Cliched movie scenes and dialogue

The we are bombing a foreign country to protect our "vital national interests", followed by the "Mission Accomplished" celebration is ringing pretty hollow these days.

Any scene of someone vomiting. Pancakes for breakfast scenes. Two people riding in a car talking being suddenly side-swiped by another vehicle. Conversations at urinals scenes.

After some bonding scene and one of the characters, as he or she (usually a he) is walking away says "hey...thanks."

"Everything's going to be okay."

My movie-mad friend and I occassionally say to each other out of nowhere

[quote] "I love you, DAMMIT!" (pause) "And that scares the hell out of me."

Movies where the wild girl keeps muttering "tay inna win". Enough.

Any relatie sniffing a lost child's clothes...looking mournful.

Enraged male characters putting their fists through walls.

When characters are being chased by tornados, fires, or other disasters, and someone yells "Run!"

The climax fight where the hero is getting his ass handed to him until he gets a second wind and wins.

"It's complicated"

"Let's get out of here"

Soppy music and lots of shots of elena sleeping almost ruined the vampire diaries for me, even though I only watch it for the hot guys.

Character A falls ill in public, and falls to the floor.

Character B, kneeling next to Character A:

“SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!!! CALL AN AMBULANCE!!!”

Bitch, YOU call an ambulance.

When a character decides to quit drugs the obligatory scene of them flushing them all down the toilet.

And they never worry about clogging the damn thing?

Any time a character says, "Lookit." I've never heard anyone say "lookit" in real life. Or "Jag-off" either, for that matter.

I LOVE this thread.

Childbirth scenes with somebody yelling "Push!" I always want the mother to yell back, "I don't feel like it! What, is this damn thing going to stay in me forever if I don't?"

Cops interrogating suspect, threaten him with prison rape. The suspect never retorts that he'd either enjoy it, or he's the one who usually does the raping.

[quote]Or "Jag-off"

r16 has never been to Pittsburgh.

“I’m innocent! INNOCENT!!!”

“This is A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!”

Or anything the president is likely to tweet, really.

People in sex scenes always going "uh, uh, uh" with every thrust.

"You better come see this..."

See what, Jan? See what? WHAT, JAN, WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK IS SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY FORCE A FEW FUCKING SYLLABLES OUT OF YOUR MOUTH TO CONVEY WHAT IT IS THAT I SHOULD STOP WHATEVER I'M DOING AND IMMEDIATELY GO SEE *THIS*?

“No. Nonononono, NO! COME ON!!!!”

R22 Usually involves a computer or electronic item that has been hijacked.

“Do you...believe in God?”

And all alien spaceships can be hacked by an Apple Powerbook *and* Jeff Goldblum, R23!

“Is he...?” [Actress holds up banana/cucumber/pepperoni/other phallic thing. Other actesses look at one another and then break down into bashful giggles while drinking white wine.]

Trying on different outfits montage.

[Person lies alone in big new house, hyper aware of creaking boards. Jumps up when a branch scrapes against the window, laughs at self, begins to drift off...sudden sounds of children giggling!!!]

Two people who’ve bickered and sniped at one another for 40 minutes are trapped alone, get a little too close...lock gazes, tear clothes off one another while tonguelessly smacking O-shaped lips all over one another’s faces.

Boy meets girl. Both hate each other. Some event happens and they fall in love. Ugh

Two athletes are in a locker room. One pulls out his hard dick and eyeballs the other, who says, “Dude, what are you doing? I’m not gay!”

Two students are in a dorm drinking beer. One pulls out his hard dick and eyeballs the other, who says, “Dude, what are you doing? I’m not gay!”

Two guys are in an office late. One pulls out his hard dick and eyeballs the other, who says, “Dude, what are you doing? I’m not gay!”

A guy comes out of the shower in a towel to find his friend sitting on his bed innocently. One pulls out his hard dick and eyeballs the other, who says, “Dude, what are you doing? I’m not gay!”

People are covered in body fluids. Camera pans away to the left or right. Soft focus.

"It's all going according to plan."

People eating with chopsticks out of white Chinese takeout boxes.

Teens arguing with their parents saying "you wouldn't understand. The world is a different place now than when you were my age."

It isn't THAT different. The only difference is smartphones and Internet were added into to mix, that's all. And you weren't around when your parents were your age anyways so you don't know what they went through. Maybe they've had a similar experience they can relate to.

Devastated woman discovers her husband has been having an affair. Shocked...shocked!!!!

Has she never seen a movie? Has she never seen a news headline? Who does she think her slutty mistress friends are fucking, anyway?

Racist shitbag sees how the darkies suffer and has a change of heart...

Someone gets on the Internet, finds a book, or an old newspaper article, and within 2 seconds they find something relevant to their very specific, exact, rather obscure situation and know all the answers.

Sex scenes where the guy is shirtless and wearing a pair of jeans while the girl is in a bra and underwear. Or worse, they're both under the blanket. I don't expect porn or anything, but why even bother with a sex we aren't going to see any nudity whatsoever? You might as well just leave it out altogether if we aren't going to see anything.

Young guy runs into hot girl he has a crush on and does or says something awkward, she walks away. If he is with a friend the friend will burst out laughing and say "Nice! Real smooth!", or if he is by himself he will mutter "What was that!? Im such and idiot"

Army buddies talking before a fight. One takes out small photo of his girlfriend/wife, shows it. Now you KNOW he’s about to die!

Army guy gets shot by the enemy. His buddy cradles him in his arms till his eyes gently close. (BTW: this is the ONLY time men are allowed to be affectionate onscreen.)

Oh, man, I have so many:

Someone coding on a hospital gurney, paddles to chest..."CLEAR!!!" Body jerks like a fish out of water. And of course, the victim codes to a flat line (which can't be shocked)!

Mouth to mouth resuscitation, closeup of victim, first aider ranting, "BREATHE...BREATHE, DAMMIT!!!"

Car crashes into a fuel oil truck, which just happens to be crossing the intersection at the worst possible moment. Car goes BOOM and there's an explosion ball the size of Nagasaki.

The gas spill that gets ignited, with a trail leading up to a character who is strapped into his seat belt in his wrecked car (and usually suspended upside down).

The timer on the bomb counting down to 00:00:00.

"This ship will self destruct in five minutes...four minutes...three minutes..."

The teen hackers who can break into a complex system with just a few lines of code.

Someone browsing the internet, but due to trademark issues, the site he/she is browsing is usually something like "Snoogle" or "FaceMate" or some corny thing like that.

Couple running from monster or ax murderer. Woman trips and falls, then lies helplessly like a 3 year old toddler until the big, brawny man picks her up again.

Victim (either male or female) falls down. Villain/monster catches up to them, and victim scoots backwards on ass looking up in horror instead of just getting back up and running. In some cases, victim will put forearm to mouth and start screaming right before villain kills him/her. Fade to black.

The protagonist stupidly confronting the villain with "what they know" (usually in a dark, secluded place), usually with, "It was you all along, wasn't it?"

The slow burn attempted murder scene . The villain doesn't just shoot the victim. Just holds the victim at gunpoint talking for five minutes straight about how much he hates him, will enjoy killing him, etc., etc.

The "unattractive, nerdy" character takes off their glasses, puts on nicer clothes, maybe a slightly different hairstyle, and all the sudden they're a total hottie.

When one character tells another character that there's no way they're going to do something (or go somewhere), not under any circumstances, no how, no way, not now, not ever, NEVER! . . .

. . . then jump cut to those characters doing that very thing.

People bent over vomiting in moments of stress, or when hearing bad news.

Montage sequence of slow pans across characters in close up hurting, suffering, grieving while some coffee house singer coos a slow ballad on the soundtrack.

The hero guesses a password correctly and is able to access someone else’s computer on the first try.

The big narrative "dark secret" revealed: character was "abused" as a child.

Woman throws a drink at someone's face at a party. I'd actually like to see a male character do that once.

Women go crazy trying to catch the wedding bouquet. We get it. All women are desperate to land a man.

A car ride scene where someone sticks their hand out the window and makes a rolling gesture with the wind while looking out introspectively.

The ultrasound scene.

Love means never having to say you are sorry.

My favorite version of OP’s cliche is in SPEEDWAY JUNKY. “NO, I NEED you! Come ON!”

Jesse Bradford has to try extra-hard to emote, but Jordan Brower has a very natural-looking death. It’s cheap & syrupy, pure teenage tragedy bullshit, but I like it for its charming indulgent feel.

In a film when one character (often but not always an old one) suddenly starts coughing out of the blue, you KNOW that character will be dead before the movie is over.

When there is no dial tone and someone ferociously keeps tapping the receiver cradle to try and get a connection.

I can never get past the big family breakfasts on weekday mornings. Who the fuck does this except in movies?

Or the contemporary horror movies, where the black guy is one of the first to get killed.

[Quote] The "unattractive, nerdy" character takes off their glasses, puts on nicer clothes, maybe a slightly different hairstyle, and all the sudden they're a total hottie.

Whenever school is out for the summer, all the kids run out of the school throwing tons of paper in the air.

Cops break into the suspect's house. The suspect conveniently has a box or scrapbook filled with creepy newspaper clippings relating to the case.

Character A: “I’m just so, so sorry!”

Character B: “Are you Vanessa? Are you?!”

Cemetery scenes are always cliche.

I did not read the whole thread yet so maybe this was already mentioned. Montages of newly dating couples running down the beach, out to dinner, and other "date" things to some corny music.

Someone needs to start subverting these cliches hardcore. Many won’t care about this, but on RuPaul’s Drag Race, for 10 seasons now, one or both drag queens who are up for elimination usually drop down into splits on a big musical beat. Last week, a drag queen jerked upward like she was about to do that on the big note, and then she waggled her finger and shook her head, as if to say “I’m not doing that cliche shit, y’all,” and it was probably the best moment in the past 10 years.

Of course, she did that cliched shit and dropped into splits on the next big beat. But still!

r61 - yes! The "we're so in love" montages are so tedious. I love how the movie couples do things that real-life couples (even sickeningly lovey dovey ones) rarely do - like riding in a rowboat together on a lake somewhere or romping in a meadow.

Unnecessary choreographed routines at the prom.

[quote]People bent over vomiting in moments of stress, or when hearing bad news.

OMG, r44, this one is so right. Every damn British drama has one of these.

And I'll also add people going hysterical when they hear someone has died. And the British always say, "Let me make you a cup of tea."

"We're the police. Your great aunt Pearl, who you saw once when you were ten, has died."

"No, oh no. Dear God, no!" (uncontrollable shaking, weak knees, tears)

"Let me make you a cup of tea."

To be fair, 99% of Brits would offer to make a cup of tea, R65.

Characters all breaking into song together - conveniently they all know the words by heart and they can come up with Broadway caliber choreography on the fly!

When a prisoner is released from jail, there's always some guard that says, "I hope you've learned your lesson."

R53, LOL, yes. Every single dramatic "telephone scene" in a horror, psychological drama. Your scene cliche reminded me of another one, of the victim calling for help, getting no signal, tapping furiously, then pulling up the cord to see.....DUN DUN DUNNN...that the wire has been cut!

Perp runs, cop chases him down alleys, over high fences and onto roof tops.

Here are about 300 more.

"Ya gotta get me outa heah!!!" The undercover cop who goes home to infiltrate the gang and he's scared his cover is blown.

