Photo: 20th Century Fox (Getty).
Let’s face it, a lot of movie premises are ridiculous. Pretty much anything with a monster would fall into that category. Or an alien. Or a superhero. Or time travel. Or Howie Long. Some movies, you hear the logline and just know the writers had to be baked like clams casino when they dreamed it up. Right at the pitch, they’re winking at you, baiting you to call their premises ridiculous, just so you can find yourself totally buying in by the end. Not one of the plots below is believable in the slightest, but every film somehow worked. Here’s why…
Note: All premises via IMDb.
Ridiculous Movie Premises That Somehow Worked:
Also: 11 Movies That Make You Rethink Everything
Ridiculous Movie Premises That Somehow Worked
-
Brewster’s Millions (1985)
“A minor-league baseball player has to spend $30,000,000 in thirty days in order to inherit $300,000,000. However, he's not allowed to tell anyone about the deal.”
This scheme is far too high concept for an actual thinking human to ever attempt. And generally speaking, thinking humans are the ones with enough money to so thoroughly f--k with a distant, other-colored relative. But Richard Pryor and John Candy are far too endearing and hilarious not to buy into this one, especially with Walter Hill pushing all the right buddy buttons. Not for nothing, but Brewster’s “None of the Above” political campaign is looking pretty-darn good right about now.
Photo credit: Mondadori Portfolio (Getty).
-
Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)
“Two losers try to pretend that their murdered employer is really alive, leading the hitman to attempt to track him down to finish him off.”
Admit it, after you saw this film, you wanted to party with a dead guy, too. For the record, this makes one hell of a Halloween costume; it’s easy, you can wear sunglasses, and girls try and hold you up all night long. Though a lesser film, the sequel has an even a more ridiculous premise, because there was a sequel.
Photo credit: TriStar (Getty).
-
Mannequin (1987)
“A young artist, searching for his vocation, makes a mannequin so perfect he falls in love with it. Finding the mannequin in a store window, he gets a job there and his creation comes to life.”
Talk about range. Andrew McCarthy didn’t just make a dead guy look alive in the ‘80s, but also a hot mannequin. As long as we’re admitting things, I’ll say it: I’d bang a mannequin that looked like ‘80s-era Kim Cattrall. Oh, who am I kidding? I’d bang a mannequin that looked like 60-year-old Kim, too. What can I say, I’m an equal-opportunity mannequin lover.
Oh, we weren't admitting things? My bad.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
-
Rookie of the Year (1993)
“When an accident miraculously gives a boy an incredibly powerful pitching arm, he becomes a major league pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.”
Now that I think about it, it’s not that unlikely that a snot-nosed little kid could have pitched for the Cubs in the ‘90s. (Incidentally, along with “Brewster’s Millions,” this film also utilizes the Cubs to try and instill sympathy for the protagonist.) Still, it’s pretty out there. But for a kid who grew up dropping a lot of fly balls, I was all for it when little Henry Rowengartner went pro. I should have guessed he’d grow up to give Tara Reid oral pleasure.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox (Getty).
-
Soul Man (1986)
“To achieve his dream of attending Harvard, a pampered teen poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship.”
Don’t judge the film by its logline, as it’s only half as inappropriate as it sounds. And don’t judge it by this trailer-worthy line either: “These are the ‘80s, man, it’s the Cosby decade.” Judge it by the fact that in 1986, a major Hollywood film somehow still thought it was okay to have a white actor in black face. Now that’s comedy.
Photo credit: New World Pictures
-
Teeth (2007)
“Still a stranger to her own body, a high school student discovers she has a physical advantage when she becomes the object of male violence.”
Okay, that logline doesn’t exactly tell the whole story; the “physical advantage” turns out to be a snaggle-toothed vagina that teaches boys that no really f--king means no.
Photo credit: Roadside Attractions
-
Species (1995)
“A group of scientists try to track down and trap a killer alien seductress before she successfully mates with a human.”
Sure, it sounds nutty on paper, but the producers of this film obviously realized that if Natasha Henstridge wanted it, pretty much any living male would gladly donate his seed to impregnate her, and knowingly forefather an alien race that would someday overwhelm the human population.
Photo credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Getty).
-
The Lobster (2015)
“In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.”
This mind bender nabs you right from the get go. Or at least early on, when you find out that Colin Farrell’s brother is also his dog. It’s one of Farrell’s most understated performances, which serves to make you lean into this oddball world that everyone seems to think is perfectly normal. If you’ve ever pined for coupling, this movie will make you feel far less lonely, unless of course government officials actually do start hunting down single folks in the woods.
Photo credit: Picturehouse Entertainment
-
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
“A malfunctioning time machine at a ski resort takes a man back to 1986 with his two friends and nephew, where they must relive a fateful night and not change anything to make sure the nephew is born.”
I suppose a DeLorean is just as unlikely a time-traveling apparatus as a hot tub, yet the hot tub itself is such a knowing, conspiratorial wink at the audience. And that’s why this movie, and most the movies on this list, work -- because you’re in on it. You’re part of the fun. That said, if you really want to have fun with this film, apply generous amounts of zinc oxide to your nether regions while you watch.
Photo credit: MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
-
Snakes on a Plane (2006)
“An FBI agent takes on a plane full of deadly and venomous snakes, deliberately released to kill a witness being flown from Honolulu to Los Angeles to testify against a mob boss.”
Does it matter that no one remembers anything about this film other than Samuel Jackson’s bad mutha delivery of the line, “I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERF--KING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHERF--KING PLANE!”? In fact, that’s symbolic of why the film works in the first place. With dialogue so ridiculous, a premise so farfetched, and a title so obvious, we immediately know not to go into this film with high expectations. And so it easily exceeds them.
Photo credit: New Line Cinema
