Someone Asked “Lines In Movies That Make You Cringe?” And Got 30 Answers From Movie Fans
Interview With ExpertCreating realistic and natural-sounding dialogue for a movie isn't a simple job. If people spoke in movies the way they do in real life, it would be very hard to understand the movie and convey its message. At the same time, the conversations can't seem fake, as they might have the same effect. So, when writers are balancing this line, sometimes, they fail. This way, lines that make people cringe are born. And some of them quickly turn into cringy cult classics (we're looking at you "Spider-Monkey" from "Twilight").
Today, let's take a kind of cringy trip through many general or specific sayings that people find embarrassing while watching movies.
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(Young, slightly-built woman single-handedly beats up a squad of muscle-bound marines.)
"I had three brothers.".
I keep waiting for the “I had three sisters and we grew up in a sexist society” story.
I hate how any computer nerd can hack everything from the world's biggest banks, to missile silos, all with less than a dozen keystrokes on a Dell laptop.
There's a hush as all the military brass watches the nerd do his thing.
Then comes the line I hate...."We're in!".
“Turn on the news! You gotta see this!”
*Turns on the tv to the exact channel at exactly the right time to further an important plot point.*.
The word "cringe" is thrown around the internet quite a lot. Whenever you sign in to social media, you hear that this or that makes a person cringe. It might seem that this word is thrown around so much that it starts to lose its meaning.
Well, to say that, we have to learn what it means, don’t we? Well, according to Wikipedia (because where else is there to go when you don’t know something, right?), a cringe is an action or thing that brings out feelings of discomfort or embarrassment.
Others might describe cringe as a form of empathy, as a person puts themselves in the place of someone else and feels embarrassed for them. While the description doesn’t necessarily dub it as a form of empathy, it also includes a mention of embarrassment, which is basically what cringe is.
Sometimes, cringe can manifest as a physiological and emotional response to something a person did or said in the past, or it can be a reaction to someone else’s behavior or words. The latter might cause one to feel secondhand or vicarious embarrassment.
"I won't kill you because I'm not like you", any version of this line spoken by the protagonist to the big bad right after the epic battle where numerous foot soldiers have just been slaughtered.
Avatar the last airbender. There’s no way those guys survived being thrown into walls and being dropped into the middle of the ocean and all that
It's hard to be too annoyed because I understand why it's needed, but when characters use each other's names/relations way too often to establish it with the audience.
"Dan, Kelly is on the line for you."
"Thanks, Candice. You're the best assistant and ex-girlfriend a guy ever had....hi Kelly, how is my favorite sister-in-law?"
"Not great, Dan. My husband, Tom, told me you don't have the tickets. Now, I know he's your big brother and all...".
Fun fact: in an early cut of Lilo and Stitch test audiences didn't like the scene where Lilo and Nani get into a fight and said things like "I didn't like the way the mom yelled at her". So they went back and edited it so that the two repeatedly refer to each other as "sister", just to clarify that Nani isn't actually her mother and this is a sibling fight.
"We don't have any other choice."
"We have no choice"
"There's no other way"
Usually it is just lazy writing to justify doing something stupid. If there really was no other choice it would be apparent to the audience from your storytelling.
There’s a whole comedy subgenre based on the feeling of cringiness. Cringe comedy creates humor from social awkwardness, self-deprecation, guilty pleasures, and personal distress, which quite often is made in the form of TV shows. In it, the characters step out of and break social norms by basically acting in ways people might dub cringe.
Such popular TV shows like “The Office,” “Fleabag,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” are perfect examples of cringe comedy. And even though, theoretically, it might seem that people shouldn’t enjoy feeling cringe, the popularity of these shows tells a different story.
Basically, sometimes, people like to laugh at their own and other people's behavioral standards and witness what it would be like to not meet certain social norms.
When characters are introduced as siblings by calling each other “bro” or “sis”.
My brother would never call me sis. He usually refers to me as “stupid pig”
"Zoom and enhance.".
The line's not so bad, but when they then enhance a grainy image and get a crystal-clear closeup, that's the stupid part.
