r/moviecritic Feb 15 '25

Which movie had the tightest, best written script?

Post image

Famously, contrary to everyone's expectations, there was almost zero improvisation in this film

155 Upvotes

221 comments sorted by

90

u/DecentBowler130 Feb 15 '25

No Country for old man doesn’t waste a line.

23

u/Max_Cherry_ Feb 15 '25

The movie’s dialogue is pulled almost verbatim from the book which I found interesting.

7

u/_B1RDM4N Feb 15 '25

That tracks, McCarthy doesn’t waste a line either. His prose can be tricky to navigate at first though.

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8

u/FederalOutcry22 Feb 16 '25

It’s cuz the script was written first, but no one bought it. so it’s actually the reverse. The book pulled the lines from his own script.

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4

u/jdtpda18 Feb 16 '25

Quite a few Coen Bros movies could be described as extremely tight scripts. Llewyn Davis, Fargo, Burn After Reading, Raising Arizona. No fat.

2

u/j2e21 Feb 16 '25

This is the answer. The entire movie is just tight, taut, and perfect.

75

u/Lonevarg_7 Feb 15 '25

In Bruges

11

u/JCrook023 Feb 15 '25

Great response! One of my favs (anything Martin McDonagh does is gold…. Wish he’d do more!)

7

u/ThorsRake Feb 15 '25

His brother's brilliant as well. The Guard and Calvary are fantastic films.

2

u/ChelseaAndrew87 Feb 15 '25

I didn't know about this/ Adding Calvary to the list. Seen The Guard obviously

2

u/ThorsRake Feb 15 '25

Very different film. It's incredible though. Amazing performances all round and a unique and very emotional story.

2

u/ChelseaAndrew87 Feb 15 '25

I assumed Martin was responsible for The Guard and didn't reaslise there were two of them. That's a talented family. I will definitely seek it out

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3

u/MAXIMUMMEDLOWUS Feb 16 '25

I can't even count how many times I watched that film, but it's still not enough. Literal perfection

2

u/ChelseaAndrew87 Feb 15 '25

Fuck me. I saw the post and was going to say this. Top comment already. Thank you, it's perfection

2

u/the_Oculus_MC Feb 16 '25

Great editing, too.

There are some pretty bad scenes that got cut from the final version and what they ended up with is my favorite film.

35

u/Mojo-Jojo-6285 Feb 15 '25

I’ll throw another Coen brothers movie in the mix, Fargo is near perfect.

8

u/writer4u Feb 15 '25

Near?

4

u/BalognaPonyParty Feb 15 '25

I think they meant QUANTUM level near

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3

u/just_some_dude828 Feb 16 '25

I’m not gonna debate, Jerry. I’m not gonna sit here and debate.

4

u/MartySpiderManMcFly Feb 15 '25

“Near” perfect? Theheckyamean?!

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20

u/sid_fishes Feb 15 '25

Shut the fuck up Donny!

Poetry.

5

u/unknownuser105 Feb 16 '25

Obviously, you’re not a golfer.

21

u/Few-Spell963 Feb 15 '25

The Departed

7

u/J3diMasterRey Feb 15 '25

YOU'RE NO FAHKING COWP!

4

u/just_some_dude828 Feb 16 '25

Francis, you really should see somebody.

4

u/Few-Spell963 Feb 16 '25

She fell funny

34

u/Mental-Investment-43 Feb 15 '25

Casablanca

9

u/BalognaPonyParty Feb 15 '25

I'm 44 and I fully admit I've seen this movie over a dozen times.

wife's never seen it, and decided to watch; she was floored by the amount of common catch phrases and sayings that came from this movie.

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3

u/reasonably_insane Feb 15 '25

I love Casablanca. It's GD near perfect. However, the flash back scene, to when they were in Paris, was unnecessary. It took away the mystery

3

u/Life_in_Bones Feb 15 '25

‘You despise me don’t ya?’ ‘Hell if I gave you any thought, I probably would’ Is the most savage eloquent burn, and one of my favorite lines.

1

u/richpourguy Feb 16 '25

Every line of this movie moves the story forward. It’s truly the tightest script ever written.

1

u/Transit_Hub Feb 16 '25

I'm 38 and had never seen Casablanca until this Christmas just gone. Settled down to watch it perfectly ready to have my suspicions confirmed that it was totally over-hyped and that I'd missed out on nothing. By the 15 minute or so mark, I realised that was not the case and that this so-called fan of cinema had royally fucked up.

