Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Quotes

Context

This line is spoken by George, played by Richard Burton, in the film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, directed by Mike Nichols (1966).

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is like Friday the 13th, except you're killed by awkwardness and not pointy weapons. It's about a dinner party where two couples embarrass each other badly. The owners of the house, Martha and George, have a very shaky marriage—and the young couple who joins them, Nick and Honey, have their faults as well.

The plot revolves around Martha trying to make George jealous by flirting with Nick while George gets very upset and tries to embarrass his wife. It's dysfunctional family and friends the movie before Wes Anderson was old enough to look up "dysfunctional" in the dictionary.

Eventually, George gets fed up with Martha's mockery, so he decides to embarrass Nick and Honey instead. It's George against the world from now on.

Before George says this quote, Nick reveals to him that he married Honey because he thought she was pregnant. This is not good. Then, when George starts getting fed up with Nick, Honey, and Martha, he decides to play the game "Get the Guests."

In this game, George tells them about his "second novel" that he wrote — it was an allegorical novel. Then, George basically chronicles Nick and Honey's marriage, which upsets the jeepers out of them. Finally, when everyone is fed up and ready to enact verbal or physical violence upon him, George simply and proudly declares:

"And that's how you play 'Get the Guests.'"

Oh, he got 'em alright. He got 'em good.

Where you've heard it

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was released in 1966. This is pretty much the only place where you'd hear someone mention any kind of game called "Get the Guests."

But if you do hear someone say they want to play it, you should probably suggest another game. Apples to Apples would probably suffice, or Cards against Humanity if you're with a more tawdry, er, fun crowd.

Here is the whole script of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf if you want even more context on these crazy kids and their messed up marriages.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Anyone who wants to play the game "Get the Guests" has some kind of inner-demon struggling to escape from their chest. That, or they're just a fan of the movie. Either way, there's some kind of demons involved with this line.