MovieChat Forums > The Godfather (1972) Discussion > Would your average 20 year old like this...

Would your average 20 year old like this in 2023?

posted a year ago by [deleted]
25 replies | jump to latest

Just wondering.

My 27 year old brother said it's a bad movie and my cousin who was 22 or so at the time of watching this turned it off after 40 minutes because it was boring.

I haven't watched it myself in about 12 years... which is telling I guess. No desire to revisit this one.

I'm sure some will say 'kids these days' are stupid. But you can't conflate intelligence with movie preference. Also for the same reason The Godfather was better in the 1970s than many movies from previous decades is the same reason many movies of today are better than this. Times change, mediums advance.

People who saw this in theatres when they were 20 years old are now 71. It's been a long time. No shame in not holding up 51 years later. Very few things can stand the test of time that long.

[–] AnthonySocksss (739) 2 months ago

People are collectively dumber now than they were decades ago,

I was 14 when I first saw the godfather and loved it.

[–] Redsfan001 (6157) 2 months ago

No.

The pacing of this film was not meant to entertain the current generation of young men and women who require more... entertainment to keep their attention.

What is lost from them is the ability to listen, reflect and to see nuance in film.

I am hopeful that the average 20 year old will regain this with age.

[–] [deleted] 2 months ago

sure some will say 'kids these days' are stupid. But you can't conflate intelligence with movie preference.

It will always sound pretentious, but yeah, intelligence does matter, i think in order to truly like something, you have to understand it. I remember watching the godfather on tv when i was in my early teens and i liked it, but the truth was i didn't fully understand it, later on when i matured a little i really understood it better. People have been dumbed down a lot. i mean whats popular now? all these superhero movies with explosions every 5 minutes and some really cool sarcastic remark...

Nobody knows how to really tell a story, or maybe they do, but they just know the average viewer either doesn't have the intelligence or the patience to sit there for 2 hours and think.

The sopranos is a good example, the creator david chase said that too many people wanted "less chat more whack (deaths)" The sopranos is a brilliant morality tale where everything is explained to you IF you want to think a little and piece it together.

I have heard people say negative things about "the happening" they say "it was nonsense, i didn't get it" while i'm not saying it's the deepest film ever, there is a meaning to it, a meaning to the "wind" and if you don't understand it, then naturally the film won't make sense, if it doesn't make sense you won't enjoy it. so maybe it isn't about preference...

theres a few films that i didn't love when i was younger but when i rewatched them 10-15 years later being a little wiser i saw them in the a different light.

[–] hyperjet (728) 2 months ago

I saw this film for the first time earlier this year. It had a TV mini series feel to me. I understood most of what was going on but crime dramas and the whole mafia thing just doesn't appeal to me. I think a lot of people are in the same boat. As far as a young person goes, I'd recommend they watch it with friends who enjoy the movie.

[–] [deleted] 2 months ago

Yeah the Godfather is about the mafia, but at the same time it isn't. It's much more, it tells the story of america in that period, the immigrant story, the dynamics within the family...

Thats what set the Godfather and later the sopranos apart, it wasn't just people being whacked and nice suits.

[–] aavfreak (3334) 2 months ago

The average? No. My 25 year old son loves this movie and has since he first watched it as a teen.

He tried to have his friends over for a watch party and they didn't finish it. The others simply lost interest and they moved on to something else.

[–] Darren (1344) 2 months ago

Tastes will vary, but I saw the film as a teenager in high school, and I thought it was brilliant.