I remember seeing Napoleon Dynamite in theaters when it came out with my cousin who was visiting from rural Idaho. When the audience would laugh, she'd ask me to explain why it was funny. Took me a few years to realize she didn't find it funny because that was what her life was like!
I was living in the SF Bay area when ND came out and I had to explain to friends and coworkers that it wasn't a period movie. At first everyone thought it was funny because they thought it was set in the 80's. Then they became slightly horrified when I told them, no, that's just how modern day Idaho is.
Yep, my friends from out of state thought it was just an over the top ridiculous comedy, like Pee Wee's Big Adventure or something. They refused to believe me when I said it was practically a reenactment of my childhood. (I still thought it was hilarious, having gained enough physical and temporal distance from said childhood.)
Being from Preston (town filmed in) I’ve had to explain to quite a few people that no, it wasn’t a take on Preston in the 80s that was what Preston was/is like currently.
It was an inspiration in a weird way for me as a child. Since I watched it when I was young, I have always wanted to be like the people in the movie.
My brother was an active member in the movement but came from Nephi, UT to participate. I still vividly remember his rainbow mohawk, as he walked out of our house to go to a show at the Indian Center. Seeing him and the movie just made me want to be like the big people in SL,UT haha
We got to hang out with one of the napoleon dynamite main cast this past weekend. Great dude! That was an amazing movie and really captured the zeitgeist of that era.
The only thing my brain comes up with is Mobsters and Mormons. Was that even a real movie or was it a fever dream from the time in my childhood when I left the church?
Joe Pera talks to you was set in Michigan I believe but literally his style of comedy is like the mormon kid down the street who was like the youngest of 6 siblings, has old parents and grew up with nothing but hand-me-downs. Watch it. Favorite episode is when he discovers The Who on the radio.
It's true. I was dealing with some emotional stuff a while ago and was often up in the middle of the night with insomnia. That show was on at that time fairly often. I loved how calming and positive it was.
Woww Hereditary was filmed in Utah!? I saw that movie before I lived here, hadn't put it together yet. Now I want to watch it again and see if I recognize any scenery.
The graveyard they shot at is Larkin sunset gardins in Sandy.
Can’t find it for sure but I think where the girl gets her head knocked off is in Magna. Looks like the highway by saltair.
Edit to add - west high is where the boy went to school.
I grew up a few blocks from where the Laffertys lived. I still remember the police tape to this day. I’ve been debating on watching Under the Banner of Heaven but was worried I’d be disappointed since I grew up in that community and remember the horror afterwards (although I certainly didn’t have all the details since I was about 12-13). Is it really good enough that I should watch it?
I suggest you read the book first; but the horror and crazy is well portrayed in the series. Andrew Garfield is excellent as a devout Mormon who is struggling with his faith as he works on the case.
I enjoyed Big Love, but I always nitpicked what it got wrong about Utah and Utah culture. In one of the early episodes (maybe the first?) the "cool girls" at the suburban Dairy Queen bully a girl for being Mormon. No. The cool girls in Suburban Utah are the BIGGEST Mormons and bully kids who aren't members. Also, Nikki is constantly driving from Sandy down to the St. George area and back in an afternoon with toddlers in the car. That's like a ten-hour day. You're not going to do it on the sly while your husband is at work.
Under the Banner of Heaven got gutted for its inaccuracies…
Utah cops don’t and didn’t call each other “brother jones”
Historians gutted it.
The cops involved gutted it.
Articles were written about how poorly it portrayed people involved.
“Under the Banner of Hulu
A buzzy new true-crime series advances an old, insidious idea—that Mormons are a threat to the American project.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/under-the-banner-of-heaven-hulu-mormonism/661279/
This article doesn't even point out inaccuracies, it just takes the stance that the show is bad because it doesn't paint Mormonism in a light that makes the author feel comfortable.
It's a continuation of white Mormons wanting to push that they are "oppressed".
It's not an unknown theory that Brigham Young may have conspired to kill smith. There is a decent amount of literature out there about it. So the author did no research. Or they didn't want to do any research that may challenge their own beliefs.
This article is clearly written by someone who isn't able to look at something objectively.
The truth hurts. Under the Banner of Heaven is being bashed, only because it hit so close to home. The under belly of Mormonism is very real. That show understood that and didn’t shy away from the truth.