It's one thing to create cringe content on purpose and another thing to do it by accident. Today’s list of movie lines that make people cringe is full of examples of the latter. To talk a little bit more about that, Bored Panda reached out to film critic and host of the Girls On Film podcast, Anna Smith.
She said that typically cringy lines are overused in movies but are rarely used in real life: “It might feel so unlikely and clichéd that it jars the viewer.”
We can guess that the writers who wrote these lines likely didn’t intend to make viewers cringe – they maybe just wanted to joke a little bit or create a powerful saying.
Anna explained that these kinds of lines tend to take the audience out of a story and might even make them turn it off: “I have to watch films all the way through for my job as a film critic, but if I was watching a movie for fun, a cringy line might make me lose trust and interest in the film -- and it might make me wary that a whole lot more cringy lines were probably coming!”
"I can explain!" "Just listen to me!" And such, followed by copious amounts of not explaining and drama.
Really the whole "liar revealed" plotline in many a movie and series is a very tired thing, even if it might be necessary for a plotline. It's merciful when they don't make it last long, at least.
Ooooh I hate this as well. "I can explain!" THEN DO SO AT THE SPEED OF SOUND BEFORE THEY LEAVE
Lame Scientist: “Okay so water is a liquid, and when it freezes it becomes a solid, but get it hot enough and-“
Regular Joe: “*E N G L I S H, N E R D”
Also:
Regular Joe: ”Did you say *wormhole*?”
Cool Scientist: “[…] *Let me show you using this piece of paper*”
Bonus: not a *line*, but whenever a film or television series wants to communicate how sneaky a character is, and they do that thing where they instantly—and inexplicably—vanish as a car or crowd of people pass by.
edit: Bonus points whenever a sci-fi film does one of these demonstration scenes, and they grab something that the person listening is either actively using—i.e., a coffee mug, pen, etc.—or that makes them go “hey c’mon!”
Regular Joe: “Did you say, *wormhole*?”
Cool scientist: “Allow me to demonstrate, using only this pencil and your original birth certificate…”
The only time someone disappearing behind a moving thing is cool is when it's Dumbledore
The film critic thinks that people are now more attuned to cringy sexist talk in movies, like romantic gestures that are actually more patronizing to women: “These will probably leap out if you watch films from the 70s, 80s or even 90s.”
Anna said that she finds it cringe when movie characters overuse names, as it isn’t realistic. Well, as we said in the beginning, it’s hard to balance realism and fakeness. Sometimes, even the best effort to do that doesn’t work out as we anticipate, and the line you thought would be in a list of powerful cinema phrases ends up in a list of cringy ones.
After all, cringe is an inevitable part of life, as it’s simply a physiological reaction. So, as Taylor Swift said in her NYU commencement speech, we need to “learn to live alongside cringe,” as it’s way better than beating yourself up for the rest of your life.
Therefore, let’s embrace these cringy movie lines and turn them into something entertaining instead of embarrassing.
What movie lines make you cringe? Share them with us in the comments!
Neo, an accomplished hacker and presumably tech savvy person: "What's an EMP?".
“Do you know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.”.
The wilhelm scream needs to die already. Unless it’s a comedic movie, Indiana Jones, or Starwars, it absolutely kills the mood for me in serious action scenes.
Pretty sure at this point it's an Easter egg to find haha it isn't even...a good sound. Of all the screams, it's pretty lousy
"I think you should take a look at this" in basically a million movies.
I used that line a year ago when we got an email saying our classmate had been shot. Since we were on a trip we were behind the gossip so I literally brought my phone to the teacher/chaperone and said, "I think you should take a look at this." Oh fyi the classmate ended up fine.
"We're the only species that makes war on itself"
WRONG!
I believe that once territory (and thus, food and such) is involved, almost any species will wage war on itself.
When someone is explaining something technical and they're told to speak in layman's terms to dumb it for the audience.
Bane “You came back to die with your city”
Batman “no, I came back to stop you”
Awful.
"He's/she's/it's/they're behind me, aren't they?"
"Who's there? [insert person's name] stop screwing around I know it's you!" / "HELLO? HELLLLOOOO? WHO'S THERE?"
"Hahaha, [insert name] you son of a b***h! I haven't seen you since...".
