Romantic comedies can be entertaining and charming. But those cheesy pickup lines
are rarely successful in film or otherwise. Even though they’re normally used for laughs,
some writers still try to include them as serious sentiments.
Here's a breakdown of the worst pickup lines in movies, intentionally bad or otherwise.
Couples Retreat, directed by Peter Billingsley, follows four married couples who each are having
relationship problems. One of the couples, Jason and Cynthia, ask their friends to come with them
to a couples' therapy retreat on a tropical island so they can get the package rate.
In one scene, Dave and Ronnie participate in an exercise in
which they pretend to meet for the first time. After exchanging names,
Dave asks Ronnie if she has a cell phone. When she asks why, Dave responds,
"Someone's got to call God and let him know one of his angels is missing."
This line is awful, mostly due to being lame. It's also lazy and unoriginal,
immediately recognizable as oft-used and insincere. In Couples Retreat,
it is indeed knowingly bad and acts as a punch line. Ronnie responds,
"Wow, that is the worst line I've ever heard."
Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star in No Strings Attached as Emma and Adam,
two friends who decide to begin a friends-with-benefits relationship.
The two, of course, end up developing serious romantic feelings for one another.
Their casual relationship quickly develops many complications,
including Emma initially rejecting a real relationship with Adam after he tells her
he loves her. Emma eventually realizes she loves him as well, and the two get
together after she confesses her feelings to him. After this grand moment, this happens.
“You give me premature ventricular contractions.”
“I’m assuming that’s a good thing.”
“You make my heart skip a beat.”
Since they've technically already gotten together, this isn't really a pickup line per se,
but it sure sounds like one. It's meant to be endearing and reflect Emma's character,
and it is slightly more original than many other pickup lines out there.
Still, even Portman's charm can't entirely save this line from being wince-worthy.
Directed by Burr Steers, 17 Again introduces Mike,
who, after a freak accident, gets stuck in the body of his 17-year-old self. While the main
plotline involves Mike rediscovering how much he loves the family life he'd become embittered
against over the years, there's a subplot with Mike's son Alex. Mike — who uses the
name Mark Gold to hide his true identity and enroll back in high school — befriends Alex
and tries to help him build his confidence in order to go out with his crush Nicole.
“I just wanted to tell you that you look like my dog.”
Nicole is rightfully confused by this cringey, insulting line.
Alex tries to amend it by saying his dog's hair is soft and shiny,
only to further dig himself into a hole by talking about how the dog is now dead.
It's meant to be a funny scene, although it's almost too embarrassing to enjoy.
Still, it at least succeeds in eliciting sympathy for Alex,
who is clearly very nervous about talking to his crush. He even admits as much to
her. Unfortunately, things only get worse for Alex, who shortly afterward
accidentally lights himself on fire. Not exactly the smooth moment he was going for.
In Hitch, Will Smith portrays Alex "Hitch" Hitchens, a self-described "date doctor" who
makes his living teaching men how to successfully date women. When he meets a woman, Sara, who sees
past his ruses, he realizes there's more to being in a relationship than the tricks he teaches.
Hitch first spots Sara sitting alone at a bar. He buys her a drink to take
over to her and introduce himself. Before he reaches her, another man beats him to it with
the same tactic. Hitch stands nearby to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“And I couldn’t help but notice you look a lot like my next girlfriend.”
This line is incredibly arrogant. What's more, in this case, it's almost the first thing he
says to her, even before asking her name. It's clear he finds it both clever and forward,
instead of pompous and unsurprising. In the context of the film, the viewer is definitely
meant to interpret this pickup line as bad. Hitch smirks in amusement over the trite line. When
professional wooer Hitch does get a moment to talk to Sara, his more straightforward,
open approach is meant to be seen as refreshing; he is the romantic lead, after all.
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, directed by Ian Samuels, stars Shannon Purser as the title
character. Sierra is a not-so-popular high schooler who begins a text message
exchange with Jamey after he mistakenly messages her, thinking she's someone else.
There are many problems with this film, namely that Sierra is literally catfishing
her love interest for most of it. At the end of the movie, the two get together,
even though Sierra has not apologized for any of her lies and other wrongdoing.
“You’re not exactly everybody’s type."
"Okay. Thanks."
“But. But you’re my type.”
This line feels both grossly pitying and moderately insulting. The film seems to
suggest that Sierra's only obstacle to popularity and a relationship with Jamey is her appearance.
