15 of the most iconic lines from 'The Parent Trap' we still quote today (2024)

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The 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap" has potentially surpassed the 1961 original in popularity, in no small part due to its quotable screenplay.

In "The Parent Trap," Lindsay Lohan stars as both the sassy California native Hallie Parker and the prim and proper Londoner Annie James. After they're both sent to the same sleepaway camp, they realize they're actually twins separated at birth, and hatch a plan to reunite their parents, Elizabeth James and Nick Parker, played by Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid, respectively.

Before they accept their twin status, Hallie and Annie exchange some iconically shady quips, and after uniting as twin sisters, they redirect that energy to their villainous would-be stepmom Meredith Blake, portrayed by Elaine Hendrix.

Here are some of the most iconic lines from the film.

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When Annie tells Hallie, "Let me see. I know how to fence and you don't, or I have class and you don't, take your pick," we all gasped just like Hallie's friends.

The amount of shadiness that was exchanged between the two twins, Annie James and Hallie Parker (both portrayed by Lohan), upon their initial meeting was exquisitely hilarious.

After Hallie lost her fencing match to Annie at Camp Walden, Hallie felt inclined to go on the offensive, noting that she didn't see any resemblance between them, only differences, sarcastically asking Annie if she knew the real difference between them.

This prompted Annie to say to her: "Let me see. I know how to fence and you don't, or I have class and you don't, take your pick." It really comes down to Lohan's pronunciation of "class" in such a posh accent that makes this memorable.

This moment was the foundation of their initial feud.

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Annie gets in another jab when she calls Hallie "without a doubt the lowest, most awful creature that ever walked the planet!"

During their short-lived feud at Camp Walden, Hallie hatched a plan to get back at Annie after an escalating prank war.

The execution of Hallie's revenge resulted in Annie being drenched in water, all of the girls in her cabin being splattered with syrup and shaving cream, and then covered in feathers.

After Annie called Hallie the worst creature on the planet, Hallie responded with a classic impression of Elvis going "Thank you, thank you very much."

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But Hallie gets the last laugh in their poker game, when she tells Annie, "You're good James but ... you're just not good enough" before revealing her royal flush.

Coming toe-to-toe again, Hallie and Annie battle it out in a game of late-night poker while at Camp Walden, and the stakes couldn't have been higher — the loser had to jump into the lake, naked.

Although Hallie came very close to losing, her winning hand (a royal flush) saved her, making Annie just not good enough.

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There was a clear misunderstanding from Hallie (aka Annie pretending to be Hallie) when she asked her dad, "How can you marry a woman young enough to be my big sister?"

As part of Hallie and Annie's plan to get their parents together included the two of them switching lives, there were many moments of unintentional comedy from the two as they struggled to figure out each other's lives.

But, of course, Annie got the short end of the stick when she realized that her dad was planning on marrying a woman that was "young enough to be [her] big sister," Meredith Blake, played by Hendrix.

This hilarious moment of confusion came after Annie (as Hallie) assumed that when her dad told her he was making Meredith part of the family, he was going to adopt her to be a big sister.

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Eleven-year-old Annie proved how precocious she was when she asked Meredith, her dad's new fiancée, about their relationship, saying, "You're young, and beautiful, and sexy, and hey, the guy's only human, but if you ask me, marriage is supposed to be based on something more than just sex, right?"

If Annie (acting as Hallie) didn't make it clear enough to her dad that she was dissatisfied with his choice of girlfriend, she made it abundantly clear to Meredith personally.

Hoping to cast doubt in Meredith's mind, and perhaps get her to reconsider dating Nick, Annie-as-Hallie told her: "You're young, beautiful, sexy, and hey, the guy is only human, but if you ask me marriage is supposed to be based on something more than just sex, right?"

Of course, Meredith was not to be outdone ...

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But Meredith's response, "Being young and beautiful is not a crime, you know," takes the cake for comebacks.

Clearly, Meredith knew her worth and wasn't ashamed by how she was using her feminine wiles to seduce Nick.