Leo in The Departed

Sean Penn in State of grace

[quote] And the British always say, "Let me make you a cup of tea."

R66 yes, we would typically do just that.

Such a gesture may seem trite & chilly to an American, but it’s actually a way to show concern & care without embarrassing the upset party by making a big production.

Someone just had their pet murdered, their house set on fire, and were gunned down by a sniper. A bystander rushes up to them and asks breathlessly, "Are you okay?"

The naive young recruit always dies in every war movie

Impromptu frenzied fucking while still partially clothed, on kitchen counters, buffets, and desks. Plates, pots and pans, and papers are hurled willy-nilly.

People go to a restaurant, order, argue, get their food, then leave in a huff without touching their food. (I'd have to be seriously nauseated to leave my meal uneaten.)

During a car chase there's always a pedestrian pushing a fruit cart, carrying a ladder, or carrying a bag of groceries. He or she sees the speeding car coming, and instead of running to the opposite curb which is closest, they always run back a longer distance to the curb from which they started.

Family meals where all the kids drink milk, but the parents never buy any container larger than a quart, and then they leave the container out on the table for the milk to get warm and nasty.

Someone who can strike a match on his thumb nail.

R53- Yes! and another phone one---person gets a call, the caller is threatening him/her and the person says, "WHO IS THIS?!? WHO ARE YOU?!?"

"We're not kids anymore!"

R31 What happened to "Here, let me give you a massage." Or has Weinstein ruined that too?

All this time....the person I've been running away from...... is .... ME!!!!

R61 the best spoof of this is in The Naked Gun

People going to bars and ordering "beer" - not any specific brand, just "beer"

And the bartender never asks what brand they want!

The unbiquitous thunderstorm for an ominous scene.

Complete with lightning at JUST the right time, and a huge thunderclap. But, strangely, no rain.

"Romantic" scenes where couples kiss in a rainstorm

I just watched Jagged Edge. Glenn Close was trying to get away from Jeff Bridges and got in her car but it wouldn't start. He catches her and tells her, Let me try. He tries and after one attempt, the car starts. It takes a man, right?

The long lost son or some other family member usually someone no one knew existed who shows up at a funeral or other significant event.....

Bra sex!

Some cliches don’t translate well, and it can annoy me when no attempt is made to explain an oft-invoked trope to a foreign audience (which gives rise to censorship).

A good example is the ‘ritual suicide/following someone into death’ idea in many stories from Far East Asia. To a Westerner, a character who kills or sacrifices herself in-story is seen as tragic and something of a dramatic hopeless case, but this is not the Eastern writer’s intented reception of such a scene. A self-sacrificing Chinese or Japanese character is meant to be a noble & heroic one who understands the concept of honor & personal responsibility, rather than a self-centred or cowardly person. Of course every viewer differs in their feelings on a sensitive topic like this, but speaking generally there is a cultural divergence there that can undermine what should be a basic cliche and make it seem strange in translation.

There’s no need to leave material like this on the cutting-room floor, though; better adaptation would clear up any confusion.

The L shaped sheet

[quote]A car ride scene where someone sticks their hand out the window and makes a rolling gesture with the wind while looking out introspectively.

Similar to this is the affable guy whose shaggy dog has its head out of the car window as said guy is speeding down the highway.

Covering up an accidental death instead of calling cops.

The cute nerdy tech guru who types really fast, deciphers code really fast then tries to explain to the less knowledgeable what's going on. The less knowledgeable interrupts the guru and asks him/her to either get to the point or speak in layman's terms.

Getting bad news and going to car to break down in tears.

Hackers or alienated gamers tapping away at computers must wear hoodies to cover their heads. Shades are also mandatory.

R86, I remember that scene!!! Good one!! Yes it's used in a lot of films. But that aside, I loved that movie! To be honest if I had just found evidence of murder most foul I'd be shitting my pants and not very successful in starting the car either and I'm no woman. (Damn, Jeff Bridges is a hunk.)

CAR CHASE!

FRUIT CART!

STACKS OF EMPTY BOXES!

WINDOW PANE GLASS INSTALLERS!

That’s what I like so much about the movie GO! (1999).

The characters who commit a hit-and-run in it the film are shown to be absolutely panicked and have no idea what to do. They can barely pull it together to think of an alibi and hide the body/leave the scene, and it takes them ages to do so. The shock of such an accident on film is rarely palpable in this way.

Drownings...Character A usually a young woman, drowns. Character B starts CPR. Pounding on the chest and forcing air into the lungs etc. This goes on endlessly while peripheral characters stand around sobbing. All is lost. Then, as stated above "Dont die on me!" is screamed and another round of CPR does the trick. Hate these scenes.

The person getting out of bed and wrapping the sheets or blanket around them.

r98, I always find those scenes hilarious. Who ever did that in real life? "We just had sex, but despite that, I don't want you to see my naked body, so instead of covering up with a robe or something, I'll just pull the sheet off the bed and wrap it around me!"

I'm just LOL thinking about it R99

Every computer hacking scene in every movie ever made. It's always ridiculously easy, they always find exactly what they're looking for with just a few keystrokes, passwords are easily guessed, encryption is broken as though it were never there, and their explanations never make any sense.

And the bad guys just never seem to have any notion about computer security. "Here, let me put this file, conveniently named 'mycrimes.doc," right on the desktop where everyone will see it. And I'll set my computer password to 'password'! Yeah, that's the ticket! What could possibly go wrong with that?"

R101 LMAO at “mycrimes.doc”!

Sophia in the Golden Girls had a joke about sticking her head out of a driving car, saying it was a rush, in the episode where Rose had the dog.

I just saw a movie where the protagonist went to the police with suspicion about someone being a bad guy and the detectives just laughed at them. Isn't this unprofessional behavior?! Inevitably the police discovered that the person is right and then they stopped laughing. Then it's all I told you so and you've wasted precious time.

Uptight, troubled rom-com characters show they can be "wacky" by OTT lip-synching to Oldies.

People coming home with a bag of groceries..,with of course, celery and a baguette sticking out.

At least once a month I see a movie or tv show where one character is upset and another character softly says, "C'mere" before pulling them into a comforting hug.

I've never in my life seen or heard anyone do that.

[quote] [R101] LMAO at “mycrimes.doc”!

I find that funny too.

Stressed-out Type A female protagonists gulp large balloon glasses of red or white white to indicate their discontent.

The getaway. Quick, get in the car with the unlocked drivers door and the key in the ignition!

Character gets up at night for something and never turns a light on.

In real life I’d be bashing my knees and stubbing toes.

Some character has some emergency in Greece or some other foreign country, and in the next scene, they're there. Like they beamed up or something. No calling an airline, checking flights, etc. So they got an immediate ticket - wouldn't that cost $2000. ?

Happens on soaps all the time.

Yeah R112. You never see them picking up the laundry, packing the suitcase, taking a last crap, wiping, looking for the car keys, going back to pick up the cellphone charger, etc too. So annoying.

^^ I haven't seen this on a show in many years. But as to their belongings, whenever they move out of some house or apartment, they always used to say, "I'll send someone for the rest of my things."

Who does one send? And what things? Always used to make me laugh.

Most football teams love singing together and doing choreographed dance routines together!

Every scene in a law office or board room where the characters are drinking scotch in the middle of the day.

The judge sternly saying "I'll allow it" in every courtroom thriller ever

The guilty person breaking down on the witness stand and confessing to the crime.

The funerals on TV series where the only mourners are the regular and recurring (usually nonfamily) cast. The pallbearers are all the male cast members, never family or friends of the deceased, unless they're regular/recurring cast. Very rarely, we'll see mom, dad, or widow, played by some actor we'd never seen before on the show, but that's ONLY when the deceased was a veteran and we have to watch the flag-folding and presentation to the sobbing widow/mom and stoic father/son.

Speaking of movie/TV military/police graveside service, the cliche of the seated, grieving loved ones (usually the woman, but sometimes one of the children) jumping or starting in shock/surprise/sad realization when the 21-gun salute begins? Needs to go, seriously.

A new cliche has emerged. Just about every new tv family, whether sitcom or drama, has a kid that is either Asperger or trans.

Cops, PIs, or CSIs who enter a victim's/suspect's/missing person's home at dusk or night, AND NEVER TURN ON THE FUCKING LIGHTS! Flashlights only. I mean, what the hell, does Con Ed cut service the minute a missing persons report goes live?

"Conversations at urinals scenes. "

Who has time to talk, amiright ladies?

Exhausted detective hasn't slept in days. He's exasperated that the case he's been investigating is going nowhere. Out of frustration he throws a bunch of crime scene photos on his desk. He looks down absentmindedly and does an overly dramatic double take because he sees something obscure in one of the photos he didn't catch the first twenty times he examined them. Invigorated, he picks up the photo and runs out the door. That small revelation, which will not be revealed to us until the climax scene, leads to other clues that blow the case wide open.

Victorian era women parading around with french manicures, fake boobs, and spray tans

If a woman feels faint, she's pregnant.

If a pregnant woman so much as slips and falls, she has a miscarriage.

^ And if a young woman of childbearing age vomits, she's pregnant

Historical movies where the women's hair is strangely modern, especially when their hair is down and you can see their 2007 side-swept bangs.

This is more for TV shows (like Gossip Girl) where rich and upper middle class teenagers/young adults have smart phones three to four generations old, just doesn't happen for well off teens. What's worse, but thankfully ending, are shows or movies in the 2010's that still have people rocking flip phones, just no.

I also hate when they make breakfast and don't eat shit, like really? By the time your children are teenagers you should know if they eat breakfast or not.

[Quote] I also hate when they make breakfast and don't eat shit, like really? By the time your children are teenagers you should know if they eat breakfast or not.

Speaking of breakfast how many teenagers actually drink coffee and orange juice simultaneously?

Another one from Jagged Edge. Glenn Close is hired to defend Jeff Bridges on a murder charge and tells him, 'If you lie to me, I'll know it'. Of course he lies and when he admit to it to her she is shocked.

The line "Don't start". This was used generously in the Glenn Close TV movie Serving in Silence. Also to show that her being a lesbian was non-threatening, she gave lots of people hugs and told them she would miss them when she had moved on.

When they go to use their cellphone there are no bars and it is conveniently out of service area. Bonus points if you are being stalked by a murderer.

Meeting someone in a booth at a roadside diner. Have you even seen one of those recently?

When someones shooting and they run out of bullets and they just throw the gun away.

[quote] Cops interrogating suspect, threaten him with prison rape. The suspect never retorts that he'd either enjoy it, or he's the one who usually does the raping.

There's a great one-season animated series called Chozen, about a young fat white gay rapper who gets out of jail.

In one scene, the bad guy comments that he's always one step ahead of Chozen, who replies with something like "In prison, I [bold]liked[/bold] it when guys were one step ahead of me."

The bad guy takes a moment to process this before exclaiming "Ugh!" in disgust.

A person asks another person for something. They are told no. The person says I insist, and so they get what they wanted. What is the power of saying I insist?!

In a shoot out when the guys are walking towards one another and keep missing.

In historical dramas when the men are covered in blood and filth and the next scene they're eating and then they're fucking some woman and they NEVER bathe. And you know they all smell bad and have lice. Ugh.

"Historical movies where the women's hair is strangely modern, especially when their hair is down and you can see their 2007 side-swept bangs."