It's natural for a teen girl to feel insecure, and the movie aspires to a body-positive message,
but this line — which emphasizes that she's not conventionally attractive — strikes
a sour note. It's hard to swoon over a pickup line with such a backward message.
Essentially an entire film about a man who uses pickup lines to meet women,
The Pick-Up Artist follows Jack Jericho, an elementary school teacher who spends his free
time practicing pickup lines and then using them on various women. When he meets Randy,
she couldn't care less about the lines he throws at her, so of course he falls for her.
In the opening scene, Jack is practicing one of his lines in the mirror.
“Has anyone ever told you that you have the face of a Botticelli and the body of a Degas?”
By referencing both an Italian Renaissance painter and a French Impressionist artist, Jack
likely believes he's showing off his intellect while complimenting his target. If she doesn't
get the references, that might just make him seem even smarter. His other lines include: "Has anyone
ever said you have a magnificent smile and skin invented to be touched?" and "Did anyone ever tell
you you're too good to be true?" Complimentary questions are Jack's M.O., apparently.
The Botticelli/Degas line is already pretentious, and knowing that he's
probably used it more than once makes it all the more obnoxious. Randy isn't impressed.
“Has anyone ever told you that you have the face of a Botticelli and the body of a Degas?”
“Yeah, my tenth grade art teacher.”
Shallow Hal, directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, introduces Hal. Just as the title tells you,
Hal is very shallow. He has no interest in women who aren't supermodel-pretty.
When a life coach sees just how shallow Hal is, he hypnotizes Hal so that when he looks at a woman,
he sees her inner beauty manifested as her outer appearance. When he meets Rosemary,
a 300-pound woman, he sees her as a much slimmer version of herself.
Hal first spots Rosemary as she's walking into a department store. He promptly — and, well,
somewhat creepily — follows her inside. She's shopping for underwear and holds up a pair
in her size. From Hal's perspective, a skinny woman is holding up a large pair of underwear,
and he doesn't understand why. “Building a parachute?”
It's an uneasy moment. Viewers are likely both cringing at Hal's obliviousness and sympathizing
with Rosemary. As Hal continues to put his foot in his mouth, talking about how big the underwear is,
Rosemary merely glares at him and walks away. Hal follows her, explaining that he didn't
intend to offend and was just trying to be funny. Rosemary is confused, but accepts his apology.
Still, Hal more than earned his way onto this "worst" list with that line.
She's the Man is a modernized retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. After her school cuts
the girls soccer team, Viola Hastings pretends to be her brother, Sebastian, at his new boarding
school so she can join their boys soccer team and play against the boys team at her old school.
While pretending to be Sebastian, Viola falls for Sebastian's roommate, Duke Orsino. The situation
becomes even more complicated because Duke has a crush on Olivia. Since Viola cannot confess her
feelings to Duke while disguised as Sebastian, she must offer her advice to Duke when he asks
for help talking to Olivia. Viola tells Duke to pretend she's a girl he's interested in so
they can roleplay a conversation. Duke complains he doesn't know what kind of questions to ask.
“Anything! Ask me if I like cheese.”
Duke laughs at the suggestion, but asks anyway. They end up talking about how
they both like gouda. It's a cute moment that shows Viola and Duke have chemistry.
Still, when Duke uses the line on Olivia in a later scene and she responds with
a confused and annoyed look, it's clear that the line was not such great advice.
In Bridesmaids, Annie is asked to be the maid of honor at her best friend Lillian's wedding.
The bridal party experiences hijinks and mishaps in the days leading up to the wedding.
The group decides to go to Las Vegas for the bachelorette party. While on the plane,
one of the bridesmaids, Megan, sits next to a man,
Jon, who she insists is an Air Marshal, despite Jon's protestations to the contrary.
Megan then corners Jon as he's exiting the airplane's bathroom and says,
"Hey, not-Air-Marshal Jon, you wanna get back in that restroom and not rest?"
The line turns out to be not nearly as effective as it is funny. Jon tries to get back to his seat.
Megan continues to make suggestive comments and even lifts her leg, resting it on the wall
to block his path in a hilariously bad attempt at seduction. Jon eventually makes it back to
his seat, shutting down her string of pickup lines. But, as it turns out, Megan was right
about Jon being an Air Marshal. Not only that, but the viewer also finds out at the end of the
movie that Megan and Jon began a relationship. Still, we wouldn't recommend trying this tactic.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Looper videos about your favorite movies are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.