In every rom com ever

23. yelling in the rain

24. dad joekz

25. New York City

23 is v good too

26. 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

27. Couple's first sex is earthshaking.

28. Female lead has a 'secret' that male lead doesn't have time to listen to until it gets revealed publicly by someone the female lead used to know

29. Greg Kinnear totally gets a raw deal in the love triangle

30. Asshole/Bitch fiance.

31. (this is more a 'last 3 years' thing) Guy hears his woman on the toilet and it shatters his world

32. if you will only pursue love blindly and irrationally, the universe will (must?) reward you with True Love

33. Kate Hudson

^^^^ i was gonna say "Dane Cook" but Hollywood seems to be wising up on that and also I feared typing his name multiple times might have a Candyman-esque effect

34. Hugh Grant, stammering and sputtering

34b. unless it's Hugh Grant, Charming Asshole

35. Gerard Butler

36. at least one song that was played at proms in the 80s making an appearance somewhere in the film

(more of a late model thing) 37. Dirty Dancing and/or John Hughes references

38. lead male is musician who is struggling and writes a song for female lead at the end that wins her over

^^My friend just made a microbudget romcom that hinges on that very plot device!

39. following the cue of the male lead, everbody in a bar/restaurant join in an rousing acapella sing-a-long of some old Motown/early-'60s soft-pop song

40. female lead is endearingly clumsy

41. one of lead male's best friends is an unrepentant stoner and female says 'it's him or me'

42. climactic scene involves female or male lead frantically running (to climactic music) to catch/stop/say whatever to whomever, while ignoring the discouragements of friends and/or family along the way (although the Best Friend/Fiance may say "Go get 'er/'im")

43. scene preceding 42. involves old man/woman earnestly imploring lead that "if you ever find him/her... DON'T LET GO LIKE I DID" *cue Motown hit and running*

44. (9/11 kinda shut down this trope) Male lead frantically rushing to airport and catching plane that is about to board to stop woman from leaving

xpost hahahahaha

50. Super Mario 3

46. the film is bookended by old couple relating the story to their friends/kids/etc, sometimes with off-color comments/questions interspersed throughout

47. Old couple let it slip they still bone down.

^hahaha, always

48. the female lead is a bossy fusspot rom devoid of com.

49. Montage of leads going through a pile of their undies in search of the perfect pair for the "big date".

50. Protagonists live in inexplicably lavish Manhattan apartment, despite the fact they never seem to go to work and have weeks of free time to play videogames/reminisce about classic rock/agonise over relationships

51. Wearing pyjamas (and full make-up), eating icecream directly from tub

52. Female lead makes terrible faux pas at work, results in hilarity and shagging the boss rather than instant dismissal on grounds of gross incompetence.

53. Running through a hospital/shopping mall

54. Grumpy older sister

55. 30 year olds playing teenagers and/or 60 year olds playing parents of teenagers

56. guy who knows everything about women and is willing to sell his services but later finds out that the one relationship problem he can fix is *record scratch*...his own

I mean uh,, can't

57. baby delivered by confused and comically inept hijacker

58. STIs

59. home-made pube artwork sent to female lead

60. elephants

61. somebody falling out of a hot air balloon over a senior citizens' picnic

62. OLD LADY WHO SWEARS

63. sustained bloody violence

64. Joe Dallesandro

65. sentimental love scene and final "i love you" moment has lots of maybes in it to denote awkwardness

66. during the inevitable "temporary breakup" scene the man shacks up with a much younger and more attractive woman but isn't happy deep down because she doesn't have a jar of tears or make random honking noises

glad to see that stalking has already been mentioned

115. Male and female leads always of the same ethnicity

.............white?

lemme guess

116. Female lead works in marketing/publishing/media industry

or is a kindergarten teacher, either way she has a luxurious manhattan loft as mentioned previously

117. Male lead is an architect

118. WINE

or doctor xp

119. Minor issue at 70-minute mark gets blown up into a relationship crisis, because that's what the screen-writing manual said to do

120. "wanna come in?" / "no, i'd better get home"

39. following the cue of the male lead, everbody in a bar/restaurant join in an rousing acapella sing-a-long of some old Motown/early-'60s soft-pop song

― Chris S, Friday, January 11, 2013 12:59 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i've never actually seen this but i am just going to assume:

39a. Cutaway to the "wrong" guy/gal: they don't know the words and are either faking it badly or looking annoyed at all the carrying-on.

121. FEDORAS

122. Somebody is wearing sunglasses and either slides them down their nose or dramatically takes them off to get a good look at someone else.

123. pouting

Flowers in the woman’s bedroom

125. Sparse vinyl collections and entry-level turntables displayed in the residences of lead characters

126. Anything resembling comedy disappears in the last 30 minutes of the film.

Haha I've been noticing #125 in various TV shows of the '70s and '80s: Mary Tyler Moore, Dallas, Miami Vice. Signifying that the character is kind of hip adjacent, living in the contemporary world, but not trying too hard; not some kind of geeky collector or audio freak.

127. Therapist seems to really want to wrap up the session without really offering much help

128. Protagonist pours heart out in a tight close-up

CUT TO:

Dumbstruck Clerk: "Sir/Ma'am, this is a Wendy's."

129. Prelude showing our heroine as a little girl playing with dolls and dollhouse, possibly conducting doll wedding as a period-appropriate pop song plays on soundtrack and is crossfaded with a new cover of said song as we transition to present day and learn that girl grew up to be a beautiful fuckup.

130. Uptempo Pop song plays under "Protagonists get their lives together" montage

Leaves