The Harry Potter film series may be the highest-grossing cinematic franchise of all time (even if it's soon to be overtaken by the Marvel Cinematic Universe), but that doesn't mean it's anywhere near perfect, either as a series of adaptations of J.K. Rowling's beloved novels or as a collection of standalone movie outings. Over the epic 8-film saga, plenty of creaky, ridiculous and laughably-acted dialogue has sneaked its way in, and we've scoured the entire series to find the 20 most ludicrous lines, complete with an assessment of why they each make us cringe quite so much. We've got wild over-acting, nonsensical dialogues that sound silly even with context, forced sexual tension that just doesn't work at all, and plenty of earnest cornball schmaltz that might've worked for us as kids, but as adults, we can't help but laugh. Some of the lines work within their context (usually if they're supposed to be funny anyway), whereas others render otherwise serious scenes completely laughable, which made everyone from casual viewers to hardcore book fanboys recoil in despair. Did we miss any of the series' most wince-inducing dialogues? Or do you care to try and defend any of these exchanges? Let us know in the comments!
20. "The Chinese Fireball, Oooooooh" - Goblet Of Fire
The Line: Barty Crouch Sr. shows off the Chinese fireball to Viktor Krum, but not before announcing it as "The Chinese fireball, ooooooh". Why It's Ridiculous: Roger Lloyd-Pack's delivery here is what kills us, and makes the scene instantly more memorable than it otherwise would have been, albeit perhaps for the wrong reason. His hammy "ooooooh" appears to bemuse even the other actors in the scene, and makes it a scene pretty damn impossible to take seriously or even really pay attention to. For all of Mr. Lloyd-Pack's contributions to the world of television, to an entire generation of youngsters, he's probably best known for his outrageous mugging here. Hell, some enterprising spark even made a techno remix out of it.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