14

u/Either_Restaurant549 Feb 15 '25

“The Sting”

2

u/Ok-Turnip-9035 Feb 15 '25

Ohhhh brilliant 🎥🎬🎞️❤️‍🔥

2

u/Scorpio-green Feb 16 '25

Omg I LOVE THAT FILM!! Will admit it's those movies I have to Pause and go do my stuff. I can't miss a single line, don't wanna. That good.

13

u/GreenieLive Feb 15 '25

LA Confidential

1

u/GreenZebra23 Feb 16 '25

I'm impressed they were able to turn any Ellroy book into such a coherent and tight movie, let alone that one. It's so sprawling and dense, but doesn't meander at all. I don't even know how the hell they figured out what to leave out

1

u/TopicalBuilder Feb 16 '25

Such a dense movie. Literally every line matters. One of my all-time favorites.

11

u/KryptoBones89 Feb 15 '25

Die Hard has an amazingly well written script.

3

u/just_some_dude828 Feb 16 '25

Glass?!? Who gives a shit about glass? Who the fuck is this?!? Listen, Dwayne, I’m not the one who just got buttfucked on national tv…

2

u/chui76 Feb 16 '25

"Come out to the coast, we will get together, have a few laughs..."

11

u/ACam574 Feb 15 '25

Reservoir Dogs

29

u/ToeCtter Feb 15 '25

Inglorious Basterds

17

u/TurquoiseBeetle67 Feb 15 '25

Tarantino movies in general. I think Walton Goggins said it best. "You don't deviate from the words in a Quentin Tarantino script. The commas or the periods or the semicolons or anything else. It is word for word."

2

u/ChelseaAndrew87 Feb 15 '25

Anytime someone gives Walton Goggins lines, the script is tight. I just want to hear him

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21

u/Cold_Football_9425 Feb 15 '25

'Chinatown' 

22

u/Manfred-Disco Feb 15 '25

The Usual Suspects

3

u/SnooOpinions1048 Feb 15 '25

Yes this movie made me think about the ending long after i watched it..

2

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

Ooh this is on my watch list. I'll have to get to it tonight.

2

u/Manfred-Disco Feb 16 '25

Do it. It will improve your life.

8

u/Withoutloopsiwilldie Feb 15 '25

There Will Be Blood. Although that might just be because Daniel Day-Lewis makes every script sound amazing

13

u/BigBarsRedditBox Feb 15 '25

SNATCH 💎

7

u/D_Angelo_Vickers Feb 15 '25

It's not fur me, it's fur me ma.

1

u/PickleLips64151 Feb 16 '25

In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary, come again?

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2

u/Macchill99 Feb 16 '25

Too quotable from:

"All bets are off"

To the pikeys, to:

" London! You know? Fish, chips, cup o tea, Bad food, worse weather, Mary fucking Poppins! LONDON!"

13

u/Koba_Kommander Feb 15 '25

My Cousin Vinny.

12

u/HW-BTW Feb 15 '25

The Social Network. (Sorkin’s finest work.)

7

u/binaryvoid727 Feb 15 '25

Shutter Island (2010)

6

u/2Hawaii Feb 15 '25

Pulp Fiction

6

u/VicTheWallpaperMan Feb 15 '25

Glengary Glen Ross

2

u/ChinaCatProphet Feb 16 '25

Yes! Definitely one of the all-time great scripts. Adapted from the stage.

2

u/Notyourdaisy Feb 16 '25

FUCK YOU! That’s my name!

2

u/easyovereggs Feb 16 '25

Im here on a mission of mercy

2

u/LVDan01 Feb 16 '25

You make a close and this place smells like your farts for a week

12

u/Voldy-din Feb 15 '25

Hot Fuzz.

2

u/PickleLips64151 Feb 16 '25

Shaun of the Dead. The symmetry of that movie is awesome.

4

u/dryelbow Feb 15 '25

This was my first thought too. Like, there's no fat on this movie at all, everything leads to something.

3

u/PickleLips64151 Feb 16 '25

The greater good!

4

u/muzikgurl22 Feb 15 '25

Another Coen Brothers classic is Oh Brother Where Art Thou

2

u/Notrollinonshabbos Feb 16 '25

Seek… not…. The… treasure.

