# Stupid Lines in Movies You Love **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186 "2013-12-26T02:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/41 "2013-12-28T05:20:54Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > At the risk of being whooshed… > > No, the line was supposed to be funny because people would expect the trite “it croaks” joke, but instead they got a straight line. It was the counter-expectations humor often used in the Simpsons and Joss Whedon shows. The problem was that Berry did not understand that, and gave a very stilted, and all too serious delivery of the straight line, which made it very awkward because it did not match the set-up. It should have been very much tongue-in-cheek. And I read that scene entirely differently. Toad’s a member of a mutant supremacist faction. He’s being told in no uncertain terms that he’s nothing special. Compare to “There are always men like you” towards Loki in The Avengers. It’s a middle finger in spoken form. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/42 "2013-12-28T05:23:22Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > From “Cool Hand Luke”: …“what we have here is a failure to communicate”? > Really? how stupid is this? I haven’t seen the film so I can’t speak in that context, but the way I’ve always heard that phrase in use is basically someone declaring that the person they’re trying to deal with is being too much of a thick-headed jackass to get it and do things the way the speaker wants them to. It’s one of those obligatory movie quotes you hear in Basic Training. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/43 "2013-12-28T09:04:17Z")
In “When Harry Met Sally,” the Carrie Fisher character’s recurring line “You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right.” Unfunny and awkwardly unrealistic in a film where all the other dialogue stays just barely on this side of plausible-in-real-life. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2013, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/44 "2013-12-28T09:58:54Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Unfunny and awkwardly unrealistic in a film where all the other dialogue stays just barely on this side of plausible-in-real-life. I dunno, there was that time a friend of mine faked an orgasm in a deli. They asked him to leave. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/45 "2013-12-28T11:50:37Z")
Another one: In “Back to the Future,” when 1955 Doc says to Marty, “You keep using that word ‘heavy.’ Is there some kind of gravity anomaly in 1985?” While the film does have its implausibilities (duh), there is a more-or-less realistic scientific consistency to Doc’s dialogue, except for this silly line. No way he would think things could somehow be “heavier” in 1980, and no way he would think there might be some link between this and some informal, trivial linguistic innovation. ---
**Author:** ![JonPB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@JonPB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonPB)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/46 "2014-01-02T05:25:42Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Fellowship of the Ring, Elrond is whining to Gandalf about current events: “Our list of allies grows _thin_.” > > No, your list grows _short_. Lists don’t get thin, unless you write each name on a piece of paper and then stack them. But then that’s not a list. > > The line just clangs off my ear every time. The “list” used to refer to all those who had enlisted into military service. While the list was an actual accounting of names of soldiers, “the list” also could refer to the total number of soldiers and therefore the _size_ of the military itself; a strong army might be said to have a large list, or a weak army a small list. For example: > [@](#): > > No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra > Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire > Up to a whore; who now are levying > The kings o’ the earth for war; he hath assembled > Bocchus, the king of Libya; Archelaus, > Of Cappadocia; Philadelphos, king > Of Paphlagonia; the Thracian king, Adallas; > King Malchus of Arabia; King of Pont; > Herod of Jewry; Mithridates, king > Of Comagene; Polemon and Amyntas, > The kings of Mede and Lycaonia, > With **a more larger list** of sceptres. (Shakespeare, Antony & Cleopatra, Act III, Scene VI. Taken from [mit.edu](http://shakespeare.mit.edu/cleopatra/full.html). My bold. Partly quoted in the OED, but I think the full context makes more sense of it.) Referring to a “thin list” works in the sense of “list” as the collective group of allies, implying its relative weakness, which is the idea expressed. Admittedly, this interpretation is a bit of a stretch, as it fits in my head but I can’t offhand find better evidence to support it. Perhaps more to the point, “thin” has a meaning of “not numerous” that fits even the modern sense of “list” in the questioned quote. The OED calls it obsolete, though this does not make it out of place in a Tolkien story. One of their examples is: > [@](#): > > Churches are very thin in this part of the World. (T. Thomas in _Portland Papers_ VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 109, 1725, in the OED, “thin,” adj. II(b).) Referring to a “thin list” when “thin” means sparse, it would mean a list that hasn’t many entries, which is also the idea expressed. Anyhow. That justifies the line to my satisfaction. Yes, the editor in me wants archaic or obsolete words to be used in an obvious manner, and the phrase “our list of allies grows thin” does not suggest the audience should look for a non-modern interpretation of those words. But I don’t think the phrase is incorrect once you allow for obsolete usage. Even if it still bugs you, I hope my rambling here at least helps you enjoy the movie a little bit more the next time you watch it. 🙂 Cheers, Jon ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/47 "2014-01-02T13:52:40Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > One of my all time favorite movies is **Wayne’s World**. I wouldn’t say it has any STUPID lines (well, aside from the intentionally hilariously stupid) but it has at least one very odd conversation, almost certainly due to editing having cut out the rest of the scene, or something. It’s when Benjamin and Russell (the bad guys) are trying to figure out where Wayne and Garth are broadcasting from, they go to the studio, they ask the guy there (Davey, I think the character’s name is), and he says something like “that’d be priveleged information fellas, are you a friend or a relative?” and Russell says “we’re neither”, and the scene pauses for a second, and that’s the end of it. > > Huh? I believe the point is that Benjamin and Russell do NOT have friendly intentions. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/48 "2014-01-02T14:02:26Z")
“An Affair to Remember” Nickie Ferrante to Terry McKay “If it had to be one of us; why did it have to be you?” It might bother me due to his amazingly cheesy delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/49 "2014-01-02T15:29:35Z")
