Want to Play a Game of Tag (Lines)? Part I
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Do you know a great place to read an occasional great one-liner? On movie posters. I’m talking about movie tag lines, a close cousin to a company’s or brand’s slogan. Writing a great one-liner for any copy is difficult because it has to embody an entire message and be memorable and even smart, funny or entertaining, and the scrutiny for a movie poster is amplified. Movie tag lines really only get one shot. A company’s or brand’s slogan can be changed, but movie tag lines don’t get that luxury when they go from movie posters to DVD covers. If it’s bad it will be bad…forever, and that’s a long time.
What I’m saying is that I appreciate a good one-liner. Listed below are a few I like (see if you can figure out which movies they belong to). For your memory’s sake, I kept it to the past two decades and provided the year as a hint. I’ll reveal the titles in my next post along with a list of infamously bad tag lines. Here they are:
“Five Good Reasons to Stay single.” (1994)
“Vampires. No Interviews.” (1996)
“Before you die, you see…” (2002)
“Earth. It was fun while it lasted.” (1998)
“On May 6th…See Paris Die!” (2005)
“Love is in the hair.” (1998)
“See Our Family, Feel Better About Yours.” (2007)
“Even a hit man deserves a second shot.” (1997)
“From the brother of the director of Ghost.” (1994)
“The Lucky Ones Died First.” (2006)
“When it comes to love, sometimes she just can’t think straight.” (2001)
“A life misunderestimated.” (2008)
“Be All That Someone Else Can Be.” (1999)
“He loves her. She loves him not.” (2005)
“He Was Dead…But He Got Better.” (2008)
Obviously, these are my just my opinion and you don’t have to agree (I encourage you not to), but you have to appreciate that last one (it’s so bad it’s good). Let me know of any good ones I missed.
Tommy Liu, the man, the legend (to be) wields his pen of creativity against the injustice of mediocriety plaguing the world as the Creative Officer at Supercool Creative & Marketing Director at SpotZero where he also manages the blog. Click here to view some of his battles (he doesn’t always win).
