Movie Taglines Match Game Trivia Quiz

Answer: Singin' in the Rain

What a memorable scene: Gene Kelly carrying an umbrella and dancing through the puddles during a rainstorm as he sings the title song, which was first heard onscreen in 'The Hollywood Revue of 1929'. This 1952 film was actually designed to display the studio's collection of songs written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Gerb Brown for a number of different musicals, with a handful of new pieces.

Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are silent movie stars whose next project is planned to be a talkie, meaning they need a whole new skill set. Lina's voice doesn't work well, and there are numerous technical problems before Don's friend Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) comes up with the idea of turning it into a musical, and using Kathy (an aspiring actress with whom Don has fallen in love, played by Debbie Reynolds) to dub Lina's voice. Needless to say, the film is a success, Kathy becomes a star, and love is triumphant.

Answer: Splash

The first film released by Touchstone Pictures was this 1984 romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks as Allen, who falls in love with the mysterious Madison, played by Daryl Hannah. They had met years earlier, when they were children, and she saved him from drowning, in a scene that is mirrored by the film's ending.

When they meet as adults, things are more complicated - the fact that she develops a fishlike lower half when she gets wet tends to create problems as she tries to appear like a human. Eugene Levy plays Dr. Kornbluth, the scientist who has realised the truth and is determined to expose Madison.

His success leads to her capture, but Allen manages to free her before the planned killing and dissection, and the couple return to finish their lives under the sea.

Answer: St. Elmo's Fire

This 1985 coming-of-age film, from director Joel Shumacher, is one of the quintessential 'brat-pack' moves, featuring Rob Lowe (as Billy), Demi Moore (as Jules), Andrew McCarthy (as Kevin), Judd Nelson (as Alec), Ally Sheedy (as Leslie), Emilio Estevez (as Kirby), Mare Winningham (as Wendy) and Andie McDowell (as Dale).

The group are all coming to grips with the responsibilities of adulthood, and making a number of predictable mistakes along the way. St Elmo's is the name of the bar where they hang out to share their stories with each other, as well as establishing somewhat rotating romantic relationships. By the end of the film, they are, as a group, sadder and wiser. When Billy leaves for New York City, the rest decide to meet for brunch the next day - but at a new venue, where there are more adults and fewer kids.

Answer: Dangerous Liaisons

Christopher Hampton, who wrote the screenplay for this 1998 film, based it on his 1985 play based on the 1782 epistolary French novel 'Les liaisons dangereuses'. As the title suggests, the action focuses on the use of sex as a weapon for revenge and as a form of competition.

The Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) plans to get back at her ex-lover by having his sweet young fiancée Cécile (Uma Thurman) be seduced, and asks another ex-lover, the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) to do the deed. He, however, has his sights set on seducing the exceedingly virtuous Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer).

They make a bet to see who can succeed first in their schemes. It does not end well for anyone involved.

Answer: A League Of Their Own

This is the second film in the quiz featuring the inimitable Tom Hanks, which is why his costar was nominated for 'Splash'. The 1992 comedy-drama, directed by Penny Marshall, is based on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was set up in 1943 to provide an alternative sport spectacle, with men's baseball hampered by a number of players fighting in World War II, and lasted until 1954.

Tom Hanks plays Jimmy Duggan, the alcoholic ex-player who has been appointed manager of the Rockford Peaches. His team includes sisters Dottie (Geena Davis) and Kit (Lori Petty) as catcher and star pitcher, until their mutual discord leads to Kit's trade to the Racine Belles. They meet up as opponents in the final game of the World Series, in which both play pivotal roles, and finish up reconciling. Along the way, there is a lot of athletic prowess displayed and friendships formed between the team members, who include taxi dancer and centre fielder Mae (Madonna), her best friend, a bouncer turned right fielder named Doris (Rosie O'Donnell).

