Worst movie title?

[Dead_Badger]

@Elret

Speaking of not being able to pronounce things, I still don’t have any idea how to say Gigli (Not that I’d ever need to.)

As you’d know if you’d watched it (ha!), the eponymous character explains that it rhymes with “really”.

Of course, if you’d watched it you’d also be wondering how I could’ve read your post, seeing as I would surely have gouged out my eyeballs during the scene in which Affleck reads a bottle of tabasco sauce to a mentally disabled man. The answer is that I saved myself only at the last second with a strategic deployment of 6 inch lead plating and a barrage of firefighting foam directed at the television.

I second (well, fourth or fifth) Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. The only thing going for it is that it tells you exactly how bad the movie is going to be.

[KarlGauss]

Not so much the worst title, but certainly among the most misleading was King of Comedy.

I suspect that i) some people went to see it expecting a comedy, and ii) some people stayed away thinking it was a comedy. Of course, and as anyone who did see it knows, King of Comedy was a fairly heavy drama that delivered a strong commentary on what was then becoming an increasingly common phenomenon (and which remains so).

[Cervaise]

@CalMeacham

But the titles I really hate are those that don’t really tell you what it’s about, or give you any sense of what the film is.

Vision Quest.

If you know it, please sit out during the following. If you haven’t heard of it, please try to guess. What’s the story? Where is it set?

Give up?

[spoiler]Matt Modine and Linda Fiorentino star in a high school wrestling movie.

No, really.[/spoiler]

[neutron_star]

@xizor

I totally agree with this, and would like to add that Love in the Time of Cholera sounds like a romance novel that Marge Simpson would be seen reading.

Not sure if you were alluding to it or not, but there was a Simpsons episode where Marge was reading a book called “Love in the Time of Scurvy.”

I’ve always thought that Cholera was a pretty goofy title for a novel, but maybe it sounds better in its original Spanish.

[JThunder]

@KarlGauss

Not so much the worst title, but certainly among the most misleading was King of Comedy.

I suspect that i) some people went to see it expecting a comedy, and ii) some people stayed away thinking it was a comedy. Of course, and as anyone who did see it knows, King of Comedy was a fairly heavy drama that delivered a strong commentary on what was then becoming an increasingly common phenomenon (and which remains so).

Heck, yeah.

I watched this movie, expecting some laughs. I got none. Bah.

[cookeze]

Any movie that has a long involved title would probably fit this list.

From 1969 we have "Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? "

It wasn’t as good as it sounds.

[Marley23]

@cookeze

From 1969 we have "Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? "

It wasn’t as good as it sounds.

Ugh. Still, the title isn’t quite as bad as the movie itself, and it does give you a very accurate impression of the pretentious, irredeemably horrible piece of trash a viewer will be confronted with if he ever sits down to watch this disaster. Worst movie I’ve ever seen.

[Ferd_Burfel]

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

Turns out this film has only a passing connection to nuclear radiation and botany.

[vetbridge]

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the movie Being John Malcovich is a movie about being John Malcovich!

[I_m_No_Saint]

Manos, Hand of Fate

[RealityChuck]

@Ellen Cherry

This gives me the opportunity to rant about the trend (now seeming to come to an end) that was prevalent in the mid-90s. That is, the “impressive” one-word title. I think it plunged to its nadir with HOFFA.

A few in this genre, are CASINO, TITANIC, PRIEST, NIXON, CONGO (yes, a book first, I know), CRASH, Michael, EVITA, the aforementioned SPEED.

A non-one-word title of the same ilk: QUIZ SHOW.

Please think of something clever, or at least descriptive. It does not make your movie more impressive or important to have a one-word title of the main character.

Hoffa, Titanic, Nixon and Speed are not descriptive?

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

Turns out this film has only a passing connection to nuclear radiation and botany.

Metaphorically, the connection is strong; the mother effect on the children is similar to the effect in the science project.

Another vote for Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Not only is it meaningless except to those who know something about the video game, but Ecks and Sever are on the same side.

Two very bad titles for fairly good movies:

It Could Happen to You. Hard to remember, and especially bad considering the working title was the immensely superior Cop Give Waitress $2 million Tip. The latter would bring in an audience.

Picking Up the Pieces, a very weird comedy with a logical but completely unmemorable title.

[vivalostwages]

I never thought Willow was a good title for a fantasy/adventure or any other type of movie.

Also, Wilder Napalm.

[Ludovic]

@vivalostwages

Also, Wilder Napalm.

Ahhh, movie title’s from the “All Blow’d Up” school of names.

[Skywatcher]

Classic movie, bad title: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes

Movies I watched because I thought the title was intriguing: Nice Girls Don’t Explode and Un Señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes (aka A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings).

[pinkfreud]

Passenger 57 is a “meh” sort of title for a rather exciting action movie starring Wesley Snipes. If I were re-releasing this on video, I would be mighty tempted to retitle it Snipes on a Plane.

[CalMeacham]

Classic movie, bad title: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes

Or how abouit Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunting Jalopies?

[gigi]

@Dead Badger

As you’d know if you’d watched it (ha!), the eponymous character explains that it rhymes with “really”.

Yep, “zheally”. I had to go see what all the fuss was about.

[Sitnam]

Don’t get me wrong, it’s one of my favorites but:** Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb ** always seemed like their ‘Plan C’ title.

[MrSquishy]

@Zebra

Closed for Remodeling

Nice.

[neorxnawange]

Master and Commander: Far Side of the World - a great film based on a good book. The title Master and Commander isn’t a great title for the book, but it sort of makes sense when mixed in with the titles from the rest of O’Brien’s naval series. It is an even worse title for the movie made especially bad by the addition of the lame Far Side of the World. Such an unecessary long and somewhat confusing title.