10 Great Moments In Otherwise Terrible Movies

The occasional diamonds in the turds.

X Men Origins Wolverine Hugh Jackman
Fox

Our favourite movies are often chocked full of iconic scenes. You'd struggle to find anyone who couldn't visualise Darth Vader revealing he's Luke's father or Jack Nicholson hacking down a bathroom door. It's scenes like these that make their films classics.

However, great scenes aren't always found in great movies. Sometimes a film will come out and it will be terrible; the acting, directing and writing will all suck and the run-time will feel like it's stretching out into eternity.

You'll be on the verge of walking out the cinema or switching off the TV, but then... it happens. Suddenly all these terrible elements seem to coalesce and the whole will somehow be greater than the sum of its parts. There will be a single amazing scene in that terrible film, something that feels like it was ripped from something better and plopped into the mess you're watching.

These scenes might be a surprising bit of comedy, an action sequence that finally delivers on the film's premise or even just a single bit of dialogue that you'll want to keep quoting forever.

Whatever it is though, it will stick with you long after the rest of the film has faded from memory.

10. White Chicks - Terry Crews Sings Along To Vanessa Carlton

X Men Origins Wolverine Hugh Jackman
Columbia Pictures

The Terrible Movie: White Chicks is a Wayans brothers... is comedy even the right word to use? Anyway it's a film about two male black FBI agents who have to disguise themselves as white women for reasons you can happily live the rest of your lives without knowing.

Most of it is filled with the usual predictable toilet jokes, but with the added twist of having every punchline delivered by a man whose disguise looks less "rich bimbo socialite" and more "last thing you see in a horror movie before you die".

The Great Moment: Terry Crews has a surprising gift for physical comedy and this is the film that showcased it to the world. During a date with one of the "girls", Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles starts playing on the radio and he excitedly sings along.

It's a pretty obvious joke, the big muscular guy likes a girly pop song. However, what actually sells it is the 100% commitment Crews puts in, singing with a huge smile plastered across his face and dancing just like you do when you think nobody's watching.

It's more or less the only genuinely funny scene in the movie and, if anything, is only made funnier by how lazy and predictable the rest of the film is in contrast.

Contributor

I was just a mild-mannered NCTJ accredited journalist until one day I found out the truth... that I could share my nerdy ramblings with people on the internet! It's just like mumbling to myself on the train, but without all the strange looks.