How to argue about the best film of all time
The situation
Zero stakes, all the practice: someone has declared a film the best ever made and pre-emptively dismissed you. Disagree with a real argument, not a different opinion. What do you say?
They open with: “It's not even close. Nothing made in the last twenty years touches it, and if you disagree you just haven't seen enough films.”
Why it's hard: It's a taste fight with no stakes, which makes it the perfect place to practise the move that wins real arguments: getting the criteria straight before you swing.
Two things you could say
“Best by what, though? Most rewatchable, most influential, or the one you'd show someone who'd never seen a film? Because those give three different winners and we're probably not even disagreeing.”
Asking for the measure before you attack the pick turns a taste clash into an actual argument, and it's the exact move that defuses far more serious disputes.
“I'll grant it's brilliantly made. But "best" should surely include how much it changed everything after it — and on that measure I've got a different one. Can I make the case?”
Conceding the craft while contesting the criterion keeps it friendly and shifts the argument to ground you can actually win, rather than trading favourites.
What to avoid
"You've got terrible taste if you think that." — attacking their taste ends the fun and the argument; you've made it about them being wrong as a person rather than about the film, and nobody enjoys or learns anything.
The principle
Ask for their criteria before you attack their pick. "Best by what measure?" turns a taste fight into an actual argument — and it's the move you'll use in every serious debate you ever have.
The skill underneath it
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