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M ovie insults have been a part of cinema since the very beginning.
Despite the changing face of film over the decades, scriptwriters will always relish the opportunity to let their characters speak awful words they could never get away with in real life.
The truth is, everybody loves a movie insult. A well-timed put-down can make any film more memorable, regardless of genre.
Knowing where to find the best examples of insults can be an overwhelming task. There are the obvious – the ones whose quotability ensured a film’s legendary status – but dig deep, and there are an entire heap of gems to discover.
Featured in this list are films as early as 1933, ranging right through to 2019 (full disclosure: the insults from some of these films are better than the actual films themselves).
So, from the Avengers films and Star Wars to Erin Brockovich and Oscar-winning Yorgos Lanthimos film The Favourite , these are the 49 best movie insults of all time.
Click through the gallery below to see which insults made the list.
Show all 49 1 /49The 65 best movie insults of all time The 65 best movie insults of all time Avengers Assemble (2012) "This is my bargain, you mewling quim."
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) "Hey, where'd you get those clothes, the toilet store?"
DreamWorks Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Bad Moms (2016) "Well, you look like a bag of d***s"
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time Blade: Trinity (2004) "You c*ck-juggling thunderc***!"
New Line Cinema
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Breakfast Club (1985) "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?"
Universal Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) "If staying here means working within 10 yards of you, frankly, I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse."
Universal Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Bull Durham (1988) "From what I hear, you couldn't hit water if you fell out of a f***ing boat."
Orion Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Campaign (2012) "You know what the difference between your momma and a washing machine is? When I dump a load in a machine, the machine doesn't follow me around for three weeks."
Warner Bros Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Casino (1995) "You horse manure smelling motherf***er, you."
Universal Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Closer (2004) "Go f*** yourself, you WRITER!"
Columbia Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Con Air (1997) "You're somewhere between a cockroach and that white stuff that accumulates at the corner of your mouth when you're really thirsty."
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Death of Stalin (2017) "You smell like rendered horse, you burning a**hole."
eOne Films
The 65 best movie insults of all time Donnie Darko (2001) "You can go suck a f***."
Pandora Cinema
The 65 best movie insults of all time Duck Soup (1933) "He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you – he really is an idiot."
Paramount Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Erin Brockovich (2000) "That's all you got, lady - two wrong feet and f***ing ugly shoes."
Columbia Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Favourite (2018) "You look like a badger."
Fox Searchlight Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time A Fish Called Wanda (1988) "To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people."
The 65 best movie insults of all time Gangs of New York (2002) “I don’t give a tuppeny f*** about your moral conundrum, you meat-headed s*** sack.”
Miramax Films
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Hangover (2009) "You are literally too stupid to insult."
Warner Bros. Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time His Girl Friday (1940) "Listen, you insignificant, square-toed, pimple-headed spy!"
Columbia Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Home Alone (1990) "You're what the French call: 'les incompetents'."
DON SMETZER/20TH CENTURY FOX/The Kobal Collection/WireImage.com
The 65 best movie insults of all time In Bruges (2008) "YOU'RE AN INANIMATE F***ING OBJECT!"
Universal Studios/Focus Features
The 65 best movie insults of all time Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) Perry : "Look up 'idiot' in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?"
Harry : "A picture of me?"
Perry : "No! The definition of the word idiot, which you f***ing are."
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time Knocked Up "Your face looks like Robin Williams' knuckles.”
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) "Were you always this stupid or did you take lessons?"
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) "My great aunt Jennifer ate a whole box of candy every day of her life. She lived to be 102 and when she'd been dead three days, she looked better than you do now."
Warner Bros.
The 65 best movie insults of all time Matilda (1996) "Your mummy is a TWIT."
TriStar Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Mist (2007) “I’ll tell you what. The day I need a friend like you, I’ll just have myself a little squat and s*** one out.”
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
EMI Films
The 65 best movie insults of all time National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, d***less, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey s*** he is."
The 65 best movie insults of all time Parenthood (1989) "I wouldn't live with you if the world were flooded with piss and you lived in a tree."
Universal Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Phantom Thread (2018) "Are you a special agent sent here to ruin my evening and possibly my entire life?"
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time Point Break (1991) "You're a real blue flame special, aren't you, son? Young, dumb and full of cum. What I don't know is how you got assigned here. Guess we must just have ourselves an asshole shortage, huh?"
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Princess Bride (1987) "I'll explain and I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand, you warthog faced buffoon."
Vestron Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Say Anything (1989) "I got a question: if you guys know so much about women, how come you're here on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?"
The 65 best movie insults of all time Scarface (1983) "Even if I were blind, desperate, starved and begging for it on a desert island, you'd be the last thing I'd ever f***."
Universal Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time School of Rock (2004) "You're tacky and I hate you"
The 65 best movie insults of all time Sexy Beast (2000) "You're the f***ing problem you f***ing Dr White honkin' jam-rag f***ing spunk-bubble!"
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time She's All That (1999) "To everyone here who matters, you're spam. You're vapour. A waste of perfectly good yearbook space."
Miramax Films
The 65 best movie insults of all time Shrek (2000) "You dense, irritating, miniature beast of a burden."
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) "Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder."
20th Century Fox
The 65 best movie insults of all time Step Brothers (2008) "You're not a doctor. You're a big fat curly headed f***."
REX
The 65 best movie insults of all time There Will Be Blood (2007) "You're just the afterbirth, Eli, slithered out on your mother's filth. They should have put you in glass jar on a mantelpiece."
Paramount Vantage/Miramax Films
The 65 best movie insults of all time Three Amigos (1986) "You dirt-eating piece of slime. You scum-sucking pig. You son of a motherless goat."
Orion Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Toy Story (1995) "You are a sad strange little man, and you have my pity."
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
The 65 best movie insults of all time Wayne's World (1992) "Benjamin is nobody's friend. If Benjamin were an ice cream flavour, he'd be pralines and d***."
Paramount Pictures
The 65 best movie insults of all time Withnail & I (1987) "Monty, you terrible c***."
HandMade Films
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Wizard of Oz (1939) "You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!"
Loew's, Inc.
The 65 best movie insults of all time The Women (1939) "You wanna see a bad facelift? Helen Danvers, two o'clock. She looks like she's re-entering the Earth's atmosphere."
REX
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