The 25 Best Sonnings in Movie History

To son. To make someone feel the way a child does when being barked on by his or her dad. To dismantle someone with words, make a person feel small and powerless. The act of sonning—Hollywood loves it, even if the studio execs probably don't know the term.

Sonning has existed on the silver screen since the beginning of motion pictures. (Legend has it that Thomas Edison captured the early sonning of a factory worker by his boss, but the results were too stunning for general consumption and the footage was lost.) Our greatest performers have relished the moment when they get to crush a weakling with a simple phrase, a few sentences.

Bask in the glory of these verbal beatdowns. These are the 25 Best Sonnings in Movie History.

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Movie: Happy Gilmore (1996)
Who does the sonning? Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler)
Who gets sonned? Driving Rage Guy
Context: Polo'd and moneyed plebians, don't speak to the golf-ball whacking god that is Happy Gilmore. He doesn't need your patronizing suggestions about attending a tournament while he's working on the driving range. That's the lesson one lowly country club member learns in this scene. —Arianna Friedman

Movie: Heavyweights
Who does the sonning? Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller)
Who gets sonned? All of Camp Hope
Context: Heavyweights shouldn't exist. It's a Disney movie with a quasi-uplifting message about self acceptance set at a fat camp, with a script co-written by Judd Apatow. It features Ben Stiller's best comedic performance. There are moments of strange dubbing, where it looks like dialogue was altered. It's a shaggier, beautiful comedy that knows no bounds. Especially when it comes to bullying and sonning.

As Tony Perkis, the crazed fitness guru and new owner of the aforementioned fat camp, Ben Stiller leaves no explosive gesture in his gym bag. During the big weigh in that will mark the incredible, infomercial-baiting progress of the campers, something goes wrong. The kids are getting fatter. When the third camper steps to the scale and the numbers to wobbling, Perkis dismisses him and by proxy the entire camp with a snippy "Get off the scale." They have failed, and it's up to dear old Uncle Tony to teach them a severe lesson. The emasculation has just begun. —Ross Scarano

Movie: In Bruges (2008)
Who does the sonning? Ken (Brendan Gleeson)
Who gets sonned? Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes)
Context: You're guaranteed to expect to hear some unforgivable stuff when someone starts a sentence with "No disrespect." But Ken, a contract killer, took the cake, the paper plates, the decorations, and all when he sits down for a drink with his boss Harry, who's in town to kill Ray (Colin Farrell) himself, since Ken refuses to take out his friend.

Understanding he can't convince Harry to spare Ray's life, he looks his murderous boss in his eye, and calmly begins to call him a cunt, and his kids cunts. He calls him a cunt seven times in total. Calling someone the c-word is still unacceptable 99.999% of the time. And that .001% belongs to In Bruges. —Frantz Rocher

Movie: Trainspotting (1996)
Who does the sonning? Renton (Ewan McGregor)
Who gets sonned? The entire country of Scotland
Context: When Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and his pals galavant off to the countryside to appreciate the great Scottish outdoors, a fed up Renton calls bullshite. He has a point. Scots have been at the helm of scientific discovery and innovation—radars, insulin, steam engine, television, just to name a few—as well as vanguards in the early Enlightenment period (Adam Smith ring any bells?). But at the end of the day, Scotland is recognized as that backdrop for Braveheart.

Well, Renton, we can't say we understand your rapport with the Brits (and not because of the accent) but we raise a glass to you for telling it how it is no-holds-barred. And hey, at least you're not English. —Arianna Friedman

Movie: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Who does the sonning?: Aldous Snow (Russell Brand)
Who gets sonned?: Matthew the Waiter (Jonah Hill)
Context: It's never OK to be rude to waiters, but it's also rather unmannerly to pester someone for a favor when they clearly are not interested. Matthew, an overattentive waiter, just won't stop fanboying over Aldous Snow. He doesn't want much, just to hang out with his idol and to get some feedback on his music, but a tense, not to mention private, dinner is neither the time nor place.