I loved it when Futurama subverted the first one. "She's right behind me, isn't she?" "No, I'm in front of you." "WAUGH!"
"I hate sand. It's rough, and coarse, and irritating, and it gets *eeeeverywhere*.".
Uma Thurman saying “entropy” when she should have said “atrophy” takes me out of Kill Bill every time.
Haha that gets me too. But I am usually already out of it thinking about how much Tarantino has rewatched that particular scene, because you know, feet.
Anything that uses internet speak, because they always overdo it for effect. It’s particularly bad when it’s one of those movies that shows the text being sent on the screen.
*So much* “srsly.”.
Ginny Weasley : Open up you.
Doesn't help that the movies portrayed Ginny as kind of boring when she's supposed to be cool and spunky.
Kitana: Mother! You're alive!
Sindel: Too bad YOU! will die!
To be fair, those two lines were merely the worst in an ocean of strong cringe.
May I sit?
It’s a free country … or at least it will be soon.
The Patriot.
When someone answers the phone and immediately says “slow down” as a way to convey that the person calling is talking fast/being frantic.
It’s used way too often and I’ve never heard someone need to respond that way in real life.
I have quite a few times. Usually when it's me talking to someone. ... yeah.
[Character name]?
[Character name]?
Okay, this isn’t funny anymore!
[Character name]?
I'm sorry but the way they've phrased that is confusing. Either I'm going senile or it needs to be written more clearly.
Jack Reacher
"Im no hero. Im a drifter with nothing to lose."
I was laughing so hard when he delivered that line.
"I also happen to have the physique of someone on a very intense training regiment but NO I'M A DRIFTER"
In the Fate of the Furious Vin finds out he's being watched or something and Charlize Theron reveals herself with a slow clap saying "olly olly oxen free".
“…I’d like that”
After a couple breaks up and stays friends. Nobody says that.
"Somehow, Palpatine returned.".
Okay, I gotta defend this one. Poe Dameron was born in the era where the Jedi, the Sith and the Force were already more or less a myth. He knew absolutely nothing about the Sith alchemy and cloning science, which were pretty niche topics even before the Empire. So what should he have said? Give a detailed explanation of something he knows jack $hit about? To an ordinary person like Poe, he returned "somehow". This line is a laughing stock and an example of bad writing, but I'm adamant that it makes 100% sense in-universe.
Spider-Man
"You mess with Spidey, you mess with New York! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us."
As a New Yorker I hate that scene. But, more than made up for with the subway scene in 2.
I love that line! It was put in after 9/11 and it's meant to make you feel for NY. And I did.
Avengers Age of Ultron had the twofer of Banner and Nat's child discussion and the "hide the zucchini" line. Just absolutely cringe at both.
"They fly now?"
"They fly now.".
Anytime an atheist character 'sees the light' or has a 'maybe there is a god' moment. It isn't going to happen. That isn't a typical thing. Honestly anytime there is an atheist character I cringe, because at some point someone of some religion is going to 'influence' them into some heart warming 'look at them believe' moment, and like no. in real life that atheist is going to look you in the face and tell you to knock it off. There are absolutely atheists in foxholes. Or they're atheist because of some ridiculous tragic backstory, as opposed to how it normally occurs. Or they make the atheist amoral, because apparently the only way you can be good is to be religious, which is just stupid. Like religion hasn't led to genocide, crusades, persecution.
When someone notices something rolling down a hill behind them and them not move to the side to avoid it. Zombo-Droi...120537.jpg
When something huge and fast is coming straight for them and then they try to outrun it in a straight line instead of turning corners or zigzagging or whatever
For me it's whenever a pretty girl, or pretty creature, even when seen in previous scenes, but appears for the first time to a boy and there's that slow motion thing, the boy is all wide eyed gawking and chimes play. So cheesy. Kids movies do this often. For ex, The Great Mouse Detective, We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, A Cinderella Story, etc. This rarely ever occurs in real life.
A specific line: "She rescues him right back." from Pretty Woman, at the very end. So very bad. A general line: "Where's the girl?" "Get the girl!" "Bring the girl." The female in danger always becomes "the girl" See RED, Croc Dundee 2, and so, so many more.
