I guessed the "twist" for 6th Sense really really early.

I guessed it from the trailers. It seemed kind of obvious to me.

I was surprised Crying Game, I'll admit.

I finally saw STID tonight. I enjoyed most of it, but not so much that I plan to see it in the theater again. But on the way out my friend and I passed a gaggle of teenagers arguing vehimently about TOS vs TNG. The debate lives on. It was heartwarming.

I guessed the "twist" for 6th Sense really really early.

Me too. It was the only way I could explain why there was no follow up to his getting shot. Unfortunately, I saw it with my DH and thought it out loud and ruined the movie for both of us.

Whereas Crying Game I guessed early too and yet it didn't ruin anything for me. Which makes it the better movie.

Whereas Crying Game I guessed early too and yet it didn't ruin anything for me. Which makes it the better movie.

That was the thing that struck me about the BIG TWIST for Crying Game. It seemed kind of minor compared to almost everything else about the plot. Not that it was insignificant to the story, it just seemed that is was made out to be a bigger deal than it needed to be. I guess people were more shocked by that kind of thing in a movie back then?

I remember the columnist Jon Carroll arguing that there were only really three plot twists: (1) somebody's alive that you thought was dead, or vice versa; (2) somebody's a different gender than presented; (3) hidden parentage is revealed.

(That doesn't account for The Village, but maybe that's why it sucked!)

I think Tootsie managed to parody all three in the climactic soap opera reveal.

Anyway, the trick isn't in the plot twist but in disguising the fact that there is a twist at all. If you go into a movie expecting one, it's never hard to parse because there are only a few options that aren't ridiculous.

Gosford Park, for example, does a pretty good job of hiding the fact that it's a Hidden Parentage movie.

What, Hec? Gosford Park is a hidden parentage movie, you say?

I remember the columnist Jon Carroll arguing that there were only really three plot twists: (1) somebody's alive that you thought was dead, or vice versa; (2) somebody's a different gender than presented; (3) hidden parentage is revealed.

At minimum, that list is missing "It was only a dream!"

At minimum, that list is missing "It was only a dream!"

That's not a twist. That's a betrayal.

Why does it have to be?

Why does it have to be?

It's just bad storytelling. It breaks a certain convent with the reader.

Of course there's no reason why any element is bad in itself, but historically it's been a refuge for shitty writers who don't commit to the story they're telling or just want to pull a cheap meta rug out from under the reader. So it's considered to be in bad taste, and is usually one the first things you're taught to not do in a writing class.