Answer: The Shawshank Redemption

In this 2000 film based on a Stephen King novella, Tim Robbins plays Andy Dufresne, a banker sentenced to serve two life sentences for the murder of his wife and her lover, a murder he did not commit. While serving his sentence in Shawshank State Prison, he joins forces with Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), a fellow inmate who procures a small rock hammer and a large poster of Raquel Welch (replacing Rita Hayworth in the novella) that he uses to conceal the escape tunnel he tortuously digs over 20 years.

That isn't actually the focus of the story, though - much more time is spent on Andy's relationships inside the prison, including setting up a money-laundering scheme for the warden that will eventually lead to his reunion with Red on a beach in Mexico, loaded with cash, after Red is paroled and Andy escapes through his tunnel.

Answer: My Best Friend's Wedding

This 1997 romantic comedy featured a number of songs from Hal David and Burt Bacharach - and that tells you a lot about its tone. Julie Roberts stars as Julianne, who realises she is in love with best friend Michael (Dermot Mulroney) only after he becomes engaged to Kimmy (Cameron Diaz).

She sets out to stop the wedding in a series of increasingly convoluted and desperate attempts, and nearly succeeds, until she finally realises that Michael and Kimmy belong together, and she needs to move on with her own life.

Answer: Being John Malkovich

Once you accept the premise that a bored clerk named Craig (John Cusack) can crawl through a hidden door and find himself inside the mind of John Malkovich (who provides a satirical version of himself) before being ejected onto the side of the road, you can relax and enjoy the ride in this 1999 fantasy.

As others share the surreal experience, things get quite complicated - while Craig's wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz) is being John Malkovich, his co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener) falls in love with her - but only while Lotte is inside John's mind. Maxine's child, Emily, is conceived under those conditions, and becomes the new portal target when John Malkovich turns 44 and becomes permanently inhabited by Dr Lester (Orson Bean). When Craig next uses the portal, he finds himself trapped inside Emily, forced to watch Lotte and Maxine living happily without him.

Confused? So are they.

Answer: The Whole Nine Yards

That hitman is Jimmy "the Tulip" Tudeski (Bruce Willis), who has recently become a neighbour of Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky (Matthew Perry), a mild-mannered dentist whose life is about to become very complicated. It turns out that his assistant, Jill (Amanda Peet), is also a professional killer who has been hired by Oz's wife, Sophie (Rosanna Arquette), to kill him, but called it off because he was so nice. Her skills will come in useful as Oz negotiates the underworld into which Sophie throws him headlong when she insists he needs to let mob boss Janni Gogolak (Kevin Pollack) know where Jimmy is hiding, and claim a reward.

Everyone is gunning for everyone else, but by the end of things Jimmy and Jill are united, while Oz and Jimmy's ex-wife Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge) are seen dancing above Niagara Falls.

Answer: Meet the Parents

This 2000 film is a remake of a 1992 independent film that had limited distribution. The Universal Pictures version was successful enough to engender several sequels and a couple of television shows: the 2002 reality show, 'Meet My Folks', featured men being subjected to a lie detector interrogation by their prospective father-in-laws, while the sitcom 'In-Laws' ran in that same season. Neither was much of a success, unlike this movie, made memorable by the comedic talents of Ben Stiller, and Robert de Niro's ability to be both threatening and humorous as the situation requires.

Ben Stiller plays Greg Focker, a nurse who is visiting the family of his girlfriend, Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), for her sister's wedding. He plans to propose to her after he has impressed the family, but (of course) things go dreadfully awry, starting with lost luggage that contained the engagement ring, and spiraling downhill. Her father, Jack (Robert de Niro), is an ex-CIA agent with more than a touch of paranoia, who is extremely possessive of his family, and suspicious of Greg's intentions. After the wedding descends into chaos, everyone in the Byrnes family (except Pam) agrees that he needs to leave. However, Pam's mother Dina (Blythe Danner) eventually makes Jack acknowledge that he is being unreasonable. When he realises that Greg and Pam love each other, he relents; Greg, however, is not so sure he wants Jack as a father-in-law, but accepts Jack's apology and promise to be more reasonable in the future. Now it's time for the Byrnes family to meet the Fockers.