Pun’s labyrinth
Part of the fun of making blanket statements is trying to see if you can come up with exceptions to them. For example, in my review of “Who’s Your Caddy?,” I claimed that no movie with a pun title has ever been any good. This prompted someone to comment that “Shaun of the Dead” has a pun title and is, in fact, an excellent movie.
Indeed! That is an exception to the rule. The ONLY exception!
Let me clarify what kind of pun I’m talking about, though. I mean the kind represented by “Who’s Your Caddy?,” which is a play on the expression “Who’s your daddy?” Consider also: “Delta Farce,” “Maid in Manhattan,” “Down and Derby,” “Happily N’Ever After,” and “Deliver Us from Eva,” all of which hope to earn smiles by being slight variations on familiar phrases.
I don’t mean titles where the words have multiple applicable meanings. Someone pointed out the TV show “Arrested Development.” In one sense, the show is about characters in a state of arrested development, i.e., who act like children. In another sense, the show begins with the patriarch being arrested, a development that fuels the action for the rest of the series. (A commenter pointed out another meaning I hadn’t considered: The family’s corporation has a housing development that is never going to be finished.). So “Arrested Development” is a “pun,” technically, in that the phrase can correctly be taken more than one way. But it’s not the annoying, jokey kind of pun that deserves ridicule. It’s more the clever, useful kind. That’s “wordplay” (which is the positive version of “pun,” which is usually a negative term).
OK, I just found another exception to my rule: “Legally Blonde” (a play on the term “legally blind”) is a perfectly good movie.
Can anyone think of any other pun titles, for good or bad?
Also, consider this: Why do I hate pun titles on movies when I use them myself almost every week for “Snide Remarks”? That is the mystery, isn’t it?
July 30th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
How about the James Bond film “Octopussy”, which I might add is one of the most unsettling movie titles of all time. I don’t remember it as being particularly bad, but it is listed on Rotten Tomatoes as rotten, partially (I am sure) due to the fact that only 22 reviews are available for it.
July 30th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
But I love bad puns! It’s like watching an Ed Wood film. Sure, it sucks mightily, but it’s a good, campy kind of “bad” that is perfectly enjoyable. But then, a title like “Who’s Your Caddy?” just can’t be measured as equivalent to an Ed Wood film. No, a name like THAT is only to be compared with a Uwe Boll film: it’s not even a “good” bad; it’s just BAD. Putrid, execrable, evil, malodorous, horrific–whatever you want to call it. Simply put, the title “Who’s Your Caddy?” is a pun so awful it can only describe the film it represents. Which I’m sure it does very well.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
You don’t rely entirely on puns for your jokes though. You know, like Joel Siegel did. No disrespect to the guy, but c’mon. A pun here and there is fine, if you’re funny. It’s like Gallagher or Carrot Top. They’re one-trick ponies. You can do more than smash watermelons or…I dunno, have red hair, I guess.
July 30th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
My memory is that “The Aristocats” was pretty good, though I haven’t seen it in ages. And while I never understood what all the fuss over “The Nightmare Before Christmas” was all about, it’s still a pretty good movie.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Um…what about “Hot Fuzz” - isn’t it a play on the phrase “hot fuss” and also a good movie?
July 31st, 2007 at 12:34 am
“Me, Myself and Irene”.
Haven’t seen it, but Eric gave it a B+, which is slightly better than Legally Blonde’s grade.
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” kicked ass. One of my favorite movies.
July 31st, 2007 at 2:58 am
There was a Jason Biggs/Isla Fisher comedy out here a few months ago called ‘Wedding Daze’ that was only a few steps up from total garbage. I guess that might count, although it had a different title in the US.
July 31st, 2007 at 5:44 am
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
July 31st, 2007 at 6:17 am
Taking David’s lead, “Daze” as a replacement for “Days” should be banned from everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
July 31st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Good explanation on the difference between clever wordplay and a bad pun. Your puns are actually pretty good and we know that inside, is a funny blog. Since you know that pun movie titles usually means a bad movie, that’s why you hate pun movie titles. If they were usually great movies, you would like pun movie titles. If your blogs weren’t great, we wouldn’t like your pun blog titles. Since we know that your blogs are usually great, we can learn to love the titles as well.
July 31st, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Dead & Breakfast (Bed & Breakfast) - Eric rated C+
Deliver Us From Eva (Deliver Us From Evil) - Eric rated C+
Delta Farce (Delta Force) - Eric rated F
Happily N’Ever After (Happily Ever After) - Eric rated D
Legally Blonde (Legally Blind) - Eric rated B
Lucky Number Slevin (Lucky Number Seven) - Eric rated B-
Maid in Manhattan (Made In Manhattan) - Eric rated C
The Man Who Knew To Little (The Man Who Knew To Much) - Eric rated B+
Me, Myself and Irene (Me, Myself and I) - Eric rated B+
Miss Conginiality 2: Armed & Fabulous (Armed & Dangerous) - Eric rated D+
Shaun of the Dead (Dawn of the Dead) - Eric rated A-
Who’s Your Caddy (Who’s Your Daddy) - Eric rated D-
The Work and the Story (The Work and the Glory) - Eric rated D+
I would say there’s a fairly wide range of ratings represented there. A pun in the title is probably like a movie that the studio refuses to preview to critics. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad film, but it sure does raise a lot of red flags.
July 31st, 2007 at 4:34 pm
“The Beautician and the Beast” (”Beauty and the Beast”)
“Adam and Steve” (Adam and Eve)
“Blades of Glory” (”Blaze of Glory”… or is that just a coincidence?)
“Juwannaman” (Ummm… yeah)
“Dead and breakfast” (Bed and Breakfast)
“Fahrenheit 9/11″ (Fahrenheit 451 + the events of 9/11)*
“The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas” (Las Vegas–proving there IS something worse than “Lost Wages”)
“Dr. Jeckyl and Mrs. Hyde” (Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde)
“Spy Hard” (”Die Hard”)
*-You CANNOT call this one a pun (obviously), because it’s not trying to be funny; I don’t know if I’d even call it “wordplay.” Either way, I’m putting it here, even though its intentions are steered towards referencing another title rathing than being clever.
August 1st, 2007 at 7:51 am
I would also posit, based on David Manning’s list, that “Dr. Jekyll and ____” movies that aren’t the actual Jekyll/Hyde story are automatically bad.
August 5th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Oh! And one more, for anyone who’s still reading this:
“Home of Phobia” (Homophobia)
http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/home-of-phobia/
March 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Can we now add “Witless Protection” to this list?
I haven’t seen it, but based on Eric’s review, I gonna take a wild guess and say it falls into the “bad pun/bad movie” category.