Movies That Aren't Nearly as Boring as Their Movie Titles Make Them Sound

The new war comedy 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' has the sort of intellectually challenging title that can make theater-goers skip straight to Disney's 'A Christmas Carol' or something that goes down more smoothly ('The Fourth Kind,' anyone?).

But, au contraire, check out this list of good-to-great movies with titles that may have scared audiences away in their day.

'The Constant Gardener' (2005)
When was the last time you saw a good movie about a gardener? OK, what about one who gardens constantly?

'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991)
Both silence and lambs just make us plain sleepy.

'Ordinary People' (1980)
What could be more boring than watching ordinary people do ordinary things? Seinfeld, of course, would revolutionize this notion.

'A Streetcar Named Desire' (1951)
Desire is good, but streetcar may have sounded hot back in the day; today, not so much.

'Milk' (2008)
The story of the country's first openly gay elected official, wonderfully captured by Sean Penn = far more entertaining than a documentary on the opaque white dairy product.

'A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints' (2006)
If people wanted guides, they'd go to bookstores and libraries. And they don't.

'To Kill a Mockingbird' (1962)
There are some creatures, like ferrets, we'd prefer to not see on a movie screen-and the mockingbird is toward the top of that list.

'Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice' (1969)
Plain names separated by ampersands just don't scream, "see this movie!"

'The Thin Red Line' (1998)
We know Terrence Malick can be superfluously arty, so who knows, maybe he would invite us to stare at an actual thin red line for 170 minutes.

Π (1998)
Don't mean to beat up on director Darren Aronofsky (who also directed 'Requiem for a Dream'), but his cerebral titles often assume audiences have fond memories of their school years.

Where Films' Titles Come From