Entertainment
31 '90s Movie Posters That Still Make No Sense
One of my favorite things about going to the movies is walking around the lobby and looking at the framed, one-sheet posters of upcoming film releases. Pursuing full-size new movie posters is part of the theater experience that streaming channels can’t quite replicate. Movie posters have the difficult job of summing up a movie’s tone, story, and appeal, all in a single graphic. There are designs that have become classics, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show lips or Jaws floating right below a bikini-clad swimmer. But some movie posters — especially ones from the ‘90s — can be a little misleading about the subject matter, or just not seem to have a real purpose. These 31 ‘90s movie posters seriously make no sense, even when viewed today.
It’s not that all of these movie posters are bad, exactly. (Though, let’s be real: some of them very much are.) You might even see some of your favorites on this list — even images that have become iconic. But look at each one individually. Really look, and try to imagine that you know nothing about the movies they’re advertising. Now, could you blame an uninformed viewer for getting confused? Keep on clicking to see the 31 movie posters from the ‘90s that still, to this day, make zero sense.
1. The Silence Of The Lambs
Sure, it gets explained in the film, but this poster seems like the harrowing tale of what happens when a woman wears sticky lip gloss under a street lamp at night. Moth face.
2. Tommy Boy
A fully-grown man picks his 15-year-old son up from his snooty prep school for summer vacation. Road trip hijinks ensue.
3. American Beauty
My first thought as a kid upon seeing this poster was that this most be a movie about nude figure drawing models at a small-town community college. My second thought was that I would definitely watch that.
4. Showgirls
Saved By The Bell's Elizabeth Berkeley stars as... A Leg?
5. Reindeer Games
I don't see any reindeer in this poster at all, so I can only assume they arrive in an 11th hour plot twist, possibly with machine guns.
6. The Frighteners
The story of a haunted trampoline and the ghouls living under it.
7. My Girl
What makes no sense about this poster is that it seems like this is a movie that will make you smile like the cutie pies on the poster and not, in fact, rip your heart out of your chest and throw it into the sun.
8. Glengarry Glen Ross
Didn't that movie about the tightrope walker came out 20+ years after this?
9. Groundhog Day
Apparently, Bill Murray's character is trapped in a clock, and Andie McDowell's character is the mischievous witch who put him there. Sure, it goes with the movie's theme, but come on.
10. Encino Man
Corrected pull quote: "If you like Wayne's World, you should just watch Wayne's World again instead."
11. Blank Check
This is not a movie about a child who is mugged 30 seconds after leaving the bank with an unzipped backpack full of hundreds.
12. A Bronx Tale
Who will win in the battle of the giant faces? The guy in the middle is not sticking around to find out.
13. Sphere
A drama about a new sci-fi themed SnapChat filter.
14. Phenomenon
John Travolta plays a powerful giant who allows couples to nestle in the soft corduroy of his giant jacket, apparently..
15. The Long Kiss Goodnight
Something went wrong when Samuel L. Jackson and Geena Davis put their photos into one of those "what would our kid look like?" apps.
16. So I Married An Axe Murderer
Mike Meyers has to escape San Francisco before a graphic designer blurs into oblivion.
17. Devil's Advocate
"Never speak to me or my son ever again," this confusing poster seems to be saying.
18. The Pelican Brief
In which Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts commandeer your public library for a really intense online RPG.
19. Sleepless In Seattle
She's nocturnal; he lives in a land where it's always daytime. Can they reconcile their differences and make it work?
20. Kingpin
I don't even know where to start.
21. Election
Reese Witherspoon swallows tiny Matthew Broderick. He becomes her conscience. That's Election, right?
22. Soapdish
This is a dramatization of that time you tried to squeeze six too many people into a wedding reception photobooth.
23. Death Becomes Her
A witch and her magic cleavage wreak havoc. Can they be stopped?
24. While You Were Sleeping
A dark story of a man fighting his urge to throw things and people onto train tracks.
25. Waiting For Guffman
Someone cast your high school drama teacher in a movie. Actually, that's a pretty accurate description of this film.
26. Ransom
Mel Gibson spends the whole movie looking for his son, not realizing there's about a dozen of him right behind him.
27. Point Break
Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze are emo because they forgot to bring their masks for the presidential-themed fancy dress beach party.
28. Batman Returns
A team of armored penguins takes on a three-headed giant? Sure, why not.
29. Necessary Roughness
Not a Pixar movie about a sentient football, unfortunately.
30. Thelma & Louise
This must be a gal pal road trip movie with a happy ending!
31. Sabrina
Harrison Ford falls in love with a chic ghost, this poster says. He's a little embarrassed about it.