Yeah, it always bugs me when you see a movie set in the Victorian Era and the women all have long, flowing hair that looks like a shampoo ad. Women back then wore severe-looking updos and probably went weeks without shampooing it. And in 50s movies the females all have long hair worn in a ponytail - back then tons of women had short hair, even teenage girls often had unflattering Mamie Eisenhower 'dos, women over 30 almost never had long hair.

Seems all the leads in movies are joggers, especially victims.

r138 the 50's are an especially hard period to cover for female characters because the hair styles are downright ugly by today's standards, despite the beautiful clothes. Grace Kelley had one of the few hairstyles that is both timeless and youthful.

I don't like how people will call someone to tell them that they need to talk (in person). Like can't you face-time each other if you need eye contact or simply say whatever it is over the phone? The worst is when someone is on the run/hiding but reach out to an acquaintance, that doesn't want to be caught up in their mess, ad asks to talk to them in person about a very important plot point. 50/50 they never make it to the meeting or die soon afterwards.

If cops show up at a house during a murder investigation and if there's a teenager in the room with the adult subject, the kid is the killer.

Creepy rapists, murderers, and other assorted violent psychopaths all reaching through the bars of their jail cells, taunting or trying to grab our hero/ine or fresh-faced newbie walking down the prison hallway. And seemingly they can put their arms out all the way to the shoulders. When in reality, even Podunkville jails have impenetrable mesh or a tiny slot in the steel cell door only wide/high enough for food trays and hands/wrists to be extruded for cuffing/uncuffing. Any jail or prison with old-style, wide-spaced iron bars like those we still see in many movies/tv shows would have dead guards piling up daily, shivved, garrotted or choked out by inmates.

How about never explaining how someone can take a random leave of absence from their frantic high powered job in the city to tie up loose ends in their hometown; extra points if its a fishing town or in the south. You always arrive in the middle of the most perfect summer; it only rains during a dramatic moment in your life. Someone old dies, but not before their severed relationship their child is mended. The town square is alive and vibrant with mom and pop businesses, not a Walmart in sight.

Every high school hallway has a bully.

*Phone rings*

"Honey, you're on tv!"

"Honey" switches on tv, which is set to exactly the right channel - and inexplicably, the news report seems to have started all over again at precisely the right moment...

(More a tv trope than a movie one, but still - and once you see and notice it, you will never miss it again)

Our hero or heroine looks out a window or across the street where they see--gasp!--our silent serial killer staring at them. But then--WOOSH!--a bus or truck flies by and. . .somehow. . .the serial killer is immediately gone. Nowhere in sight. Poof! Our hero or heroine blinks with confusion.

R146 just reminded me. The killer/suspect becomes friends with the protagonist's family and is unexpectedly seated at the dinner table when he/she arrives home. Always with an overweening smirk on his face. The subsequent conversation involves a threat concealed in double meanings as everyone except the two main characters chew their food. The evening ends with a tense confrontation with "Don't ever come near my family, again!" and the killer responding "Drop the case and I won't have to." The protagonist also never informs the spouse about his suspicions.

There's also a dance recital that they promise to see but something comes up and they can't make it. But at the end there's a second chance to make it up that ends in an "All is forgiven" hug.

[quote]Every high school hallway has a bully.

This is the one cliche that is accurate. If not the hallway, they lurk elsewhere on campus.

What makes the cliche eyeroll-inducing is when the bully and protagonist inexplicably become unlikely friends with so much in common.

Action heroes being played by male actors over 60 or wispy anorexic actresses. Who would be scared of some skinny bimbo or some geezer?

Evil-signalling by showing the villain tearing at their food with close-ups on their disgusting mouth and teeth, usually accompanied by amplified chewing and slurping sounds.

So THAT'S what this is about!!!!!

Suspense scenes in an empty hallway with one flickering fluorescent light.

The scene where someone walks or runs into something like a pole while distracted or not watching where they are going.

That one guy you know is going to get murdered because he is not cautious. He is careless. They telegraph it in different ways but you just KNOW. ya know?

r148 most high schools have all the teachers in the halls monitoring the children and have a zero tolerance policy towards violence so it's stupid when modern movies have packs of jocks roaming the halls pushing nerds into lockers without a teacher insight. They would be at the very least reprimanded if not suspended from their school.

Also, letterman jackets aren't as popular, I think it stopped being cool when they started giving letters to band kids. Cheerleaders aren't automatically the most popular girl.

The person knocks on the door and you answer. They walk all the way into your place and talk to you with their back to you. Bonus points for putting their fist to their mouth after they have told you a huge secret.

How can we forget the busting-through-the-door-ripping-clothes-off-sex? If I did that now I’d break a femur.

In old movies, the phone rings, and the person looks at it before walking over to get it. What did they expect to see?

Senior investigator is "by the book", tight-assed, divorced without child custody, recovering from alcoholism.

Junior investigator is brash, goes "rogue" against rules and procedures, sexually promiscuous, does party drugs.

Conflict, and eventual (b)romance ensues.

Just to add to (R54) - the happy family full-breakfast scenes always include orange juice in a beautiful glass carafe. Who does this? And there is no top on the carafe, so when Mom puts it back in the fridge, the oj is going to absorb refrigerator smells.

Also, big bowls of fruit sitting on tables. And a single person’s or couple’s fridge all stocked full of perishable food which would take two months to eat.

R160 sorry if this has been posted already, but every breakfast scene has the hurried husband running out after one bite of toast/kiss on the cheek/still fixing his tie. Always.One.Bite.Of.Toast.

Or someone prepares a big breakfast and the other persons says, Just coffee for me. Sometimes the cook then pours all the food into the garbage disposal. Remember MTM in Ordinary People did this with the French toast.

One I saw recently. Someone runs into their bedroom and slams the door. A person follows them, calling their name, knocking on the door. twisting the doorknob to find that the door is locked. The second person then gets a key from somewhere and unlocks the door. and enters the room.

Chase scene on old-style iron fire escape. Chaser shooting at chasee never hits them, ever. Chasee (or, rarely, chaser) runs into the street and gets it by a car blaring its horn, but rolls off the hood and continues running.

The nice black/Asian/Hispanic guy gets killed.

Cabin in the Woods parodied all the horror movie cliches and I believe a Geico commercial did too.

The spouse walks into the house and calls their partner's name. Not getting any response, they start talking about their day anyway. They do this all from the door, down the hall, into the kitchen, bedroom, etc. Never once do they get any response but on they go, yapping away. When they finally do shut up, its because they've discovered their spouse has been murdered, has died, or has left them.

Kitchens are never messy unless there's clue to a murder there.

I love a film cliche.....

Clumsy teenage girls. Melodramatically walking into walls, dropping lunch trays and tripping over their own feet----especially if there is a cute boy around.

All the wasted food is annoying. People meet at a pub or cafe to have an important discussion. They order drinks and maybe some food. Dramatic argument ensues. One party gets up, without having taken one bite or sip, throws money on the table and storms out.

"I have something important to tell you. Meet me at...." Why they can't tell them on the phone is beyond me.

Fat chick is way too invested in her thin, good looking best friend's love life. Meddling, enabling, working hard to play match maker to insure her BFF gets her oh so deserved happily ever after.

Attractive BFF never gives her fatty friend's happiness a second thought.

Conversations with wise old black people.

Someone suffers a fatal injury and the lead character holds them in a smothering headlock, while blood gushes out of their mouth and eyes and other orifices, and their intestines are dripping down their legs and tells them to "hang on! Stay with me! You're gonna make it!!!!"

Blind people feeling people's faces is already annoying as fuck.

Black female judges in every other court drama. Their numbers wildly out of proportion to reality.

Cop goes rogue and then gets chewed out by his loud, angry boss who "is sick of his shit". Boss takes him off the case and forces him turn in his badge and gun. Cop secretly continues to investigate and try to solve the case on his own.

"Nothing, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Whatever you decide, I support you."

"If you kill him you'll be no better than he is."

"I didn't do it for me, I did for you. So that you would have a better life than I did."

"Stop it!" "Why?" "Because he's your father!"

Character after revealing they know all the secrets a person has been hiding, "But I don't judge you."

"No, stop. If you cry, I'll start crying too."

After the words [italic]I'm breaking up with you![/italic]- "After everything I've done for you!?" if it's a woman and "I treated you like a princess!" if it's a man.

A wife convincing her husband, "I'll do that special thing I only do on your birthday."

Married couples only attempt to have sex when the kids aren't home.

"Wait a minute, if he's over there, then who's that?"

When confronted with something they can't cope with they lock themselves in the bathroom.

"You're always ruining my life!" Teenage girl bawls while storming to her room.

High schoolers are allowed to walk the halls wearing hats. The new kid in school is either a loner with just enough edge to cut him/herself with or overtalkative spaz with a thick accent.

“I’ll send for my things.”

I am being stalked by a serial killer but my partner has a business meeting in another state they can't get out of so they can't be there to help me. 'You know we need the money!'

She is the sole witness to a crime and has agreed to testify in the prosecution's case. She is told it is open-and-shut but a technicality gets the criminal off and then he comes looking for her for revenge.

A couple go to a club for dancing and when they hit the dance floor the crowd withdraws to a circle around the pair to watch their moves. The crowd hoots and hollers in approval and then applaud when the dance is over.

Vanity project for aging actress. Impossibly gorgeous and younger character is obsessed with or stalking her. Or, better yet, TWO gorgeous characters are fighting over her.

How about this one? This particular cliche has been done to death over the years especially on soap operas:

Person A has a confrontation with Person B. Person A says something particularly threatening to Person B just before they leave the scene and as they get ready to leave Person B says to them "Is that a threat?"

"No", Person A responds, "Its a promise."

R144 my hallway bully was fine. Is it bad I always secretly wanted him to fuck me?

r183 that does happen at gay clubs, but only when the queens are doing a dance off.

Seeing married women with only a wedding band but no engagement ring. It seems like a very lazy decision by wardrobe repeated across movie after movie. Keep an eye out for it.

R185, that reminds me of one of my other pet peeve cliches: 'I will destroy you.'

That's really weird R188. So easy to give them a CZ rock to wear as a prop.

When someone is handwriting a letter and there is a voiceover to tell us what they are writing, but no one can handwrite as fast as the voiceover speaks.

When people meet at a public place and pretend they don't know each other but their reactions are totally revealing, Think of the scene in the market in Double Indemnity for example.

Movies set in the 40s and 50s where dancing couples are doing these elaborate swing dancing routines with flips, twirls, lifts, etc.

You look at actual clips of people dancing from the time, and they are much more sedate

Absolutely hate when they film family scenes in the living room with everyone crammed onto one sofa. I get why but it looks so stupid and unnatural.

Someone is being chased in the street and keeps looking behind them to see if they are still being chased. Since they are not looking where they are running, they inevitably bump into someone else.

Any time the world is in danger of being demolished by nukes, space aliens, a war, etc., it’s a rule that there MUST be a shot of the main character looking at his kids woefully.

Bonus points if the kids ask, “What’s wrong, Dad?” “Oh, nothing for you to worry about, son.” (Tears well up.)

Bickering actor storms towards the door. Then turns around to continue the fight.

Victim survives attempt on life, is hospitalized. Murderer sneaks into hospital to try again. Either the "victim" lying in the bed is really a cop, or the cops are waiting, ready to burst into the room.

Given an original and shocking twist in the climactic scene of Hitchcock's Frenzy.

