Word: subplot
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...particular, the subplot of Tommy and Melissa’s teenage romance is very successful; it achieves a level of human emotion that the rest of the film lacks. There are no specific scenes that truly encapsulate this tone; rather, the brief touches of subtle emotion—furtive glances across the playground, an awkward conversation overlooking Central Park, a first kiss—are what make this small portion of the film so good. Duchovny’s camera captures these brief encounters as quick snapshots of isolated emotion that, strung together, approach the sublime...
When Joe Orton’s “What the Butler Saw” was first performed in 1969, the audience response—all shrill booing and ripped programs—might have been expected. After all, this is a sex comedy with a major subplot centered on the missing penis of Winston Churchill. Three decades later, when even the bawdiest wordplay lands you a PG-13, “What the Butler Saw” is now appreciated as Orton’s, ahem, seminal work. The play uses uncouth sexual humor to create a farce that...
Another misfire is the narrative thread about Iranian convenience store owner Farhad and a Hispanic locksmith. The subplot about Daniel the locksmith (Michael Peña) initially seems promising. After stoically listening to Jean’s racial slurs, Daniel returns home to comfort his daughter after she imagines hearing a gunshot, in a scene that, surprisingly, manages to be touching without being sentimental...
...Jeff Talley (Willis) arrives on the scene, he refuses to reenter the field that made him miserable. He is forced into the task not only because of his undeniable skill at saving the day (even the criminals ask to work with him), but also through an underdeveloped subplot that puts the lives of his wife and daughter at risk...
...Keller (Naomi Watts) and her morbid young son Aidan (David Dorfman) must relocate to a small Oregon town to escape the terror of Samara, who looks, more than ever, like Cousin It from "The Addams Family." While the first film yawned its way through endless exposition, particularly in a subplot that attempted to explain Samara’s backstory, The Ring Two moves briskly along, losing momentum only in the final thrust as its expected pseudo-metaphysical, semi-Freudian conclusion begins to take shape...