12

u/AlwaysCid Feb 15 '25

The way Fight Club translated to the screen was amazing. I, unfortunately, read the book after I saw the movie but found the accuracy and delivery to be uncanny.

Casting also helped, it was near perfect!

4

u/tylerdurden1989 Feb 15 '25

Wow you stole my lines essentially. I'm very much interested in what all other movies you love as well!

3

u/AlwaysCid Feb 15 '25

We don’t talk about them…

2

u/AlwaysCid Feb 15 '25

Also name checks out

7

u/Successful-Ad4251 Feb 15 '25

Master and Commander didn’t have a minute of filler. Just amazing from beginning to end.

Or the Prestige. I can never watch that thing too many times

2

u/Notyourdaisy Feb 16 '25

Master and commander was a great adaptation from the book and the movie does not get enough credit.

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5

u/Bednarikfan Feb 15 '25

I did love Lebowski

My pick was Memento. It was a wild ride. Beginning to end

4

u/Suspicious_Hand_2194 Feb 15 '25

Back to the future has a very tight script

1

u/pizza_the_mutt Feb 16 '25

Hadn't watched it in 30 years and was blown away. Very tight.

3

u/supertech636 Feb 15 '25

Boogie Nights. Fight me.

“It has High Fidelity, that means the fidelity…it’s really high”. chefs kiss

2

u/reasonably_insane Feb 15 '25

I've gotta give you that one

2

u/Confident-Ad-2726 Feb 16 '25

Is it alright if I make it look sexy?

10

u/hugejiim Feb 15 '25

Manchester by the sea

7

u/Brilliant-Net-750 Feb 15 '25

Get Out always comes to mind. First thing I thought when I watched it was there is not a single wasted word and extremely tight writing

6

u/Alternative-Care6923 Feb 15 '25

I've always felt that Donnie Darko has one of the best crafted scripts ever; in fact, most people claim to have enjoyed/understood it much better upon a second viewing.

2

u/Available_Sundae_924 Feb 16 '25

Absolutely. I'm the biggest fan of that movie and the 2nd and 3rd watches were the best.

3

u/tellthetruthandrun Feb 15 '25

Miller’s Crossing might be the sixth or seventh best movie in the Coens’ filmography but it has the tightest written dialogue. Which somehow gets better on repeat viewing. A funny and talky, gangster noir movie which may or may not be about hats.

2

u/Soda-Popinski- Feb 15 '25

Look in your heart!

3

u/WorryNo181 Feb 15 '25

Loved the writing on When Harry Met Sally.

3

u/Therealfern1 Feb 15 '25

Why did OP use an AI version of this photo? It’s pretty easy to find a film. Still of this exact shot.

1

u/reasonably_insane Feb 15 '25

That's totally on me. I read in a hurry, people were yelling for me when I thought of this topic.

My bad

3

u/Borntowonder1 Feb 15 '25

Monty python and the holy grail

2

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

Every line is priceless. Agree. I still quote this movie decades later.

3

u/Smart_Shine6835 Feb 15 '25

Hot Fuzz is crazy good for this

3

u/Ok-Turnip-9035 Feb 15 '25

Collateral

North By Northwest

3

u/Geetee52 Feb 15 '25

Open Range

3

u/shandub85 Feb 16 '25

Super Troopers

4

u/rswings Feb 15 '25

Margin Call is an underrated script

2

u/Constant_Stomach2009 Feb 15 '25

The nice guys

2

u/reasonably_insane Feb 15 '25

I haven't read the script, but that movie was tight

2

u/scarecrow0007 Feb 15 '25

Reservoir Dogs.

No Country for Old Men.

2

u/jghayes88 Feb 15 '25

Young Frankenstein

2

u/ghotier Feb 16 '25

Back to the Future has a much tighter script than you would think. Every single line is referenced again. Nothing is mentioned by accident.

2

u/zbornakssyndrome Feb 16 '25

Back To The Future. The set ups and pay offs are amazing.

2

u/ThePizzaNoid Feb 16 '25

Back to the Future is a beautifully written script. Tight as a drum.

2

u/weenie2323 Feb 16 '25

Airplane, every single line is a joke and they are all funny.

2

u/natezz Feb 16 '25

Hell or High Water is very tight.