The villain dies twice. He dies once....but it turns out he/she was dead at first, so he/she needs to be killed AGAIN!!!!!

Someone is sneaking up on the hero or the hero is the one doing the sneaking. They sneaker passes a car and suddenly a barking dog appears at the car window. Shock!

We hate that one, too!

Similar to the stepping on a cat's tail scream-shock.

"You're not the same person I married. I don't even recognize you or I don't even know you."

The family heirloom (necklace, ring, diary, etc.) ends up being the necessary key/last clue to solve the mystery and save the world.

When cooking in an oversized pot for the size of the family, when asked to taste the sauce he/she replies "Needs more salt."

Alternatively, the sauce just doesn't taste quite right until someone sprinkles a secret spice and then it's mouth gaping amazing.

Every families' grandma is famous for baking something, like literally famous. The whole town just can't wait until it's next delivery. And it's recipe is a closely guarded secret.

"You don't believe me! YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME!!!"

[quote]When cooking in an oversized pot for the size of the family, when asked to taste the sauce he/she replies "Needs more salt."

That's because most Americans and Canadians don't now how to use salt properly.

"Why, you!

.....

What the?

The unreliable flashlight that has morphed to the unreliable cell phone signal.

The windblown banging shutter/shed door.

“That’s not the way we do things! You’re a [family surname], for God’s sake!”

Some frau will say “For the first time in my life...” and then follow that up with some empowering statement (“love myself”, “feel accomplished”, “did this on my own”) and I roll my fucking eyes.

R212, or they give themselves permission to do something. Ugh.

the feisty old lady who punches the crook in the nose.

The unlikely hero

If someone is daydreaming, their name will be called repeatedly in their daydream for some reason, and we’ll be shocked, shocked I say, with the next shot being the teacher (or wife, child, etc.) who was actually calling the character outside of the dream.

Did we already cover the "pretty" blonde who drinks too much, ends up dancing on the tables, or alone in front of the juke box and wakes up in the morning realizing she had sex with her nemesis?

"You take of her, ya hear?"

"You break her heart, and I'll kill you!"

Someone is getting threatening phone calls or silent calls where the called person says, 'I can hear you breathing'. After one of these calls, the phone rings again. The called answers saying, 'Now listen, you son of a bitch - and then we hear it is a friend or their mom who is the caller.

r30 that is what always annoys me, it's always "the man and the woman"--it's not only in movies but in advertising; one example is a company that people invest in for retirement--ALWAYS a man and woman hand in hand walking along a beach having an oh-so-happy retirement. Gay people don't exist. And r195, adding to what you point out is the fact that if it is a female who is being chased, which is usually the case, she ALWAYS falls down and/or is in heels. In the 1930s and 40s a woman being spanked was supposed to be uproariously funny, which I find as a gay guy a little repulsive. There are a few of men being spanked, but I think we need way more movies showing that to balance out the crap from the 30s--60s (John Wayne, McClintock). Nowadays in many movies there is always, for no purpose whatever, a scene where a female is naked--very few movies show men who are naked, as if there is something secret about a man's ass whereas there is nothing secret about a woman's. A woman's cunt is way more likely to be shown than a man's dick.

When the US heroes save the world and everyone in central command cheers and hugs and back slaps.......

Adding to R196: And out of all of the millions of families on the planet, it is always the main character's family that survives (even if the members are are in different states, countries, or parts of town) while everybody around them perishes. Every. fucking. time. Zzzzz...

A man and a woman are walking in the woods or in some wild terrain and the main offers to help the woman through a hazardous section. She declines saying 'I have walked here many times'. Then she trips and falls over and the man helps her up. '

The screen door, flapping slowly in the wind, with a creaking sound added, indicates that nobody has lived in this house for a while.

They never found the body.....they say he's still out there somewhere

If you walk out that door you can never come back.

The nerdy, semi MR character transforms into the hottie with brains to match. Like Corey Haim in “Lucas” or all those ugly swan into Cinderella teen movies.

Gay man saved from gay bashers by lone straight man.

Characters racing to the airport to keep the love of their life from "getting on that plane and losing them forever". WTF, dude, you can't just catch the next flight to England (or wherever) and bring them back? You don't have a phone to make a call and ask them to forgive you and come back? You can't write them an email or letter? Really? They will be gone FOREVER if they "get on that plane."

Our hero saves someone from falling off a building by holding onto them with one hand and then pulling them up to safety. Gurl, no. In real life you’d both go splat.

This is a strictly business arrangement.

r229, it seems like half the thrillers ever made end with someone dangling off a building. So sick of that cliche.

Is this thread confused? I think stupid things when I watch porn. I think this thread has been mixed up with the hated movie cliche thread.

R231 Or a really steep cliff.

All the gals at the Wild West brothel look like circa 2018 supermodels

This is more of a tv cliche, but the team hacker/computer guru instantly has access to every possible database in the world. And Finds blueprints and schematics of every building so they can tell people on the other end of the phone (no service issues) when to turn left or right. Who keeps detailed schematics online? Especially if the building is more than 15 years old

You're working too hard. You're killing yourself!

Someone dials a number but then is unable to speak and the person who answers repeats, Hello. Hello! Hello!! HELLO?? too many times before they give up.

"Say, what's the big idea?"

What WAS the big idea anyway?

Mostly a trope of Italian/Spanish horror it takes the trope of investigating a strange noise into ridiculous territory. In a lot of horror, the strange noise may be in somebody's home or where they are babysitting. Not so in these. You will be a big haired woman with bright red lipstick and poorly dubbed and you will be walking home and hear a sound in the alley across the street. Who investigates a random sound in an alley? She would! And she hets a stick shoved through her eye because they tend to stand there and make orgasmic noises as they get killed.

Or anotehr woman is about to enter her apartment and hears a noise up the stairwell. Is it so odd to hear noises in an apartment building? Well, no matter, she's gonna go check it out. And a zombie bites off her neck.

Women can only investigate scary noises at night while wearing skimpy tank tops or lingerie. No baggy pajamas or sweatshirts!

"You don't believe me!"

"I believe YOU believe it."

Gay films: "Oops. The condom broke."

Five minutes of panic ensues.

When someone is talking on the phone and the other person hangs up on them, they look at the phone, as if the phone did it.

I just saw another phone one. A man was having a conversation and we can only hear his side of it, but then we hear the click that tells us the other person had hung up on him.

[Quote] No baggy pajamas or sweatshirts!

That would just be wrong.

So true R240 and so not reality. Women generally lounge around in pj bottoms or sweats and tshirts.

"I don't know what to believe anymore!"

I lied. I've been lying to you from the beginning. And you believed every word!

Kissing after just waking up. Gross.

"Shocking" twist endings that reveal it was all a dream!

Can I get you something to eat or drink?

Don't go to any trouble.

Its no trouble.

When the four main characters have harrowing adventures nearly resulting in their deaths and one turns to the other, and says "I think I'll miss you most of all."

Whenever there is a fist fight between two men you will immediately hear the sound of women screaming.

Every haunted house has an ordinary cat for a good scare.

“I’ll see you in hell!”

On a group adventure there is one person that ends up with blistered feet and unable to walk.

Has anyone mentioned this in this thread yet? If you want to see a movie trailer that is LITERALLY constructed of one cliché after another, watch the latest trailer for Mission Impossible. I shrink with nausea every time I'm in a theater and it rolls.

^ Off-topic, but that trailer is so bad. Tammy needs to hang it up, who still buys him as a cool action dude?

R256- the injured person also says "Go on without me" but everyone else refuses to do so.

R189, about seven years ago "I will destroy you" was replaced by *grits teeth* "I will END you."

Concerned coworker/boss/partner/parent/child: "Why, you're hurt! And you've just seen your coworker/boss/partner/parent/child killed RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES! You should take some time off--get rested, clear your head."

Hero/ine: "Why, I've never taken so much as a SICK day... and I'm not about to start now."

Alternate hero/ine reply: *growls* "I've got work to do."

In1930-1960 movies there's the bickering romantic leads who barely know each other driving some distance late at night who get tired. What to do? "Well we simply must find the nearest Justice of the Peace before we even dare to check into an inn for the night." Then that very minute lo and behold they've pulled into a white clapboard house with a Justice of the Peace shingle. They eagerly proceed to wake up the JOTP and his Mrs. Introductions are made and usually the prospective bride and groom barely can cover the costs of the two dollar marriage certificate and other incidentals. Oftentimes, the JOTP also has extra rooms to let for whenever couples elope.

R256 and R259 I never understood that either.

If that was me all you’d see would be one ass and two elbows!

R262, that's never happened in any movie ever.

bump.

Fumbling for keys.

When someone has been mangled in an accident, like a car accident, their loved one is told 'I know they wouldn't want you to see them not looking their best'. That's all very well but doesn't somebody have to identify the remains?!

I keep seeing someone knocking on a stranger's front door, and when there is no answer they turn the knob to find the door is unlocked and they just walk right in.

Apparently people didn't lock their doors much before the Manson killings but it still seems impertinent.

[quote]When someone has been mangled in an accident, like a car accident, their loved one is told 'I know they wouldn't want you to see them not looking their best'. That's all very well but doesn't somebody have to identify the remains?!

My brother died from an accidental gunshot wound to the head on family property. My parents found him and they said his wounds and face didn't look all that bad. The police refused to let my parents see him again and they went to a nearest neighbor and brought the neighbor over to "formally identify"(the police's words) my brother. The whole situation was weird and the state that we live in allows EMTs and paramedics who take a one week death investigation course to investigate certain deaths. I honestly wonder how many murder investigations the state has fucked by allowing people without extensive investigation training to investigate deaths.

[quote]the state that we live in allows EMTs and paramedics who take a one week death investigation course to investigate certain deaths.

What state is this? Are you sure about that? As an EMT myself I’ve never heard of “investigating” a death. That’s what the police and coroner are for.

In most states (mine included), EMTs are not allowed to “pronounce” death, unless it’s an “obvious death.” Examples would be full rigor mortis, decapitation, etc., hence the colloquialism “nobody ever dies in the back of an ambulance.”

Cops don't solve murders. Instead they are solved by mystery novelists, eccentric rich guys, etc.

A healthy person is shot or is an accident and someone immediately walks over and declares, “He’s dead.” What? No CPR? No ambulance? People don’t usually die instantaneously.

Same thing with a patient in the hospital who is weak but conscious and capable of carrying on conversation, but there is “nothing they can do for him” so in a few minutes he just closes his eyes and dies. No evidence of medical intervention except maybe an IV.

R272, and the oxygen in the nose. Lol

[quote]Cops don't solve murders. Instead they are solved by mystery novelists, eccentric rich guys, etc.

Well, actually, lol ...

[quote]What state is this? Are you sure about that? As an EMT myself I’ve never heard of “investigating” a death. That’s what the police and coroner are for.

[quote]In most states (mine included), EMTs are not allowed to “pronounce” death, unless it’s an “obvious death.” Examples would be full rigor mortis, decapitation, etc., hence the colloquialism “nobody ever dies in the back of an ambulance.”

It's New Mexico. The area I'm from is rural. The local police contacted the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator and we had to wait for the investigator to come from another place a couple of hours away. My aunt and uncle were with us and when the investigator showed up my uncle and aunt immediately recognized him as being from their town which is about 45 minutes away from us. My uncle and aunt knew the guy and his family and my aunt worked for the school district that he attended and she said that he had only graduated high school two years before and my uncle and cousin had coached the guy in middle school sports. Anyway, my aunt and uncle said they knew he had become an EMT right after high school, but they like us couldn't get why the state sent him out as an investigator.

