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22 Movie Jokes People Admit They Didn’t Understand Until Literal Years Later
22 Movie Jokes People Admit They Didn't Understand Until Literal Years Later,"I watched <i>Mary Poppins</i> when I was 4, and I didn't get that joke until I was 30."

22 Movie Jokes People Admit They Didn’t Understand Until Literal Years Later

Recently, in a thread on the subreddit r/movies, redditor u/ferrous_second_vowel asked for movie lovers to name “movie jokes you didn’t get until years later,” and people really came through with some absolutely hilarious examples!

BBC

So, with that in mind, here are just a few of the most popular responses shared:

1. Men in Black (1997)

Sony Pictures Releasing

“I was watching the original recently just ’cause, and it got to the part where Agent J (Will Smith) catches up to a fleeing criminal. He waves his badge in the guy’s face and says, ‘Do you see this? NYPD! That means ‘I will knock your punk-ass down!’ I’ve watched this movie multiple times, but for whatever reason, it was only on this viewing — 25 years after its theatrical release — that I realized the joke he was making was that ‘N.Y.P.D.’ stands for ‘I will kNock Your Punk-ass Down.”

—u/ferrous_second_vowel

2. Grease (1978)

Paramount Pictures

“For me, it was the scene when Kenickie refers to a condom as a ’25-cent insurance policy.'”

—u/Magnet5150

3. Addams Family Values (1993)

Paramount Pictures

“When Wednesday’s sort-of-boyfriend is showing her his collection of serial killer baseball cards, he says, ‘I’ve got ’em all. I’m only missing Jack the Ripper and that Zodiac guy.’ I didn’t realize until later the joke was that Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer were two serial killers who were never caught.”

—u/cerberaspeedtwelve

4. Forrest Gump (1994)

Paramount Pictures

“When Bubba asks Forrest, ‘You ever been on a shrimp boat?’ and he replies, ‘No, I been on a real big boat.’ This one probably took me 20 years and 60 watches to get.”

—u/feardabear

5. The Big Lebowski (1998)


Paramount Pictures

“I had no idea Airplane! was, in parts, a shot-for-shot spoof of the movie Zero Hour! Growing up, I knew it had elements of disaster tropes, but seeing some of the scenes and plot points side-by-side makes it even better.”

—u/antonimbus

7. Ghostbusters (1984)

Columbia Pictures

“I missed the joke that Louis Tully was ‘the Keymaster,’ but he kept locking himself out of his own apartment.”

—u/VelvetGoatcheese

8. Wayne’s World (1992)

Wayne’s World

“It took me 30 years of watching this movie to realize why ‘Noah’s Arcade’ promotes that they have ‘two of every game.’ Because y’know…it’s like Noah’s Arc.”

—u/billyrivers311

9. Hercules (1997)

Walt Disney Studios

“When Hades is tricking Hercules to go fight the Hydra, Pain and Panic are disguised as kids looking for help, and one of them yells out, ‘Someone call I X I I!’ That’s 9-1-1 in Roman numerals. I didn’t get it as a kid, and never thought about it when I watched when I was older.”

—u/Kaldricus

10. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)


New Line Cinema

“When I watched this as a kid, I never understood why people were laughing at the ‘Samsonite! I was way off!’ line until years later, while in a store, I noticed Samsonite was a brand of luggage and immediately got the joke.”

—u/SModfan

12. Back to the Future (1985)

Universal Pictures

“The Tab and Pepsi Free joke. I didn’t know those were the names of drinks.”

—u/thatoneguy112358

13. Jumanji (1995)

Sony Pictures Releasing

“When the hunter buys the gun, and the salesman asks, ‘You’re not a postal worker, are you?’ I think I thought he was just making fun of his clothes at the time because I had no idea what ‘going postal’ was.”

—u/mattmild27

14. Mary Poppins (1964)

Buena Vista Distribution Company, Inc.

“I watched Mary Poppins when I was 4, and didn’t get that joke until I was 30.”

—u/square3481

15. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)


Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

“After the swimming musical number, Miss Piggy says to Charles Grodin’s character, ‘You can’t even sing! Your voice was dubbed!’ I watched this 100 times when I was a kid, and I thought she said ‘dumb,’ which, as a kid, I already thought was really funny. But now that I know the actual line and that he was, in fact, dubbed, it’s fucking hilarious.”

—u/TheBeardedBeard

17. Toy Story (1995)

Pixar

“Buzz: ‘I think the word you’re searching for is ‘Space Ranger.’ Woody: ‘The word I’m searching for I can’t say because there are preschool toys present.'”

—u/thedelisnack

18. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

New Line Cinema

“When describing Austin’s ‘Mojo,’ Dr. Evil has a line like, ‘What the French call a certain…I don’t know what.’ I always thought the joke was that Dr. Evil was just being stupid. I didn’t learn until much later in life that this is the literal definition of ‘Je ne sais quoi.’ Upon a recent rewatch, that was probably my favorite joke in the entire franchise.”

—u/Carbonauts

19. The Mask (1994)

New Line Cinema

“Just before Jim Carrey pulls out a balloon to blow up and turn into a tommy gun to fight off the goons, he pulls out a condom and says, ‘Oops, wrong pocket!’ When I was a kid, I just thought it was an already popped balloon, so I laughed regardless.”

—u/Ripper33AU

20. George of the Jungle (1997)


Marvel Studios

“While on the Helicarrier for the first time, Captain America hands Nick Fury $10. The way the latter takes the money, I thought it was the former giving him a ‘tip’ since he’s some odd 1940s person. I rewatched it the other day and finally realized it’s a follow-up to their exchange in the gym earlier, where Captain America says that nothing could surprise him anymore, and Fury replies with ‘$10 says you’re wrong.'”

And finally:

22. Shrek (2001)

Dreamworks

“All of the Lord Farquaad jokes.”

—u/TheAssOfSpock

All right, you’ve read their picks, but now it’s your turn! What’s a movie joke you understood entirely too late? Share in the comments below!

Some responses were edited for length and/or clarity. H/T: Reddit.