Warning: This article contains spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
From Betelgeuse’s razor-sharp quips to Astrid’s dry one-liners, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has just as many hilarious lines and memorable quotes as the original movie. It’s been 36 years since the first Beetlejuice film was released and over a decade since Tim Burton made his last horror movie, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a welcome return to both. From the start until Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s ending, the sequel is just as creepy as the original, thanks to practical sets and old-school special effects bringing the ghouls and monsters to life, and it’s got plenty of the first movie’s signature dark laughs, too.
Burton reunited with Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to pen the screenplay for the Beetlejuice sequel. Just like in Wednesday (and in all their other prolific film and TV work), Gough and Millar brought plenty of great lines and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Easter eggs and references to their script. And in the hands of masters like Beetlejuice 2 cast members Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara, those lines were delivered perfectly. From witty jokes to fun callbacks to self-aware winks at the audience, there’s a ton of unforgettable dialogue in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
10 “The Juice Is Loose!”
Betelgeuse
When Lydia first unleashes Betelgeuse, the Maitlands’ model town cracks down the middle and Betelgeuse rises up from the middle. When he’s finally set free in the land of the living, he quips, “The juice is loose!” This phrase is a reference to O. J. Simpson. Since Simpson was nicknamed “The Juice” and charged with the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, “The juice is loose!” was popularized to refer to Simpson walking free.
Related 10 Biggest Things That Happened Between Beetlejuice & Beetlejuice 2
36 years have passed since the original Beetlejuice released, and a lot has changed with the Deetz family and the “ghost with the most.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice gives this term a fun second meaning to refer to Betelgeuse walking free. It’s about three decades too late for Beetlejuice 2‘s O.J. Simpson reference, but that lines up with Betelgeuse being summoned into the living world for the first time in three decades. He’s been stuck in the afterlife since the first movie, so his cultural references are a little outdated.
9 “I Swear The Afterlife Is So Random!”
Astrid Deetz
All throughout Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Lydia’s teenage daughter Astrid – played by Jenna Ortega – acts as the deadpan voice of reason, pointing out how absurd it all is. For Lydia, Delia, and, of course, Betelgeuse, all the afterlife business is normalized, but Astrid is new to this world. When Lydia tells Astrid that the Maitlands have moved on, Astrid quips, “How convenient,” in a meta nod to the fact that this throwaway line will excuse Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis from appearing in the sequel.
When Lydia and Astrid find themselves on one of Saturn’s moons, being chased by a stop-motion sandworm, Astrid jokes, “I swear the afterlife is so random!” That’s the perfect way to sum up the ridiculousness of Beetlejuice lore. There’s no logic to the choice to put limbo on a sandworm-infested moon of Saturn.
8 “Rory Likes To Fun-Suck Everything – Even Halloween.”
Delia Deetz
Justin Theroux gives one of the funniest turns in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as Lydia’s manager and boyfriend, Rory. No one seems to like Rory: Astrid finds him annoying, Lydia doesn’t want to commit to him, and Betelgeuse resents him for being engaged to the woman he wants to marry. But no one hates Rory more than Delia, who lights up at the prospect of the wedding being called off and jokes about using poisonous snakes to kill him.
On Halloween, Delia mentions that Rory is out at the supermarket, replacing all the candy she bought with carrot sticks, because Rory “likes to fun-suck everything – even Halloween.” This is a hilariously passive-aggressive line about how much Delia hates Rory, but it’s also fun foreshadowing of Rory’s fate. He’s a fun-sucker and he’ll end up with Delores, the soul-sucker.
7 “I Swear On My Dead Mother’s Soul.”
Betelgeuse
When Lydia realizes the boy that Astrid is on a date with is actually the ghost of a murderer, she’s desperate to save her daughter. In order to get to the afterlife, she reluctantly calls upon the only person who she knows can help her: the freelance poltergeist who tried to marry her three decades earlier. She says Betelgeuse’s name three times and he promptly appears in front of her.
Lydia gets Betelgeuse to agree to help her in exchange for finally marrying him to get Delores off his back. Naturally, she’s skeptical, so she asks Betelgeuse how she can know he’ll stick to his word. To assure her, he swears on his dead mother’s soul, but then he quickly lights on fire, suggesting he won’t stick to his word – or his dead mother isn’t too happy that he’s swearing on her soul with a lie.
6 “Looks Like We’re A Little Late, Boys.”
Wolf Jackson
Willem Dafoe has a great supporting role in the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice cast as Wolf Jackson. Wolf was a hammy action star who died performing one of his own stunts and wound up as a private eye in the afterlife. In the Beetlejuice sequel, he’s investigating the mysterious return of Betelgeuse’s ex-wife. He deduces that Delores is out for revenge, so he spends the rest of the movie searching for Betelgeuse.
Wolf’s entire storyline builds to the showdown at the church. He brings his henchmen to the church, they surround Betelgeuse, and prepare to make an arrest. But Betelgeuse just uses his powers to freeze them in their spot and the rest of the film’s climax plays out without them. When Wolf and his goons are unfrozen, he casually tells them they’re too late and abandons the investigation. It turns out his role in the film was completely pointless.
5 “Death Is Hard.” “Sometimes, I Think Life Is Harder.”