Later on, my dad out of curiosity did some research and found out that the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator conducts a one week course that medical pathologists, cops, and even EMTs and paramedics can attend to become certified as field deputy medical investigators. Here's a link to the course brochure from 2015 and it seems that year the course only lasted two days. I'll try to find more info as I do remember in past years the course lasted a little bit longer like a week. While my brother's death was an accident, it still pisses me off that there is a chance that someone like EMT or paramedic may missed certain things about suspicious deaths.

[quote]and the oxygen in the nose. Lol

That is not a cliche. That's one of the rare details in a movie and TV show that is realistic. I was in the hospital a few years ago and I was made to wear that damned thing even though I didn't need it and it caused my nose to become so congested that it defeated the purpose of wearing it in the first place.

r274, that was solved by the police.

You don't know what you're saying or You don't know what you're doing!

You're playing with fire!

How could you?!

It can't believe it. There must be some mistake.

R275, I have to stand corrected, then. Or, really, sit right now. I am shocked.

Thanks for the info and thanks for keeping it classy.

R276 No, I agree that the nasal canula oxygen is ubiquitous in real life. I was merely adding on to the trope from the movies that, other than possibly an IV, there’s no other evidence of any medical intervention whatsoever. Unless the scene has to be dramatic, then we’ll hear the rise and fall of the ventilator.

And the beeping of the heart monitor, R280.

"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack!"

Usually proclaimed right before the hero finds that darn needle.

[quote]I have to stand corrected, then. Or, really, sit right now. I am shocked.

[quote]Thanks for the info and thanks for keeping it classy.

You're welcome. Usually when I tell people about the EMT investigating my brother's death, they are shocked as well and in the past I've shown them links to the New Mexico OMI and University of New Mexico sites about how deaths are investigated and how paramedics and EMTs are allowed to get very quick training and certification to investigate deaths. I've thought about writing to state senators and represenatives about that issue. However, it's difficult to question things in NM because of all the financial issues the state has. The only way I think there will be some major change is if EMT with the death investigation certification somehow fucks up and there is evidence of it.

Madcap car chase on country highway causes Old McDonald's truckload of caged chickens and hay to spill all over the road.

Madcap car chase ends with one of the chase cars getting a dump truck full of manure dumped on it.

Car runs over fire hydrant during the course of a madcap car chase resulting in 40 foot geyser of water spurting onto the street.

Rapidly spinning newspaper stops spinning to reveal the front page headline and usually a photo of whoever it's about. Sometimes it seems ridiculous that the news story would be front page news.

Chubby, big babies with big heads and curly hair were the go to standard in the 40s and 50s.

Small English villages have more serial killers than LA or New York

^^^^and people are always lurking around in the wee hours. Doesnt anyone go to bed?

GET OUT OF THERE!

I have to talk to you. It's important!

R284 - I like these newspaper stories and try to freeze-frame to read the article when I can. They can be very funny. Also when the story is about a woman and the photo is an ultra-glam shot when she hasn't looked liked this before in the narrative.

"Operator? Get me the police."

Busybody old ladies and psychics make great detectives

Guy walks out on his wife after marriage goes to hell, he's holding a small overnight bag.

"I'll send for the rest of my things."

When someone is packing to move out in a fury they only ever take the contents of the top drawer of a bedroom dresser.

He's been tried in the court of public opinion!

Male baby pees in whoever's face during a change diaper for comedic effect.

[quote]Busybody old ladies and psychics make great detectives

Who the hell are you calling old, you ninny?

Listen to me!

No, you listen to me!!

Lovelorn single women, sitting on the couch ALONE watching old movies, wearing sweats, and eating ice cream out of the carton

The lovelorn single woman has a sassy but supportive gay best friend who gives her advice (Girl, you need to start dating again!)

All you really want is your name on the front page.

Sassy black women friends. The "Mom" TV show has just jumped the shark by adding one to their regular cast. If I were African American I'd be outraged at this stereotype.

The sassy black friend is like the sassy gay friend - so played out

One interruption after another while the guy tries to propose marriage.

Proposes on bended knee.

Minor lesbian character is always referenced as playing golf or softball.

Don't do me any favors.

Noticed in old Hollywood film noirs. Everyone seems to have a fully loaded handgun lying around, where anyone else can access it. Was this really so prevalent back then?

“I don’t even KNOW you anymore!”

Two people with guns and the good guy is going to get killed then a third person comes along and has a gun to shoot the bad guy.

Whenever someone is framed in the film they always get exonerated usually in the last half of the film.

For once I would like to see a film where someone gets framed & is never released.

Maybe even have the villain frame the victim for two completely different crimes instead of the predictable one.

NO ONE gets shot in a strange or embarrassing place--in the ass, in the dick, in the knee--or says "OW!"

People get shot and just fall over.

"Oh....my....God."

The control room breaks into applause and high-fives as the music swells.

When someone gives a small gift to another person, they place it in their palm and close their fingers over it. This shows that it is meaningful.

[quote]Sassy black women friends. The "Mom" TV show has just jumped the shark by adding one to their regular cast. If I were African American I'd be outraged at this stereotype.

One does not have to be a member of a group to be outraged about stereotypes concerning that group.

To solve a mystery, stare through Venetian blinds

Thank you, R312.

I found my car keys now!

[Quote] NO ONE gets shot in a strange or embarrassing place--in the ass, in the dick, in the knee--or says "OW!"

Older cop talks about his imminent retirement...

...and gets shot dead in the first reel.

You've been playing the same record and it's wearing out!

In old movies women go to bed wearing coiffed hair and full makeup. And when they wake up the next morning, their hair and makeup still look great. They also swim in full makeup, and diving into the water doesn't cause their makeup to smudge one bit!

Asking everyone to leave the room and people actually doing it.

A newspaper office is shown to have constant telephones ringing except when somebody makes a speech to the staff.

Woman receives a necklace as a gift. She's never wearing a necklace already, so man just fastens it around her neck.

R319 and R320 are GREAT ones. Hadn’t even thought of those.

"Cigars, cigarettes. Cigars, cigarettes. Chewing gum."

When dialing a rotary phone, they just dial the first 3 numbers so they'll finish dialing faster.

In shootouts, victims dramatically jerk and writhe when shot and perhaps careen around In reality, victims just drop.

Off topic, but R323, did you know that’s why cities like New York and Los Angeles have the area codes they do. At the introduction of area codes (Number Plan Areas), there were only rotary phones. It’s much faster to dial 2-1-2 or 2-1-3 than something like 9-0-8.

Just an interesting tidbit.

You have no idea who you're dealing with.

Any detective movie where he enters a hotel room to find a voluptuous blonde laying on the bed. "How did you get in here?" She tells him she lied and told the clerk she was his 'sister'. He pulls her close...."I don't have a sister" - she coos "I don't have a brother.' Clinch. They fall to the bed.

"You HAVE to believe me!

Someone has a wire on and they are recording someone as they say something really guilty

Detective to perp: "If you didn't intend to kill him, why the gun?"

Weepy shooter* to detective: "I . . . I only brought it to scare him! I just wanted to TALK to him, make him understand! You have to believe me!"

*Weepy shooter usually = sympathetic female with model-like figure, or angsty teenaged boy/girl

In science fiction movies a renegade decides to bypass the systems in place and it has bad consequences.

R329 - yes I Tonya had a variation on the wire setup when the mother has a tape recorder. 'You can tell me the truth. Did you really do it?"

When the protagonist is shown jogging in the opening scene in a thriller you know that later they will be called upon to run in a chase. Luckily, they've been in training. e.g. Marathon Man.

"Jones, you're off the case!!!! Turn in your badge!"

[quote]For once I would like to see a film where someone gets framed & is never released.

R308, see "Body Heat."

When the highest compliment you could give a woman was to call her a man.

Sam Spade to his secretary, Effie: "You're a good man, sister."

[quote]For once I would like to see a film where someone gets framed & is never released.

[quote][R308], see "Body Heat."

Or The Last Seduction.

[quote]"Cigars, cigarettes. Cigars, cigarettes. Chewing gum."

How are things in 1934?

The protagonist can jump into any vehicle on air, land, sea or in space and drive or pilot it. This is such a wish-fulfillment scenario that audiences never question it.

You can't run. You can't hide. You don't know which way to turn.

Every subway has a drunk. (this may actually be cinema verite)

Every action scene, but especially every one involving an assassin. A chase: assassin runs through an urban obstacle course, beginning with 20 armed men. One at a time, bang, each one fires five shots but goes down in one. Assassin is cornered by four or five men all with guns! Bang bang! Now three! Then he spins around and hits one, kicks the other, does acrobatics and bang bang bang, done. Etc etc. Zzz. Closer to the target. Then of course after taking out 20 armed men with and without his gun (something goes wrong along the way, but he picks up a couple new guns from dead men, of course!), he chases the target across a city, through alleys, in and out of dumpsters, over chain fences and rooftops. Curiously, he took out each of the other trained snipers with one bullet but now he has fired 72 and can’t seem to hit the elusive guy. Blah blah blah. Eventually catches him and they shoot, smack, punch, and then take a break for some sassy banter and sexual tension.

And that’s just a day in an average American high school!

No one in older movies either locks their car doors, or takes the keys with them. They just jump into the vehicle and drive off.

I just saw a 1940s movie where a man used someone's house phone without even asking permission. And the owner just stood and watched him.

[Quote] No one in older movies either locks their car doors, or takes the keys with them.

They always conveniently leave it in the sun visor.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Someone already took NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I thought my NO! was reserved purely for death scenes?

"I don't even know what to believe anymore!!!!"

The attic scene, where a middle-aged character sits down with a box of family mementos and goes through it, triggering a range of emotions and memories.

"I'm on it!"

R346 - the No scene often uses a high angle shot looking down upon the poor screamer.

Passionate kissing scenes in the rain

Nobody makes a monkey out of me!

You're making a scene.

If this is some kind of joke, it's not funny.

The woman running ahead of the exiting man to block his path. Don't go!

If it’s a sports related movie, one character will be shown not being able to do something (dunking, bunting, etc.) until the climax and the game is on the line and relies on him doing that very thing.

Then, of course, he’ll pull it off perfectly.

PRAZTATOOSHIN HOARZES

The preview that starts with, "In a world where..."

"But they didn't count on.....one man!"

"You don't get it, do you? You just. Don't. Get it..."

The mandatory Vietnam-movie soundtrack:

"Time Has Come Today"

"Wooly Booly"

"Hey, Joe"

"For What It's Worth"

"Ain't Too Proud To Beg" (only in scenes featuring black soldiers).

This thread is hilarious. And spot on.

The available space right outside the building or restaurant, especially in New York City.

R361 is referring to Doris Day Parking.

I love it.

Screaming underwater in a pool. That must have been first used in some indie once but it's everywhere now and it needs to stop already.

r359, you forgot "Gimme Shelter"

this was from a TV show but when Eric walked out on Stephanie he has two suitcases with him but then leaves without them saying "I'll send someone for my things."

go to 7:22, but the whole scene is great.

