The #1 Cracked Gist

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What is the Cracked Gist?

The focus of each Cheat Sheet is called The Gist. Think of the concise humor of the Craptions section crossed with our Pop Culture articles. Your goal here is to summarize everything anyone needs to know about the subject of your cheat sheet in one hilarious paragraph (500 character limit).

A few things to keep in mind:

  1. Don’t feel the need to rip every movie that you write a gist for. It’s perfectly fine to have a positive, passionate opinion about a film. OR: You don't have to love the movie, but you don't have to hate it either. Being negative does not mean you are being funny. We are never dismissive in our pop-culture articles.
  2. Focus on contributing to movies you have seen, and thought about.
  3. Avoid using the first joke that pops into your head. We're not looking for you to summarize the jokes other people would make. We're looking for you to make interesting and unique observations about the subject you're summarizing.
  4. Try to keep swearing to a minimum. Sometimes, well-placed profanity can help a joke land. Most of the time, a swear word makes your joke feel forced.
  5. There's no one correct way to write a Gist. If you can summarize everything we need to know about the movie in 10 words, that can be funny. It can also come off as glib. If you're having a tough time figuring out how to strike that balance, go to the movie section of Cracked, and study up.

Here are some samples that should give you a good idea of the wide variety of Gists that can work:
The Dark Knight
Independence Day

  • +2

Baby-faced Leo stars alongside the not-so-baby-faced Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro in this joyful tale of cancer, mental illness and family feuds. An hour or so of Oscar winning performances later, and the errors of the past are forgotten and everyone lives happily ever after.

archaeologyange
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Marvin's Room (1996)

Source: TMBDb.org

Information Not Available

Consensus: No consensus yet.

Overview
  • Rating:
    PG-13 (USA)
  • Theatrical Release:
    December 18, 1996
  • Budget:
    Not Available
  • Box Office:
    Not Available
  • Runtime:
    1 hrs 38 min
  • Produced by:
    Robert De Niro Scott Rudin Jane Rosenthal
  • Screenplay by:
Director
Jerry Zaks
Cast
Gwen Verdon Ruth
Meryl Streep Lee
Diane Keaton Bessie
Leonardo DiCaprio Hank
Robert De Niro Dr. Wally
Freebase CC-BY
Source: Marvin's Room on Freebase, licensed under CC-BY
Cracked Gists
500 characters left
  1. Baby-faced Leo stars alongside the not-so-baby-faced Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro in this joyful tale of cancer, mental illness and family feuds. An hour or so of Oscar winning performances later, and the errors of the past are forgotten and everyone lives happily ever after.

    archaeologyange
    • +2

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