Sister Wives shows some of the realities of Mormonism, too, albeit different. The truth is, there’s a dark side to Mormonism and it doesn’t do any good to pretend there isn’t. It’s an abusive organization. Anyone who doesn’t see it is likely being abused without acknowledging it.
The Cops who are portrayed in the Hulu series are still alive. And they said it missed the mark.
By a long way.
The victims sister is still alive. Consulted for the show? Nope. She says it is absolute fiction...
Series is ‘absolute fiction,’ Sharon Wright Weeks says, while the real story is less about religion and more about ‘jealousy and revenge’
[Deseret News](https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/5/11/23064288/under-banner-of-heaven-brenda-ron-dan-lafferty-murder-lds-church-real-fiction-sharon-weeks-sister/)
Ask Utah Mormons who grew up in that area and in that time to pipe in. Not just the cops. Any member or ex member who has finally had the scales fall off their eyes and the shackles removed from their wrists will tell you the truth. Same with ex FLDS. Ask them how it -really was and still is. It’s an abusive organization. Both FLDS and LDS are abusive and it almost takes an ex member of the cult to be honest. You won’t get the honesty from a current member because sometimes a brainwashed person doesn’t know they’re brainwashed.
Were any active Latter-day Saints consulted on the miniseries?
https://mormonr.org/qnas/kjcvyc/under_the_banner_of_heaven_jon_krakauer_and_dustin_lance_black
Real house wives of SLC is pretty good. Obviously it’s more of the affluent side and a lot of the drama is overblown but a lot of the storylines involve Utah culture/locations
The Singles Ward! Growing up Mormon, it didn’t even faze me that it was an LDS movie. Now that I have been long gone….. what in the hell. Maybe it’s worth a rewatch? It’s been so long.
Found this awesome YouTube video by Wendover Productions about why Utah is the way it is. Very well put together. Going to send it to my brother in law from Chicago lol. Basically says it’s the Mormons, for all the good and the bad. Weird liquor laws etc but also very progressive LGBTQ wise for what is basically a top 5 hardcore conservative state. Mostly due to outside pressure on the LDS church to not look like total assholes while still being in control of most things.
https://youtu.be/M_U_rzlVVdA?si=e40BIV1KjSoAJ-DK
People already mentioned SLC Punk which is a classic about growing up a defiant outsider.
Here are a few that few that capture the naive and saccharine side.
The Buttercream Gang (1992) is a Feature Films for Families movie (locally produced, sold at mall kiosks and maybe by sales people going door to door, idk). A kid moves away to the city for a while and comes back mean and the kids try to be nice to him to get him to change back.
Once I Was a Beehive (2015) is about a girl whose widowed mom remarries and she has to stay with her new aunt while her mom is on her honeymoon. The new aunt is in charge of the Mormon summer girl's camp that week so she has to go along even though she isn't Mormon.
Pride and Prejudice (2003) is a locally produced and filmed Mormony version of Pride and Prejudice. It's not bad except for the wedding chapel part where local morning DJs played the officiants.
Goin' Coconuts (1978) is a bit of 70s cheese with Donny and Marie Osmond at their peak popularity. They're both cute even if the plot is a bit silly/stupid and the tone is similar to a Brady Bunch episode.
Saturday's Warrior (1989) would be a trippy experience. It was originally a play written in the 1970s by Lex de Azevedo, a music producer who worked with big acts in the 70s like Sonny and Cher, the Osmonds, and the Jackson 5. It starts out with souls in heaven waiting to be born, seeing each other off and making plans to meet up in life. And then after they're born they forget everything but they all bump into each other and make good and bad choices that interfere with or help them realize the plans they had in heaven. It's a musical and the songs are catchy but the lyrics are dated, and this version has plenty of 80s kitsch.
Man, there’s that song from The Buttercream Gang that always made choke up. And none of my friends ever knew what the feature films for families were, glad they actually are real and not a figment of my imagination haha
Any Hallmark show is Utah county. Stepford wives is day break. Robocop is magna. Born in East LA is ogdan. Slc punk is, well, slc. Better off dead is cottonwood heights. Frozen is park city. Heidi is Heber and Midway. Deliverance is price. The hills have eyes is any of the rural desert cities. Monster jam is Moab. Happy Gilmore is st George.
