Movie Titles: The Good, The Bad, and The Greatest Story Ever Told

[LastMinit]

Only When I Larf (with what has to be the worst title I’ve ever heard)

Nothing beats 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'.

[Lowry_Sam]

Only When I Larf (with what has to be the worst title I’ve ever heard)

Nothing beats 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'.

Have y'all forgotten The Hottie And The Nottie?

Addendum:
I just went to verify the title on IMDb and the correct spelling is actually

The Hottie & the Nottie

[Grand Wazoo]

Only When I Larf (with what has to be the worst title I’ve ever heard)

Nothing beats 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'.

Have y'all forgotten The Hottie And The Nottie?

Multiple Sarcasms gets my vote

[JSC]

domino harvey wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2026 7:55 pm
Only When I Larf (with what has to be the worst title I’ve ever heard)

Nothing beats 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'.

Have y'all forgotten The Hottie And The Nottie?

Multiple Sarcasms gets my vote

Don't forget Hell Comes to Frogtown and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.

[Cash Flagg]

The latter is a fantastic title, and I gave one of my best performances in it.

[MichaelB]

Only When I Larf (with what has to be the worst title I’ve ever heard)

Nothing beats 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'.

Have y'all forgotten The Hottie & the Nottie

I have absolutely no desire to ever sit through a film called Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!!, but I'm delighted that such a thing apparently exists.

[domino harvey]

Was not expecting that to be a movie where I know two of the first three credited actors on the IMDB page! (Or !!! to keep the pattern going)

[Lowry_Sam]

I have absolutely no desire to ever sit through a film called Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!!,

But I think the title tells you everything you need to know about the film & therefore is an objectively good title for it. Torch Song Trilogy on the other hand, tells you nothing about the film (and is not a trilogy), despite being a better film. Perhaps if Torch Song Trilogy had been called Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!! it would at least be remembered today (and the play staged more often) & since it's a better film people wouldn't mind the gimmicky title as much.

When I first heard the title The Hottie & the Nottie mentioned, it conjured up a cheeky soap opera ala The Bold And The Beautiful or The Young And The Restless: The Haughty and the Naughty. But when I saw it written, I realized it was a lame attempt to capitalize on the name of a crass but well-known website (Hot or Not) whose popularity had already waned by the time of the movie's release...and has anyone ever used the word "nottie" outside of this movie? hence the cringeworthiness of the title.

[Do we have a film title thread yet? Teenage Miasma and Sex at Death Camp opens later this month. ]

[PfR73]

I'm not sure if you're intentionally getting the title wrong to make a point, but the title is actually "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma".

[BoltzmannBrain]

I have absolutely no desire to ever sit through a film called Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!!,

But I think the title tells you everything you need to know about the film & therefore is an objectively good title for it. Torch Song Trilogy on the other hand, tells you nothing about the film (and is not a trilogy), despite being a better film. Perhaps if Torch Song Trilogy had been called Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!! it would at least be remembered today (and the play staged more often) & since it's a better film people wouldn't mind the gimmicky title as much.

When I first heard the title The Hottie & the Nottie mentioned, it conjured up a cheeky soap opera ala The Bold And The Beautiful or The Young And The Restless: The Haughty and the Naughty. But when I saw it written, I realized it was a lame attempt to capitalize on the name of a crass but well-known website (Hot or Not) whose popularity had already waned by the time of the movie's release...and has anyone ever used the word "nottie" outside of this movie? hence the cringeworthiness of the title.

[Do we have a film title thread yet? Teenage Miasma and Sex at Death Camp opens later this month. ]

I dislike short, extremely basic and bland movie titles like Father, or Mother, or Boy, House, Air, Life, Moon, Water, It, Good, Old, Michael, Patrick, The Woman, The Hand, The Accountant, The Room, The Monster, The Car, The Box, The Paper, The Road, etc. They feel like placeholder titles that were meant to exist only until the filmmakers could come up with something better, but because nobody had any good ideas the placeholder title stayed as the final title. They tell of a severe lack of imagination and make me think that the film's screenplay is probably equally empty and uninspired.

[denti alligator]

I dislike short, extremely basic and bland movie titles like Father, or Mother, or Boy, House, Air, Life, Moon, Water, It, Good, Old, Michael, Patrick, The Woman, The Hand, The Accountant, The Room, The Monster, The Car, The Box, The Paper, The Road, etc. They feel like placeholder titles that were meant to exist only until the filmmakers could come up with something better, but because nobody had any good ideas the placeholder title stayed as the final title. They tell of a severe lack of imagination and make me think that the film's screenplay is probably equally empty and uninspired.

Of course you would be missing out on many masterpieces if you really held to this prejudice.

[BoltzmannBrain]

I dislike short, extremely basic and bland movie titles like Father, or Mother, or Boy, House, Air, Life, Moon, Water, It, Good, Old, Michael, Patrick, The Woman, The Hand, The Accountant, The Room, The Monster, The Car, The Box, The Paper, The Road, etc. They feel like placeholder titles that were meant to exist only until the filmmakers could come up with something better, but because nobody had any good ideas the placeholder title stayed as the final title. They tell of a severe lack of imagination and make me think that the film's screenplay is probably equally empty and uninspired.

Of course you would be missing out on many masterpieces if you really held to this prejudice.

There are some classic movies that have very simple titles and I can watch them even if the title is not good. Everyone must agree that The Thing is objectively a terrible name for a movie, but also everyone is so used to that title by now that you couldn't imagine it being called anything else. But whenever they roll out a new movie that is called Family or Eddie or The Square or whatever, I can't help thinking "you really couldn't think of anything better than THAT?"

[Lowry_Sam]

Everyone must agree that The Thing is objectively a terrible name for a movie, but also everyone is so used to that title by now that you couldn't imagine it being called anything else.

It is an abbreviation though from the original, The Thing from Another World which worked for the 50s, but had developed a cheesy 50s aura which had a resurgance in popularity in the 80s and so it would have been misguided to use the full original title as the director was definitely going for straightforward horror/sci-fi and not camp. So it does convey that it's a remake that is serious about its subject, though "Thing" is also a character in a popular horror comedy tv series so probably could have been bettered but is not the worst possible option. For me the worst titles are ones where it's clear that someone is using something gimmicky to attract attention but then does so in a way that makes it obvious the film is just plain bad.

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? is often cited as one because of its length, but I would say it does a pretty good job of creating interest where there would have been none and conveys just what kind of movie it is (not serious).

Then there's also titles that just don't convey what the film is about and don't spark interest: The Constant Gardener. How many people are going to go to a movie to watch somebody gardening for 2 hours?

Titanic tells you exactly what you need to know and spurs interest.

[domino harvey]

Now that this is a thread split, I don’t see the problem with the Greatest Story Ever Told - it’s a compelling title, much more so than the film it adorns!

Along this new broad category of titles though, how about those rare beasts: non-literal English titles of foreign films with titles that improve on the original? The ultimate example of this must be Resnais’ rather generic Coeurs (“Hearts”) becoming the infinitely more evocative Private Fears in Public Places