Not saying "Bye" when ending a phone call. This REALLY bugs me. And bathrooms - the ONLY time they seem to be used is for brushing teeth.
For me it's the needlessly long explanation. "How did you get it working?" "Well, at first I thought it might be a clogged frangipane hose, but I checked them all. Nothing. So then I adjusted the time-space transponder belt; that usually works but not this time. Not even twitching the flinglehopper did any good. Then I remembered: the power switch needs to be in the ON position. Once I flipped it, the power came right up."
Using "UNCONSCIOUSLY" when the writers clearly meant "subconsciously". Rarely gets caught. Bonus points of the person saying it is a psychologist, scientist, or supposedly learned human
My take away here is that a lot of BP users don't know the difference between lines actors say in a movie, and movie tropes. Because so may of these aren't "Lines in movies"
Nothing's cringe about the phrase itself, but the way everyone delivers "NiCe TrY!"
Pet peeve - when any coach etc says "you play like girls" "you punch like a girl" anything that uses females as a degrading statement to a male to suggest weakness. Can we please stop doing that? You punch like a chipmunk would be better!
Ok.. I this is suppose to be a list of movie QUOTES *NOT* Movie Tropes. SMH However I am going to submit my most hated line ever (the Toad/lighting quote comes in a close second) Daredevil (2003) : Daredevil: Hey, that light? At the end of the tunnel? Guess what? That's not heaven... Jose Quesada: I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Daredevil: That's the C train!
Every motor racing movie. There's always a point when the good guy says something like "Time to hunt" or something, makes a huge dramatic up-shift (that would possibly destroy the gearbox) and immediately goes twice as fast as the other cars that have pretty much the same horsepower. The don't include the part where his race engineer freaks out on the radio- "WTF ARE YOU DOING? WERE YOU NOT IN TOP GEAR JUST SO YOU COULD MAKE A DRAMATIC UP-SHIFT? YOU ARE SO FIRED!
'Off the reservation' If you got why this is problematic you and I are immediately besties! :)
It's not a line, but one thing I hate is women waking up in bed with perfect makeup and hair. We don't sleep in our makeup.
From 'Armageddon', when the shuttle arrives back and Sharp meets Grace on the runway, salutes her (unnecessarily, since she's a civilian) and says "Colonel Willie Sharp, United States Air Force, requesting permission to shake the hand of the daughter of the bravest man I ever met." Or, same movie, Grace to AJ: 'Do You think anybody else in the world is doing this right now?' AJ to Grace: 'I hope so, else what are we trying to save?' Cringe worthy in itself, but even worse considering that what they were doing right then was AJ putting Animal Crackers in Grace's panties, which I feel sure nobody else on Earth was doing, ever did or ever will do. That said, Armageddon is a constant stream of cringiness, cliché, and terrible science from start to end.
"It's the neutrinos: they're evolving'! (2012) That, from a supposed physicist, and accepted by another supposed physicist, when the correct response should have been 'What the Hell are you blathering on about? Fundamental particles CANNOT AND DO NOT evolve, you idiot.' That was the only movie I have ever walked out on, and after only 5 minutes, too.
In Avengers: Endgame, when Spiderman gives the glove to Captain Marvel and tells her something like "how are you going to do it alone" and then the other women (which by coincidence are there together) say "she is not alone". Look, the girl power moment is fine but you cannot do it with one of characters that DO NOT NEED HELP (or barely need it) because it looks silly and forced.
I can't remember the movie, it was like a b-level or c-level shark movie on Amazon like Sand Sharks or something. Anyway it's fairly normal lines so far then a man and woman are talking and the guy drops the line something like "how about we go back to you place and I eat your pu$$y" just completely out of the blue. It was one of the most out of the place lines I've heard on these type of movies, was different from the regular shark puns. And I've watched a lot of these bad shark movies.
'Someone Asked “Lines In Movies That Make You Cringe?”' Sorry, that's not a question. Please rephrase.
Any movie using a game of chess as a plot device: Character A: "Check" Character B: "CheckMATE!" Character A: *Shocked Pikachu Face*. In chess, this is almost IMPOSSIBLE. You have a better chance of getting struck by lighting WHILE a shark is eating you, and also you have a winning lottery ticket in your pocket.