So can we blame Aldous for being upfront and giving the world the best breakup line? If you do use it, just be super light and casual about the matter to emphasize your apathy. No sympathy for Matthew since he gets to call out—or rather whisper out—Aldous (everyone has an Aldous) for being a major asshole and mess with his food (sorry about those student loans though). —Arianna Friedman

Movie: The Color Purple (1985)
Who does the sonning? Celie Johnson (Whoopi Goldberg)
Who gets sonned? Albert (Danny Glover)
Context: A true moment of sonning involves making your opponent feel so inferior, out of their depth, and helpless so as to stun that person into disgrace. In The Color Purple, the triumphant moment comes when ALbert is going to put his hands on Celie for the upteempth time—and she stops him. In a single sentence, she makes him realize his own powerlessness. It shuts him down. —Ross Scarano

Movie: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Who does the sonning? Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder)
Who gets sonned? Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson)
Context: Let's get one thing clear. The movie is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a detail that irked author Roald Dahl during the screenwriting process so much that he eventually disowned the film. But truly, this is Wonka's show.

After sneaking away from the tour, Charlie (Peter Ostrum) and Grandpa Joe sample Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Shit nearly hits the fan, but the two still have the audacity to pester the candy genius for a lifetime supply of chocolate. If Charlie and Grandpa Joe break the rules and fail to read the fine print, they deserve to suffer the Willy's wrath. —Arianna Friedman

Movie: Remember the Titans (2000)
Who does the sonning? Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington)
Who gets sonned? Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst)
Context: Let this be a lesson to smartasses: Don't cross Coach Boone. Resistant to the integration of their football team, captain Gerry Bertier tries to lay down his racist rules to the new coach. But Coach Boone isn't one to be told what to do. To assert his authority, Boone embarrasses Bertier and his buddy, calling him Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in front of every single parent saying goodbye to their kid taking off for football camp, before instructing him to look closely at his parents. He wants him to forget their faces. From then on, in as literal a sonning as their could be, Boone's his daddy now. —Tara Aquino

Movie: 8 Mile (2002)
Who does the sonning? Rabbit (Eminem)
Who gets sonned? Papa Doc (Anthony Mackie)
Context: Rabbit isn't the luckiest kid in Detroit. He's stuck in a factory job he hates and living out of a trailer park with an equally miserable mom, with his rhymes being his only chance of escaping it all. But shit, everyone's trying to rhyme, including Papa Doc, the leader of the Free World, a rival gang along 8 Mile. In an effort to show him up, B. Rabbit turns the mic and hurls all his own insults at himself, before exposing Doc as Clarence, a lame prep school kid stunned to silence. —Tara Aquino

Movie: Dirty Harry (1971)
Who does the sonning?: Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood)
Who gets sonned?: That poor, poor bank robber (Albert Popwell)
Context: Early on in the vigilante cop movie you most likely saw referenced before you actually saw it, Harry Callahan is busting up a bank robbery the only way he knows how: with his gun, badge, and gruff sonning abilities. He catches a bullet stopping the thieves, but that doesn't prevent him from standing before one of the wounded criminals, and asking one of the most famous questions in all of the movies. Did he empty every round, he wonders aloud for the thief? Well, did he? Yes, as it turns out he did. But his words are enough to make the wounded robber give up, making this a perfect sonning. —Ross Scarano

Movie: Independence Day (1996)
Who does the sonning? Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith)
Who gets sonned? An alien
Context: At prime of his career, Will Smith was the ultimate smart-talking ass-kicker. That couldn't have been more evident than in Independence Day, where he guns down aliens with a stylish cigar in his mouth. His most hilarious takedown? The receiving end of "Welcome to Earth," a slimy creature in a spacecraft that eventually leads them into the Mothership. —Tara Aquino

Movie: True Romance (1993)
Who does the sonning? Clifford Worley (Dennis Hopper)
Who gets sonned? Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken)
Context: After his estranged son Clarence (Christian Slater) comes to him with plans to get out of Detroit and move to L.A. after killing Drexl, a pimp, stealing Drexl's drugs, and marrying a call girl, Clifford Worley is visited by gangster Vincenzo Coccotti. Coccotti wants his drugs back and he knows Clifford can help him get them. Instead of selling out his son, Clifford accepts his death and insults Coccotti and his Sicilian roots before getting shot in the head. Racial epithets aside, Clifford Worley is one brave cantaloupe. He gets his moment in the sonning, even if he does eat a bullet afterward.