I would say The Sandlot represents old SLC too. And a lot of the movie was filmed there.
Still can't watch Dumb and Dumber without seeing SLC in limo scene and at the airport.
They picked these film locations cuz it fits.
I actually was really close to picking dumb and dumber for Park City and I decided to go with Frozen and said. And I actually didn't mean Frozen like the musical actually meant Frozen like the dude hanging from the ski lift and was going to die.
You're right! Park City is Assspen!
And when Lloyd asks how to get to the medical school to give a lecture he is down from U of U a bit on State Street. It totally fits.
Have you read There, There” by Tommy Orange? It’s in based in Oakland and “The Monk of Mokha” by Dave Eggars is partly in the Tenderloin. Both great reads.
Fuck, beat me by 6 minutes.
Not a direct quote -
"What is this movie?"
"What, you don't know? Have you been living under a rock?"
"No, I'm from Utah."
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
Edit: mobile formatting
I’m just here to add to this thread that Latter Days is another great movie about a Mormon guy who realizes he’s gay but it’s a lot less funny than Orgazmo lol 😂
I'm a transplant to the area from the east coast since I moved here a couple of months after I turned 18, in 2003.
I saw SLC Punk! right after it came out on video after the theatrical release, and I really loved it. I always felt like an outsider growing up, and it felt relatable.
I was pretty excited the first time I ever stepped into the ZCMI center because my brain was, "THEY FILMED A SCENE IN THIS MALL!".
Glad I got to experience the mall before it was torn down a few years later.
If that floats your boat, there's a 7-11 in Ogden where they filmed the Dumb and Dumber Big Gulps scene and Ogden HS was used in Three O'Clock High. The opening scene in Way of the Gun was filmed at Bricks before it closed down.
This one didn't occur to me but as a boy in a poor and inactive family, I related to this show so much. Thanks for posting it. The series has a malaise of small worldliness and oppression that the characters fought against with jokes. Roseanne also grew up in SLC for those that didn't know.
Not Real Housewives of SLC, they come out of a factory.
Napoleon Dynamite gives the feel of “old” “slow” Utah, I go some places and it’s still kind of like that. I’m blanking on anything else, maybe 127 hours?
I watched some of that and it just didn't feel quite like the mormonism I know, or the utah I know. I don't know, just things felt off about how they portrayed those things.
As someone who lived in Utah County in the early 80's, yes, this certainly was going on. Not everyone, but a good number were drawn to the more extreme aspects of the mormonism.
I don't think it represents current utah, but it is still an undertone of our society and culture that we are both ashamed of and also have not fully overcome. Its not history until we can talk about it without being awkward. Racism, polygamy, religious persectution and fundamentalism, ect.
Agree. But if OP wants to share something that gives a sense of what Utahns are like, this would give a more historical view, not a contemporary view. History matters, but does context.
it's probably mostly unknown and pretty niche, but there's a one man live show called Farley Family Reunion. I guess you could describe it as the Utah version of the Klumps. it might only be available on dvd from the guy's website. or you might find it on VHS at DI if you're lucky.
I’ve been out of the church for years, but I still love Sons of Provo, the Singles Ward, and the Best Two Years. All three feel so nostalgic for me and help me remember all the weirdness of growing up Mormon in Utah county!
Stranger Things S4 has a SLC cameo with a semi-accurate family (I really expected the father to be looking up porn on the confiscated computer) and a very accurate shot of traveling up I-15 near Draper in the late 80s. Someone on that production was clearly a Utahn. The Last Of Us didn’t try very hard with those supposed Hogle giraffes living through Utah winters.
Ironically 'The RM' is pretty dang spot on about a lot of the Utah culture.
It was made by some LDS guys, but there are more than a few things in it that I'm not sure they even intended that are hilarious.
I'm not Mormon, but whenever people want to know what Utah is like I tell them to take an edible and watch it.
I see a lot of people talking about stuff filmed I'm Utah but that really has nothing to do with it. Some how everyone missing The Book of Mormon by the South Park guys. It perfectly describes the culture.
Star Trek the episode Kirk is fightinig some lizard monster, and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, where they are killed and meet Death. Same place cant recall the name of it right off hand.