Line from a specific movie that is unintentionally laughable: One general dude in Top Gun - "he's a good pilot, maybe too good".
The one I hate the most is when somebody says “I understand how you must feel“ and that person responds angrily that there’s no possible way they could understand…
Any movie based on the idea that we only use 10% of our brain is completely unwatchable to me.
No one goes to the toilet. No one says a line from a different film, you know that we’d use a line like ‘You’re going to need a bigger boat’ or ‘Houston we have a problem’ or ‘Say hello to my little friend’, why don’t regular folks in films use them? And then my favourite, hand the lead woman an automatic weapon, it jams as soon as they use it, every other firearm is in tip top condition, hers? Jams.
When people constantly wait for the other person to stop speaking. No one ever has a speech impediment, no one talks over the other person, no one says something and the other person says “what” and they have to repeat themselves not because they didn’t believe it but because they just didn’t hear them properly. Just stupid stuff really
"I'm the one who got us into this mess, so I should be in charge of fixing it." ( proceeds to continue endangering themselves and others just to look like a hero) No, you have already shown that your decision-making skills are awful. Take yourself and your main-character syndrome out of here, and let the actual adults stay in charge.
Everything uses the same generic police radio dispatch audio and I hear it everywhere, from Cops up to major motion pictures.
Anytime an atheist character 'sees the light' or has a 'maybe there is a god' moment. It isn't going to happen. That isn't a typical thing. Honestly anytime there is an atheist character I cringe, because at some point someone of some religion is going to 'influence' them into some heart warming 'look at them believe' moment, and like no. in real life that atheist is going to look you in the face and tell you to knock it off. There are absolutely atheists in foxholes. Or they're atheist because of some ridiculous tragic backstory, as opposed to how it normally occurs. Or they make the atheist amoral, because apparently the only way you can be good is to be religious, which is just stupid. Like religion hasn't led to genocide, crusades, persecution.
When someone notices something rolling down a hill behind them and them not move to the side to avoid it. Zombo-Droi...120537.jpg
When something huge and fast is coming straight for them and then they try to outrun it in a straight line instead of turning corners or zigzagging or whatever
For me it's whenever a pretty girl, or pretty creature, even when seen in previous scenes, but appears for the first time to a boy and there's that slow motion thing, the boy is all wide eyed gawking and chimes play. So cheesy. Kids movies do this often. For ex, The Great Mouse Detective, We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, A Cinderella Story, etc. This rarely ever occurs in real life.
A specific line: "She rescues him right back." from Pretty Woman, at the very end. So very bad. A general line: "Where's the girl?" "Get the girl!" "Bring the girl." The female in danger always becomes "the girl" See RED, Croc Dundee 2, and so, so many more.
Not saying "Bye" when ending a phone call. This REALLY bugs me. And bathrooms - the ONLY time they seem to be used is for brushing teeth.
For me it's the needlessly long explanation. "How did you get it working?" "Well, at first I thought it might be a clogged frangipane hose, but I checked them all. Nothing. So then I adjusted the time-space transponder belt; that usually works but not this time. Not even twitching the flinglehopper did any good. Then I remembered: the power switch needs to be in the ON position. Once I flipped it, the power came right up."
Using "UNCONSCIOUSLY" when the writers clearly meant "subconsciously". Rarely gets caught. Bonus points of the person saying it is a psychologist, scientist, or supposedly learned human
My take away here is that a lot of BP users don't know the difference between lines actors say in a movie, and movie tropes. Because so may of these aren't "Lines in movies"
Nothing's cringe about the phrase itself, but the way everyone delivers "NiCe TrY!"
Pet peeve - when any coach etc says "you play like girls" "you punch like a girl" anything that uses females as a degrading statement to a male to suggest weakness. Can we please stop doing that? You punch like a chipmunk would be better!
Ok.. I this is suppose to be a list of movie QUOTES *NOT* Movie Tropes. SMH However I am going to submit my most hated line ever (the Toad/lighting quote comes in a close second) Daredevil (2003) : Daredevil: Hey, that light? At the end of the tunnel? Guess what? That's not heaven... Jose Quesada: I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Daredevil: That's the C train!
