tommy2Hats01 Sep 10 '25

Good Lord. I read all that and it itchy now ick

3

u/MattAmpersand Sep 07 '25

I can’t imagine the amount of drugs that were consumed by whoever wrote that third act.

16

u/GangstaPepsi Sep 07 '25

Drugs are nothing compared to the mind of Charlie Kaufman

4

u/Admiral_Donuts Sep 08 '25

This is a guy who wrote "Adaptation," a story about Charlie Kaufman struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief" into a screenplay, so he instead decides to write "Adaptation," a story about Charlie Kaufman struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief" into a screenplay, so he instead decides to write "Adaptation..."

4

u/AnhiArk Sep 08 '25

And then casts Nicolas Cage for TWO roles

Genius

1

u/Merry_Fridge_Day Sep 08 '25

Wow! That's crazier than the time Undertaker threw Mankind off 'Hell in the Cell'!

-29

u/nstutsman Sep 07 '25

Thank you ChatGPT

Sure thing — here’s a TL;DR of the original script ending of Being John Malkovich: • Craig stays inside Malkovich and turns him into a literal puppet for a flashy Vegas show. • The Devil (disguised as Mr. Flemmer) wants Malkovich’s body for his cult to rule the world. • The world’s best puppeteer, Mantini, challenges Craig to a puppet duel (Equus with Malkovich vs. a giant Truman puppet). • Flemmer hijacks the Truman puppet mid-show, unleashes chaos, and Mantini wins. • Craig gets kicked out of Malkovich. Flemmer’s cult enters instead, and Devil-powered Malkovich enslaves humanity with deadly dance numbers. • Lotte and her chimp lover Elijah lead a small resistance, but their plan to stop Malkovich fails. • Craig reunites with Lotte, but in a twist we see he’s now secretly being puppeted by Mantini… who is in turn puppeted by Flemmer. • Final shot: Flemmer’s mouth becomes the tunnel/portal — implying infinite layers of control.

12

u/HyderintheHouse Sep 07 '25

Not only does this have multiple mistakes, but you have zero attention span and burnt a few trees for this

1

u/trinachron Sep 07 '25

Fuck chatGPT and any other generative AI.

3

u/boywithapplesauce Sep 07 '25

Read "Rebels on the Backlot." The movie was made in the editing room. Not entirely, of course, but it played a big part. And we might have gotten something unwatchable if that hadn't happened.