What's the point of Herb
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Disardor — 11 years ago(July 12, 2014 01:43 PM)
It's another example of the film's recurring theme of darkness lurking just beneath the veneer of small town normality. Charlie's father is a banker and Herbert is a mousy, ordinary looking man, and to look at either of them you'd never suspect they spend their free time "relaxing" by concocting scenarios by which to commit the perfect murder.
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amyghost — 11 years ago(July 13, 2014 06:23 AM)
Absolutely. And to continue the joke, they're concocting these 'perfect murder' scenarios all the while there's an actual murderer right in front of them, whom they never for a moment suspect.
And after alljust as Jack says to Charlie about her uncleThink. Just how much do we know about Herbie Hawkins? -
PopperTheKungFuDragn — 10 years ago(August 04, 2015 07:40 PM)
I think it was to create an atmosphere of ironytheir fascination with murder was pointless because they had a live-in murderer down the hall. Personally, I thought it was perfect, but I guess it fell flat for a lot of viewers because Herb and the father were never aware of it.
This was the best answer.
R.I.P. Rick Ducommun and Tony Longo -
ElMaruecan82 — 9 years ago(June 20, 2016 04:01 AM)
I thought the point was to have that friend from the family who always comes after the dinner started, showing that it's the kind of harmless and peaceful town where the door is always open and any guest is at home. Plot-wise, it doesn't play a significant part until the crucial night where Uncle Charlie tried to kill his niece a second time, for all the precautions he took (putting on loud music, closing the curtains) he didn't count on the last-minute arrival of Herb, Herb who heard someone knocking on the garage's door and alerted the family.
That was Herb's contribution to the plot, and a crucial one. Of course, when you add an extra-character, you ought to give him a little substance and that's what Hitch did with the morbid conversations abour murder, and they weren't useless as they made Young Charlie snap and tell them to stop because she was tired of hearing about murders.
So Herb was far from being a pointless character, he and the father triggered Uncle Charlie's suspicions, he saved Young Charlie and, of course, he was a comic relief.
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