A title is a key component in marketing a movie, but there have been some truly funny movie names in the past that have had audiences laughing before they see a single frame of the film. It is possible for a bad title to sink a movie, with examples likeLucky Number SlevinandJohn Carterbeing cited. While most movies attempt to deliver short and snappy names to get our attention, it is a rare talent for a movie title to actually amuse viewers with a few words.
While there are plenty of movies getting hilarious translations of their titles in foreign markets, these are examples of original titles that brought some big laughs. In some cases, the names were some clever wordplay that highlighted the movie. In other instances, the titles boldly went for absurdity over catchiness. There are even some notable instances where the humor may have been unintentional. Whatever the case, these movie names put a smile on our faces.
Transplanting Jackie Chan’s brilliant comedic martial arts skills into the Old West,Shanghai Noonstars Chan as an Imperial guard who travels to America and teams up with a cunning bank robber (Owen Wilson) in order to rescue a Chinese princess. The title is a funny play on words,giving the classic Western movieHigh Noonan Eastern flarethat playfully tells the audience everything they need to know.
Hot Tub Time Machineis a hilarious R-rated comedy with a sci-fi twist as it follows a group of middle-aged friends who return to the favorite ski lodge of their youths and party in a hot tub only to find themselves transported back to the 1980s and into their younger bodies. Sometimesa title gets a laugh by simply being direct with its premise, and this off-beat title promises a different take on atime travel movie.
Stanley Kubrick’s iconic wartime satire follows various storylines surrounding the threat of nuclear war as a rogue military man orders a bomber plane to drop a nuke on Russia while the bumbling politicians attempt to prevent catastrophe. The movie letsthe audience know it’s in on the joke with the hilarious long title, which also mixes absurdity with a dark sense of humor, much like the movie itself does.
Will Ferrell’s sports movie sees him starring as Ricky Bobby, a talented, self-important, and dim-witted NASCAR driver who sees his position at the top of the racing world crumble, putting him on a path of redemption.Ferrell excels at playing foolish and pathetic characters who see themselves as something grander,and the mere use of “Ballad” in this title is a hilarious hint that Ricky Bobby is one such character.
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels make for an iconic buddy comedy team inDumb and Dumberas two clueless best friends who set out on a cross-country road trip to return a briefcase to a woman, accidentally getting caught up in a bigger scheme.A simple misspelling in the title makes for a funny nod to the brainless duoand the fun adventure they are going to take us on.
Following the success ofthe originalStar Warstrilogy, Mel Brooks takes aim at the space opera and other sci-fi movies in this entertaining parody movie about a pair of heroic space mercenaries who attempt to rescue a princess from an evil cosmic lord.Brooks' comedy is rarely subtle,and the title gets right to the laughs with a juvenile, silly, and effective suggestion of how seriously you should take this movie.
Another brainless buddy comedy, Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott star as two best friends who wake up after a wild night with no real memory of what happened and no idea where their car is. It isanother hilarious straight-forward titlethat indicates the simple plot and is also not shy about insinuating the lack of sophistication of the main characters.
Sacha Baron Cohen takes one of the standout characters from his sketch comedy series and brings him to the big screen in this mockumentary about a curious and friendly but misguided visitor to the United States looking to learn more about the country. While a very different movie fromDr. Strangelove, it is another hilariously long title, but it is made even funnier bysounding like something that was haphazardly passed through an online translator.
Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan team up for this buddy cop comedy about partners who find themselves targeted by a vicious crime lord while going in search of a stolen baseball card. The humor behind the title needs a little behind-the-scenes context as the movie was originally titledA Couple of Dicksonly to be forced to change it andsettle for this title that makes a joke on the disappointing decision.
A sequel toMeet the Parents, Meet the Fockersreverses the premise with Gregg Focker (Ben Stiller) bringing his wife and her parents, including his disapproving father-in-law (Robert De Niro), to meet his own eccentric parents, played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand.The first movie got a lot of mileage out of Gregg’s hilarious last name,and the sequel leans even heavier into the joke with a title that catches the audience off guard.
