# Most misleadingly titled movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870 "2009-08-18T18:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/1 "2009-08-18T18:37:25Z")
What are some movies whose titles lead you to believe they’re about something that they’re not? “The Squid and the Whale” is the perfect example. The title makes you think it’s going to be an undersea monster flick. It’s actually about divorce. Also I think the Simpsons did a joke about this, but “Naked Lunch.” I can understand how that would be disappointing to someone expecting to see one giant nude fest. Actually you could probably include pretty much any non-porn movie with “naked” in the title. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/2 "2009-08-18T18:41:16Z")
Either Bravo or Showcase had a few commercials based on this. One had a few dogs splashing around in a reservoir, another featured nudists having a picnic. There may have been others, but I don’t remember them. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/3 "2009-08-18T18:46:20Z")
Fight Club ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/4 "2009-08-18T18:48:33Z")
[Tears of the Sun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314353/), which for the life of me sounds like it should star Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger and not Bruce Willis as a Navy SEAL. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/5 "2009-08-18T19:08:57Z")
_28 Days Later_ was surprisingly not about Sandra Bullock going through rehab again. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/6 "2009-08-18T20:15:44Z")
**Happiness** ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/7 "2009-08-18T20:21:27Z")
_Wrestling Ernest Hemingway_ features neither wrestling nor Hemingway. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/8 "2009-08-18T20:23:55Z")
_The Last King of Scotland_ ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/9 "2009-08-18T20:43:24Z")
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Come on. I liked the movie a lot, but you think it’s about, I don’t know, demons and angels or something, but instead it’s about Southerners. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/10 "2009-08-18T21:14:18Z")
_The Naked Lunch_ should’ve been about naked chicks eating lunch. Now that I think about it, the original novel would’ve been better if it was about naked chicks eating lunch, too. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/11 "2009-08-18T21:29:23Z")
**I, Robot**. If they had just called it something else and gave Calvin and Lanning different names, it would be like “Hey, cool! A big Will Smith action pic about robots and stuff! and there’s even stuff about the _three laws of robotics_ in there! Awesome!!” But as it is, it makes nerds on the internet very grumpy. Including me. p.s. I absolutely love the movie, in spite of the fact that it has virtually nothing to do with the real _I, Robot_. ETA: In case it wasn’t clear, it’s misleading because it is not a movie _of_ I, Robot. It just uses a few concepts, and doesn’t even use them well. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/12 "2009-08-18T22:02:48Z")
**The Neverending Story** ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/13 "2009-08-18T22:20:21Z")
_As Good As It Gets_ ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/14 "2009-08-18T22:30:37Z")
Serenity was _not_ a chick-flick. Or about Buddhism. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/15 "2009-08-18T22:45:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **The Neverending Story** I sat through it. Believe me, it’s Truth In Advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/16 "2009-08-18T22:45:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **The Neverending Story** And of course its sequels. **Eagle vs Shark** is, disapointingly, not about an eagle fighting a shark. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/17 "2009-08-18T23:15:29Z")
_All Dogs Go to Heaven_. Sounds like lightweight Disney fare about a dog who perhaps sacrifices his life to become a guardian angel for his 8 y/o owner, right? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/18 "2009-08-18T23:23:58Z")
**Ordinary People** This damnable fraud, perpetrated on innocent viewers, inexplicably winning Best Picture in a year with quite a few actually good movies, is about people so disfunctional that the mother hates the son, the son hates himself, the father hates his life, and the good guy in the whole boring, mind numbing fiasco is the psychiatrist, who is a smarmy dick. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/19 "2009-08-18T23:25:59Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > [Tears of the Sun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314353/), which for the life of me sounds like it should star Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger and not Bruce Willis as a Navy SEAL. I like that one. And the scuttlebutt is, apparently, that the Die Hard sequel that was in development for approximately 40 years and eventually became Live Free or Die Hard was, at the time, going to be titled _Die Hard: Tears of the Sun_. Bruce Willis told the studio that he’d sign on for Die Hard 4 so long as he could steal “Tears of the Sun” for this movie So not only is it not appropriate, it’s not even that movie’s title. The words don’t mean anything, but they’re pretty. ---
**Author:** ![kathmandu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kathmandu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kathmandu)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870/20 "2009-08-19T00:26:19Z")
_The Silence of the Lambs_. My husband hadn’t heard of it when it first came out and was killing time between meetings in another city. He looked at the movie posters outside a theatre and thought, “Hey, it’s Jodie Foster, and there’s a butterfly, and something about lambs - might be cute! I’ll go see that!” He loved the movie, but it wasn’t quite what he’d expected. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misleadingly-titled-movies/506870.md?page=2)