Top 10 One-Liners from the Past 10 Years

By: Erik Davis

They’re the lines your friends quote on long car rides, and they’re those special movie moments that don’t come often enough. The last decade has given us some of the most comical, dramatic and freakishly awesome one-liners to date, and while we should probably thank the screenwriters for dreaming them up, it’s the actors that make them memorable. We put out a call for fans to give us their favorite one-liners from the past ten years. Here, now, are what you deemed to be the top 10.

10. “We in the killin’ Nazi business - and cousin, business is a-boomin’” (Inglorious Basterds)

Quentin Tarantino made his triumphant return to theaters with this World War II nail-biter that seduces its audience by slowly building the tension in each scene until you’re ready to pop. And who can forget Brad Pitt’s cool Southern swagger, which came in handy for the number 10 quote on our list.

9. “This is Sparta!” (300)

Not only did Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the graphic novel 300 begin a new trend of epic, mythological hyper-stylized action pics, but it also introduced the world to a muscle laden, oiled-up Gerard Butler, who cemented his status as “the next big star” after using all his strength and power to shout this line to his enemy.

8. “I am McLovin’!” (Superbad)

Sometimes your first role is the most memorable one, and fans will forever be grateful for the person who discovered dorky little Christopher Mintz-Plasse for the role of McLovin’ in the 2007 comedy Superbad. McLovin, of course, is the nickname Fogell gives himself on his brand new fake ID; a name his friends mock, but one that surprisingly comes in handy throughout the film.

7. “I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?” (Meet the Parents)

One of the most memorable comedies of the past 10 years spawned several sequels (one of which, Little Fockers, arrives in theaters later this year), but we’ll always leave a special place in our hearts for the original. Practically every scene in Meet the Parents is packed with unforgettable lines, but none more classic than when Robert De Niro puts Ben Stiller on the spot with a question about milking his man breasts.

6. “With great power comes great responsibility.” (Spider-Man)

The new wave of critically acclaimed superhero movies arguably began with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man back in 2002, where a young Tobey Maguire (as Peter Parker) learned the hard way that accidentally acquiring superhuman powers isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Case in point: you’ll be expected to save the day … like, a lot.

5. “I didn’t know they gave out rings at the Holocaust!” (The Hangover)

With The Hangover, director Todd Phillips returned to the comedic formula he was so successful with in 2003’s Old School, and it paid off in spades. Though the film is literally overflowing with foul-mouthed hilarity, no character was as memorable as Zach Galifianakis’ Alan Garner, who, apart from carrying some strange baby around for half the film, is blessed with delivering some of the film’s funniest (and most ridiculous) lines. Here, he’s referring to the ring his friend lost during their all-night partying; a ring his grandmother had handed down to him – one she’d had in her possession since the Holocaust.

4. "Get off my lawn!" – (Gran Torino)

Billed as Clint Eastwood’s final performance, Gran Torino didn’t make much of a splash when it plopped itself down in theaters not long after folks realized the project even existed. And though it probably won’t go down as one of Eastwood’s greatest roles, we’ll forever cherish the way in which Eastwood mocked his own old-farty age by delivering one of the most overly used clichéd old people’s lines like only he can, with a growl and a snarl.

3. “You threaten my son, you threaten me!” (The Blind Side)

There was a reason why Sandra Bullock won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the real-life Southern firecracker who took in a homeless African American and helped raise him, and a lot of it had to do with her character’s ferocious determination to give this kid a better life. No other scene best defined Bullock’s Leigh Anne Tuohy than when this small, petite woman stood up for her giant, football-playing adopted son by making it so no one messed with him under her watch.

2. “Why so serious?” (The Dark Knight)

Folks were skeptical when Heath Ledger was hired to play Batman’s iconic arch-nemesis in The Dark Knight, but it didn’t take long for the actor to convince us that his snarky, scary, villainous performance would go down in history as one of best we’ve ever seen. Though it was almost impossible to take a character that’s been around for decades and give him a new spin, Ledger – with classic lines like “Why so serious?” – somehow managed to make his Joker the most memorable of all.

1. “I’m already pregnant, so what other shenanigans could I get myself into?” (Juno)

Not so surprisingly, the number one most memorable quote on our list comes from a film that, at times, felt like one long memorable movie quote thanks, in part, to an Oscar-winning script from a girl who kinda invented her own teen-centric language just for this film. Though this quote isn’t one of the odder ones strewn throughout the movie (“honest to blog,” “Yo Yo Yiggady Yo” and “This is one doodle that can't be un-did, Homeskillet” take the cake in that department), it’s probably the most memorable because it’s the one that best clearly defines the Juno character (played expertly by Ellen Page); one who’s sweet and determined, but perhaps a little too smart for her own good.

Which one-liner is your favorite quote from a movie of the last ten years?