Movie Cliches

[Brookie]

johnboysmole said:

roisin54 said:

Librarians are always old dowdy women with their grey hair in a bun wearing frumpy clothes and demanding silence at all times...

...and the bun is a symbol of her repressed sexuality and when it loosens she becomes a dominatrix.

A la Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane on "Cheers". Remove the bun and the frumpywear and she's a complete hottie.

[hobocamp]

KNEE cancer? Christ.

[johnboysmole]

brookie said:

johnboysmole said:

...and the bun is a symbol of her repressed sexuality and when it loosens she becomes a dominatrix.

A la Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane on "Cheers". Remove the bun and the frumpywear and she's a complete hottie.

That's right! She was a firecracker!

[Laira]

The spunky gypsy city girl inevitably gets something tragic like Hair Cancer and dies teaching him a lesson about life and love.

Of course she does. There's nothing more important to a terminally ill person than to solve the incredibly minor personal issues of a perfectly healthy total stranger.

Cliche: The fiancee in a romantic comedy is always an appalling human being without an ounce of decency, compassion, generosity, etc. I know this is to show that the engaged lover is right to jilt this person at the altar without the slightest shred of guilt at publically humiliating, wasting years of this person's life and inflicting great emotional trauma on someone they claim to have loved enough to marry.

But it always leaves me thinking, "if XX is so awful, why'd they get involved with him/her in the first place?"

Exception to the rule:

The Wedding Planner One thing I like about that flick is that the fiancee was a nice young woman, she wasn't left at the altar and they ended the relationship amicably and by mutual consent.

[Deleted]

Laira -- I didn't like that movie but I have to hand it to the writers. They passed on the cliche that dictates the fiance must be loathsome to justify the other person dumping him/her. But the fiance in that movie was actually likable.

Hey, come to think of it... There was a movie with Sandra Bullock and I can't for the life of me remember what it was called or who else was in it... But the cliche I was assuming would come up at the end didn't.

(Sorry, I don't mean to turn this into the anti-cliche thread!)

[aibohphobia]

bonsai said:

Hey, come to think of it... There was a movie with Sandra Bullock and I can't for the life of me remember what it was called or who else was in it... But the cliche I was assuming would come up at the end didn't.

Was that Forces of Nature? I've only seen parts of it on tv, but I remember when it first came out thinking that it was going to be another one of those movies where Ben Affleck dumps his fiance for the crazy but loveable Sandra Bullock. Then, I heard that it didn't actually turn out that way. I've never been able to sit through the whole thing though so I don't know.

[thecupcakekid]

I think Affleck ends up marrying Maura Tierney in the end of that one. I haven't seen it either though, but caught the end on tv and Sandra Bullock is sitting in a tree with a little boy, Affleckless.

[Deleted]

aibohphobia -- Yes! That was the movie. I didn't like it, but at least they didn't go the usual route with the uptight guy ending up with the wild child character.

If you're in the mood for a drinking game where you take a shot every time a cliche comes up, try Sweet November. She's dying, but looks good doing it! She teaches uptight Keanu Reeves how to savor the little joys in life! She's best buddies with her 2 gay neighbors! She does cartwheels on the beach! She befriends a geeky little boy and helps raise his self-esteem! In every scene she's wearing a different colorful knit scarf, you know, to show that she's a lovable goofball!

I'm sure there were more. If you turned it into a drinking game you'd be drunk in 15 minutes.

[Deleted]

I saw Sweet November on a plane once. Even without headphones, I could tell exactly what it was about and where it was going.

Are there actually people who like that sort of film? Everyone who's ever mentioned the plotline of "uptight corporate asshole learns how to love life from wacky dying free spirit" has been doing so in order to express their dislike of it.

[dwanollah]

I saw Sweet November on a plane once. Even without headphones, I could tell exactly what it was about and where it was going.

I had a similar experience with The Family Man.