10 Infamous Lines That Completely Ruined Decent Movies
Martha?!
As legendary Director George Lucas can testify, writing quality dialogue isn't the easiest task. The ability to create lines that forward the character development or plot of the movie while sounding like something a human being would actually say is a real art form. It's also important not to have your dialogue sounding like an exposition dump, that will ultimately disengage the audience.
While many films have been greatly enhanced by one or more classic lines, the opposite unfortunately can be the case as well. While a poor line of dialogue is often tied in with a bad story idea, it is the infamous lines that often sticks with the viewer.
The poor delivery of the lines has definitely been influential in compiling this list, as has been the choice of which character was chosen to deliver it. A number of the lines on this list work as feeble attempts to explain away poor plot choices, while some issues are just with the poor wording of the line itself.
All entries on this list are quite decent films outside of this dialogue, but unfortunately are undone by a line that should have been removed at the editing desk.
10. "Welcome To The Eye" - Now You See Me
2003's Now You See Me was, for the majority of its runtime, an entertaining movie that kept the lead detectives and the audience second guessing everything we thought was happening. The plot followed magicians under the guise of the Four Horsemen, who pull off a robbery in front of a live audience. FBI agent Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo, then teams up with Interpol agent Alma Drey to try and crack the case.
The 'how did they do it' plot is throughly entertaining and engaging, with the audience placed in the shoes of the agents as we try and work out how the crime occurred. We relate to the frustrations of Agent Rhodes and Drey as the answers seem to remain frustratingly out of reach, the Horsemen staying one step ahead of us throughout.
While the explanation of how the crime was committed is clever enough, the film unnecessarily pulls a nonsensical late twist that ruins the whole movie. With the four horseman arriving at the same meeting point, Ruffalo's Agent Rhodes appears in over dramatic fashion before exclaiming "Welcome to the Eye," thus revealing he was in on the whole crime all along. Even worse, its revealed that Rhodes was in fact the mastermind of the whole thing.
Rather than acting as a clever twist, the revelation undermines the journey the audience had been on with Rhodes. It made the audience feel stupid for investing with Rhodes' trials and tribulations, effectively ruining the viewing experience in its entirety.