From _Dude, where’s my car_. Yes, yes, it’s a stupid movie. I know. I still love it. It’s a retarded guilty pleasure : - Dude, you got a tattoo on your back ! - Sweet ! Hey, you got one too ! What does mine say ? - “Dude”. What does mine say ?" - “Sweet”. What does mine say ?" - “Duuuude”, what 's mine say ?" - “Sweeet”. What’s mine say ?" - ' **DU**. **DE**. WHAT DOES MINE SAY ? :mad:" - “SA. WEET. WHAT DOES \*\*MINE \*\*SAY ? :mad:” ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/50 "2014-01-02T18:24:49Z")
I feel weird criticizing the heft of a movie with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, but then obviously I think the movie has its redeeming qualities (hence the screen name, after all)… NOT among them, swinging a television during a fight and saying “You’re on TV!” ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/51 "2014-01-02T18:55:55Z")
> [@bufftabby](#): > > I believe the point is that Benjamin and Russell do NOT have friendly intentions. Right. But in that case, Davey should not have told them where to find Wayne and Garth, because it was privileged information. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/52 "2014-01-03T15:22:11Z")
Security guard Chris Farley probably shouldn’t have told Wayne and Garth how to find Mr. Big either, but sometimes security lapses are a necessity if you want the mega happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![tiescore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@tiescore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiescore)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/53 "2014-01-04T01:15:21Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Four Weddings and a Funeral: “Oh, is it raining? I didn’t notice”. Andie McDowell ruins another movie, job done. I’m ok with Andie McDowell but the moment I read the thread I thought of that line… it just a big ol’ cheezy THUMP. Decent movie otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/54 "2014-01-04T11:32:31Z")
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). A group of armed robbers is waiting in the elevator lobby of a bank building. When an elevator reaches the lobby and the doors open, they holler at the occupants and start roughly pulling them out, at which point one of the riders says in surprise and indignation, “This is an **ELEVATOR!** ” ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/55 "2014-01-04T13:44:35Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I feel weird criticizing the heft of a movie with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, but then obviously I think the movie has its redeeming qualities (hence the screen name, after all)… > > NOT among them, swinging a television during a fight and saying “You’re on TV!” That line is my favourite thing about that film. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/56 "2014-01-04T22:23:44Z")
> [@bufftabby](#): > > Security guard Chris Farley probably shouldn’t have told Wayne and Garth how to find Mr. Big either, but sometimes security lapses are a necessity if you want the mega happy ending. You know, for a security guard, he had an awful lot of information, dontcha think? The previous scene I mentioned doesn’t make much sense, isn’t very funny, and is totally redundant; all of which makes me think that it was left over from a different edit, or part of a larger joke that got cut out, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/57 "2014-01-04T23:02:26Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > The previous scene I mentioned doesn’t make much sense, isn’t very funny, and is totally redundant; all of which makes me think that it was left over from a different edit, or part of a larger joke that got cut out, or something. That’s more or less how Garth’s [mechanical hand](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TtGQnyPZ6g) ended up in the movie. > [@Neatorama](#): > > If you’ve ever watched the scene where Garth is working on the mechanical hand in the studio and wondered what in the heck that was all about, it’s because it’s part of a backstory we weren’t privy to. According to Dana Carvey, Garth had kind of caught on to what Rob Lowe’s character was up to - exploiting the guys and going after Wayne’s girl. So he devised this mechanical hand to kill Benjamin and was working on it when Benjamin himself walked over, sending the hand into a frenzy. Garth was worried that the hand was going to kill him right then and there in front of everyone, so he had to bash it to death with a hammer before it strangled Benjamin. So now you know. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/58 "2014-01-05T06:57:07Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > From “Cool Hand Luke”: …“what we have here is a failure to communicate”? > Really? how stupid is this? > [@Raguleader](#): > > I haven’t seen the film so I can’t speak in that context In context, it’s a part of the central thread of the story, and a precursor to the end of the movie: when knocked down, Luke will just stand up and try again. The Captain recognises this and calls it out, long before we do, the audience. So we hear the line first as just a cute line trivialising the mistreatment of Luke. Later, we understand that it is a statement of the central tragedy of the story. Out of context, it’s normally just a straight reading. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/59 "2014-01-05T09:57:46Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > That’s more or less how Garth’s [mechanical hand](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TtGQnyPZ6g) ended up in the movie. Interesting, but I have to say the scene is seemingly way funnier without that context ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-lines-in-movies-you-love/677186/60 "2014-01-05T23:30:00Z")
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