A family decides to rent out a room in their house to a border because they need the extra money, though the young daughter is against the idea. However when an applicant is a handsome stranger her resistance melts and they have a romance. The border will turn out to be a cad, who falls behind in the rent but is forgiven because he is so charming and the family trusts him to pay up when he gets back on his feet.

Another rooming house one is when the landlady sees a front page article about the couple she has taken in as new tenants and decides she wants them out because they are in trouble with the police. She bangs on their door relentlessly while they escape via a window and the fire escape, though I thought landladies have their own keys to all the rooms?

A car chase and someone saying "We've got company"

Character A, a male, says something rather clumsy but accurate and not necessarily offensive about someone (usually female) special to Character B, who's also male.

B holds A against the wall and tells him with a very tense face, "Never talk about her like that again again".

Hero(ine) enters a room, usually an office, or den, with Mister ___ sitting in a chair, back turned. S/he cautiously approaches, then spins the chair around, and -SURPRISE!! - Mr. __ is DEAD! Shot in the head, usually.

The shaky subjective camera is used to show an approach upon someone. The person being followed sees who it is and says, "Oh, it's you" to suggest they know the person before they are attacked.

A variation of this is the fakeout when the follower puts a hand on the person's shoulder which makes them scream and turn around to say, "Oh it's only you", this time not to be attacked. Or the owner of the hand says, "It's only me!" and the person touched will often say, 'Don't do that!'

[quote]The available space right outside the building or restaurant, especially in New York City.

Echoing R361, in Vertigo, Scottie easily pulls his light grey,1956 Desoto a comfortable distance behind Madeleine's green,1957 Jaguar, in front of Mission Dolores...

Here's what parking looks like in front of Mission Dolores, today...

R366, a person renting a room is a boarder, not a border.

Homos really should be better at homophones.

You're no good. You're just no good.

It's my only chance at happiness.

You don't know what you're saying.

A murderer gets his victim to wrote a suicide note, without being aware it will be used on them. One example is A Kiss Before Dying where a note is translated from another language. Another is when the killer is a writer and he asks his victim to write a note because he is having trouble composing one and he wants a fresh take.

R363 I immediately thought of Requiem For A Dream.

The disapproving mother says:

"If you're happy, then I'm happy."

"After all your father and I have done for you!"

"I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I made."

"I do this because I care."

"We are your family!"

People who become completely blind when they lose their glasses.

Whenever there's an emergency at home the man is always in the middle of shaving.

The villain always gets shaved with a straight razor to show how powerful and in control he is.

Any animosity between characters is solved by having a drink at the bar.

In a romantic comedy the man's best pal and the woman's girl friend have an implied romance before the end credits.

A single mother always tells her child that their father died a hero rescuing others from a fire.

In a scary movie the next door neighbor clearly knows the secrets of the house but says nothing but ominous warnings. Despite not being overly friendly they will still run into the house to save the family only to be killed.

High Schoolers always making a promise to eachother for senior year only for one of them to break it and send the other into a swearing tantrum.

"Let go of me! You're hurting me!"

Bratty kid or shithead teen disappears right when the rest of a group needs to get the fuck out of Dodge forcing them to risk death or a deadline to find them. Invariably, bratty kid needs an inhaler and always loses them or parents just never seem to have an extra on their person.

^^^^^^Let me add that this is a game while watching movies in my house. "let's guess who can accurately predict when the kid has an asthma attack and can't find his inhaler".

Character A: "Bob?"

Character B: "What?"

Character A: "Thanks"

"He's right behind me, isn't he?"

"OK--we're done here."

"Don't shoot!"

BANG

(Nobody ever doesn't shoot.)

When the protagonist finally stumbles into the killer’s lair, there are thousands of candles lit all over the place. The killer just knew the protagonist would be showing up any minute now, yet had plenty of time to go room to room lighting candles, placing them on each stair leading up to the room where shit is about to go down.

“Go ahead and scream. No one can hear you.”

A person turns on the television and the news happens to start running THE story that somehow involves the person. The person is either like, “I’ve heard enough” and turns it off after a few moments or he can just tell when the news story is over and turns it off. In reality, the television would stay on all day and the person would be glued to the tv, afraid to miss any developments.

When someone secretly records a confession, they always rewind it back to the exact point where the confession began so they can immediately play it back to the villain.

Zooming in on a grainy image and tweaking it just so and suddenly the blown up picture is sharp as hell.

"When the protagonist finally stumbles into the killer’s lair, there are thousands of candles lit all over the place. The killer just knew the protagonist would be showing up any minute now, yet had plenty of time to go room to room lighting candles, placing them on each stair leading up to the room where shit is about to go down."

Speaking of candles, I always like the "romantic" scenes where the lovers are surrounded by, like, 100 candles. How long did it take them to light all those things?

A girl says to her bf she wants to wait and have her first time be special. Turns out she's already lost it to someone else like the bf's best friend or someone close to him.

[quote]A girl says to her bf she wants to wait and have her first time be special

Corollary: It never ends well for ex-virgins.

[quote]When someone secretly records a confession, they always rewind it back to the exact point where the confession began so they can immediately play it back to the villain.

Exactly, R386. It's stupid to reveal it in the moment. Why wouldn't the villain simply grab the phone or recorder out of the hero's hand and toss it?

"You might want to take a look at this."

Crushing a glass in a fist to show intense anger.

Two characters meet and begin insulting eachother before laughing and embracing because they were friends all along.

A dark, mysterious character with a troubled past will always know how to play a musical instrument.

A detective can't crack the case until having a casual conversation. "Wait! Say that again." then shouting "That's it!" and rush out of the room with renewed resolve.

To show that a man is falling in love with a woman there's a take of him staring at her while she smiles (laughs) and tosses her hair back in slow motion.

In a romance movie with a rich solicitor the female lead will be surprised by a box with a bow around it. Inside will be a gorgeous dress that will send her in tears, with a note attached giving instructions when to wear it.

Every high school reunion movie always has one person who became rich & famous and the fattest kid in class now has the hottest body.

"Walking away from you was the worst mistake of my life."

in a car chase the car in front hides in a side street and the second car drives straight ahead by them on the main road. sometimes they realize the trick and turn back but mostly this is how the first car eludes the pursuers.

I JUsT watched the Punisher series on Netflix and there's a scene where this DHS agent's partner is killed. She just finished shooting and killing a bunch of the enemies who were excellent shots and snipers, but she sees her partner lying there dead in the middle of this industrial yard, radios something in, runs out With NO cover, and does the whole "Nooooo!!!!! Someone help!!! Get help!!!!" thing. Bitch, you have your fucking radio, and you were fine a second ago gunning down villains and dodging gunfire, and suddenly she's this shaken frau housewife whose husband was just run over in front of her. And they weren't even dating, and she'd only been his partner for a few weeks!

When people cough to indicate they're "vomiting" Who does that? Why is there never someone dumping cups of water into the toilet so it really sounds like it?

'I don't have to listen to this', said as someone tries to leave but always seems to be stoped with, 'Yes, you do' or 'You're gonna listen.'

When character A says "If only..." and character B says "But you ARE Blanche, you are"

When character A confronts character B by saying "GIMME BACK MY SHOES"

When a couple have sex and then later one of them says, "That can never happen again' because they are already in a relationship with someone else.

The airport scene. You know the one.

I loved The English Patient but the scene where he is carrying Kristin Scott Thomas into the cave to wait for her rescue is not good. Her crying sounds fake. I was actually embarrassed for that scene. Only bad scene in the movie imo.

The sudden kiss from a man that stops a woman from speaking.

The club scene where everyone can hear each other.

[quote]The club scene where everyone can hear each other.

And the club/ballroom/crowded room scene where, for some reason, our hero finally decides to declare his love:

Hero: "I love you."

GIrl: "What?

Hero (louder): "I love you."

Girl (shaking her head): "Sorry, I can't hear you."

Hero (frustrated, shouting): "I. [bold]LOVE.[/bold] YOU!" . . . just as the music inexplicably stops. The entire club/ballroom/crowded room erupts in applause and laughter, as Girl throws her arms around embarrassed Hero.

A woman cuts her hair herself and it comes out like it was done by a professional.

Any lame line that includes.. "More ____ than you can imagine."

I have quite the vivid imagination that can stretch beyond infinity.. more than you "can imagine" lol

A woman is running away in a forest from something menacing and she trips. And then can't run properly.

Bye bitch! I'm outta here.

“You’re not lying to me. You’re lying to yourself”.

"A woman cuts her hair herself and it comes out like it was done by a professional."

Or she dyes it and it looks like it was done by a professional colorist

A woman is being hunted so she wears glasses and a bad wig as a disguise.

In every car chase, one pursuing vehicle must roll over onto its roof. Another one must crash into a fixed object.

R380, oh, God, I have that on a tape I'll upload to Youtube some day. it's from Guiding Light and Alan (Bernau) has Alexandra (McKinsey) by the arm and they're arguing over Reva and Alex says from the gut 'let go of my arm, you're HURRTING me!"

brilliant.

A person who wears glasses is unrecognizable when they take them off. This is like the idiocy of Clark Kent and Superman where no one could tell if was the same man. But I just saw this scenario with a woman, who was described as an old maid with glasses but a hot number when she took them off.

Adding somewhat to R412’s comment, every librarian in every library is GORGEOUS under her dowdy clothes and glasses.

also school teachers

In a fury, a character sweeps everything off a table, counter etc, onto the floor. Sounds of glass and crockery shattering, objects breaking, the character sobbing or yelling etc. Papers and files all over the place, everything flying etc.

Eye roll. Who does this, in real life? And who's going to clean it up, Merry Maids?

I saw this one the other day. The male protagonist ins interested in a woman but her female best friend always seems to be with her, and she doesn't like him. They trade insults and he has to find a way to get the woman he likes alone with him.

R415 - I did that at work once. I was searching for a file amongst a mountain of files on a table and got so frustrated I just pushed them all onto the floor. I magically found the one I wanted when I was putting them all back. Naturally this action drew some attention from other workers in the area but none of them helped me re-stack.

A baby is born.

If it's a girl. "She's perfect! Ten fingers and ten toes."

Never: "I count only nine toes."

If it's a boy, "Say hello to your son."

Never: "Whose kid is that?"

R351

[quote]Passionate kissing scenes in the rain

Or, they hastily duck in somewhere and have their first fuck, because... wet. But not before clumsily trying to dry each other's hair.

[quote]Naturally this action drew some attention from other workers in the area but none of them helped me re-stack.

I wouldn’t have helped your immature ass, either.

This is more of an acting tic:

When a woman is so overcome with grief and starts to cry, she puts her hand over her mouth. Likewise, when she sees something really horrible, like a dead body, the hand goes to the mouth.

When someone has a flashback of a child's hand brushing up against stalks of wheat as they run carefree through a field.

When the new kid arrives at school and one of the cool kids gives them a tour, tells them about all of the cliques, what to do, how to act and who they should and should not hang out with.

"When someone has a flashback of a child's hand brushing up against stalks of wheat as they run carefree through a field."

Or a couple romping through a wheat field - they're so in love!!!!

R399

[quote]The airport scene. You know the one.

Or, it's not really goodbye, because they're sitting behind you on the plane.

“You’ll wish you were never born!”

This mostly in older movies, but gift or flower (usually roses) boxes that had the lid of the box wrapped separately, so the giftee needn’t clumsily tear off the wrapping paper and simply just take the lid off. Who wraps a gift like that in real life?

^^You don’t?

^^ Nope, and never received one wrapped like that either.

