Stupid Movie Lines

The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said
The 776 Even Stupider Things Ever Said
The 776 Nastiest Things Ever Said
The 176 Stupidest Things Ever Done
Very Bad Poetry
Stupid Sex
Stupid Celebrities

This book would not have been possible without the hard work of many others who sent or suggested lines, steered us to films or relevant books, or worked hard at making this all into a book. We’d like in particular to thank our always enthusiastic editor, Bruce Tracy; his ever-efficient and tactful assistant, Oona Schmid; Villard’s crack publicity man, Brian McClendon; and our never-say-die agent, Kris Dahl, and her calmly able and relentlessy witty assistant, Sean Desmond. And, of course, Sly Lovegren, Mitch Callanan, Shawn Foley, Andre and Ada Barcinski, Phil Mannering, Carl McManus, D. K. Jones, Bill Cunningham, and Luke Martino for their enthusiastic suggestions.

Bad movie lines have a way of repeating on you, like heartburn. These are the weird, odd, bizarre, or stupid bits of dialogue that make the movies you are watching simply terrible, unwatchable except in a wonderfully perverse way. Sometimes, of course, the movie itself is good, but a bad line insinuates itself, and long after the movie is over, there is that lingering aftertaste—much like a rancid french fry in an otherwise wonderful meal.

This book is our labor of love for cinematic heartburn.

It celebrates the movie lines that have stayed with us long after our VCR was shut off: the lines that made us laugh when we were supposed to be crying; the ones that made us shake our heads; the ones that amazed us with their breathtaking inanity; and others that, in some ineffably enjoyable way, nauseated us.

We’ve collected almost eight hundred of the lines that we think are the best of the worst—hundreds of non sequiturs, cloyingly awful romantic lines, terrible jokes, moronic monologues, failed comebacks, awful dialogue. It’s
a grab bag of lines that in a more perfect world would have ended up on the cutting room floor—but fortunately were saved for us to … savor.

Our reasoning for this somewhat
different
form of film preservation is simple. Just as the American Film Institute labors to preserve classic films so future generations can enjoy them, we have a similarly lofty goal: to preserve classic stupidity as uttered on the silver screen.

Stupid movie lines are well-deserving of this attention. In any cinematic year, there are many dull lines, many blah lines, many lines that are merely so-so. But there are very few lines in the thousands of screenplays written and produced that are so stupid, they are wholly and marvelously transcendent … if that is the right word. The truly stupid movie line is a cinematic treasure of sorts, and should be so treated.

So, to be sure that the public recognizes the inverse artistry of these lines, we’ve watched hundreds of films, from big-budget disasters to grade Z horror to failed existential art house productions. Aided by the efforts of legions of stupid-movie-line fans from around the world who shared their favorites with us and friends and family, we have collected what we feel are the cream of the stupidest movie lines in history for all of us to enjoy.

One note for aficionados of very bad cinema: We have focused on stupid movie lines alone. But there are others—in the past and present—who have made it their mission to share with the public an appreciation of bad movies in general. We heartily recommend the works of the following people: among others, Golden Turkey Award founders Harry and Michael Medved, Michael Sauter, Edward Margulies and Stephen Rebellow, the Phantom of the Movies, and the dozens of intrepid souls who have taken bad movies into cyberspace on such web sites as Ohthehumanity.com,
badmovies.org
,
razzies.com
(web site of the annual Razzie awards), and stinkers.com.

Picking bad movie lines is obviously a subjective thing—so, if you find that we have omitted some of your favorite lines, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re already putting together a sequel and would love to have your input. Let us know if you wish to be credited in print underneath your quotation. We can be E-mailed at
[email protected]
, or reached at our web site that celebrates all areas of stupidity:
stupidest.com
. Or you can write us care of the publisher:

On Absolutely Clever Movie Ads in 1966:

On Acidic Living Rooms, Alive and Pulsating:

On Admissions, Astounding:

On Advice, Bad Girl Style:

Just remember, men can see much better than they can think. A low-cut neckline does more for a girl’s future than the entire Britannica encyclopedia!

On Alcoholics, Priestly Pep Talks for:

On Aliens, Terrifying Musical Taste and:

On American Honeybees, Our Friends the:

The African killer bee portrayed in this film bears absolutely no relationship to the industrious, hardworking American honeybee to which we are indebted for pollinating vital crops that feed our nation.

On Ancient Roman Advertising, Ever-Tasteful:

On Anthropologists, Asexual:

On Ape-Date Problems for Dear Abby:

Come on, Kong, forget about me! This thing’s just never going to work, can’t you see?

On Ape-Men, Unbearable Conversations with:

On Archaeological Discussions, Great Moments in:

On Archaeologists, Serious Rock-Loving Types:

On Arguments, Getting the Last Word in: