When Movie Quotes Go Too Far
Filed under: Fandom, Scripts, Home Entertainment, Lists
Over at quigspot.com is a listing of what the blogger deems the "Ten Most Obnoxiously Overquoted Movies." He says in the intro: "Nothing makes a great movie suck like people quoting it day in and day out for months at a time. It's the go-to route used by individuals who aren't clever enough to come up with their own material, made worse by them thinking (thanks to the select few that laughed at their referencing) they've suddenly become the most hilarious stand-up comedian since George Carlin." I agree to some extent, but while it's true that quoting movies is not the most enlightened form of comedy, it can be a lot of fun. The key is to stick to obscure quotes -- avoid "Luke, I am your father" and "Say hello to my little friend." At a party, an obscure quote that someone else recognizes can help you recognize a kindred spirit, and snag you a new friend or even a romance. Still, there are some movies that get quoted far too frequently, and it becomes particularly hard to deal with once they're embraced by the "frat guy" crowd, as almost all of quigspot's choices are.
The ten selected overquoted films are: 10) Office Space (good call, but the boss' voice is just too much fun to do. Quoting this one simply has to be done sometimes, especially in an office setting), 9) Monty Python movies (disagree -- I don't hear Python quotes much these days), 8) Wedding Crashers (definitely getting obnoxious, especially at bars), 7) Anything with Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes on a Plane, absolutely), 6) The 40 Year-Old Virgin (maybe, but when the lines are that funny, who can argue?), 5) Anchorman (see #6, although "I'm kind of a big deal" has reached the end of the line), 4) The Austin Powers series (yup), 3) Borat (Should have been #1 -- some guy dressed as Borat at a Halloween party I attended stayed in character the entire night and almost drove me to murder), 2) Napoleon Dynamite (absolutely) and the choice for the #1 most obnoxiously overquoted movie is ... 300.
Movies I'm guilty of quoting? 1) Wayne's World -- whenever anybody orders Chinese food, I can't resist throwing in "I'll have the cream of sum yung guy." I'm also a fan of "If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he'd be pralines and dick." 2) The Naked Gun series. Endless possibilities really, but my favorite is "Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes." 3) Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski -- literally every line of both is gold. Which movies do you love to quote? And which movies do you think get quoted too frequently?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-14-2007 @ 7:41PM
Eric D. Snider said...
If you haven't heard Monty Python quoted much lately, I have to assume you're not in college. For some reason most geeky or semi-geeky guys go through a Monty Python phase between the ages of 18 and 22. It was that way when I was in college in the 90s, and it's still that way now.
I think the "Borat" and "300" quoting will go away before long; those movies are still fairly new. The fact that people are still overdoing "Napoleon Dynamite" three years later amazes (and annoys) me.
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8-14-2007 @ 8:06PM
Sam said...
Movies I quote on a day to day basis:
The Big Lebowski - I can't help but throw in a "You see what happens, Larry?" here and there. Plus, my friends and I went bowling on a Saturday, so the entire night, I was screaming about "rolling on Shabbos". That was fun.
Zoolander - My friend is obsessed with this movie. We mostly only quote it when we're hanging out, but it gets out of hand with the "Dere-lick my balls" and "Nice comeback!" being said every three and a half minutes.
Virtually anything British - I quote things from Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced, Black Books, The Young Ones, Danger! 50,000 Volts!, Big Train, Man Stroke Woman, Bill Bailey stand-up, Dylan Moran stand-up, and etc. on a daily basis. That never gets old because in Tennessee, no one really knows what you're talking about.
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8-14-2007 @ 9:06PM
Scott K said...
I get all the others, but I think I missed the 300 boat. What do people say from 300? "This is Sparta!"??
I've never heard 300 quoted by anyone ever.
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8-14-2007 @ 9:12PM
Will B said...
dont tell me they dont get the mighty boosh in good ol' Tennessee!?!
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8-14-2007 @ 9:15PM
Gina said...
I don't know about the most overquoted movie, but where TV shows are concerned, I've nearly been driven to drink by incessant "Simpsons" quotes in the past. (This was before the movie came out, which is why I'm not counting it as a movie.) Both a former boss and a guy I used to date did this.
"The Princess Bride" got quoted to death when I was in high school, but I rather liked it. I didn't actually see the movie till I was in college, but it was the quoting that finally convinced me I'd like it. :-)
So it can go either way!
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8-14-2007 @ 9:25PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
WTF? People quote 300? When? I've never met a single person who would quote 300. Why would someone quote it?
never heard it. ever.
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8-14-2007 @ 9:26PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
My family and friends were quoting borat for YEARS before that lame movie - in fact that damn movie ruined our halloween plans last year. Anyone who knew Ali G knew Borat and most figured Borat was a better character.
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8-14-2007 @ 9:31PM
h0mi said...
I'd think the 300 quotes is more along the lines of "madness? This is ____". Or "Hawoo".
Or "This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this."
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8-14-2007 @ 10:00PM
Biggie Smalls said...
It's not quoted so much but one of the BEST movies to quote is "Airplane!"
"Joey, do you like gladiator movies?"
"Don't call me Shirly!"
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8-14-2007 @ 11:30PM
Erin said...
While I love the movie, Swingers is quoted all the time and probably will be forever.
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8-14-2007 @ 11:58PM
Kirby Holt said...
How timely: "Princess Bride", see here
http://moviedearest.blogspot.com/2007/08/i-dont-get-it-princess-bride.html
"300" is too new to be #1, but hey, putting a movie that just came out at the top of a list is typical of most bloggers.
- kch, http://moviedearest.blogspot.com/
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8-15-2007 @ 12:53AM
Esoterikal said...
Around my workplace, still the most common quote has gotta be... "who you gonna call?"
Of course, being the resident movie nerd, I tend to make quotes that are sometimes so obscure, even I forgot where it came from. Of course, you can never go wrong by quoting Dr. Strangelove or A Clockwork Orange.
That being said, there's some movies where only one or two lines survive, and if you pull out some other lines, you can be the belle of the ball... "take them to the mattresses".
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8-15-2007 @ 1:14AM
Bison said...
I enjoy quoting Predator. The few lines that are good are "If these were central Americans, then i am a goddamn chinamen" and anything Arnold says
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8-15-2007 @ 1:19AM
Esoterikal said...
^ that reminds me... "remember when I promised you I would kill you last? I lied" and my personal favourite... "Are you ever going to tell me what this is all about?" "no!"
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8-15-2007 @ 11:26AM
tucluc said...
You can quote almost any line from The Big Lebowski.
My favorites are:
"Eight year olds, dude"
"You're out of your element Donnie"
and
"Obviously you're not a golfer".
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8-15-2007 @ 7:39AM
Doogs said...
300?
Most of the...erm...quotes that I've seen have been satires of the movie itself (THIS...IS...CAKETOWN!). I don't think that's in the same spirit...
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8-17-2007 @ 8:49AM
teekay said...
Mustard and Biscuit uhhuh. Slingblade, anyone?
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8-15-2007 @ 4:40PM
Rick said...
I usually quote Billy Madison when the Janitor says "I'd rather have a beer" which is more funny to my friends because I dont drink alcohol.
I also love to quote Marx Bros. lines because they are funny in and of themselves.
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8-15-2007 @ 8:48AM
Jay said...
"You can't fight in here...This is the war room"
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8-15-2007 @ 9:31AM
Michael Beck said...
My girlfriend and I try to work in Star Wars quotes whenever we can. And yes, we stay away from the standard ones. Favourites are things like "Stay on target" while driving through a skinny road or something like that.
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