Movie Cliches

[katiebear3]

Don't talk about the homely girl taking her glasses off and hair down or the cop about to retire being shot.

[Smilla]

How about the female police officers/federal agents/bounty hunters etc. running laps and kicking ass in six inch heels or otherwise unrealistic footwear? 'Cause I hate that shit.

[katiebear3]

Or the fact they're 100 lb waifs with no visible muscles.

[Smilla]

The one I've started to hate lately is the one where Character A walks into his/her home expecting Character B, (plus possibly C, D, and/or E, if A is a family person) warmly singing out: "Honey, I'm...

::silent, obviously empty mansion/apartment/shack/house/yacht::

...home?"

::cue heartbroken expression, violins::

[ldhenson]

So tired of the cliche in which some there's some big disaster or other crisis happening, Our Heroes have a TV on, and a news report about the disaster/crisis pops up. Our Heroes watch it for a few seconds, and then Main Hero will wave a hand imperiously at the screen and say "Turn that [bleep] off" and/or shut it off himself. Because the last thing you, as a person working on the disaster/crisis, want to see/hear is any possible new info anyone else may have found, or worry about whether the public is panicking in the streets, or any other trivial items of that sort.

(Yes, I know it happens because the filmmakers don't want to spend time/$$ shooting additional "news footage." But it makes the plot look sloppy.)

[beniciosgal]

I am so sick of the young woman who comes from a good family that wants to keep her away from her one true love who happens to be totally inappropriate.
Why can't the girl just be with whoever she wants? Why is the guy she loves always so hated by her parents? Why is the good guy her parents want her to marry always so damned boring? Why does this never happen to boys from good families? It's SO tiresome.

And why does there always have to be just one last sting? No, really...why?

[chibinekocutie]

And keeping with the guy who is totally wrong for her theme? The girl falls in love with said guy...and she is so caught up in her love for this guy, who is OBVIOUSLY SOOO wrong for her that she doesn't realise her BEST friend is REALLY her true love...until the end.

[Smilla]

So, he's an attractive man in your Chiché Movie Heroine Life; maybe it's through your workplace, your apartment building, stores and areas you frequent or your small circle of friends. He's available and interested in you, but there is this little matter of his being conspicuously connected to a series of INSANELY BRUTAL SLAYINGS occurring in your world. In fact, because he never has an alibi and is always found weirdly close to the bodies, the police have even tagged him as a suspect in the murders. Why...he's just the perfect man for you to FALL IN LOVE WITH. Or better, fuck mindlessly through several scenes. He's an even stronger candidate for your affections if those dead people are also women who look exactly like you.

[emersende]

I love it when things are tossed offscreen, with accompanying sound effects- a cat yowling, a breaking window, a scream, car brakes screeching. Dumb? Yes. But my un-ironic love of this gag never dies.

[jollityfarm]

In costume drama set in the nineteenth century or even earlier, the good guys will have enlightened and respectable attitudes towards, eg, race, slavery or anything similar. Indeed, they will consider all races to be quite equal and will never have a bad word (certainly none that might begin with an "N") to say to or about them. The bad guys, on the other hand, will be baby-eating racist scumbags who will shock even their faithful partners in crime by their use of shocking racist language (as if people would have been shocked by that back then). This is especially true if the good guy is played by Mel Gibson

Similarly, even in films set in the days when only prostitutes, actresses and other disreputable women would have worn makeup, teenage girls and grown women will have perfect skin and maybe even a bit of a tan (although the tan can be excused if the character is someone who works out-of-doors, as they sometimes are). Not even the fat friend will have pizza-chin.

Speaking of which, films set in all time periods so often have a female lead with a fat friend. Or, if she's not fat, she's got big owly glasses, a bad ponytail, a silly big cardigan or just isn't as pretty as the lead. And, while the female lead frets over the male lead, the fat friend never thinks "well, I wouldn't mind shagging him myself". The fat friend never exclaims "oh do shut up, I'm sick of your whingeing". The fat friend never complains about her own poor love-life or slags off the female lead behind her back. The fat friend is always there for her selfish annoying friend.

Sometimes, the fat friend is actually a gay man (it's very modern). In which case, he will be unlikely to be fat (although he might be bald instead) and he might have a boyfriend knocking about - double the man advice! - but the above still generally applies.