Movie: Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
Who does the sonning? O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu)
Who gets sonned? The Tokyo yakuza
Context: Amidst a celebration, Boss Tanaka expresses his displeasure with O-Ren Ishii's promotion to the boss of all Tokyo bosses. Namely, he takes issue with her gender, nationality, and ethnicity, which O-Ren addresses by swiftly decapitating him in front of the rest of the council. But that's not the sonning. No, the real attack comes during her speech to her new underlings. It turns out she's a pretty open minded boss, just don't be disrespectful. Her cool composure garners respect, and a few smiles, from the rest of the room and adds a whole new dimension of badass to "keep calm and carry on." —Arianna Friedman

Movie: The Departed (2006)
Who does the sonning? Dignam (Mark Wahlberg)
Who gets sonned? Lazio (Robert Wahlberg)
Context: Dignam, a hard-nosed Boston cop, has a lot on his plate. During an operations meeting, one of the other feds asks a nosy question about the mole in Frank Costello's gang. Let's think about it—if you had an inside guy infiltrating the most wanted mob in Boston, saying anything to anyone could cause a leak. Not wanting to jeopardize the whole situation, Dignam explains, in three magical sentences, that he doesn't have time for this. —Arianna Friedman

Movie: There Will Be Blood (2007)
Who does the sonning? Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis)
Who gets sonned? Eli Sundah (Paul Dano)
Context: It's a line so absurd that it could only come from one place: Congress. During the 1924 Teapot Dome oil-drilling scandal, New Mexico senator Albert Fall used milkshakes as an analogy to defend shady business. There Will Be Blood writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson was so taken by the line that he worked the line and voracious slurp into Daniel Plainview's memorable declamation at the movie's climax. Eli Sunday, a broken man of the cloth, grovels at Plainview's feet, begging for money. And that's when Plainview gets the last word.

(Plainview also beats Sunday to death with a bowling pin, but the real sonning is the milkshake bit.) —Arianna Friedman

Movie: The Godfather Pt. II (1974)
Who does the sonning? Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)
Who gets sonned? Senator Pat Geary (G. D. Spradlin)
Context: As Michael assumes his role as the new don of the Corleone crime family, managing affairs, forming alliances, strategizing hits and all that, Nevada Senator Pat Geary gets cocky and tries to coerce Michael into paying $250,000, plus monthly payments, for a simple gaming license. It would be one thing if Geary was just another snake in a suit, but he's also prejudiced. He crosses the line when he bad-mouths Italian-Americans, specifically Michael and his family.

Michael responds to the Geary's gall, stating, "We're both part of the same hypocrisy, but never think it applies to my family." And then Michael tells him what the new offer is: nothing. Lesson learned: Don't mess with a mob boss because you will walk away empty handed and later wake up next to a dead prostitute. —Arianna Friedman

Movie: Carlito's Way (1993)
Who does the sonning?: Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino)
Who gets sonned?: Benny Blanco (John Leguizamo)
Context: To watch Brian De Palma's gangster flick, about ex-con Carlito Brigante, who wants to get straight but can't leave his old life of crime behind him, is to hate that mosquito, Benny Blanco. He's young, so obnoxious, and never sorry. Which is why it's beautiful when, after Carlito's friend and attorney Dave Kleinfeld (Sean Penn) has sex with Benny's girlfriend, Carlito tells the up-and-comer just how miniscule he is. Blanco says that maybe Carlito rememebrs him, to which Pacino's character retorts:

Movie: Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Who does the sonning? Gny. Sgt. Hartman (R. Lee Ermey)
Who gets sonned? Everyone
Context: A good block of Full Metal Jacket takes place in Vietnam. A troop of young soldiers die, and the anguish detailed on their faces is raw. So don't mind if we back to funny-terrifying scenes with Gny. Sgt. Hartman. If the Academy awarded a Ripping a New Asshole award, Ermey would win by a landslide. He'd be the only nominee. All of the time. The quotables he serves on the hairless recruits are simultaenously surgical and hilarious. "I didn't know they stacked shit that high." "You're so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece." "Now lean forward and choke yourself." "You better shape up and start shitting me Tiffany cuff links."

