I love movies. It’s on my list of “8 Fun Things”. I know that what happens on the screen is only a reflection of what happens in life and sometimes it is completely make-believe. It is not real life. No matter what, however, it is to be believable (depending on the genre) to the audience; they are to believe that what the characters go through in the film, are reality for them.  Having seen many films in my day, there are some common occurrences that are simply NOT believable and they have become pet peeves of movies for me.  You may agree.  Here is a list of 6 that come to mind:

1.  Shut-up Moments – When in an argument in real life, no one ever comes up with that one magic line that shuts the other one up and shocks them into silence.  At least, not in any of my arguments.  I see it happen a lot in Hollywood whether on television or film.  One of the best “shut up” moments came in A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson was pushed to the edge with questioning while on the stand and responded to the statement “I want the truth!” with “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!”.  What do you say to that?

2.  Choreographed Dance Scenes – I love a good dance sequence but in some movies, I find it distracting when a group joins in the dance and they know all the moves.  Like the closing scene in Footloose, Kevin Bacon yells out “LET’S DANCE” and the teens of the town, who were previously forbidden to dance, join him in a perfectly choreographed number on the dance floor.  Wouldn’t happen … unless it was a flash mob I guess.

3.  16th Century Glamour – In historical romance movies, the romantic couple usually consists of a beautiful Hollywood actress complemented by an equally beautiful male counterpart.  Shakespeare in Love comes to mind.  The exquisite Gwyneth Paltrow and the handsome Joseph Fiennes make a most lovely couple in this movie about William Shakespeare’s love interest.  Guess what?  Back in the 16th century, nobody would look like that.  Their teeth would be brown if they had teeth at all and their hair would be frizzy dull mops.  There wasn’t any toothpaste or moisturizing conditioners back then.  I don’t think they would pluck unsightly stray eyebrow hairs either but I could be wrong.

4.  Crazy Fighting Stamina –  It drives me crazy when a hero in an action scene, gets shot, punched, kicked and slapped several times and keeps fighting as fiercely after 15 minutes as he did when he started.  Chances are, if someone gets shot, they are down.  Maybe not dead but definitely hindered.  Die Hard is a perfect example.  How many times does Bruce Willis get punched, shot, body-slammed and head-butted and still carries on with wild intensity.   No way.

5.  TURN ON THE LIGHT! –  I always wonder why the main character in a suspense thriller, never turns on the light when s/he is searching for strange noises in the dark.  Seems like a no-brainer to me.   I find myself screaming at the protagonist to TURN ON THE LIGHT!.  I mean come on, that’s a stupid move.  I turn on lots of lights even when I’m just home by myself let alone when I hear a strange noise and want to investigate it.  Maybe that’s just me.

6.  Real Life Soundtrack – Music certainly can enhance a film and help to set the tone of any particular scene.  I find it disappointing in real life, that a soundtrack is not playing overhead to give me cues to perhaps in-suing danger or something uplifting to build inspiration.  When my husband walks through the door, certainly we should hear “Take my Breath Away” right?  Or when I am getting ready for a night on the town shouldn’t I hear “I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain?

What are some of your “Unbelievable” movie cliches?