10 Problems Nobody Wants To Admit About The Lord Of The Rings Movies

8. Frodo And Sam's Relationship Is Weird

It is. It plainly is. It's hard to know why, exactly, Frodo and Sam's on-screen relationship comes over so darn weird, but it's frequently uncomfortable to watch. Diehard Lord of the Rings fans are often quick to jump to the relationship's defence as far as this point is concerned, but it's difficult to argue with the weird chemistry that spans the nine-hour running times of the collective trilogy. Do they fancy one another? What's going on? Put it down to bad acting, perhaps. A lot of what has been lampooned with regards to Frodo and Sam's relationship comes courtesy of some particularly ill-judged line-readings on the part of Elijah Wood. Whenever he stares into the camera, misty-eyed and weak-kneed, and utters the words "Oh, Sam..." you're begging for parody. And then there's Sean Astin's semi-camp performance, which is unlike anything ever rendered on the big screen. Frodo and Sam don't do enough to derail the movie, of course, and much of their interaction is kind of sweet. But anybody who refuses to admit that there is a certain strangeness about their kinship is fooling themselves; let's all admit that it's weird.