Every motor racing movie. There's always a point when the good guy says something like "Time to hunt" or something, makes a huge dramatic up-shift (that would possibly destroy the gearbox) and immediately goes twice as fast as the other cars that have pretty much the same horsepower. The don't include the part where his race engineer freaks out on the radio- "WTF ARE YOU DOING? WERE YOU NOT IN TOP GEAR JUST SO YOU COULD MAKE A DRAMATIC UP-SHIFT? YOU ARE SO FIRED!
'Off the reservation' If you got why this is problematic you and I are immediately besties! :)
It's not a line, but one thing I hate is women waking up in bed with perfect makeup and hair. We don't sleep in our makeup.
From 'Armageddon', when the shuttle arrives back and Sharp meets Grace on the runway, salutes her (unnecessarily, since she's a civilian) and says "Colonel Willie Sharp, United States Air Force, requesting permission to shake the hand of the daughter of the bravest man I ever met." Or, same movie, Grace to AJ: 'Do You think anybody else in the world is doing this right now?' AJ to Grace: 'I hope so, else what are we trying to save?' Cringe worthy in itself, but even worse considering that what they were doing right then was AJ putting Animal Crackers in Grace's panties, which I feel sure nobody else on Earth was doing, ever did or ever will do. That said, Armageddon is a constant stream of cringiness, cliché, and terrible science from start to end.
"It's the neutrinos: they're evolving'! (2012) That, from a supposed physicist, and accepted by another supposed physicist, when the correct response should have been 'What the Hell are you blathering on about? Fundamental particles CANNOT AND DO NOT evolve, you idiot.' That was the only movie I have ever walked out on, and after only 5 minutes, too.
In Avengers: Endgame, when Spiderman gives the glove to Captain Marvel and tells her something like "how are you going to do it alone" and then the other women (which by coincidence are there together) say "she is not alone". Look, the girl power moment is fine but you cannot do it with one of characters that DO NOT NEED HELP (or barely need it) because it looks silly and forced.
I can't remember the movie, it was like a b-level or c-level shark movie on Amazon like Sand Sharks or something. Anyway it's fairly normal lines so far then a man and woman are talking and the guy drops the line something like "how about we go back to you place and I eat your pu$$y" just completely out of the blue. It was one of the most out of the place lines I've heard on these type of movies, was different from the regular shark puns. And I've watched a lot of these bad shark movies.
'Someone Asked “Lines In Movies That Make You Cringe?”' Sorry, that's not a question. Please rephrase.
Any movie using a game of chess as a plot device: Character A: "Check" Character B: "CheckMATE!" Character A: *Shocked Pikachu Face*. In chess, this is almost IMPOSSIBLE. You have a better chance of getting struck by lighting WHILE a shark is eating you, and also you have a winning lottery ticket in your pocket.
Line from a specific movie that is unintentionally laughable: One general dude in Top Gun - "he's a good pilot, maybe too good".
The one I hate the most is when somebody says “I understand how you must feel“ and that person responds angrily that there’s no possible way they could understand…
Any movie based on the idea that we only use 10% of our brain is completely unwatchable to me.
No one goes to the toilet. No one says a line from a different film, you know that we’d use a line like ‘You’re going to need a bigger boat’ or ‘Houston we have a problem’ or ‘Say hello to my little friend’, why don’t regular folks in films use them? And then my favourite, hand the lead woman an automatic weapon, it jams as soon as they use it, every other firearm is in tip top condition, hers? Jams.
When people constantly wait for the other person to stop speaking. No one ever has a speech impediment, no one talks over the other person, no one says something and the other person says “what” and they have to repeat themselves not because they didn’t believe it but because they just didn’t hear them properly. Just stupid stuff really
"I'm the one who got us into this mess, so I should be in charge of fixing it." ( proceeds to continue endangering themselves and others just to look like a hero) No, you have already shown that your decision-making skills are awful. Take yourself and your main-character syndrome out of here, and let the actual adults stay in charge.
Everything uses the same generic police radio dispatch audio and I hear it everywhere, from Cops up to major motion pictures.