Disappointing Lines
- "I guess you could say I'm just a tumbleweed blowing in the wind." - Titanic (Leo DiCaprio)
- "She rescues him right back." - Pretty Woman (Julia Roberts)
- "They must have done something to us" - The Abyss
- "F*** me!" - Robin Hood (Christian Slater)*
- Any scene with Jar Jar Binks in it - The Phantom Menace
Occasionally, I find myself being carried away by a movie. I'll be totally engrossed, only to be unceremoniously dumped back into the real world by a really lame line that should have never been there. I feel the need to chastize the screen writers for letting such disappointing (unfitting) pieces of dialogue slip through. This is the forum in which I choose to do just that. Bad screen writers! Go sit in the corner!
I'm not sure if the Titanic quote is exact, I can't find it anywhere online. I know it's in the movie! As far as I can tell, it wasn't even in the original script, and it should have stayed that way!!!
*I apologize for the profanity, but that's just the point. The movie is going fine, with very little swearing and then out of the blue...the mother of all swear words! The line is gratuitous, almost like they added it to make sure they would get a PG-13 rating instead of just PG.
i just have to say, this is an absolutely *fabulous* idea for a list. (i should be able to come up with a bunch of additions--lemmee think about it a bit.)
It's not a movie, but I just got reminded of the single most jarring line in the entire five-year run of Babylon 5: "As my great-grandfather would say, COOL!"
It's not just *jarring*, it's wrong, especially in a sci-fi series that actually managed to pull out some great dialogue. Personal favorite: "I'm sorry, Captain. We thought you were dead." "I was... I got better."
How about, "They must have done something to us" from The Abyss (trying to figure out why the didn't have the bends from ascending too rapidly)?
What a fantastic example of exactly what I'm talking about! These lines can either be out of context, make no sense, or in the case of this one...a silly explanation to fill a pretty big hole in the plot. Thanks so much, I've got to add it!
Like your list, but I have to disagree with you and Jim on this one. Sure it's a lame line, but what do you want, an account of just how the aliens used their superior science to raise him out of the abyss sans bends? In fact, the line is just what someone in that situation would say.
Me again. It occurred to me that, after offering the dissenting opinion above, I should offer my own candidate for your list. The line occurs in ALIENS just after one of the aliens causes the landing-craft to crash. The Paul Reiser character (whose name escapes me at the moment) says something like, "Why don't we build a fire and sing a few songs?" and you're not sure whether this is supposed to be sarcastic or serious. I've seen the movie several times, and the line always jars with me. Maybe it's just me.
I agree that a scholarly scientific explanation would have been worse, but for me the best solution would have been to not acknowledge the problem at all. Instead of having a character say, "they must have done something to us," I would prefer to have the 5% of the nitpicky audience members that would have noticed the whole "bends" problem to have the joy of pointing it out. Then the 95% apologist portion of the audience could lamely respond, "the aliens must have done something to them." By having a character say this line it seems like they must have been wrapping up shooting when somebody noticed, "Oops! They should all be dead! Somebody think of an explanation!" But the best they could come up with (feeling compelled to come up with something) was, "they must have done something to us." I maintain that this line is list-worthy. Of course, it's not my list. :-)
Wow, I go away for the weekend and gasp...controversy. I maintain my agreement on this one. It just seems like such a cop out. Of course, I probably would have noticed if they hadn't put any explanation in there at all, and overlooking the fact that they should have been dead would have annoyed me as well. (I guess there's no pleasing me). I think a simplified scientific explanation would have been best. Something like "the aliens must have pressurized...blah blah." The dim realization that they must have done something just doesn't fit in a good sci-fi storyline.
Okay, so far I'm outvoted - so far. What do you other Listology controversialists [note pun] think?
How about a line from the worst movie ever (hows that for controversy?) BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS......"Wow, you're just an ugly chick" the screenplay credits for this gem go to Roger Ebert.
Don't get me wrong, it's a marvelous movie, but that "the Germans wore gray, you wore blue" line from Casablanca was pretty darn awful. Bogart was one of the few people that could get away with a line like that.
This one is a little more recent. In Mission Impossible 2, when Tom (Ethan Hunt) and Thandie Newton are in bed together, he stops, looks at her and says "God, you're beautiful". Here I was being swept away by the John Woo's style, and was rudely interrupted by this terrible line.
As a side note, John Woo is clearly style over substance, but when since he goes for broke on style, who cares whether or not he has substance?
i totally agree with you on the "god you're beautiful" line--my friends and i still make fun of that one. another good one from that flick is the very last line; something to the effect of "let's get lost." bleccch!