Reverse Pop Culture Primer: The Usual Suspects vs. Every Reference To Keyser Söze Ever

Welcome to Reverse Pop Culture Primer! Every week I take a famous catchphrase, punchline, or spoiler that I learned from another part of pop culture without ever seeing the movie it references. How does knowing the joke backwards affect my experience of the movie once I finally watch it?

So far, my Reverse Pop Culture Primer columns have been concerned with the catchphrases or punchlines I picked up through spoofs — cultural touchstones, to be sure, but somewhat inconsequential in the big picture. After all, it didn’t ruin Aliens or Hitchcock’s films for me to know how to spot certain moments.

But I was bound to eventually get burned by my precocious, parody-loving ways. The classic that was sacrificed to my zeitgeist hyper-awareness? The Usual Suspects. I’m gonna warn you now — if you haven’t seen this movie, spoilers!

This movie was one of those that I always had bookmarked in the back of my mind. It came out in 1995, when I was about seven years old. But I was aware of its existence at an early age thanks to its inclusion on every “Best Twist Endings” list from Entertainment Weekly to party chatter. My dad — who isn’t a film buff per se but will gush about the works he loves — would mention it to me over and over. He’d tease me with one question; I was never sure if he were asking me to find it out or quoting from the film:

“Who is Keyser Söze?”

Unlike with other columns, I can’t pinpoint the exact moment that I got The Usual Suspects ruined for me. When I would see its title pop up on lists or galleries, I would flip the page or click to the next slide without letting my eyes catch every word. I knew nothing about this movie, but I was dedicated to keeping myself unspoiled. I just trusted that it was a rewarding enough twist that I shouldn’t seek it out on Wikipedia or by bugging a friend.

Then I tempted fate by watching one of those “100 spoilers in 5 minutes” videos on YouTube. To be honest, I was dicking around at work half-listening to it. Maybe if I’d actually been watching, I would’ve seen the Usual Suspects titlecard come up before the hosts opened their mouths. But next thing I know, I hear some guy crowing, “Kevin Spacey is Keyser Söze!” before jumping to the next spoiler.

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUU

Still, I persevered and didn’t look up the plot on Wikipedia. I thought maybe I could still enjoy the rest of the movie even though I knew the ending. That hasn’t been a dealbreaker before! Sometime last year, I had the chance to watch The Usual Suspects on an airplane. I settled in under my blanket, put in my earbuds, and got ready to have my mind blown.

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t engage with the movie once I knew the ending. As Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey) told the story of how his fellow crooks died at the hands of the fearsome Keyser Söze, I found myself having trouble following the shifting alliances and double-crosses. The whole time, I was focused on Kint, trying to find all the clues that he was actually the man he was talking about — you know, all the stuff you’re supposed to do on a second viewing after you’ve been shocked by the twist. So when this happened, I could enjoy it only from a distance:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_6560AW1zQ&hl=en_US&version=3]

The worst part is, this is completely my kind of twist. I can’t get enough of the movies where they take you back through various scenes and lines and you catch all of the references you weren’t supposed to notice the first time through! Seriously, I dig these like no other. But there was no shock, no jump, no cheering. Just a weird, tired satisfaction that I had finally checked this movie off my list.

But what could I do? I was simply born in the wrong generation to fully appreciate this film untarnished.

Photo: MGM