“When Words Fail”

You know, there are many different components to a screenplay. Scene description. Dialogue. Transitions. Parentheticals. But nothing seems to conjure up more disaffection among than voiceover narration. Like this:

SCOTT (V.O.)
Reading the article in the New York
Times, the realization washed over me
with startling clarity… I had to 
blog about it.

The article appears — of all places — in yesterday’s Dining section and raises this question: Why do people have such disdain for voiceover narration? After all, some of the greatest movies of all time feature the device including The Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, Forrest Gump, Sunset Blvd., Double Indemnity, Apocalypse Now and so forth.

I think this quote from the NYT article provides the answer:

You know a movie is in trouble when a voice-over narrator has to explain the plot that the combined efforts of screenwriter, director and editor failed to make clear. Something like that is going on at Eleven Madison Park, which just eliminated its $125 prix fixe option and now offers only one menu, a $195 blowout that lasts about four hours.

The meal is narrated almost from the minute you sit down, starting with a printed card tied to a box of savory black-and-white cookies (“the quintessential New York treat”), and scarcely letting up until you leave, when you are handed a pocket-size book of historical background on the food you’ve just eaten.

You know a movie is in trouble when a voice-over narrator has to explain the plot. That perception — voiceover narration equals weak storytelling — evidently is so omnipresent, it has even spread into the consciousness of food reviewers [in this case Pete Wells].

Better to tell the story rather than talk about the story. Or your voiceover narration could fall into the category of the article’s print edition title: “When Words Fail.”

What are your thoughts about voiceover narration? Obviously, as noted above, there are hugely successful films that use it. Why do those work? And what are examples of voiceover narration as weak screenwriting?

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