Narration in a movie or TV show can be very much a hit or miss. A voiceover can alter the mood or tone of what you’re watching. It can interrupt the flow of the story. Movies rely on the audience’s ability to suspend their disbelief, meaning that the viewer is supposed to be able to forget reality for the duration of the film and fully immerse themselves in that world and the lives of the characters. If the audience is not completely engaged in the movie they are watching, then what is the point of watching it?
That being said, narration is necessary for some stories. Certain stories require a character, typically the main character, to explain the story to the audience and break it down. This is usually true for movies about a specific person where the story is being told through their point of view. For example, Forrest Gump uses main character narration because Forrest is retelling his life story to strangers he meets while waiting for a bus. That movie works as well as it does because the main character is talking to us as if we are sitting on that park bench with him.
Narration can enhance a movie in other ways as well. In some cases, it can provide much-needed comic relief. It can heighten the stakes or add anticipation for what’s to come next. It can also help the audience understand what’s happening within the world of the story if it is a particularly detailed plot. For certain movies, the narration is pivotal to the execution of the narrative. Here are ten movies where the main character narrates the movie:
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10 Warm Bodies (2013)
Summit Entertainment
A modern spin on Shakespeare’s tragic love story Romeo and Juliet set during a zombie epidemic, Warm Bodies follows R (Nicolas Hoult), an unusually receptive zombie, who encounters human survivor Julie (Teresa Palmer) when he saves her from a zombie attack. Julie recognizes that R is different from the other zombies, and as the two of them grow closer in this time of survival, R starts to become more human and sets off a chain of events that even affects the other zombies.
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There is a plethora of zombie media out there to consume, and many of us have. We have all seen zombie movies that are narrated before, usually by the people trying to escape the zombie apocalypse. This movie is unique because instead of the humans who are scared of the zombies narrating, we actually get to hear the story from the zombie’s point of view. R narrates the events of the movie to us allowing us as the viewers to understand what he is feeling and also understand why Julie is not afraid of him.
9 The Sandlot (1993)
20th Century Fox
During the summer of 1962, new kid Scotty Smalls moves to town and is taken under the wing of local baseball prodigy Benny ‘The Jet’ Rodriguez and learns about the game of baseball with his rowdy team. Throughout the course of the summer, Scotty grows to appreciate the intricacies of baseball and the importance of strong childhood friendships.
The Sandlot is one of those movies that no matter how young or how old you were when you first saw it, you will always be nostalgic for it. Whether sports were a big part of your life or not, you can’t help but love and relate to these kids whose entire lives revolve around America’s favorite pastime. One of the reasons for that is the narration from Smalls when he is all grown up. He narrates it with a sense of longing for the innocence of childhood and the simplicity of spending summers with your best friends. To quote Brad Pitt in Moneyball, “how can you not be romantic about baseball?”
8 Zombieland (2009)
Columbia Pictures
An oddball college student, a gun-toting man searching for the last Twinkie, and two sisters on the hunt for an amusement park join together during the zombie apocalypse and only refer to each other by the names of the cities they are headed for in Zombieland.
Although Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus can be irritating at times, his narration throughout the movie is absolutely the main source of entertainment in this already wildly entertaining zombie comedy. Not only does Columbus narrate the story for the audience, but he actively shares zombie survival tips with us in almost every scene. When he shares one of his rules, a graphic will appear on-screen with the title of the rule and sometimes the graphics will even demonstrate the action of the rule he is telling us about. The combination of Tallahassee’s (Woody Harrelson) Twinkies obsession and Little Rock’s (Abigail Breslin) pre-teen attitude, mixed with Columbus’ voiceover makes for an amusing, gruesome zombie adventure.
7 A Christmas Story (1983)
MGM / UA
Set during the 1940s at Christmastime, a young boy named Ralphie spends the entirety of the holiday season trying to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus himself that a Red Ryder 200 Shot BB gun is the perfect gift. He certainly won’t shoot his eye out if he gets it.
Narrated by Ralphie when he is all grown up, but with the same passion and excitement he had as a kid, he recounts every detail of that Christmas spent desperately trying to get his hands on that BB gun. From his fantasies of playing with the BB gun to getting dismissed by a department store Santa, Ralphie tells us his story with the same enthusiasm as anyone who has ever truly wanted a special toy for Christmas. A Christmas Story is a must-watch on Christmas Eve when TBS plays it continuously for 24 hours.