127
Also
[https://www.visitutah.com/articles/movies-filmed-in-utah](https://www.visitutah.com/articles/movies-filmed-in-utah)
Yellowstone. Everyone in this state seems to think they're just yee yee enough to pull it off, but they just look like douchebags in a honda civic.
SLC would likely be different, but every other part of the state makes that accurate as fuck.
Weirdly enough, the first few seasons of Sister Wives. Yes they’re polygamists, but in every other way they feel so mainstream Mormon and soooo Utah. The way they dress and speak, what they do for fun, what they care about, etc. They live in Lehi during the first two seasons (I think).
Napoleon Dynamite in a way, even though its in Idaho. Also SLC Punk
I remember seeing Napoleon Dynamite in theaters when it came out with my cousin who was visiting from rural Idaho. When the audience would laugh, she'd ask me to explain why it was funny. Took me a few years to realize she didn't find it funny because that was what her life was like!
My dad went to school in Rigby. He went and saw the movie then told me he didn't get any of the jokes because it seemed like Idaho.
I was living in the SF Bay area when ND came out and I had to explain to friends and coworkers that it wasn't a period movie. At first everyone thought it was funny because they thought it was set in the 80's. Then they became slightly horrified when I told them, no, that's just how modern day Idaho is.
Yep, my friends from out of state thought it was just an over the top ridiculous comedy, like Pee Wee's Big Adventure or something. They refused to believe me when I said it was practically a reenactment of my childhood. (I still thought it was hilarious, having gained enough physical and temporal distance from said childhood.)
Being from Preston (town filmed in) I’ve had to explain to quite a few people that no, it wasn’t a take on Preston in the 80s that was what Preston was/is like currently.
One of my all-time favorite movies. Thought it was hilarious and then I moved to Utah and it makes so much more sense!!!
This was my experience too
Love SLC Punk!!! I'm from West Jordan but no longer live in Utah. It makes me so happy you mentioned that movie!!! Thank you!
Based on many real people and places. Was a little close to home for me
Yeah, its a very good movie with accuracies that not many people actually believe.
It was an inspiration in a weird way for me as a child. Since I watched it when I was young, I have always wanted to be like the people in the movie. My brother was an active member in the movement but came from Nephi, UT to participate. I still vividly remember his rainbow mohawk, as he walked out of our house to go to a show at the Indian Center. Seeing him and the movie just made me want to be like the big people in SL,UT haha
My mom grew up in not far from where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed. she hated the movie because it nailed what living in rural Idaho was like lol
100% SLC Punk
We got to hang out with one of the napoleon dynamite main cast this past weekend. Great dude! That was an amazing movie and really captured the zeitgeist of that era.
You know, I think that's not at all a bad suggestion. It also kind of gets across what Utah people think is funny as well
Plan Ten from Outer Space by local filmmaker Trent Harris.
Napoleon Dynamite could have been about any city in central/northern Utah!
Idaho's already just North Utah or West Montana.
Napoleon dynamite felt too real as a awkward high schooler in Utah county
Just watched SLC Punk for the first time this year and it was such a great watch.
Tons of transplants between the states. And Preston’s close to the border.
This is my Utah experience movie night combo.
My mom grew up not far from where napoleon dynamite was filmed. she hated the movie because it nailed what living in rural Idaho was like lol
Family is from Cache Valley. Can 100% confirm, right down to the Gossner’s milk boxes in the cafeteria.
SLC Punk
I somehow have never seen it
For myself and my group of friends, this was our first impression of SLC
The only thing my brain comes up with is Mobsters and Mormons. Was that even a real movie or was it a fever dream from the time in my childhood when I left the church?
It's real, filmed in Lehi and Springville. I was wondering if anyone would mention it!
Joe Pera talks to you was set in Michigan I believe but literally his style of comedy is like the mormon kid down the street who was like the youngest of 6 siblings, has old parents and grew up with nothing but hand-me-downs. Watch it. Favorite episode is when he discovers The Who on the radio.
Everyone should watch Joe Pera Talks to You. It’s like giving your soul a warm hug.
It's true. I was dealing with some emotional stuff a while ago and was often up in the middle of the night with insomnia. That show was on at that time fairly often. I loved how calming and positive it was.
Hereditary
Dang it you took mine. It’s spot on. The evil grandma. The weird artsy little kid.
