I am in the process to help the SO to improve her english (ok don't laugh here please).
So we end up watching DVD in English (non of this American non sense) with english subtitle.
One thing is most of the ones I have are movies with Simon Pegg, therefore comedies that use strong colloquialisms and reference to the British culture. I get them all very well but I feel that the films might look a bit "odd" for someone who have not spend time in the UK.

Am I making this up in a pure "missing the old days" syndrome or am I talking sense here???

As long as you "get" the joke, and can translate for your SO, then it's a good way of getting to know a language, no?

depends surely where/who made the movie, as I doubt you could say that about his role in the new startrek movies (ok so he's doing a scottish-ish accent), but yes "Shaun of the dead" or "Hot fuzz" being made in the UK will have regional accents (part of the fun in Hot fuzz) and not the crap 'proper' english you get with the bad guys in American films…

Simon Pegg films seem like normal speech to me, I'd never have assumed they were "too" anything really.

My SO is also a foreigner (perhaps I am also now) and she has no probs with Mr Pegg. In fact she urged me to buy the box set of Spaced last time we were in Blighty….

Howabout Borat instead 🙂

Not really talking about speech to be fair, a bit more about references.
I remember when I went to the cinema to see hot fuzz, a ridding friend of mine (in France) went to see it to (in ost with subtitle) and he didn't quite get a few stuff (specially the bit when they go to speak to the farmer with the dog officer)
…

I want her to enjoy yourself, not to spend the whole movie wondering.
I'll try with shaun of the dead and see how it goes.

specially the bit when they go to speak to the farmer with the dog officer

umm surely that was a joke about the regional accents…

What, british movie contains british cultural references? Shurely not!

Isn't it the same if you watch an american movie, or a french movie etc etc?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ

i fear you may be in a bit of a monty python situation.

you find the sketch funny (in python this is)
and american doesnt find it funny.
even if you explain it, and why its funny, they wont find it funny.
a bit of an "in joke"

where is she from?
the ultimate decider on whether her sens eof humour is compatible is obvious surely?

do they have roundabouts in her country?

if no, dont bother, watch friends

if yes, go for it, and explain the in joke.
even if it isnt funny once its been explained, at least its not confusing, and will add to furthering her understanding of roundabouts.

olly what is this roundabout you mention 😉

They're Magic Roundabouts. They come from France and are dubbed into English.

Simon Pegg has a bit part in Mission Impossible 3, he's very good. Worth watching for that alone.

Here's a link to the 100 "best" British movies. Most of the old ones contain posh people speaking terribly, terribly refined English which should be easier to understand.

Watch out for Trainspotting and Kes though 🙂

100 best British Films

There are also plenty of good bits in French films which my wife and friends do not get, or even good puns that get badly translated/subtitled. Worst of all is an untranslate-able joke that just gets glossed over via the subtitling with something banal because it doesn't work in English.

A parallel would be the Astérix books, where you often get a completely different set of gags and cultural in-jokes in each language its translated into.
The fun is trying to work it all out.

I wouldn't say simon pegg is too on the british side, but i do think that if you rewatch hot fuzz/shaun of the dead, you'll pick up on more subtle jokes and funnier things. I must have rewatched shaun of the dead like 20 times and it keeps getting better.

I don't see why you shouldn't show them, as they're still helping her learn the language. she may just not find them very funny – I certainly didn't (I might be too young or too 'Americanized', who knows..)

if she gets the late 90s pop/geek culture refernces in spaced then shaun and fuzz should be very enjoyable

thanks all
Julian I concur for the asterix bits…
We'll watch a bit of shaun of the dead tomorrow should be ok. She was reading an old school book on tuesday and apparently on the "society pages" the topic was pub culture, she quite not got it right and funnily enough she told me "Do the brits spend all the time in pubs?" This made me chuckle 😀
I'll let you know how she get with shaun of the dead.