Love them or hate them, it’s a fact that many movies become instant classics because of a good catchphrase. Just look at some of last year’s Best Picture contenders: No Country for Old Men had, “Call it, friend-o” and There Will Be Blood had the oddly brilliant, “I drink your milkshake!”, accompanied with the lesson to never go bowling with Daniel Day-Lewis. Heck, the entire script of Juno reads like an endless series of catchphrases cleverly strung together to form a plot (honest to blog!).

So what memorable lines can we take away from 2008?

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: “I was born under unusual circumstances.”
• Frost/Nixon: “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal!”
• Milk: “My name is Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you!”
• The Reader: I can’t even think of a good possibility from The Reader.
• Slumdog Millionaire: “It is written.”

You call those catchphrases? None of them have the staying power of the brilliantly timed, “I’ll have what she’s having,” or the inane inaccuracy of, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” A good catchphrase needs to be able to be worked into conversations and repeated to your friends ad nauseum. Whether you want to admit it or not, everyone at one time or another has requested that someone "show me the money!"

But who knows, maybe you’ll find it hilarious to tell people you were born under unusual circumstances...but that’s just like, your opinion, man…

Photo © 20th Century Fox