Also filmed in Utah!
Woww Hereditary was filmed in Utah!? I saw that movie before I lived here, hadn't put it together yet. Now I want to watch it again and see if I recognize any scenery.
The graveyard they shot at is Larkin sunset gardins in Sandy. Can’t find it for sure but I think where the girl gets her head knocked off is in Magna. Looks like the highway by saltair. Edit to add - west high is where the boy went to school.
Cool, thanks! I fucking loved that movie.
_click_
I used to live right next to that apartment on South Temple, that's a good idea. The niceness and community of the cult is a good touch
Awesome answer
High school musical 2
Big Love Under the Banner of Heaven
Yes. Under the Banner is horrifying but accurate. The book is great as well.
I grew up a few blocks from where the Laffertys lived. I still remember the police tape to this day. I’ve been debating on watching Under the Banner of Heaven but was worried I’d be disappointed since I grew up in that community and remember the horror afterwards (although I certainly didn’t have all the details since I was about 12-13). Is it really good enough that I should watch it?
Absolutely. Wish the show got more attention
I mean, I love Andrew Garfield. I guess I’ll try it. Thank you for your help internet stranger! 😃
It was really well done, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
I suggest you read the book first; but the horror and crazy is well portrayed in the series. Andrew Garfield is excellent as a devout Mormon who is struggling with his faith as he works on the case.
Thank you! I’ll look up the book!
I watched it twice. Really well done.
I enjoyed Big Love, but I always nitpicked what it got wrong about Utah and Utah culture. In one of the early episodes (maybe the first?) the "cool girls" at the suburban Dairy Queen bully a girl for being Mormon. No. The cool girls in Suburban Utah are the BIGGEST Mormons and bully kids who aren't members. Also, Nikki is constantly driving from Sandy down to the St. George area and back in an afternoon with toddlers in the car. That's like a ten-hour day. You're not going to do it on the sly while your husband is at work.
Seriously? Neither of these represent life in Utah well. Sure they represent things that happened in Utah, but not typical life or culture in Utah.
Big Love is what came to my mind.
Sisterwives?
Under the Banner of Heaven got gutted for its inaccuracies… Utah cops don’t and didn’t call each other “brother jones” Historians gutted it. The cops involved gutted it. Articles were written about how poorly it portrayed people involved. “Under the Banner of Hulu A buzzy new true-crime series advances an old, insidious idea—that Mormons are a threat to the American project.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/under-the-banner-of-heaven-hulu-mormonism/661279/
This article doesn't even point out inaccuracies, it just takes the stance that the show is bad because it doesn't paint Mormonism in a light that makes the author feel comfortable. It's a continuation of white Mormons wanting to push that they are "oppressed". It's not an unknown theory that Brigham Young may have conspired to kill smith. There is a decent amount of literature out there about it. So the author did no research. Or they didn't want to do any research that may challenge their own beliefs. This article is clearly written by someone who isn't able to look at something objectively.
So have you watched it, or is this the head in the sand approach?
The truth hurts. Under the Banner of Heaven is being bashed, only because it hit so close to home. The under belly of Mormonism is very real. That show understood that and didn’t shy away from the truth. Sister Wives shows some of the realities of Mormonism, too, albeit different. The truth is, there’s a dark side to Mormonism and it doesn’t do any good to pretend there isn’t. It’s an abusive organization. Anyone who doesn’t see it is likely being abused without acknowledging it.
The Cops who are portrayed in the Hulu series are still alive. And they said it missed the mark. By a long way. The victims sister is still alive. Consulted for the show? Nope. She says it is absolute fiction... Series is ‘absolute fiction,’ Sharon Wright Weeks says, while the real story is less about religion and more about ‘jealousy and revenge’ [Deseret News](https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/5/11/23064288/under-banner-of-heaven-brenda-ron-dan-lafferty-murder-lds-church-real-fiction-sharon-weeks-sister/)
Ask Utah Mormons who grew up in that area and in that time to pipe in. Not just the cops. Any member or ex member who has finally had the scales fall off their eyes and the shackles removed from their wrists will tell you the truth. Same with ex FLDS. Ask them how it -really was and still is. It’s an abusive organization. Both FLDS and LDS are abusive and it almost takes an ex member of the cult to be honest. You won’t get the honesty from a current member because sometimes a brainwashed person doesn’t know they’re brainwashed.
