It can be a bit disheartening to walk out of a theater for one of the year’s most anticipated comedies and feel like you have heard all the best jokes before. As a clever, yet familiar one-liner or gag makes its way to the screen, you may believe you are experiencing deja vu, but perhaps you are simply forgetting the fact that you have already heard this joke before in the film’s trailer.
With movie teasers popping up before each YouTube video we watch, and television spots littered throughout the commercials of our favorite programs, it can be easy to hear the same joke from a film, over and over again. By the time we purchase our tickets for the latest Hollywood comedy, it is possible that the best gags have already been spoiled for us. Acknowledging that fact, this list is comprised of comedy trailers that, perhaps, over generously shared a bit too much of the film’s best material.
Here are the 11 Comedy Trailers That Spoiled The Best Jokes.
11. The Internship
Riding the nostalgic coattails of the duos earlier success, Wedding Crashers, the comedic team of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson returned eight years later to deliver an uplifting, feel-good comedy by the name of The Internship. The film may have been doomed at the start, in that it could never escape the shadow of their former project, but it did not assist its ratings much that the movie as a whole felt much more like an inspirational drama with comedic elements, rather than a straight up comedy like the trailers might lead audiences to believe. Not to mention, the genuinely funny comedic moments that found their way into The Internship were already present in the film’s trailer.
Perhaps this film may have been better received if it were perhaps promoted as a drama about a couple of down on their luck salesmen looking to chase their dreams, rather than a hilarious “I’m too old for this” romp from the team that brought us Wedding Crashers. Still, that does not change the fact that this trailer truly spoils the best gags that the film has to offer, leaving many audience members a bit disappointed.
10. Deadpool
To add a quick disclaimer, we are big fans of Deadpool. One only needs to take a gander over at Screen Rant’s review of the film to see that we thoroughly enjoyed this Ryan Reynolds-led comic book movie. That being said, the trailers for this film certainly serve potential moviegoers with a lot of the script’s comedic material. Honestly, there is no reason that the film’s second trailer needs to be three minutes long. With the tons and tons of promotional material that were already being doled out by 20th Century Fox and the Deadpool marketing team, this trailer probably could have been cut almost an entire minute earlier and still been just as effective.
When it is all said and done however, this movie is hilarious, and by all accounts, a massive success. Still, we cannot help but feeling that a few of these jokes were let loose a little early, and it certainly would have been nice to experience lines such as “I never say this, but don’t swallow” for the first time at the theater. While the trailers did not ruin the cinematic experience of witnessing Deadpool for the first time by any stretch, it still would have been preferred if a few more of the screenplay’s quality comedic bits would have been kept from the fans until the film’s release date.
9. A Million Ways to Die in the West
From the guy that brought you Ted and Family Guy comes a movie in which the trailer will spoil all the great comedic moments beforehand. In retrospect, it was probably a bad sign that the jokes from the first trailer were all basically reused in the second, leading us to believe that the film did not have much else to offer. Still, it would have been nice if a few of these gems were saved for the final product.
A Million Ways to Die in the Westis not revered as a great comedy, but even when Seth MacFarlane fails, he is still good for a quality laugh or two. That being said, it would have been nice if audiences could have first experienced these gags at the theater, rather than in a preview for upcoming attractions. It probably would not have saved this film, but it certainly did not help that these quality gags felt a little lackluster at the cinema due to a familiar feeling, like perhaps we have seen this all before.
8. Sex Tape
Okay, so even some of the jokes in the trailer for Sex Tape were a bit hit and miss, but it is still, by definition, a trailer that spoils all the best jokes. It just so happens that there are simply not that many funny scenes in this movie. That being said, the few quality moments of comedy that do make its way on screen are definitely spoiled in the film’s trailer.
Like the majority of the titles on this list, the marketing team simply suffered from a lack of material. It is the job of a trailer to make moviegoers want to see the film, and packing a two or three minute promotional video full of the movie’s best jokes is certainly a way to do that. It is also a good way to set audiences up for disappointment. At the end of the day, if Sex Tape were a funnier film, the marketing team would have had much more quality material to work with, and maybe would not have given us nearly every funny moment from this comedy, but as it turned out, that was not the case.
7. White Chicks
Okay, maybe this is one we should have seen coming. Marlon and Shawn Wayans dressing up as white girls for an entire movie might sound like an overly ridiculous premise (and it certainly proved to be), but after the great box office successes that were Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2, the general public was a bit more accepting of oddball comedies featuring these two. White Chicks might have been a critically reviled, elongated version of what appeared to be a rejected Saturday Night Live sketch, but that is not to say that there were not funny moments throughout the movie.
It just so happens that pretty much all of those memorable and hilarious moments can be found in the film’s trailer as well. It certainly does not help matters that many of the movie’s other jokes fell flat, but looking back, this is certainly a preview that does not hold back, and as a result, gives audiences all of the quality laughs months ahead of schedule.