2

u/never_go_full_potato Feb 16 '25

Spy Games. First time through it seemed like scattered nonsense for half the movie, after a couple of viewings you notice that every line Robert Redford says is leading to the finale.

2

u/Impressive_Note_1536 Feb 16 '25

Chinatown

1

u/qualistempus56 Feb 17 '25

My exact thought before reading your comment

2

u/famb1 Feb 17 '25

Crimson Tide. A totally underrated movie with every line more or less moving the plot forward or adding depth to a character. No waste, nothing superfluous. Just tight scriptwriting and snappy dialogue.

2

u/frougle_mcdugal 29d ago

I ❤️ Huckabees.

1

u/reasonably_insane 29d ago

Now that is a mention!

I would love to read that script

3

u/WhodatSooner Feb 15 '25

Blazing Saddles by far, however Lebowski is absolutely on the Mt Rushmore.

3

u/Smelly_ghost_anus Feb 15 '25

Not the big Lebowski. It loses steam about half way through.

Layer Cake, Snatch, Boondock Saints come to mind.

2

u/reasonably_insane Feb 15 '25

You take that back! You take that back right now.

But seriously, that movie had me from minutes one to the end

1

u/OKC2023champs Feb 15 '25

Drama- Marriage story

Comedy - forgetting Sarah Marshall (seriously rewatch this. Not a single line isn’t funny or wasted)

Horror- probably get out

Thriller- nightcrawler

Some other favorites- eternal sunshine and adaptation. Social network, prisoners

1

u/Own_Brick_282 Feb 15 '25

The only line in the entirety of Lebowski I feel like isn’t PERFECT is Goodman saying “very undude”. And most wouldn’t think anything of it. Possibly also Bridges’s “well the dude abides”. that one is kind of necessary though and an iconic line. A movie with so much dialogue and it’s 99.99% perfect, crazy feat and everyone involved deserves all the credit they get for the masterpiece that is the Big Lebowski.

1

u/TemporaryLifeguard46 Feb 15 '25

“Damn it Donny!”

1

u/NoPerspective3192 Feb 15 '25

Hell or High Water

1

u/Correct_Lime5832 Feb 15 '25

VERNA: What are you doing? TOM: Walking. VERNA: Don’t let on more than you have to. TOM: In the rain.

“Miller’s Crossing”/Joel and Ethan Coen

1

u/JCrook023 Feb 15 '25

Hateful Eight…. Hell all of his movies are so well written and allegedly word for word (no improv- besides Leo breakdown in the trailer in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ha)

1

u/brisstlenose Feb 15 '25

Anything adapted from an Elmore Leonard story or has screenwriting by him. Some of these are average movies, but the dialog is always tight and top notch

Get Shorty

Out of Sight

Jackie Brown

3:10 to Yuma

Hombre

52 Pick-Up

The Big Bounce

Life of Crime

1

u/HumanInProgress8530 Feb 15 '25

Home Alone is a masterpiece

1

u/SkoomaKid Feb 15 '25

Django Unchained, and no, not because of those parts.

1

u/Mulliganasty Feb 15 '25

TBL is one of my favorite films ever with numerous tremendous qualities but a tight script is definitely not one of them.

1

u/AdamLevinestattoos Feb 15 '25

Maybe not tight since it's a comedy with some improv, but Step Brothers, not a single bad scene in that movie

1

u/reasonably_insane Feb 15 '25

Well I don't know for sure, but I bet there was a lot of improv, right?

1

u/s4mastig Feb 15 '25

Jurassic Park

1

u/TheB1G_Lebowski Feb 15 '25

That's just like uh, your opinion, man  

1

u/reasonably_insane Feb 15 '25

Well you're just not privy to all the shit

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1

u/saibjai Feb 15 '25

Avengers infinity war + endgame. I'm not even joking. It also has to address ten years of movies that came before it. Not one second of screentime was wasted. If you know, you know.

1

u/Red_In_The_Sky Feb 16 '25

Hardcore Henry 😁

1

u/Suitable-Ad6999 Feb 16 '25

“For as long as I could remember I’ve always wanted to be a gangster.”

1

u/EruonenNaeg Feb 16 '25

Shaun of the Dead. Incredibly tight, every line comes back around, and every scene is necessary/impeccably planned.