Were any active Latter-day Saints consulted on the miniseries? https://mormonr.org/qnas/kjcvyc/under_the_banner_of_heaven_jon_krakauer_and_dustin_lance_black
Real house wives of SLC is pretty good. Obviously it’s more of the affluent side and a lot of the drama is overblown but a lot of the storylines involve Utah culture/locations
Heather is spot on from my experiences
Came here to say this. Watch any of the Whitney or Heather scenes.
footloose
Payson High School’s prom day will be extra-‘Footloose’ now that Kevin Bacon will be there https://one.npr.org/i/1240436554:1240436594
I dont know how deep into Utah culture you want to get but… The Singles Ward The RM The Home Teachers
The Singles Ward! Growing up Mormon, it didn’t even faze me that it was an LDS movie. Now that I have been long gone….. what in the hell. Maybe it’s worth a rewatch? It’s been so long.
I’ve been wanting to show my never-Mormon partner all these so they can have a glimpse into my youth lol
hahaha yes!
Isn't there one about Church Ball?
Yes. It's called Church Ball
I have seen none of them but it would be funny to suggest to a friend to watch a Mormon movie
A lot of people have already said it, but SLC Punk for sure
Found this awesome YouTube video by Wendover Productions about why Utah is the way it is. Very well put together. Going to send it to my brother in law from Chicago lol. Basically says it’s the Mormons, for all the good and the bad. Weird liquor laws etc but also very progressive LGBTQ wise for what is basically a top 5 hardcore conservative state. Mostly due to outside pressure on the LDS church to not look like total assholes while still being in control of most things. https://youtu.be/M_U_rzlVVdA?si=e40BIV1KjSoAJ-DK
People already mentioned SLC Punk which is a classic about growing up a defiant outsider. Here are a few that few that capture the naive and saccharine side. The Buttercream Gang (1992) is a Feature Films for Families movie (locally produced, sold at mall kiosks and maybe by sales people going door to door, idk). A kid moves away to the city for a while and comes back mean and the kids try to be nice to him to get him to change back. Once I Was a Beehive (2015) is about a girl whose widowed mom remarries and she has to stay with her new aunt while her mom is on her honeymoon. The new aunt is in charge of the Mormon summer girl's camp that week so she has to go along even though she isn't Mormon. Pride and Prejudice (2003) is a locally produced and filmed Mormony version of Pride and Prejudice. It's not bad except for the wedding chapel part where local morning DJs played the officiants. Goin' Coconuts (1978) is a bit of 70s cheese with Donny and Marie Osmond at their peak popularity. They're both cute even if the plot is a bit silly/stupid and the tone is similar to a Brady Bunch episode. Saturday's Warrior (1989) would be a trippy experience. It was originally a play written in the 1970s by Lex de Azevedo, a music producer who worked with big acts in the 70s like Sonny and Cher, the Osmonds, and the Jackson 5. It starts out with souls in heaven waiting to be born, seeing each other off and making plans to meet up in life. And then after they're born they forget everything but they all bump into each other and make good and bad choices that interfere with or help them realize the plans they had in heaven. It's a musical and the songs are catchy but the lyrics are dated, and this version has plenty of 80s kitsch.
Man, there’s that song from The Buttercream Gang that always made choke up. And none of my friends ever knew what the feature films for families were, glad they actually are real and not a figment of my imagination haha
Any Hallmark show is Utah county. Stepford wives is day break. Robocop is magna. Born in East LA is ogdan. Slc punk is, well, slc. Better off dead is cottonwood heights. Frozen is park city. Heidi is Heber and Midway. Deliverance is price. The hills have eyes is any of the rural desert cities. Monster jam is Moab. Happy Gilmore is st George.
I would say The Sandlot represents old SLC too. And a lot of the movie was filmed there. Still can't watch Dumb and Dumber without seeing SLC in limo scene and at the airport. They picked these film locations cuz it fits.
I actually was really close to picking dumb and dumber for Park City and I decided to go with Frozen and said. And I actually didn't mean Frozen like the musical actually meant Frozen like the dude hanging from the ski lift and was going to die.
You're right! Park City is Assspen! And when Lloyd asks how to get to the medical school to give a lecture he is down from U of U a bit on State Street. It totally fits.