Lydia & Astrid Deetz
Not every memorable line in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a joke. Some of the sequel’s dramatic dialogue works really well, too. Lydia and Astrid have an interesting, thought-provoking discussion about death at Charles’ funeral. Astrid is upset with Lydia because she avoids any conversation about a serious subject – especially the death of her father – and she wants her to actually engage in those conversations and work through the grief with her.
Lydia says that death is hard, but Astrid counters, “Sometimes, I think life is harder.” Lydia didn’t mean death is hard for the one who dies – it’s hard for the mourners left in their wake, trying to process their loss – but Astrid is reaching out to her mother. She’s trying to tell Lydia that she’s having a tough time and she needs her mom, but she’s not comfortable expressing her vulnerability so openly.
4 “I’ve Never Seen That Chick Before In My Life – Or Afterlife.”
Betelgeuse
There are a lot of great “afterlife” puns in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, replacing the word “life” with the word “afterlife” in common phrases. When Delores confronts Betelgeuse at the church and tells him his soul belongs to her, Betelgeuse tries to come up with an excuse for why he left her dismembered in a series of crates in a storage cupboard. He tells her he’s been going through a “mid-afterlife crisis.”
Related Beetlejuice Ending Explained: How It Sets Up Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice 2 Return
Beetlejuice’s ending leaves a lot of details unclear, but the Tim Burton horror comedy does reveal what happens to Beetlejuice, Lydia, and Barbara.
When Wolf brings in Betelgeuse for questioning and shows him a picture of Delores, he claims he’s never seen her before in his life – or his afterlife. Of course, this is a lie. Betelgeuse knows exactly who the woman in the picture is, as evidenced by his eyes cartoonishly popping out of his skull upon seeing her. But it’s not in Betelgeuse’s nature to comply with an investigation.
3 “I’ve Lost My Horny Handyman.”
Delia Deetz
What made Delia Deetz such a funny cast member in the original Beetlejuice movie was her penchant for saying inappropriate things at inappropriate times. She hasn’t learned to filter her thoughts any more effectively in the decades since then. In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, she’s still just as wildly inappropriate. When she arrives at Astrid’s boarding school to tell her about how Charles Deetz has died, she doesn’t break the news lightly; she screams it from the courtyard.
Delia tells the entire school that Astrid has lost her grandfather, Lydia has lost her father, and she has lost her “horny handyman.” This is way too much information to tell anyone, but it’s especially too much information to tell a granddaughter in front of her classmates. O’Hara shines in this scene, leaning hilariously into Delia’s obliviousness and flair for the overdramatic.
2 “When You’re All On Your Third Kid And Second Divorce, We’ll See Who Gets The Last Laugh.”
Astrid Deetz
Much like Wednesday Addams, Astrid Deetz doesn’t get along with her classmates in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Early in the film, she’s pranked by some of the more popular girls at her school, who leave a fake ghost hanging in her doorway. Astrid dryly turns to them and says, “When you’re all on your third kid and second divorce, we’ll see who gets the last laugh.” It’s a hilariously biting put-down that wouldn’t be out of place if it was delivered by Wednesday herself.
There must’ve been a few alternate lines shot for this scene, because Astrid’s line in this scene is slightly different in the trailer. The formula for the line was to start with, “When you’re all…” and end with, “…we’ll see who gets the last laugh.” But in the trailer, the middle part is a little different: “When you’re all driving carpool and banging your Pilates instructors to fill the empty voids in your lives, we’ll see who gets the last laugh.” The final version in the movie is more economical with the wording, but the trailer version is hilarious, too.
1 “I Believe It Was Dostoyevsky Who Said… ‘Later, F*****!'”
Betelgeuse
While R-rated movies can use the F-word to their heart’s content, PG-13-rated movies only get one F-bomb, so they have to get creative with it. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice uses its one F-bomb beautifully. When Astrid meets her love interest Jeremy, they first bond over their love of the writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky. They even quote Dostoevsky to each other instead of flirting. These Dostoevsky references get a great callback later on.
When Jeremy reveals his true intentions – that he’s a ghost and he wants Astrid to trade her life for his – it’s too late for her to back out of the deal. Fortunately, Lydia jumped into action in time and got Betelgeuse on the case. Just as Jeremy is about to escape with Astrid’s life, Betelgeuse quips, “I believe it was Dostoevsky who said… ‘Later, f***er!’” and sends Jeremy into the fires of damnation. There are some huge laughs in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but this is arguably the movie’s funniest moment.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 
3.5 21
Your Rating
5 stars4.5 stars4 stars3.5 stars3 star2.5 stars2 stars1.5 stars1 stars0.5 star Rate Now Submit Rate Now Edit Leave a Review
Your comment has not been saved
PG-13ComedySupernaturalFantasyHorror
Director Tim Burton Release Date September 6, 2024 Writers Alfred Gough , Miles Millar , Mike Vukadinovich , Seth Grahame-Smith , Michael McDowell , Larry Wilson Cast Michael Keaton , Jenna Ortega , Winona Ryder , Monica Bellucci , Willem Dafoe , Justin Theroux , Catherine O’Hara Runtime 104 Minutes