^^Oh well then you ain’t LIVED! Thoughts and prayers to you.

The playful "love montage" after which, everything turns to shit.

A lovey dovey couple taking a rowboat ride together (when was the last time someone actually did that in real life? 1935?!)

What's really said is I've actually used the "Don't die on me" in real life.

R428, thanks, can use all I can get!

The wrapped gift reminds me of people that open the paper very carefully so they can save it to use again, the cheapies. Sybil wanted to use the back of the paper to draw on cos she was on a tight budget, you know.

There's only one street in Brooklyn.

After someone has handcuffs removed, when they have been arrested by police, the person rubs their wrist.

One unarmed person can easily take on a group of men with guns/knives/swords. You see this all the time in action movies.

[quote]After someone has handcuffs removed, when they have been arrested by police, the person rubs their wrist.

Ironically, that’s completely true, though. I’ve had many occasions to handcuff and unhandcuff people (not for fun, either), and it must be a natural reaction or something. Virtually everyone does it.

This may be none of my business but ...

You're right. It is none of your business.

"Is there some deep, dark secret you're trying to hide from me?"

Of course there is! Theres ALWAYS a deep, dark secret!!!

The nosy old lady next door or the frau protagonist's best friend who figures out the true identity and intentions of the antagonist early on in the movie and meets a quick end at their hands. The one where the frau protagonist and antagonist wrestle each other over a gun and the gun goes off. Both of them look wide eyed and shocked and it's revealed that the antagonist was fatally shot. Usually these are both Lifetime movie cliches.

In a horror movie where the final survivor is about to kill the killer and the police burst in at the last minute and either arrest or shoot the final girl/final boy dead believing they are the killer instead. Another horror movie cliche I hate is in horror movie sequels where the survivor(s) from the/a previous sequel(s) appear for about the first 5 minutes only to get killed by the returning killer (Friday the 13th Part II, Nightmare on Elm St. 4 and Halloween: Resurrection).

People being successfully chloroformed within seconds. In real life it would take minutes.

I always loved the horror movies where the lead character is killed at the end or blamed for the murders. Wasn't it Happy Birthday to Me that did that and had Melissa Sue Anderson taking the fall for her crazy sister? That was a good movie.

Elevator doors always close according to the theme of the scene. Sometimes a slow close so that the viewer can get a good, long shot of the person in the elevator, sometimes quickly when things are moving fast and the person needs to get on with things.

People carrying The OBVIOUSLY empty coffee cups in a tray.

Morgan Freeman playing the role of the black man

Now listen very carefully ...

Try to keep an open mind.

The close-up of fingers holding a letter/telegram/note are clearly not those of the actor.

According to an actor who worked in the studio system those inserts were shot later with hand models.

[Quote] According to an actor who worked in the studio system those inserts were shot later with hand models.

You only need one.

Any hospital scene needs to end cause visiting hours are over or the patient needs to rest. And the nurse is no nonsense.

This thread is great!

Probably similar to a post above, but whenever there’s a police chase, no matter how dangerous it gets or how many innocent people are affected or flipped over in their cars, the police never stop chasing.

If the police do stop, it’s only because the hero is fleeing for some reason and the cop cars wrecked. But there are no other police cars around to chase this guy after that.

Even in 2018, a shot of a computer screen when someone is trying to access a site. BIG huge pop-up saying "password rejected" or "access granted" flashing away.

when two romantic leads are running away from bad guys or some kind of disaster, they have to kiss and make out and profess their love...

Whenever someone wants to erase information from a computer they shoot it or smash it to pieces.

The goal of every artificial intelligence is to be more human, even the ones that want to kill us and take over the world.

Despite impressive advances of technology in sci-fi movies, machines will become more complicated to operate all so that the protagonist can fumble around with buttons during climatic moments.

Even though there are numerous species populating planets across billions of galaxies, Earth is the one that every alien wants to conquer.

Every alien planet has a singular biome that stretches across it's entire surface.

Aliens exhibit racism towards other species despite having no reason to interact with one another and living on separate planets.

All aliens have the technology to speak and understand English.

Any time someone is using binoculars, the view will not be one round circle, but in the shape of binoculars.

A person is so preoccupied with their troubles that when they cross the street they don't look and are nearly run down by a vehicle which beeps its horn at them.

I could do it with my eyes closed.

Good one r456. Also, someone has to shave off seconds crossing the street mid block and they play dodge 'em with the cars who are all honking and swerving but the person never gets hit.

(How do they shoot those scenes—just really slowly, and then speed them up and add all the horns and screeching in post?)

Women waking up wearing bras and guys getting out of bed in boxer shorts the morning after they've supposedly had hot sex.

A person is looking for information about something and faces boxes of old files or whatever. They pull out one folder and immediately find the one piece of crucial data they need.

Hero is bound and held at gunpoint by multiple thugs. Archvillain details his plans to not only destroy the world but also fuck with hero's wife, girlfriend or child. Hero struggles against bounds and says, "I am going to KILL you." Well, you'd think hero would get bullet to brain right then but goshdarn it if he doesn't somehow escape from lengthy death process archvillain has put him in and then come back to make good on his promise to kill his foe.

When a man wrestles with a big cat or a bear. In reality, their claws would inflict a fatal wound immediately.

The dying confession that narrates the movie. 'It all started when I was a child ..."

Sometimes prefaced by, "Wait and tell the police. They're on the way.'with "There's no time. You must listen."

The actors always forget to look terrified and, instead, seem absurdly calm when their car is supposedly hanging off the edge of a cliff.

The lousy rear projection in driving scenes of movies made before real locations were used.

Graveside service scenes always start with a shot of the sky, then the camera slowly pans down past the trees (branches swaying in the breeze), finally settling on the small gathering of mourners. All this as we hear the minister reciting John 11:25 -- "And Jesus said unto her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.'"

Western-genre variant: instead of the preacher, we hear the mourners singing "Shall we gather at the river --- the beautiful beautiful river..."

[Quote] Even though there are numerous species populating planets across billions of galaxies, Earth is the one that every alien wants to conquer.

And more importantly it always starts in the US.

[quote]And more importantly it always starts in the US.

Not always.

"Can I see him/her, doctor?"

Doctor: "Yes, but only for a minute."

That a person can outrun a car. e.g. Marathon Man.

Inevitably right before a harrowing moment the question is asked, "Do you trust me?"

People magically becoming dry seconds after exiting the pool/shower/bath.

Houses that have interiors and exteriors that don't match up.

People who travel from A to B within half an hour or less, when it real life it would take several hours.

An assassin who has been framed/betrayed by his own group and has to kill their former associates leading up to the boss to clear his/her name. Or an assassin who finds out that their boss and associates were responsible for killing their family and leading them down the road into a life of crime.

Montages of places i.e. Vegas, New York, Paris that make it look like you can just do everything in a few hours when in fact you would be exhausted and spend 18 hours if you did just three of the things.

The hero must hold the hand of the heroine in a chase scene, although both could run better if they had both hands free. I suppose it is acceptable if one of them 'Can't Go On' so they are forced to keep going by the hand holding.

Store window mannequins who move and address the main character. Usually in musicals b ut not always.

In the final scene, the dramatic and visual continuity is wrong, the actors are out of character and it looks like the wrap party is starting early.

Dramatic showdowns in courtroom thrillers. "Objection, your honor!"

Lawyers in court shouting out the points they want to make despite the evidence being inadmissable all while the judge is pounding their gavel and yelling at them, "Another word out of you and I'll cite you for contempt!"

"Whatever you do, don't [the thing not to do]!"

SCREAM

(The person always does the thing.)

Don't move. I want to remember this moment always.

All of the above. Yet, filmmakers (i.e., writers, directors, etc) continue to use these groan-inducing cliches over and over and over... The movies and TV shows essentially write themselves, and everything is telegraphed because the viewer has seen it all - repeatedly.

The breakfast montage - toast pops up, coffee drips, OJ is poured

I can't sleep. I can't eat. This thing is all I can think about.

The surrogate who has been happily carrying the child for the couple that cant have children of their own ALWAYS decides to keep the baby once it's born.

R482 COROLLARY: Whenever abortion is being considered, the decision is ALWAYS to keep the baby.

Whenever there's to be a secret meeting it's in a parking garage or a church. If in church, the first person will be in a pew pretending to pray, and the second person always takes the pew behind them (as if no one will think they're together that way).

When the doctor comes out of surgery on your loved one and puts his hand on your shoulder, you know the news is not good.

R485, and the dialogue is always, without fail, “I’m sorry. We did everything we could.”

characters falling over the side of a cliff or building who are able to endure the pain of clinging to the edge of the building indefinitely with their pinky fingers for minutes

If England is a setting, Big Ben must be seen to establish that. I actually think that’s a rule in the director’s handbook.

It's a baseball game, the outcome of which is for some reason vital to the plot. The batter strikes out twice, but then he hits the third pitch out of the park and scores a home run, winning the game.

Equivalent: the washed-up boxer rallies in the last round and knocks out his opponent.

When lovemaking starts to get hot and heavy and the camera pans to curtains fluttering in the breeze.

Lately I have been amused by the sound of people yelling as they fall from a height - usually bad guys after a struggle - though it seems to me in reality the fall would be done in a nanosecond and therefore no time for a yell.

Losing cell phone reception in the woods means you're going to die.

R488, don't forget the double decker busses and "Rule Britannia" playing on the soundtrack

For awhile, pasty white girls with long stringy black hair we're the go-to for PG-13 safe scares. You still see if every now and then and the laziest of movies, but it's thankfully, died off for the most part.

Don't even get me started on those found footage movies. Christ, they're lazy and boring.

Surprise anal and the bottom is totally clean.

When someone rubs their forehead with their hand it is a sign of mental illness.

The flight attendant announcement reference during some jet fighter scene.

You were flirting - outrageously!

Headbutting when fighting. For some reason it only hurts the recipient of the headbutt.

R499, if it’s done correctly, that’s absolutely true.

There are variations of martial arts that teach that.

I can't live with a maniac!

The man threatens the woman and she immediately moves to protect her cunt.

"It's like a ticking time bomb. . .waiting to go off!"

It is still a cliche R500.

We’ll agree to disagree.

Was our time together really that bad?

No, it was that good.

The scene where 2 of the minor characters (or 1 major and 1 minor) reminisce and share their dreams, disillusionments or hopes, usually at a bar. They bond a little over that. At the end of the movie there is a follow-up to that scene, after the climax of the story. In the follow-up those 2 characters cross paths one last time and bid each other goodbye, wishing each other that they achieve that dream they discussed. One example is in "Lust in the Dust."

R507, do you mean something cheesy like, “you’ll get your house eventually. I know it. Good-bye”?

I think that, too, is in the directors handbook because if you took all that time to shoot the montage, you must refer back to it, lest the audience forget.

BTW, that’s a GOOD cliché. Hadn’t thought of that one.

A dog's reaction to a character determines his/her fate.

[quote] Houses that have interiors and exteriors that don't match up.

I agree with this one. Even when I was a kid it bothered me how the Von Trapp family villa in The Sound of Music had windows on the outside but not on the inside.

Having the movie theme repeated ad nauseam. An example is Midnight Cowboy and the harmonica theme. Enough already!

^ Bonus if the movie has a "love theme"

A boss gives an order and follows it with "Well, what are you waiting for?! Get going!"

