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Voiceover - Is it ever a good idea?

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Dexter has effective voice-overs, because they display his thoughts, while his dad is his consience.

Amélie starts with an effective VO introduction.

But yes, it can also turn out as lazy and on the nose.
 
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“Forrest Gump” was driven by VO. So was “Fried Green Tomatoes”. Both films used it effectively, as a first-person narrator told the story. Also, “The Princess Bride” was narrated by the grandfather reading the story to his grandson.

On the TV/sitcom side, look at “Scrubs” for good first-person narration. And “Arrested Development” used third-person omniscient quite well.

Quality said:
Am I assuming you mean ADR?
Click to expand...

It’s kind of important to know the difference.
 
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I think my favorite V.O. movie is A Christmas Story. The voice is perfect. The storytelling is perfect.
 
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Agreed. Or to dictate history that is unimportant to the story. In other words, narration for the sake of narration... annoying.
 
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Quality said:
Am I assuming you mean ADR?
Click to expand...
Why do you assume that?

ADR is a post production term that has nothing at all to do
with screenwriting. Voice Over is used in screenwriting often.

So many great movies have used V.O. You guys have touched
on a few. There are so many options open to the screenwriter,
we should learn to use all of them.
 
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"Forrest Gump" is one of the more interesting examples of VO usage. The entire VO was recorded on location - the park bench scene - so that Tom Hanks was completely in character. It was also the first scene shot so the narration could be used to dictate how long the VO would take before the dialog would begin in subsequent scenes. Forrest's VO would set up the dialog or even answer himself during or at the end of subsequent scenes. They did have to record a few lines after editing to tie up a few loose ends during the ADR sessions.

You should watch the "Making of" materials on the DVD, which covers this and many other aspects of the film.
 
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I just watched Molly’s game which uses VO quite well IMO. There’s a time and place for everything. As long as you don’t use it as a crutch for exposition, I think it can work fine.
 
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As an example that may be a poor use or where it was used as a "crutch", see "Bladerunner".

From what I understand, the voice over was a mandate from the studio/prodco that was added in post production and wasn't intended by the screenwriters or director.

That's why in the Director's Cut there's no Voice Over but in the Theatrical version, there's a Deckard V.O. narration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A3JkjScUKY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDghe3PLJ3k
 
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It was already mentioned but "Arrested Development" had hilarious use of VO. It ended up being its own character to an extent. And their recut of their 4th season ended up adding dialogue to poke fun of the original cut.

Obviously that's what you're not going for but it works if you're going for internal dialogue or to set up a certain scene in little time.
 
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V.O. is a tool. I think it's narrow minded (no offense) to ask if it's bad to use. It's akin to asking if zooms, or closeups, or SFX are bad... it has to be used wisely is all.
 
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