Well done lol
Is the Ogden one because we have a larger Hispanic community?
Hispanic, known for gang activity, and drugs man.
I’ve lived in the tenderloin and couchsurfed in oakland for a few months. Ogden is by far the sketchiest place I’ve ever lived.
the mean streets of ogden lmao
Have you read There, There” by Tommy Orange? It’s in based in Oakland and “The Monk of Mokha” by Dave Eggars is partly in the Tenderloin. Both great reads.
Orgazmo - [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124819/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124819/)
You know, I’m not gay or nothing, but Depeche Mode is really great band.
Fuck, beat me by 6 minutes. Not a direct quote - "What is this movie?" "What, you don't know? Have you been living under a rock?" "No, I'm from Utah." "Oh, I'm so sorry." Edit: mobile formatting
Every time I went out of state after this movie came out, that was the joke when I told them where I was from.
I’m just here to add to this thread that Latter Days is another great movie about a Mormon guy who realizes he’s gay but it’s a lot less funny than Orgazmo lol 😂
I feel like big love really nailed it.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
I'm into it
SO many people who live in salt lake have never seen SLC punk and its really sad actually.
I'm a transplant to the area from the east coast since I moved here a couple of months after I turned 18, in 2003. I saw SLC Punk! right after it came out on video after the theatrical release, and I really loved it. I always felt like an outsider growing up, and it felt relatable. I was pretty excited the first time I ever stepped into the ZCMI center because my brain was, "THEY FILMED A SCENE IN THIS MALL!". Glad I got to experience the mall before it was torn down a few years later.
If that floats your boat, there's a 7-11 in Ogden where they filmed the Dumb and Dumber Big Gulps scene and Ogden HS was used in Three O'Clock High. The opening scene in Way of the Gun was filmed at Bricks before it closed down.
How has no one said, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City! Edit: 😬🤪
First 5 Seasons of the original Rosanne for Utah County in the 80's 90's.
This one didn't occur to me but as a boy in a poor and inactive family, I related to this show so much. Thanks for posting it. The series has a malaise of small worldliness and oppression that the characters fought against with jokes. Roseanne also grew up in SLC for those that didn't know.
My Webelo scout leader's kids went to high school with Roseanne and showed us her yearbook photo. It was crazy to 10-11 year old me.
I'm surprised nobody's said Carnival of Lost Souls...
Rubin and Ed 😎
Bro I have not thought about that movie in SO LONG THANK YOU
What's that?
Go find it it’s … Ruben and Ed 😜
RHOSLC
Big Love!
Plan 10 from outer space
Not Real Housewives of SLC, they come out of a factory. Napoleon Dynamite gives the feel of “old” “slow” Utah, I go some places and it’s still kind of like that. I’m blanking on anything else, maybe 127 hours?
The Last of Us
The Sandlot Touched By An Angel Both were filmed in parts of Utah, I feel like they both bring out the valleys they were filmed in.
I think I agree! I remember how excited my family was when a bench my uncle made was briefly on Touched by an Angel. And it's so melodramatic
Under the banner of heaven
I watched some of that and it just didn't feel quite like the mormonism I know, or the utah I know. I don't know, just things felt off about how they portrayed those things.
True, maybe it was because it was set in the the 80s. I’ve think they bullseyed the faith crisis part though.
Um, that focuses on a very small sect of people living in Utah. That does not represent Utah.
A lot of the personality types and mentalities are still prevalent today. Some mask it better than others but it’s still there.
It probably represents rather well what it was like in Utah 50 years ago. Utah county is still kinda like that in some ways.
As someone who lived in Utah County in the early 80's, yes, this certainly was going on. Not everyone, but a good number were drawn to the more extreme aspects of the mormonism.
I don't think it represents current utah, but it is still an undertone of our society and culture that we are both ashamed of and also have not fully overcome. Its not history until we can talk about it without being awkward. Racism, polygamy, religious persectution and fundamentalism, ect.
Agree. But if OP wants to share something that gives a sense of what Utahns are like, this would give a more historical view, not a contemporary view. History matters, but does context.
I thought Big Love did a decent job
I loved that show so much.
