"not good! not good!"

August 19, 2007 8:08 AM

what movie am i remembering? a comic scene where something crashes or goes too fast or otherwise goes wrong in a catastrophic way, and the guy exclaims, "not good! not good!"

this is driving me nuts. i feel like the movie was relatively recent, the actor may have been johnny depp, and he may have been speaking in a british accent. or not. it might have been from one of the "pirates of the caribbean" movies. or not.

hive mind, can you help?

posted by thinkingwoman to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

Sounds like it could have been from Serenity.

Though really, it sounds like it could have been from a number of films.
posted by mkultra at 8:12 AM on August 19, 2007

Response by poster: i know. i just can't remember enough of it, but it popped out after a minor household accident (exploding can of carpet cleaner--joy). i knew it wasn't original to me, and it's been bugging me ever since. :)
posted by thinkingwoman at 8:18 AM on August 19, 2007

Best answer: Johnny Depp uses that line in the first Pirates movie.
posted by kantgirl at 8:31 AM on August 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: wait! is it the scene where they're stranded on the island and he wakes up to find that whatshername set fire to all the rum?
posted by thinkingwoman at 8:45 AM on August 19, 2007

Best answer: Is this the scene you're thinking of?
posted by barnacles at 8:54 AM on August 19, 2007

Not quite "Not good," but

Ulysses Everett McGill: Damn! We're in a tight spot!

?
posted by lullabyofbirdland at 9:17 AM on August 19, 2007

Top Gun?
posted by tdogboy at 9:52 AM on August 19, 2007

Sounds like Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day, when he and Will Smith are fleeing the alien mothership.
posted by djb at 10:15 AM on August 19, 2007

I'm also thinking Jeff Goldblum, but in Jurassic Park 1 or 2...I know there's a scene where he says "Must go faster, must go faster!" and that seems related to me somehow. But djb may also have it.
posted by sarahkeebs at 10:27 AM on August 19, 2007

Terminator 2, when our heroes are in the office building, and the kid sees the police congregating outside.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:28 AM on August 19, 2007

I don't think this is a single line, from one movie--it's more an expression, isn't it? To me this seems like a pretty common way for stressed-out, dorky characters to talk, especially in movies or TV shows. (I'm pretty sure I remember George Costanza saying it more than once.)

You might be able to do the OED kinda thing, where you find the earliest instance of it being used in a movie, but I still don't think that that movie necessarily "invented" that line.
posted by LairBob at 10:43 AM on August 19, 2007

Did you ever watch The Tick animated series? It seems like something Sewer Urchin or Arthur might say. If you naturally say it like Rain Man, it's Sewer Urchin.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:45 AM on August 19, 2007

yeah, I was thinking Top Gun too.
posted by jimmyhutch at 11:00 AM on August 19, 2007

All I could think of was Rain Man
posted by mce at 12:56 PM on August 19, 2007

Rain Main.
posted by i_cola at 1:29 PM on August 19, 2007

Response by poster: barnacles: yes, that's it! the burning rum scene from "pirates of the caribbean." god, that was like having popcorn stuck between two teeth.
posted by thinkingwoman at 1:43 PM on August 19, 2007