While Annie's face here says it all, her commenting on her mother's inebriated state is an all-timer: "She's drunk. She's never had more than one glass of wine in her entire life, and she chooses today to show up totally zonked."

Hearing a young (fake) British Lindsay Lohan say "zonked" is funny. We don't make the rules, it just is. Also, pairing that with Richardson's impeccable physical performance as said "zonked" woman makes this memorable.

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Any mother of twins could relate to Elizabeth's frustration when she declared, "Oh, don't do this to me. I'm already seeing double," to her daughters.

Elizabeth had some of the funniest one-liners in this film, and her begging the twins to fess up which one was which, as she was more than a little intoxicated, is one of the most relatable ones.

When Hallie (meeting Meredith for the first time) asks if Meredith is talking to her, Meredith is quick with a "What are you, Robert De Niro? Yes, I'm talking to you," quip.

Meredith's sarcasm in this movie was top-tier, and her responding to Hallie's inquiry about if she was talking to her with a nice little "Taxi Driver" reference was comedic gold.

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Elizabeth didn't realize she was toasting her ex-husband's new fiancée when she told Meredith, "Here's to ... here's to you. May your life be far less complicated than mine," at the hotel bar.

Elizabeth was never threatened by Meredith's youth, beauty or career, most likely because she was an accomplished London wedding dress designer who was known globally for her designs.

When the two first met at the Stafford Hotel, the place where the twins orchestrated their parents' reunion after a decade, they were just two women getting a drink. Neither of them knew that Meredith's husband-to-be was actually Elizabeth's ex-husband Nick Parker, which is why it was extra ironic that just a few minutes after Elizabeth's toast to Meredith's simple life, both of their lives got verycomplicated and entangled.

"One more trick from you two, and I promise I will make your lives miserable from the day I say 'I do.' Got it?" Nothing could be more chilling than this threat from a future stepmom.

Nothing was more consistent in "The Parent Trap" than Meredith and the twins' mutual disdain for one another. Any chance she could, she put the twins in their place — understandably so, since the twins were actively trying to get her out of the picture and/or generally ruin her life — and we lived for every moment.

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Except, maybe, Meredith's next outburst at Nick: "Here's what's going on, buddy. The day we get married is the day I ship those brats off to Switzerland. Get the picture?"

After Meredith was subjected to many hijinks by the twins while on a family camping trip with them and their dad, she reached her breaking point.

In an attempt to gain control of Nick and his twin daughters, Meredith told him straight-up what her plans are for the girls after they tie the knot ... but makes the fatal flaw of trying to get Nick to choose her or them.

"It's me, or them. Take your pick," she says, with full confidence that Nick will choose her.

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But we can't let Nick's iconic response of "Them. T-H-E-M, Them. Get the picture?" go unnoticed.

Nick doesn't hesitate for a second when Meredith tells him to choose between her and Hallie and Annie. And telling her off in this condescending way remains satisfying two decades later.

Of course, in case you were worried that Nick was actually angry with his daughters, he tells Elizabeth he's "gotta remember to thank them one day" with a wry grin.

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But, of course, the most swoon-worthy quote of the film goes to Nick, when he tells Elizabeth, "I made the mistake of not coming after you once, Lizzie. I'm not going to do that again, no matter how brave you are."

A part of the reason that Nick and Elizabeth's relationship ended was because they were both stubborn and Nick didn't fight to keep their marriage going. He willingly allowed Elizabeth, (or Lizzie), to move to London, something Nick secretly always regretted.

Refusing to let a repeat of what ended their relationship and interaction for years happen again, Nick and Hallie surprise Elizabeth and Annie at their London home, and he reveals that he's not letting history repeat itself.

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Or, maybe it's the exchange when Elizabeth asks Nick "What do you expect, to live happily ever after?" And his simple response is "Yes. To all of the above."

After listing off the (admittedly) difficult circ*mstances of their relationship, Elizabeth asks Nick what expects to happen — for her to go weak at the knees, cry hysterically, to grow old together, and live happily ever after? He simply tells her yes, that's exactly what he wants, before the two kiss.