Once you start commemorating an entire year in film, it's hard to stop. I'd apologize, except I think I'm onto a provocative topic: What is the single funniest line of dialogue in 2011? Was it in a straight comedy, or did a serious actor utter it in a moment of surprise levity? Or is a woman responsible for the year's most hilarious quip?
I don't quite get the abject adoration of Bridesmaids, but if we're trying to come up with the funniest line of the year, I say we look no further than the airplane scene where a drunken Annie (Kristen Wiig) argues with an unamused flight attendant. After Annie drunkenly notices his "Steve" nametag and misreads it as "Stove," the flight attendant replies with a throwaway quip that I still laugh -- nay, scream -- at today.
Annie: What kind of a name is 'Stove' anyway? What, are you like a kitchen appliance or something?
Flight Attendant Steve: No. My name is Steve and I'm a man.
"My name is Steve and I'm a man" is almost unthinkably funny. I don't know if Steve is just humorless or slightly autistic or slightly a genius or what, but the surprise declaration that he's a member of the human race is... just unexpected. And funny. And I'm actually crying through my own laughter, if we're being honest.
What say you? Does Bridesmaids take the cake, or do you prefer the surlier one-liners from, say, Young Adult?