6 Double Indemnity (1944)
Paramount Pictures
L.A insurance agent Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) meets the wife of one of his clients, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), who seduces him into helping her come up with a plan to kill her husband in order to receive the funds for an accident insurance policy. He instead comes up with a scheme to help her receive twice the initial funds from the insurance policy based on a double indemnity clause. When Walter’s best friend and fellow insurance agent doesn’t buy the ruling of accidental death for Phyllis’ husband, he becomes suspicious that another man helped her scheme his death.
Double Indemnity is a classic film noir that makes it near impossible not to get completely sucked into the story. Told through the point of view of Walter, we see firsthand the steps involved with planning the murder of Phyllis’ husband and how he was in the palm of her hand from the start.
5 Trainspotting (1996)
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) is deep into the drug scene of Edinburgh with a debilitating addiction to heroin and attempts to clean up his act and get his life together. The journey isn’t made easy with the constant presence of drugs and alcohol swarming the city streets along with the influence of his mostly drug-addicted friends.
Trainspotting is without a doubt one of Ewan McGregor’s best performances. He carries the film with his acting as well as his committed voiceover narration. Renton’s narration gives the viewer a first-person look into the life of someone addicted to drugs without making it completely depressing. Even though Renton has a severe addiction, the narration gives us insight into his thought process and the other things he is feeling. His “choose life” speech sets the tone for the whole movie.
4 Deadpool (2016)
Based on Marvel Comics’ most beloved anti-hero, Deadpool follows Wade Wilson, a former Special Forces operative turned mercenary. After being subjected to inhumane experiments that leave him with accelerated healing powers and deformed skin, he adopts his alter-ego Deadpool in a quest to track down the man who stole his good looks.
Wade Wilson is truly brought to life by Ryan Reynolds. It’s almost difficult to tell where Wade ends and Ryan begins. Deadpool is a character known for breaking the fourth wall like it’s his job, which leads him to frequently narrate to the audience what is going on in front of him. Wade/Deadpool is so self-aware and full of absurd jokes to and about the audience (and Ryan himself) that the movie would not be nearly as funny without his constant fourth wall breaks and incessant wise-cracking.
3 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Warner Bros.
After being mistaken for an actor during a robbery, a New York thief named Harry (Robert Downey Jr.) is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye (Val Kilmer) for a potential movie role. When Harry runs into his high school crush (Michelle Monaghan), the three of them investigate an actual murder in Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
One of RDJ’s first forays back into the Hollywood spotlight after a needed break to get his life back on track, and he crushes it. RDJ probably has the greatest comeback story in Hollywood, and it shows in this movie. His portrayal of Harry, both in the acting and in the narration, is flawless. His chemistry with Val Kilmer’s Gay Perry enhances the buddy-cop aspects of the movie as well. His comedic timing is spot-on, and his narration makes the movie even more enjoyable.
2 Memento (2000)
Newmarket
Christopher Nolan’s first feature-length film, Memento, chronicles the life of former insurance investigator Leonard (Guy Pearce) who can no longer build new memories. The last thing he remembers is the murder of his wife, so he sets out to put the pieces together and find out who killed her. The movie is told in two separate timelines, one movie forward in the future, and one moving backward in time.
Leonard needs to leave notes for himself for basically everything since he lost the ability to create new memories. The notes could range from anything to what he did the day before to what his current goal is. He narrates the story to continue to remind himself of his mission and any new information he finds along the way, but it also feels as though he is talking directly to the people watching the events of the movie unfold.
1 Gone Girl (2014)
Twentieth Century Fox
On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) reports his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. As the nationwide media goes into a frenzy and the police pressure him, the Dunne’s portrait of blissful marriage begins to crumble, along with Nick’s “good guy” persona. Despite his best efforts to convince the public that he truly does not know what happened to his wife, evidence starts to suggest otherwise.
David Fincher’s Gone Girl is a smooth blend of drama, mystery, and thriller. The movie switches back and forth between painting Nick as innocent and painting Amy as innocent. Nick is obviously not a good husband. He’s a liar and a cheater. So, Amy takes matters into her own hands. However, it also becomes clear that Amy is capable of much more than she ever let her naive husband know. Amy’s narration throughout the film builds anticipation for what she’ll reveal next and what her true plans for Nick and their marriage are. Her infamous “cool girl” monologue has cemented a place for itself in pop culture and in film history.