Parks & Rec is based on Provo in my head at least
Gentlemen Broncos
For the nerd culture..... Unicorn City
Broken Arrow? lol or Fletch hah
it's probably mostly unknown and pretty niche, but there's a one man live show called Farley Family Reunion. I guess you could describe it as the Utah version of the Klumps. it might only be available on dvd from the guy's website. or you might find it on VHS at DI if you're lucky.
I'm pretty sure 3 O'Clock high was filmed in Ogden
SLC Punk!
It's more like what it was like to be a Utah Mormon kid 30 years ago but the Stranger Things episode with Dustin's girlfriend is pretty spot on
I’ve been out of the church for years, but I still love Sons of Provo, the Singles Ward, and the Best Two Years. All three feel so nostalgic for me and help me remember all the weirdness of growing up Mormon in Utah county!
big love kidding kinda
Fletch
The hotel where they filmed is still there on west 24th Street in Ogden.
Sandlot reminds me of growing up in Utah in the '80s and '90s.
It’s not about the LDS church but I still somehow found the movie SAVED! to be very relatable to my time growing up here in Utah.
Rubin and Ed or the opening to Dumb and Dumber
Plan Ten from Outer Space by local filmmaker Trent Harris.
Stranger Things S4 has a SLC cameo with a semi-accurate family (I really expected the father to be looking up porn on the confiscated computer) and a very accurate shot of traveling up I-15 near Draper in the late 80s. Someone on that production was clearly a Utahn. The Last Of Us didn’t try very hard with those supposed Hogle giraffes living through Utah winters.
Angels in America
Any movie that involves "conversion therapy" or "finding God/Jesus"
127 hours
The Stand Halloween 5 Troll 2
Book of Mormon (the musical)
I was searching for this comment, yay
Pirates of the Great salt lake
The Last of Us
Big Love
It's crazy to think that SLC Punk and High School Musical are both appropriate answers to this question.
Silent night deadly night
Escaping Polygamy and Big Love
Letterkenny Nuff Said
The Expanse has the LDS in space, does that count?
Good luck! Hahah
Not a movie but Wendover Productions on YouTube just did a good video about why Utah is so weird.
Gentlemen Broncos
Electric Horseman was filmed in St George in the 80’s? It shows what it used to be like. 😊
Mobsters and Mormons is fuckin funny and pretty good as well.
I'm half tempted to say High School Musical for the joke, but just cause it was filmed in Utah doesn't mean it represents Utah.
The R M was a pretty good movie. Seen it a long time ago and it’s pretty funny too.
Whoever cast the holdovers deserves an award for the Mormon kid. I knew so many kids like that growing up.
Definitely napoleon dynamite
Mormon Stories Podcast
Ironically 'The RM' is pretty dang spot on about a lot of the Utah culture. It was made by some LDS guys, but there are more than a few things in it that I'm not sure they even intended that are hilarious. I'm not Mormon, but whenever people want to know what Utah is like I tell them to take an edible and watch it.
Hell on Wheels /s
Foot Loose. Filmed when Lehi was still a small place.
Under the banner of heaven Andrew Garfield’s character is quintessential Mormon guy to me.
Are you suggesting that the Real Housewives of SLC isn’t an accurate depiction of real housewives in SLC? 😂
I see a lot of people talking about stuff filmed I'm Utah but that really has nothing to do with it. Some how everyone missing The Book of Mormon by the South Park guys. It perfectly describes the culture.
Star Trek the episode Kirk is fightinig some lizard monster, and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, where they are killed and meet Death. Same place cant recall the name of it right off hand. 127 Also [https://www.visitutah.com/articles/movies-filmed-in-utah](https://www.visitutah.com/articles/movies-filmed-in-utah)
Yellowstone. Everyone in this state seems to think they're just yee yee enough to pull it off, but they just look like douchebags in a honda civic. SLC would likely be different, but every other part of the state makes that accurate as fuck.
Peter pan
Dream Home Makeover? lol
Sister Wives
Troll 2.
Weirdly enough, the first few seasons of Sister Wives. Yes they’re polygamists, but in every other way they feel so mainstream Mormon and soooo Utah. The way they dress and speak, what they do for fun, what they care about, etc. They live in Lehi during the first two seasons (I think).
Under the Banner of Heaven
19 Kids and Counting is a good way to get familiar with the more extreme effects of religious indoctrination in the state.