Sorry if this is the wrong place to gripe about tired movie tropes. This is when the movie character will say something like “what was it that Byron said? She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow’d to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.”
You know what I mean? They pretend to not know before quoting lengthy poetry verbatim
They aren’t saying they don’t remember, they are asking if their memory of the quote is correct.
The phrasing is overused and annoying for sure.
OP’s point is that they say this and then follow it with a verbatim quote. It’s dumb.
It’s a rhetorical question when presented like that
Most of the viewers won’t know the quote, so the character is telling the viewer that this is a quote from Somebody Fancy, meaning that the character is clearly Very Cultured.
I prefer it when they butcher quotes. See also “the brother of all fuck ups” and “revenge is like eating cold cuts”.
I think a character trying to remember an obviously well known movie is far worse. I think sometime in the Three Body Problem did it recently with Shawshank Redemption. “That prison movie”.