6. Land of the Lost
Will Ferrell comedies can be a bit hit or miss among moviegoers, but it is widely agreed by fans and critics alike that Land of the Lost is not one of his finer efforts. Following financial hits Step Brothers and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Ferrell-led comedies at the time were simply “must-sees” for fans of the genre. Seeing as how this film was slammed by critics and is largely considered by fans as one of the worst movies starring the beloved comedian, we suppose that the marketing team did not have much to work with.
The trailer to this eight-time Razzie nominated comedy gave audiences all of the best jokes, simply due to the fact that quality gags were hard to come by throughout this film. Apparently spoiling all of the best comedic moments of this movie was still not enough for moviegoers, as Land of the Lost failed to gross even $20 million dollars on its opening weekend, and went on to be known as one of the most all-time expensive box office flops.
5. Dumb and Dumber To
It is no secret that Dumb and Dumber To was found to be a bit disappointing for fans of the original, and this is due to several factors. One of these factors being that the movie’s trailer gives away all of the best humorous bits from this sequel. There were definitely some laughs to be had throughout this comedy follow up, but between over generous promotional material, and the film feeling a bit like a copy and pasted version of the original, it was hard not to walk out a bit disheartened.
The majority of the original jokes this script did have were given away freely by the movie’s trailer, leaving audiences with the fan serviced, callback gags harkening to back to 1994. The mentioning of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels returning for a sequel to the beloved Farrelly Brothers comedy would most likely have been enough to attract potential moviegoers, but of course, the trailer proceeded to give us far too much, and as a result, spoiled some of the film’s best original jokes.
4. The Night Before
The trailer for the Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie-led holiday comedy The Night Before was exciting for fans of raunchy, R-rated comedies, because there were simply lots of laughs packed into two and a half minutes. Disappointingly enough, however, these gags as found in the trailer were largely the best jokes from the entire film. We understand that a trailer’s job is to sell the movie to potential audiences, but this one really gives prospective audiences everything the film had to offer.
The church scene with Seth Rogen is arguably the best ten minutes throughout the entire film, and all of the best jokes from that interaction can largely be found in this preview. The marketing team behind this trailer wanted to make a lasting impression on the viewer, and that is exactly what they did. Unfortunately, it came at the price of compromising the enjoyment of seeing this altercation for the first time in the theater.
3. Zoolander 2
The entirety or this trailer’s hilarious reel of gags were the exact reasons that fans of the original film were excited about the follow up to the adventures of the “really, really, ridiculously good looking” male model, Derek Zoolander. The appearance of Justin Bieber, surprisingly enough to some, was one of the movie’s funniest scenes, but this moment was tarnished by the fact that the audience could see it coming from a mile away due to the trailer.
Still, if Bieber would have been one of the only jokes spoiled, Zoolander 2would not have made this list. Unfortunately enough, this trailer really reveals all of the best laughs that this film has to offer. Largely, this sequel to the beloved Ben Stiller written and directed satire was seen as a disappointing endeavor, but even some of the few funnier moments throughout this movie were less impactful due to the realization that we had seen them all before.
2. The Dictator
In 2012, The Dictator looked to be one of the more anticipated comedies of the year, and rightfully so. While all film is subjective, and comedy being arguably the most subjective of all the genres, many thought that this trailer was simply hilarious. The general public was hoping for a return to form for Sacha Baron Cohen more in line with his 2006 film, Borat, but were left feeling a bit disappointed. Part of the reason for that being, the trailer for the film simply gave away all of the funniest and most memorable gags.
Like most of the entries on this list, it probably says more about the film itself that pretty much all of the script’s best jokes can be given away in less then three minutes, but still, that does not change the fact that nearly all of the memorable moments from this comedy can be relived in this 150 second trailer. Between the 100 meter race, as seen early on in this trailer, and the helicopter ride at the end of it, the audience is basically treated to the film’s funniest moments before they even step foot in the theater.
1. Without a Paddle
Without a Paddle had a few laughs throughout the film, but the movie as a final product had a couple of issues. Firstly, quality jokes were too few and far between, and also, the best and most memorable gags from the movie can all be found in the trailer. If one were to simply sit down for two and a half minutes and watch the preview for this comedy, they would legitimately have seen the best of what this screenplay has to offer.
This Seth Green, Matthew Lilard, and Dax Shepard led comedy may not be quite as bad as critical reviews might lead us to believe, but still, it is hard to argue with anyone who walked out a bit disappointed because they felt as though they had seen the best parts of the movie before it even started. The interactions between Seth Green and the bear, along with the three friends cuddling for warmth in the middle of the woods on a cold, rainy night to the tune of R. Kelly’s “Bump and Grind” are among the most memorable from the entire film, and you could have seen it all months before the movie ever came arrived in theaters.
What do you think of our list? What are some movies that you believe were spoiled a bit by their respective trailers, and which teasers gave us all the good jokes too early? Make sure to let us hear it in the comments section.