The lines go on and on; his scenes are legitimately funnier than most 90-minute comedies. But they're also terrifying, because he's breaking down real human beings, kids who are going to go die for their country. —Frantz Rocher

Movie: Good Will Hunting (1997)
Who does the sonning? Will (Matt Damon)
Who gets sonned? Clark (Scott Williams Winters)
Context: Like the Robin to Ben Affleck's Batman, Will Hunting always has his buddy's back. As some Harvard smart-ass (say that with a Boston accent) begins to belittle Chuckie Sullivan (Affleck) at a bar, Will steps in and disparages him while simultaneously giving him a Sparknotes worthy breakdown of a graduate level class. John Harvard himself would probably applaud Will's chivlary, defend his friend's honor. A gentleman and a scholar-so is it a surprise that he gets Skylar's (Minnie Driver) number? Of course not. Now, enjoy your apple. —Arianna Friedman

Movie: New Jack City (1991)
Who does the sonning? Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes)
Who gets sonned? Gee Money (Allen Payne)
Context: Paying homage to the baseball meeting in The Untouchables, drug kingpin Nino Brown calls a meeting of his people one stormy night, and paces around the table with a cane. He's upset that his operation has been infiltrated, and accuses Gee Money of knowing something. Shook and stupid, Gee Money stands up and turns to face Nino. The cane he places at Gee Money's throat isn't nearly as threatening as Nino's words. Which is why so many rappers have used the line. —Ross Scarano

Movie: Pulp Fiction (1994)
Who does the sonning? Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson)
Who gets sonned? Brett (Frank Whaley)
Context: Jules Winnfield asks poor Brett the most unfair and hilarious million dollar questions of all time, in which every answer is wrong. Does Marcellus (Ving Rhames) look a like a bitch? And the answer to every choice, A, B, C, D, is: "Marcellus definitely looks like a bitch." Brett tries to take the savvy route and go with E: "No, he does not." In the bloodiest fashion possible, Jules reminds Brett that "No" was not one of the choices and, as such, not an acceptable answer. —Frantz Rocher

Movie: Goodfellas (1990)
Who does the sonning? Billy Batts (Frank Vincent)
Who gets sonned? Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci)
Context: Ball busting is all fun and games until someone gets stomped, stabbed, and shot to death. Just ask Billy Batts, the gray-haired made man who mouths off to Tommy DeVito. This is bad, because Tommy is a lunatic. Everything in Goodfellas changes on June 11, 1970, the night Tommy and Billy meet at the bar hosting Billy's "Welcome Home" party. Fresh out the clink and with a drink in his hand, Billy Batts feels pretty sure of himself. For the amusement of his friends, he teases Tommy about how he used to shine shoes. "No more shines," Tommy says, one comment away from killing Billy, something the older hood doesn't quite appreciate. It looks like they'll make nice, but Billy has to have the last word, has to assert himself to Tommy, who he'll always consider a kid. "Now go home and get your fucking shinebox," Batts says before taking a drink. Later, Tommy comes back to the bar and, whatareyagonnado?, murders him. Salud. —Ross Scarano

Movie: A Few Good Men (1992)
Who does the sonning?: Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson)
Who gets sonned?: Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise)
Context: As pressures builds in the courtroom, Lieutenant Kaffee continues to unweave Colonel Jessup's web of lies, bringing the court, and the rest of us, to the edge of their seats. It's difficult to be on Jessup's side—after all, he is on trial for ordering the death of another soldier—but Jessup is so damn impassioned and speaks with such striking conviction that we really can't help but commend his tenacity. And so this is a double sonning. Jessup sons Kaffee in the moment; but because Jessup explodes, Kaffee wins the day. —Arianna Friedman

Movie: Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Who does the sonning? Blake (Alec Baldwin)
Who gets sonned? Everyone
Context: It's easy to hate the man in charge, and but Blake dishes out such delicious verbal abuse to the lowly real estate salesmen in Glengarry Glen Ross, you can't help but applaud. A professional motivator hired by corporate to put the fear of God into the sad sacks, Blake spells out the A-B-C's of sales and announces that in one week, everybody will be fired except for the top two salesmen. Harsh, but when your unsympathetic boss is looking over your shoulder, you don't mince words and you don't show weakness. You want coffee, and coffee is for closers. And so you must close. These are the rules. —Arianna Friedman