I recently watched the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. I saw it years ago, but this film is timeless.
Sadly, the excellence of the movie is tarnished by one of the cheesiest lines in all of cinematic history. At the close of the movie, Charles and Carrie are standing in the rain, together at last. The final few lines of the movie include this gem:
Charles: There I was, standing there in the church, and for the first time in my whole life I realized I totally and utterly loved one person. And it wasn’t the person next to me in the veil. It’s the person standing opposite me now… in the rain.
Carrie: Is it still raining? I hadn’t noticed.
How this bit of dialogue didn’t end up on the cutting room floor is beyond me. Compounding the problem is Andie MacDowell’s poor delivery of the line, but it’s so awful that I can hardly blame her. She was probably throwing up in her mouth as she uttered the words.
My least favorite bit of dialogue comes from Back to the Future. In this scene, Marty McFly, having traveled thirty years into the past, is sitting at the counter of a 1950’s soda shop when the owner, Lou, begins speaking.
Lou: You gonna order something, kid?
Marty McFly: Ah, yeah… Give me – Give me a Tab.
Lou: Tab? I can’t give you a tab unless you order something.
Marty McFly: All right, give me a Pepsi Free.
Lou: You want a Pepsi, pal, you’re gonna pay for it.
A Tab? I realize that this diet cola still exists, but did anyone under the age of sixty ever drink the stuff? And what’s more, even my grandmother wouldn’t order a Tab in a restaurant. Marty is a seventeen year old kid from 1985. He deserves the beating that Biff soon delivers for ordering this stuff.
Then he asks for a Pepsi Free. Again, who orders a Pepsi Free?
Pepsi? Sure. Diet Pepsi? Okay.
But a Pepsi Free?
Worse bit of forced dialogue ever.