Every scene that ever involves someone upset, then some consoling friend saying "Just breathe." I swear that seems like it's in every fucking movie, and it's so stupid.

The dead guy who's not quite dead despite being shot 30 times in the chest.

The second killer who appears out of nowhere as the hero walks away and tries to shoot him OR who shoots another main character, who ends up in the hospital.

That reminds me, what about the hysterical person (always a woman) who is crying or screaming uncontrollably who then has her friend/spouse/parent give her a good slap across the face; she then calms right down.

I have never in my life seen this technique used anywhere in real life.

All presents are just a box with a lid - never really wrapped.

Characters who are cornered and in a gun fight with the police but somehow magically escape.

Same character should be dead a dozen times over but reappear fully functioning in the finale to threaten the hero anew.

I'm looking at you, "Baby."

Any man who rubs his bicep in the first act will have a heart attack in the 3rd.

When someone has memory flashes we see earlier scenes of them in the film, but if these scenes are not from the character's point of view, they are remembering something they never saw in the first place.

You've got it all figured out, haven't you?

The under-the-table flirt.

In old movies :The heroine feigning exhaustion, ore "feeling a little tired" to escape a situation. Cut to a chaise where she is lounging in some feathery chiffony dressing gown.

Okay, here’s what we do . . . [and cut to a different scene]

Someone is woken up in bed and a hand is placed over their mouth to stop them screaming.

*SPOILER ALERT* Whoever's dressed in red is the evil, slutty one.

In just about every horror movie involving teens, the couple who has sex first will also be the first ones killed.

Or the black character.

Meeting someone in an elevator.

Witness has been injured in an attempt on their life and is in the hospital. Cop or detective goes to check on them at night after visiting hours and finds the hospital dark and basically deserted, just ripe for a murder scene. Unlike real life, where the medical personnel are all crowding around the brightly lit nurses' station about two feet away, laughing about some asshole doctor or their trip to Vegas.

Conversely, the killer has snuck into the witness' room in a crowded, noisy hospital and cuts off their oxygen or smothers them without anyone noticing, and then passes the hero on the way out as he is going to check on his witness.

You're breakfast is getting cold!

Using an iron to make grilled cheese sandwiches.

A character gets scared and the main character reassures the character that everything is going to be alright and shortly after that the character gets killed.

In a movie where someone is searching for a long missing family member or loved one throughout the whole film and towards the end they meet someone who knows what happened to them and then a flashback montage scene revealing the fate of the missing character (they almost always die) plays accompanied by sad violin music.

California, particularly Los Angeles, thunderstorms. They never fucking happen!

The FINAL GIRL in a horror movie getting pulled away from the camera into a shadow.

When a prisoner is being transported across country in handcuffs with a police guard he inevitably gets free and the tables are turned.

A montage set to "For What It's Worth" to establish '60s turmoil and/or the Viet Nam War.

Stage whispering as if nobody else can hear.

After all kinds of shi*t happens to our protagonist(s) for the first 95% of the movie, somebody prays and God answers.

A criminal mastermind, alien creature, plutonium or a horrible virus that can wipe out mankind needs to be transported from its ultra-secure facility to somewhere else. But despite all precautions and untold security protocols, it will somehow be broken free and escape/ be snatched.

Why move it in the first place? Only so drama can ensue.

Coughing = vomiting.

The delicious nervous breakdown montage (with bonus washing-away-the-emotional-dirt shower scene.)

Obvious process shots and rear projection...

The heroine is given some junked-up dress to wear to an important event, which is devised to destroy her.

Alone, she clips off the overwhelming trim, big ruffles and rosettes, etc...and appears in a simple sheath, looking great.

Only in Nolywood 😂😂👍🏻

^ That was better than Hollywood blockbusters!

Fight scene: hero's on his back, reaching for a gun/stick/object and grabs it just before villain is about to choke/chop/punch him .

Or the hero and the villain are fighting over the gun, the gun accidentally goes off and shoots the villain

R544, borrowed from Sophia Loren in Houseboat.

[quote]Stage whispering as if nobody else can hear.

This bugs the shit out of me.

One older man can single-handedly beat the shit out of multiple younger assailants, then continue on his mission without a trip to the hospital- no broken ribs, missing teeth, or anything more serious than a cut above his eye or a swollen nose.

R551 - sounds like a Liam Neeson movie!

Multiracial classmates/friends. This is fairly recent trope. There are towns/regions/even states that are still predominantly white. I suppose it's Hollywood's way of adding more diversity in films/TV, but it doesn't ring true. Most Americans don't have a collection of black, white, Asian, Latino, etc. friends. In fact, the demographics tend to self-segregate, especially Asians and Latinos.

Another variation is the white protagonist with the black best friend. If they're female, the best friend used to be the big, black sassy woman. Nowadays, she tends to be biracial with corkscrew locks.

R345/R345 actually, that was true of the times. That's how Bonnie and Clyde were able to steal so many cars.

[quote]NO ONE gets shot in a strange or embarrassing place--in the ass, in the dick, in the knee--or says "OW!"

Mel Gibson in BIRD ON A WIRE gets shot in the ass and it's painful. Granted, it was done for comedic effect, but still.

R553, most shows and movies take place in big cities, not all-white towns in Iowa

R556 Even so, you will not see many multiracial friendships in real life. That's not to say that people are racist, but people do tend to stick with their own kind. Shortly after FRIENDS ended, I recall people saying the show was too white and that it had needed people of color to be realistic, especially since they lived in NYC, but the truth is it was/is realistic!

Nothing evil ever happens to babies and dogs. But children and cats are fair game.

Chase scenes in marketplaces are usually accompanied by chickens squawking and feathers flying.

And when the car starts whipping through the open air marketplace at top speed, everyone is primed to jump out of the way and no one is ever killed or hurt.

"This is highly irregular but I guess I can show you..."

medical records

people's addresses or phone numbers

access to offices

"It's been you all along! Can't you see that?!?"

I love that one! When people just hand out important information just to pass the story along. I always like when they flat out tell them "no" and the character has to actually find a way to get the information themselves. It makes for a more interesting story.

TV mystery or procedural: Cops show up at a house of some lead for questioning. If there is more than one person answering the door, or if they get invited in and there are more people in the scene (such as a wife or teenager), the one of them is they didn't come to question is invariably the killer.

R557. That is more realistic. Really, how many black people are friends with a bunch of white people and no one of color and vice versa

At a press conference when the person interviewed says that it is all and the press scream out more questions that will not be answered.

A poor apartment block always has a baby crying.

When your gun runs out of ammo, throw the weapon at the adversary to stop him in his tracks.

r506

I just can't do this dance anymore.

Crying in the shower with all your clothes on (The Hurt Locker, Casino Royale).

Love scenes in the rain!

Women with long hair cutting off their own locks in front of the mirror to signal a new beginning.

The crack is a nice addition.

The Mirror Has Two Faces was like one big cliche

Is R574 THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES or YENTL?

Wife to husband: Sometimes I feel like I have _____ kids.

Person to crowd: "What we need in this situation is someone special. And I know just the right person." Then the crowd gathers close to hear who it is.

"So THAT'S what this is about!"

"Let's try doing things.....my way!"

A couple breaks up and the woman throws the guy's clothes out the window.

Busted hospital vending machine/bad cafeteria food/bad hospital coffee.

Someone looking at their reflection in a mirror feeling ashamed about something.

Just saw/heard this in the series finale of of 12 Monkeys:

"I'm glad you could be with me here...at the end."

"Is there some place private we can talk?"

How about not showing up at their work and calling them on the fucking phone at night?

Just to agree with (R66) most British people would make a cup of tea in a crisis or emergency, it's like it's hardwired into some of us.

Also agree with the big family breakfast thing/pancake making every morning - I kind of assumed that some American people did this as it's so prevalent in film and TV? I also hate that when they're trying to show a busy family morning and people rushing off to work or school (often in soaps) they have one character steal another character's toast or occasionally a sip of their tea - again I just don't think this is normal behaviour, no-one takes someone else's breakfast on the way out of the house.

If the hero is fighting off a group of attackers they all wait in turn to fight with him even if they're armed, so he can fight them off singly - they never put up much of a fight of course. Also people carrying and sipping from visibly empty coffee and tea mugs - can't they put liquid in them at least? why not actual tea and coffee even if it ends up being cold?

[quote]Also agree with the big family breakfast thing/pancake making every morning - I kind of assumed that some American people did this as it's so prevalent in film and TV?

[quote]they have one character steal another character's toast or occasionally a sip of their tea

It is. Or it was, fro my experience, when I was a kid/teen in the '80s/'90s. Both my parents worked, so we didn't have the elaborate breakfast. Just cold cereal and milk. However, I had friends who had stay-at-home moms and a big family, and they did have a spread of pancakes, bacon, waffles, etc. I suppose to accommodate everyone who didn't want the same thing. I did see siblings stealing from each other's plate, but it was a play-fight sort of thing. The mother would occasionally sample from the platters as they cooked/served but not necessarily from someone's plate. And everyone ate what they were served. There was none of this "I can't eat right now" nor just take a bite and leave. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" we were often told, and these families took it to heart.

It always drives me nuts when i see teens drinking coffee for breakfast.

Jenny, you’ve let down me, you’ve let down your father, but most of all...you’ve let down yourself!

Got to be honest, talking about all these cliches - I do love the sort of made for tv movie that has a closeted gay son with a range of adult siblings who all grew up in a picture-perfect suburban family - it's kind of a guilty pleasure. Danielle Steele's Family Album and 'Doing Time at Maple Drive' (starring a young Jim Carey - not as the 'suicidal gay son' but as the 'alcoholic disappointing son') are always good.

I don't why I like them so much, I'm sure that they're full of all sorts of cliches apart from the obvious ones. A much better version of this kind of thing was the long running tv series 'Brothers and Sisters' (gay son - Matthew Rhys was out for most of this, with flashbacks to his closeted-self in one double episode).

A really really shit version is something called 'Chesepeake Shores' on netflix (no gay son in this at all though - but pure cheesy nonsense) with Diane Ladd as the grandmother-matriarch with the most atrocious fake Irish accent I have ever heard - everything about the character is insufferable. It basically rips off a lot of the most obvious elements of Brothers and Sisters and makes what feels like some kind of terrible pastiche. Can't stop watching it though.

I will never be able to show my face in public again.

"I have just two words to say to you—GET OUT."

People shouting up at windows declaring their love from the street...

The office building cleaning crew to establish the main character is pulling a late night.

And if the worker says hello to the cleaner by name, you know they are a good person.

Shitty detective coffee. But at least it's hot.

Scenes in churches are usually downers.

The exception that proves the rule...

Circumstances have kept the two main characters in a rom-com apart, and now one of them is at someone else's wedding when the other of the two decides to stand up and publicly proclaim their undying love for them; the two then hug and kiss while everyone cheers and applauds around them. Especially egregious in some dumb Jennifer Aniston movie when she goes up to Jay Mohr, who is a wedding photographer in the midst of a job at a church, and insists on talking to him then and there. She so sways the crowd with her ardor that even the bride and groom, at their own wedding, start to applaud. Instead of firing his ass and having the groomsmen kick both of them out of the church, as it would happen in real life.

Why is it that whenever someone is being chased (usually a female) and falls down, she doesn't get up, but looks at who/whatever is chasing her and either bites her knuckle or screams?

If a car is shot it will explode.