Loglines & Blurbs of the WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century So Far (Post 4 of 4)

We are now at the final week of checking out the loglines and blurbs of the WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays So Far.

Overall, this has been an interesting ride.

I like studying loglines and blurbs because they can provide inspiration and even templates for how to condense 110-page screenplays into succinct descriptions. What I also love is that so many of the below eschew the Logline Formulas We Were All Taught. It’s good to break the mold and avoid anything formulaic (after all, don’t the actual stories do this just by being on this list?)

Super important note: In most cases, we don’t know for sure if what’s below are the actual loglines submitted by the writers or if they are blurbs generated by the films’ marketing and advertising teams. However, I’ll venture to say that it’s more likely that a Black List logline was written by the writer and an Amazon one was written by someone else; if you’re looking for logline inspiration, the Amazon ones probably should be avoided (it’s so obvious that I even crossed them out – you’ll see why).

Here they are…

76. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

• IMDB: A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
• Amazon: In the first part, The Lord of the Rings, a shy young hobbit named Frodo Baggins inherits a simple gold ring that holds the secret to the survival–or enslavement–of the entire world.

77. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

• IMDB: The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
• Amazon: An aimless TV salesman (Simon Pegg) and his friend battle zombies.

78. Erin Brockovich (2000)

• IMDB: An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city’s water supply.
• Amazon: A flamboyant law firm secretary works tirelessly to gain justice for a small town wrecked by a utility company’s pollution.

79. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

• IMDB: In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father’s research assistant.
• Amazon: A romance between a seventeen year-old boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera.

80. Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

• IMDB: A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter’s murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
• Amazon: From the director of “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths.”

81. The Lobster (2015)

• IMDB: In a dystopian near future, according to the laws of The City, single people are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in 45 days or they’re transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.
• Amazon: Single people must find a mate or be turned into animals.

82. The Prestige (2006)

• The Black List: Logline is N/A.
• IMDB: After a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.
• Amazon: Alfred and Rupert are two rival magicians in 19th century London. When Alfred performs the ultimate magic trick, Rupert tries desperately to find out the secret to the trick.

83. Midnight in Paris (2011)

• IMDB: While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée’s family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.
• Amazon: A romantic comedy about a family traveling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.

84. The Master (2012)

• IMDB: A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future – until he is tantalized by the Cause and its charismatic leader.
• Amazon: A troubled World War II veteran falls in with the charismatic leader of a controversial religious cult in this pensive character study.

85. Argo (2012)

• The Black List: The true story of how the CIA, with help from Hollywood, used a fake movie project to smuggle hostages out of Tehran during the 1979 hostage crisis.
• IMDB: Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
• Amazon: Based on real events, the dramatic thriller “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis.

86. Y tu Mama Tambien (2001)

• IMDB: In Mexico, two teenage boys and an older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life and each other.
• Amazon: N/A

87. Phantom Thread (2017)

• IMDB: Set in 1950s London, Reynolds Woodcock is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes his muse and lover.
• Amazon: Daniel Day-Lewis is a renowned dressmaker in 1950s London whose cloistered world unravels when he falls for a strong-willed waitress.

88. Superbad (2007)

• The Black List: Logline is N/A
• IMDB: Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.
• Amazon: Determined to have sex before leaving for college, two teenagers agree to buy the booze for the coolest party in town, leading to a night they’ll never forget.

89. Little Women (2019)

• IMDB: Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters – four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.
• Amazon: Four sisters come of age in America during the aftermath of the Civil War.

90. BlacKkKlansman (2018)

• IMDB: Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, Colorado, successfully infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan branch aided by a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.
• Amazon: From visionary filmmaker Spike Lee comes the incredible true story of a hero. An African- American detective takes on a dangerous mission: infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

91. The Farewell (2019)

• IMDB: A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.
• Amazon: A Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

92. La La Land (2016)

• IMDB: While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.
• Amazon: Toronto International Film Festival Official Selection. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) are drawn together by their common desire to do what they love. But as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

93. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

• IMDB: Kazakh TV talking head Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world.
• Amazon: A TV journalist from Kazakhstan hits the U.S. in this hilarious comedy based on the character from HBO’s ‘Da Ali G Show.’

94. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

• IMDB: Goaded by his buddies, a nerdy guy who’s never “done the deed” only finds the pressure mounting when he meets a single mother.
• Amazon: Three co-workers unite to help their buddy get a sex life.

95. Ratatouille (2007)

• IMDB: A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous Paris restaurant.
• Amazon: From the creators of Cars and The Incredibles comes a breakthrough comedy that lets you experience Paris from an all-new perspective!

96. Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

• The Black List: The logline is N/A
• IMDB: A delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.
• Amazon: Lars Lindstrom is an awkwardly shy young man in a small town who finally brings home the girl of his dreams. The only problem is that she’s not real – she’s a sex doll Lars ordered off of the internet.

97. Nomadland (2020)

• IMDB: A woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
• Amazon: Following the economic collapse of a town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and explores an unconventional life in the vast landscape of the American West. Along the way, she forms unbreakable bonds with other nomads in this powerfully moving story of hope and resilience from director Chloé Zhao also starring David Strathairn.

98. Winter’s Bone (2010)

• IMDB: An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
• Amazon: An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.

99. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

• IMDB: In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.
• Amazon: A mysterious lawman tracks three escaped convicts (George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson) searching for buried treasure in 1930s Mississippi.

100. Legally Blonde (2001)

• IMDB: Elle Woods, a fashionable sorority queen, is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school. While she is there, she figures out that there is more to her than just looks.
• Amazon: Dumped for being dim, a colorful co-ed vows to win back her boyfriend by getting herself into Harvard Law School.

101. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

• IMDB: After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
• Amazon: After 8 months in an institution, Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) has lost everything. Determined to rebuild his life, things nevertheless get complicated when he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a girl with problems of her own.