13 Films That Would Be Incredibly Boring If They Took Their Titles Literally 😂

What's in a name?

That famous question posed by Juliet to Romeo in a play by William Shakespeare whose title is in fact relatively self-explanatory. However, stories aren't always so true to their name.

You would expect movie titles to match the plot of the film. But that's rarely ever the case. For most movies, if you were just given the title without any background information, they may allude to an entirely different plot than is actually the case.

Reddit user zev_3 focused on this fact when posting this question:

"What movie plot would probably sound boring if the plot was literally based on the title of a movie?"

Here are 13 of the best answers:

1. The Fifth Element:

The Fifth Element. A movie about Boron.

-Possibly_NSFW

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2. Rush Hour:

Rush Hour would just be a movie about a guy driving home from work, but the actual runtime of the film would be 45 minutes longer than advertised.

-PrinceOfTheSword

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3. The Godfather:

The Godfather. Just a guy witnessing the baptism of his godson.

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4. Paycheck:

Paycheck. Dude goes to work. The climax is him getting his check and putting it in the bank.

-muyacerov

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5. American Pie:

American pie.
Just 2 hours of an apple pie.
American pie 2.
Added a pie.

-michonne_impossible

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6. The Matrix:

The Matrix
The movie is just the first lecture of a linear algebra class

-totallynot14_

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7. Law Abiding Citizen:

Law abiding citizen
Nothing quite like the exciting tale of some dude not breaking any laws the absolute madman

-SkyGuardianOfTheSky

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8. The Silence of the Lambs (aka, the self-explanatory one):

the silence of the lambs

-tianepteen

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9. Trainspotting:

Trainspotting
Noel Gallagher actually turned down the opportunity to do the soundtrack because "a movie about trainspotters sounds ------- boring"

-WarEagle55

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10. 127 Hours:

127 Hours, just really looong

-thedutchmerchant

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11. Fifty Shades of Grey:

Based on the book:

4e5054, #272727, #282828, #292929, #2b2b2b, #2c2c2c, #2e2e2e, #313131, #323232, #343434, #353535, #373737, #393939, #3a3a3a, #3c3c3c, #3f3f3f, #404040, #424242, #444444, #454545, #474747, #484848, #4a4a4a, #4b4b4b, #4d4d4d, #4e4e4e, #505050, #515151, #535353, #565656, #575757, #585858, #595959, #5b5b5b, #5c5c5c, #5e5e5e, #616161, #626262, #646464, #656565, #676767, #6a6a6a, #6b6b6b, #6c6c6c, #6d6d6d, #6f6f6f, #727272, #737373, #757575, #767676, #777777, #7b7b7b, #7c7c7c, #7d7d7d, #7e7e7e, #808080, #818181, #838383, #868686, #878787, #888888, #898989, #8b8b8b, #8c8c8c, #8e8e8e, #919191, #929292, #949494, #959595, #979797, #9a9a9a, #9b9b9b, #9c9c9c, #9d9d9d, #9f9f9f, #a0a0a0, #a2a2a2, #a5a5a5, #a6a6a6, #a8a8a8, #a9a9a9, #ababab, #aeaeae, #afafaf, #b0b0b0

-classified0

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12.Silent Hill:

It's just Jonah Hill sitting in his house reading a book for two hours, not making a sound.

-PDXGinger

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13. Schindler's List:

Schindler's List
just a guy going shopping, checking his list every few seconds

-tianepteen

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A version of this article originally appeared on Press Association.