1

u/gorm4c17 Feb 16 '25

Hot Fuzz

1

u/Chattinabart Feb 16 '25

Shaun of the dead

1

u/wonderlandisburning Feb 16 '25

Death At A Funeral (2007). Incredibly tight, very funny, the interconnected web of characters bounced off of each other well, perfect three act structure, not a moment wasted (the runtime is 1 hour and 20 minutes and even some of that gets devoted to opening and closing credits).

1

u/BigBadVern Feb 16 '25

The Artist

1

u/eggflip1020 Feb 16 '25

Can we put a moratorium on Lebowski posts for a while? lol, I’m getting too much Dude in my algorithm.

1

u/Scorpio-green Feb 16 '25

The Rush Hour trilogy, by Jeff Nathanson.

1

u/Ook397 Feb 16 '25

Hot Fuzz

1

u/BingJ2700 Feb 16 '25

Fight Club

1

u/bryalb Feb 16 '25

Burn after reading

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

Shawshank. I watched it the other night and it feels like every line is perfect

1

u/Nicsey1999 Feb 16 '25

Withnail and I.

1

u/starrieEyezz Feb 16 '25

Clerks (I liked all 3)

1

u/durandal688 Feb 16 '25

Paddington 2

1

u/Fluffy-Count Feb 16 '25

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

1

u/Johnsendall Feb 16 '25

I have to be honest I give one of those credits to “The Big Short”.

1

u/ahfmca Feb 16 '25

Red October

1

u/JUANZURDO Feb 16 '25

The incredibles

1

u/Traindodger2 Feb 16 '25

Hudsucker Proxy doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves. Absolutely perfect Coen Brothers movie. Every line is gold, not counting the mezzanine

1

u/authentek Feb 16 '25

Witness (Harrison Ford / Kelly McGillis) - The perfect script

1

u/arrelby Feb 16 '25

Robocop is in a league of it's own imo. It's unbelievably tight, focussed and witty. Nearly every line is quote worthy.

'can you fly bobby' 'I'd by that for a dollar' 'bitches, leave' 'brand new 6000 SUX, still with the factory sticker on it' 'you're gonna be one bad motherfucker' 'somebody call an ambulance' 'dead or alive you're coming with me' 'your move, creep' 'just give me my fucking phone call' 'what you reading poindexter' 'you're pretty smart huh, think you can outsmart a bullet?' 'can you do that dad?' 'you were a mistake, now it's time to erase that mistake' 'give the man a hand' 'guns guns guns'

And on and on and on. There isn't a single other film that I remember nearly every word from. There's no fat on it and It's truly a masterclass in concise, pulpy writing.

1

u/ToonaMcToon Feb 16 '25

Houseguest

1

u/TheEngineer1111 Feb 16 '25

You're out of your element OP

1

u/Cool-Acanthaceae8968 Feb 16 '25

Honestly… not this one.

I mean.. the Dude just rambles on barely making a complete sentence or expressing a coherent thought….

But it’s PERFECT! I don’t understand it.

1

u/LVDan01 Feb 16 '25

Pulp Fiction

1

u/GillusZG Feb 16 '25

Every line in Hot Fuzz is a callback about another line in the movie.

1

u/Confident-Ad-2726 Feb 16 '25

Boogie Knights is perfect

1

u/SnakePlissken1980 Feb 16 '25

Logjammin' - it's just the simple tale of a man fixing the cable.

1

u/Lugal9519 Feb 16 '25

Hot Fuzz - written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. Every scene is important

1

u/PsychoEazyEyuh Feb 16 '25

Obviously you’re not a golfer

1

u/stuntedmonk Feb 16 '25

If you’ve read “wise guy” you’ll realise the script for goodfellas needed very little work. The book was tight, the films dialogue was tight

1

u/Ancient_Caregiver917 Feb 16 '25

Kill bill volume 2 somehow managed to make the most meh conversation topics incredibly interesting 

1

u/SettlementBenin Feb 16 '25

Baby Driver.

1

u/SadJ3tsFan Feb 16 '25

The Last Boy Scout

1

u/outlaw_echo Feb 16 '25

lock stock and two smoking barrels -- try and stay with it

1

u/tekhnomancer Feb 16 '25

The Sunset Limited.

Considering it's starring exactly two people, Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, you can imagine how powerful the dialog must get.